College Times

Issue date: 1/17/08 Section: Daily Buzz

Media Credit: Tom Sumlin/Charlotte Observer/KRT

I've suffered allergies my entire life.

For 21 straight years I've dutifully pumped my body full of drugs with names like Zyrtec, Optivar, Astelin, Benadryl, Nasalcort, Allegra, Singulair, Nasonex, Claritan, Clarinex and Seldane - shelling out anywhere from $10 to $35 per month, per drug, just for the right to breathe.

Last year, my allergies were so bad in the winter and spring, I was spending $100 a month on a three-drug cocktail, just so I could see (the allergies affected my eyes), breathe and sleep.

That, the medical experts told me, was my only choice.

So imagine my surprise the first time I tried the "neti pot."

The neti pot is a simple device - it looks like an Aladdin lamp crossed with an old-fashioned cream pourer - that allows users to engage in nasal irrigation.

What's nasal irrigation? Well, it's what it sounds like. You pour a salt-water solution up one nostril and it comes out the other.

It was my wife who first told me about the neti pot. She saw it on Oprah. Dr. Oz was pimping it as a solution for allergy and sinusitis sufferers. The practice of nasal irrigation goes back many years, he said. It's a yogi purification practice.

When I first heard about it and saw the videos of people using it online, I said: "No way. There's no way I'm pouring crap up my nose and letting it come out the other side. That's gross. And stupid."

And then my wife bought me one for Christmas. And to be a good sport I tried it.

I was blown away.

It works wonders. I've used it twice a day - after I brush my teeth in the morning and at night - for three weeks.

I'm off the drugs.

I can breathe perfectly.

My painful dry nose is cured.

I'm sleeping through the night - undisturbed.

And - because it works on the entire sinus cavity - I can actually hear better.

As a result, I feel better. I'm in a better mood. More rested, more productive. Happier.

Seriously.

It is no overstatement to say that it has changed my life.

I told our art director about it the other day. And he said: "Makes you wonder what other non-FDA approved drugs and solutions are out there …"

Indeed, it does make me wonder.

I wanted to be angry at the doctors. I wanted to be angry that I was told to take pills for 21 years - that can't be good for you, can it?

But quite frankly, I'm feeling too good to be angry. Let bygones be bygones, I told myself.

I haven't felt this good in years.

And I've got water, salt and a porcelain pot to thank for it.



Want to see what I mean? Check out this clip from YouTube below:

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