Neti Pot Safety - Part One

Sinus infections suck major big time. I am currently surviving asthma, pneumonia and a sinus infection. This is always interesting. Thank goodness for antibiotics.

http://www.netipot.com/usa/index.php

One thing that keeps going through my mind is "I need to use my neti pot" just so I don't use as much tissue paper as I am. Thing is, I remember one time I went to the hospital emergency room with a sinus infection and the doctor said to me to use either previously boiled or distilled water and I could not figure out why. I figured that my municipal water was safe, so what was with this advice?  Now that I think of it, all municipal water is only chemically treated, usually with chlorine and fluoride and  who knows what else, and that's about it.
Chlorine is a great chemical but it doesn't always kill microorganisms such as amoebas.  And here you are, putting tap water up your nose. This is can be a  bad thing because the membrane between your nose and your brain is the thinnest and who wants an amoeba in the brain?
I'm not trying to scare anyone from trying a neti pot, what I want to do is make sure that everyone has a great use of something ( that I call a watering pot for the nose) and can use it safely and to great effect.
All I'm saying is that I follow (now) the doctors advice to use previously boiled water and I find that (A) the salt is easier to dissolve in  the water and (B) the water is not so harsh on my nose. These are the only reasons I use boiled water now and that's all that matters to me. There are readymade packets of neti pot solution, but I've not tried them yet.
Next Time... I'm going to post how to clean your neti pot.

More on Low Sodium Products and Special Diets

I have been updating my post on low sodium supermarket options and mentioned in my post about the hubby's diet that I was looking for a no-sodium baking soda substitute. Well, I found the substitute right here in Toronto at the Specialty Food Shop  in the Hospital for Sick Children.  I found out about them by calling Eat Right Ontario and speaking to a registered dietitian who happened to remember about them.

The Specialty Food Shop is for children and adults with special dietary needs such as Celiac, Cystic Fibrosis, dysphagia, food allergies, energy boosting and more. They have a website (see link above) where you can shop online and they deliver right across Canada (out-of-Provence rates apply). You can even email a registered dietitian about any nutrition questions you may have and the proceeds of sales go to support the Hospital for Sick Children. 

The other thing that the Eat Right dietitian mentioned to me was to ask my local supermarket to carry the products that I'm interested in and it was like "duh, why didn't I remember that?".  So, I'm going to be asking the manager of my local store to see about carrying the Mrs.Dash marinades for me (I'm thinking of asking for the Spicy Teriyaki first) and perhaps the baking soda substitute, mostly because I'm lazy and don't want to go downtown to get what I want (I don't drive so going downtown is a pain in the butt). My next chore is going to be tracking down a low sodium cheddar and other hard cheeses that are available here in Canada (I know Helluva Good makes one but they don't seem to ship it out of the U.S.) I'll let you know here how it goes.