Sinus Rinse

[TMHeimer]

Question for diving Docs: I get a huge cold about once a year. After the virus is gone my sinuses are plugged for 3 weeks or more, leaving me unable to dive. I'm also coughing like crazy during that time due to "post nasal drip" (happens each time, my entire life). My doc gave me "NeilMed Sinus Rinse". Anyone use this? I know, like, diving rule #2 is never dive with congestion and never use a degongestant as if it wears off before you ascend you may get reverse block. My question is: Is this stuff actually a degongestant? Is it medicine -- something that would "wear off". I suppose I could try it a day before diving and see, but I'm not sick now. Keep in mind that after my virus runs it's course I guess my sinuses are not re-filling up after each time I blow my nose. I'm off on a dive trip soon and want to know whether to pack this stuff. Thanks in advance for info.

 

[bleeb]

A frequent topic of discussion, but scattered through several different forum, so hard to find. Current active thread: Shooting salt water up my nose everyday & feeling good! Anybody else doing this?

 

[cudachaser]

That's stuff works great for me!

Joe

 

[NightForce]

Thanks to the above mentioned thread I started doing this and it works great.

 

[TMHeimer]

A frequent topic of discussion, but scattered through several different forum, so hard to find. Current active thread: Shooting salt water up my nose everyday & feeling good! Anybody else doing this?

Thanks. I read most of the thread. A lot of posts talk about this stuff as a means to prevent getting colds and get rid of sinus infections. As I get a bad cold maybe once a year, that is not my worry. I don't want to find myself on that plane for my dive week down South, just over a monster cold with clogged sinuses for 3 weeks. I should re-word my question: Has anyone ever used NielMed right before diving and had congestion return during the dive because it "wore off"--thus had trouble ascending? Is it "safe" to use to clear out your passages for the purpose of being able to equalize while diving, or is it classified as a decongestant you shouldn't use? Any diving doctors to comment?

 

[UnderSeaBumbleBee]

Has anyone ever used NielMed right before diving and had congestion return during the dive because it "wore off"--thus had trouble ascending? Any diving doctors to comment?

Why are you getting congested?

For me, I got congested because I got sick with sinus infections and I have allergy issues. By rinsing, I removed the things from my sinus passages that were causing the issues and irritating them.

Like if I dipped my hand in some kind of mild acid and it began to burn. Then I rinsed the acid off, the rinsing would not wear off as I washed away the cause of the burning. My skin would only burn again with the reintroduction of the irritant.

Rinsing removes the irritants as well as snot from the passages. The salt also kills unhelpful bacteria and viruses that cause irritation and other problems.

 

[dry heat diver]

Question for diving Docs: I get a huge cold about once a year. After the virus is gone my sinuses are plugged for 3 weeks or more, leaving me unable to dive. I'm also coughing like crazy during that time due to "post nasal drip" (happens each time, my entire life). My doc gave me "NeilMed Sinus Rinse". Anyone use this? I know, like, diving rule #2 is never dive with congestion and never use a degongestant as if it wears off before you ascend you may get reverse block. My question is: Is this stuff actually a degongestant? Is it medicine -- something that would "wear off". I suppose I could try it a day before diving and see, but I'm not sick now. Keep in mind that after my virus runs it's course I guess my sinuses are not re-filling up after each time I blow my nose. I'm off on a dive trip soon and want to know whether to pack this stuff. Thanks in advance for info.

It's not a medication that can wear off like a decongestant. It is just a saline solution to rinse mucous out of your nasal and sinus passages. I use it regularly for chronic sinusitis including daily when I'm on dive trips and I've found that the more often I use it (sometimes both morning and evening) the better it gets. I suppose a person could become congested between applications, especially right ater recovering from a cold, but that has not been my experince. For me it has been the greatest solution to the chronic congestion problem. I wouldn't worry about it with the one caveat that you want to be sure you are over the cold before diving or the sinus rinse won't be of much help. It is a safe and helpful product, but it doesn't substitute for common sense and good diving practices.

 

[TMHeimer]

dry heat, Thanks. What you said is what I kinda figured. You'd have to be over the cold, or else more congestion could occur during the dive. If you are over the cold the solution simply removes the old stuff causing the congestion. I'll give it a try after my next cold, whether for a dive or not.

 

[doctormike]

Question for diving Docs:

...

My doc gave me "NeilMed Sinus Rinse". My question is: Is this stuff actually a degongestant?

I think that the sinus rinse kits are terrific. I stock both the squeeze bottle and the Neti Pot versions in my office, and give them out a lot to kids. Totally safe, effective, and cheap. You can even make your own rinse solution if you really want to save money!

The salt water actually does work as a decongestant, but not in the same way that topical sprays like Afrin work. Those are drugs that constrict the blood vessels in the lining of the nose, causing the spongy tissue below the "skin" of the nose to shrink. As noted, they do wear off unpredictably, and if used too long can become addictive.

The saline rinses work as "osmotic decongestants". That is, by bathing the nasal cavity with salty water, you set up a gradient between the nasal tissue and the irrigating solution with more salt in the solution than in the tissue. This results in water moving out of the tissue (as gradients tend to equalize over time!). For this reason, most of these kits are available in a "hypertonic" form, that is, you can make the solution even more salty and make the decongestant effect more pronounced. The downside is that it is hard to tolerate the hypertonic saline, so people often start with a more dilute solution and work up to it.

It should be fine to use this irrigation on a dive trip, you shouldn't have the sudden reversal or addictive problems that occur with decongestant drugs.

Here is a handout that I found by googling that gives the secret formula for the solution, if you want to bypass the packages that come with the kit.

Good luck!

Mike

 

[soltari675]

I used it once after a cold because I was planning a dive trip. It did immediately get rid of the congestion. It came back the next day, took it a while. But only mildly and it went away after a couple hours again and stayed away. I am like you where I normally stay congested for weeks afterwards. So while it may not make it go completely away immediately, it reduces the time of the congestion down to only a couple days. Enough to just clean everything out after the cold itself was done.