NeilMed Sinus Rinse, the Cold Medicine that Feels More like Swimming

A couple of weeks ago I had a girls' night out with my mother. In one day, we saw two movies ("LotteryTicket" and "Takers"), went to the Back to School Picnic with Alderman Joe Moore and took a two-mile walk through Skokie Northshore Channel Park. The next day I woke up feeling like somebody was holding my nose and putting feathers down my throat. My mother, on the other hand, was healthy and energetic. The thing that sucks about colds is there's no rationale reason for getting them. There's no cure and two people can go to the same place and one can end up sick while the other is not phased, including the stickler vegetarians like me.

Green tea is great, and cough drops helped for interviews and meetings I still had to attend. For an outgoing person, staying in the house for a week and eating soup all day is like sleeping on the ground during a thunderstorm. Straight-up torture. Homebodies may enjoy it though. Theraflu, Nyquil and Dayquil weren't really doing much. Then I remembered I still had packets of NeilMed Sinus Rinse. Montie, we have a winner!

Last year some time, I couldn't get rid of a dry cough. It's very rare for me to get a cold, but when I do get one then it lasts longer than the average person. But two months of dry coughing and my family was getting worried. It wasn't whooping coughs, just the kind of hard coughing that smokers get. I don't smoke. My doctor gave me antibiotics and suggested I take NeilMed Sinus Rinse. I'd never heard of the stuff, but I love my doctor so whatever works. However, NeilMed is a funny kind of medicine.

Have you ever been in the swimming pool and breathed the wrong way? Salt water goes in your nose and mouth and you start spitting it out? Now imagine purposely shooting water up your nose. It's not the same as pinching nasal spray a couple of times. You're seriously supposed to let water run through your nostrils.

Instructions:
1. Wash hands.
2. Fill up the bottle with 240 mL (8 oz.) of warm water. Do not overheat. The water must be room temperature.
3. Pour the Sinus Rinse package into the water and close the bottle.
4. Hold your finger over the hole in the top of the bottle and shake it up.
5. Stand in front of a sink, lean down and tilt your head down.
6. Squeeze the bottle gently so the water sprays into your nostril and pours out of the other nostril. Keep your mouth wide open so you don't swallow the Sinus Rinse mixture.
7. Blow your nose and repeat with the other nostril.
8. Blow your nose again.

As strange as it may sound, this stuff really works. You can feel your nose start to open and head stops throbbing. Immediately my breathing improved and I stopped feeling nauseous and stuffed up. For someone who can't swim or doesn't understand how to use breathing exercises while swimming, NeilMed might be a challenge. But for those of you who can swim, I'd highly recommend trying this Sinus Rinse out the next time you have a bad sinus attack or a dry cough and cold.

Two weeks of moping around hoping my cold would go away, and now I feel almost brand new.

Warning: Keep tissue with you at all times if you leave the house. I went to the library an hour after taking NeilMed, leaned down to grab a book and my nose started dripping. This happened a few more times, but simply blowing your nose once stops the running. Don't be alarmed although you may be embarrassed because the dripping happens sporadically and you don't feel it until it's already started. Other than that, NeilMed Sinus Rinse is highly recommended.