Another Sinus Question

[arabeth]

Hello everyone. I need to ask a quick question, if I could. My 6 year old has recently began to have major sinus issues. We saw the ENT today for the first time and he wants us to do the nasal washes 2x daily. I know to use water and pickling salt but I guess my question is the basic process of this. I have never seen this done before and can't imagine how this can go well. What position should she be in? Head tilted back or down? Is the water supposed to run right back out her nose or go down her throat or what? I am afraid I'll choke or drown her. How is this going to feel to her having water shoved up her nose? If I get water in my nose in a swimming pool, I panic, so I am concerned about doing this. I just want to know the basics of positioning and how this really works. Will she feel better right away or does it take time? Those kinds of things.

Thanks very much!

 

[anonymous]

HI Rene,
My 2 year old son has to have saline washes too. I too was terrified! We bought a kit at the pharmacy. The kit is by NeilMed. The product is called " Sinus Rinse" . Their telephone number is toll free 1-877-477-8633. It contains an empty 4 oz bottle and packets of saline powder. I had to buy a gallon of distilled water. All you have to do is mix the powder with the water . You can warm it up if you would like to.
Place the child's face over the sink ,facing the drain. Place the nozel into the nose and squeeze gently so the fluid rushes up into the nostral. Do this two or three times in one side . The results are AMAZING!!! LOTS of green mucus comes flooding out the other nostral and out of the mouth. Before the child gets away, do it again in the other nostral. You will need two adults to do this. My Dr. told us to do this 4 -5 times a day.. We do it twice. It is amazing. Some days he is clear and we do not do it on those days.
As for how does it feel, I tried it on myself to see. It makes me feel like I was swimming in the ocean and a wave went up my nose. It is not that bad at all
GOOD LUCK It Works : -)
Pam

 

[LoZLover]

Ok well I am only 16 dont have a kid thank god, but i have had major problems with my sinuses and a few years ago my parent did my a giant favor and took me to an ENT doc in St. Louis i got the prob taken care of through the means of surgery and so afterward the doc told me and my parents to do the whole distilled water and some sort of salt stuff or powder prolly like anonymous said as in the saline powder and then we warmed it up and squirted it up my nose yes it taster nast and all but helped greatly afterwards so to address your question you most likely wont drown your child sure at times she may choke but it will only last for a few seconds. but the best position is for her to be leaning over the sink and then to take maybe a turkey baster or such and then have her breath through her mouth and i usually closed my eyes becouse of the whole thing of after surgery the blood inside my nose would run out and it was just kinda nasty lookin. her head should be tilted down and yes the water mixture should just run right back out it may not seem like it works the first time or two but keep at it and she will see a difference.
Justin

 

[anonymous]

Renee,
Our ds has been doing nasal rinses off and on for well over a year now. He was 5-1/2 when he started (just turned 7 this week<img src="i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif" border="0">) He tolerates them well. I've heard that the sinus rinse mixture the other poster mentioned is good. We've never tried it, we just make the mixture following our ENT's recipe. We also don't use distilled water. We have a water filtration system and our ENT said that was sufficient. Here's our recipe: Pour 1 qt clean water into a glass jar (we use a mason canning jar), add between 1-1/2 and 3 tsps of pickling salt and 1 tsp of pure baking soda. Mix well. Pour half the mixture into a bowl for immediate use, cover the other half and save to use later (we do 1/2 in the am, 1/2 in the pm.) It's very important that you only use pickling or canning salt and not table salt because the iodine is irritating to the nose. The amount of salt used is personal preference - the higher the content the better. Our ds tolerates 2 tsps well so that's what we use. As for the procedure, our ds actually does it himself. We use a bulb syringe. He fills it with the water from the bowl and then squirts it up one nostril (being careful to aim towards the outside of the nostril vs the septum). He then blows that out, refills the syringe, does the other nostril and repeats, alternating sides, until the bowl is empty. Sometimes the water will drain down their throat, that's ok, your dd should just spit it out in the sink. Other times, it may drain down the other nostril. That's ok, too. If your dd does any nasal sprays, wait about 15 min after the rinse before using (so the nose has stopped draining). Our ds has never complained about them and he tolerates them well. My dh also has bad allergies/sinus problems so he started out doing them with ds (to help with compliance). He said they're not bad, just kind of gross because of all the gunk they dislodge. Also, I'm not sure whether your dr explained why they're helpful so I thought I'd pass that info along. The water obviously is just to flush out the mucous. The pickling salt draws water out of the nasal passages, shrinking them, thus reducing the inflammation that causes obstruction and polyps. The baking soda is a natural cleanser that "cleans" the passage (ie think of it as the soap). I hope that helps. They're actually good for anyone with chronic sinus/nasal/allergy problems, not just cfers.

One last question for anybody, do you think using dead sea salt would be more beneficial? Has anyone tried that?? Just curious...
~M

 

[arabeth]

Thank you all so much for answering my questions. This has been a huge help. Unfortunately I didn't feel the Dr. was very helpful at all with what to do. He has a great reputation and we were sent to him by the CF Center but I was not at all impressed. He didn't give any details and, though I tried to ask, I felt he was just rushing us out and that I should just know what to do. He didn't tell me to used distilled water, didn't specify at all actually, just water. He didn't say an amount. He didn't tell us to use pickling salt, just any salt without iodine, and he didn't tell us to use baking soda (I picked up the pickling salt, distilled water and the baking soda ideas from other posts I read on this site). I bought the stuff today and we'll see how it goes. I did look for the kit that Pam recommended but our local Walgreens doesn't carry it (some do). I looked on the company website and it is only available at certain stores but none in my area. We will try the other recipe and see how it goes. If it doesn't seem to work for her I may order the kit online as that was an option. Thanks so much to all of you for giving me details on how this works. I was (and still am) somewhat nervous but I feel better at least having some idea what I'm doing. I wish doctors would realize that we didn't all go to medical school and sometimes we need details on how to do the things they want us to do. But that's another matter alltogether! Thanks again!

 

[anonymous]

Renee,
We also use the NeilMed sinus rinses. My daughter started using this about a month ago - she loves it because it doesn't sting like the homemade stuff does. We get ours from the sinus specialist she sees. You might try calling around to some sinus docs to see if they carry it - My daughter does not use the NeilMed bottle though - she uses a waterpick attachment especially made for the sinuses - the waterpick pulsates and help break up the mucus.

 

[anonymous]

Hi,
I just had to add my 2 cents here... I also use the Neilmed sinus rinse kit and really like it. I just switched to a new ENT and he introduced me to it. It is much easier than a bulb syringe and much more pleasant ( I have never liked sticking anthing up my nose, with the sinus rinse kit you don't have to). You can order it online from their website, I think it is Neilmed.com or Sinusrinse.com. Also, it comes with premeasured packages that you mix up one at a time to use for the rinse. It is nice to travel with, in the past I made up a quart of 'homemade' solution with kosher salt and baking soda, but it was difficult to travel with a pitcher of the concoction. Good luck!

Kim
40w/cf