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Sunday, August 3, 2008

gabby and her neti pot


        So, Gabby and I have been living together for some time now.  And she is very...shall we say, persuasive, about me trying the things that she introduces to me.  I do not enjoy the taste or the smell of a banana--And I think she has offered me either a banana or chunky monkey ice cream more times than I can count.  Now, it's a good joke, and so she offers banana-flavored-anything to me as many times as the opportunity presents itself.  And you'd be surprised how much it does.


      Anyway, last night Gabby was in the bathroom for an inordinate amount of time making strange gurgling noises.  Not wanting to pry, I simply kept to myself and hoped quietly that she wasn't drowning.  However, she came out eventually and was like, Jess--you gotta try this.  Hoping that she wasn't referring to drowning or anything banana-related, I asked her exactly what she wanted me to try.  The neti pot, she says matter-of-factly, as if we discuss these kinds of things all the time.  As if making gurgling noises at midnight is completely normal.  As if I actually wanted to join her in these festivities.  The what? I ask.  Just watch, she says.  

    Gabby then proceeds to take boiling hot water from a little, well, neti pot--with something or other dissolved in it (probably better that I didn't know, now that I think about it)--turn her head sideways, and pour the water into one nostril.  But, she's not done,  cause then that water pours out of her other nostril onto her face and the bathroom floor.  And yes, she is sputtering and gurgling.  Then she looks at me with a huge grin and says, Okay--your turn!

    Gabby, is this a normal Mexican thing to do? I ask.  No, she says, It's a normal, clearing out your nose thing to do. It gets rid of all the mocos.  

    And, ah, the mocos would be...?

    The snot, you know, the boogies, she replies.  

     Right, of course, I say.  

    Well, I guess you only live once.  So, after being thoroughly reassured that the water would not get into my brain, I grabbed it and poured.  Once I had stopped laughing, at least.  Anyway, it felt like I was being wiped out by a wave with unwelcome water just pouring into me, zinging the insides of my nasal passages .  The difference was that I was the one who was doing the pouring this time.  However, I will say that the neti pot did clean out all the mocos.  Gabby was right about that.  So, there you go--that was my experience with the neti pot.  And I bet you're all gonna rush out and buy one now, huh?     

13 comments:

Anonymous said...

Eww.

Lady Leth said...

So Chris got a neti pot, and now he has been trying to persuade me to try. It's supposed to be really good for allergies. We'll see.

Anonymous said...

is neti a code word for "chamber"?

Jessica said...

Nice try, Jase

And Elizabeth, you should give it a try:-)

Anonymous said...

I am not going to rush right out and buy one---because I already own one! It is a wonderfully useful device for clearing out the "mocos"! The sensation, when you use it for the first time, is a bit disconcerting, but you get used to it. Just remember to breathe through your mouth the whole time you are pouring the water into each nostril. Also, don't use water that is too hot or too cold, just lukewarm, or you will be very uncomfortable. The only thing you mix in the water is salt, just a mild saline solution, that is all it is.

Tiffany said...

O.K., as part of my recovery for the sinus surgery my Dr. has me use this bottle from NeilMed. You put lukewarm water and dump this saline packet into it and...(yuck, sorry) squirt half the bottle in one nostril tilt your head to drain it out and repeat on the other side.
Well, at first the Dr. had me using it every two hours. Plus, my Dr.'s instructions left out the tilting your head and draining steps. What resulted was my whole body swelled up. I needed to go to my regular Dr. and get a water pill. Thankfully, that helped.
After all this I called the NeilMed company and they thought my Dr. was a little excessive with the dosage. I taked to my Dr. and he took me down to doing it twice a day.
Long story short, it's a pretty cool thing if used right. :)

Anonymous said...

I know people--kathie is one of them--who really think the neti pot is a great idea! Either I don't have enough courage or I just haven't been sick enough to try it yet. But I will give you my best preventative for colds: eating onions! You just don't get colds when you eat onions often; you may not have any friends either:(

Anonymous said...

There is truth to what your mom says about the onions, but if you don't fancy eating a lot of onions, and/or you want to keep your friends, ;-), you could just take Quercitin. If you get the Quercitin with Bromelain (I think that's what it is called), that is even better. Bromelain is an enzyme found in pineapples. Quercitin is the thing in onions that helps you with respiratory stuff. I often take it to preserve the health of my respiratory system. For it to be really effective, you have to take it regularly. Over time you should notice an improvement.

Peaj said...

Again, eww.

Jessica said...

Tif--it sounds like you had a very unfortunate situation!!! And how is your recovery going?

Mom--you and your onions!!!! You should give the pot (the neti, variety, mind you!) a try, though.

Peaj--sorry to gross you out:-)

Kathie--thanks for the good tips--you are a wealth of knowledge!

Susan Marie said...

I agree with the Ewww sentiment.

jason j said...

Oprah featured them on her show last year and we got so many calls about them. We couldn't keep them in stock. It seems like quackery to me, but mostly harmless, so I don't mind.

erin said...

Jess! Liz (my roommate who just got married) used a neti pot religously! I always thought it was a little weird! I'll have to give it a try sometime- sounds like good times....