Salt cave anyone?

[Valentijn]

By comparison, the ultrasonic humidifier approach to halogeneration is a much cheaper and much more straightforward means of saline air generation that can be used at leisure in your own home.

I don't have an ultrasonic humidifier, but I do have an ultrasonic diffuser. Though basically it does the same humidifying as the smaller humidifiers, just with a smaller capacity for water. Mostly I use it for nice essential oils, but also for leaning over it and inhaling anti-bacterial oils after a Neti pot when my sinus infection flares up.

Awesome things, wish I'd known about them years ago!

 

[cigana]

I have just now come across machines called halogenerators (aka: dry saline generators) that are designed to produce the salty air of a salt cave. Examples of halogenerators are shown here and here. The price of some of these machines runs into $thousands. Yet my ultrasonic humidifier method for creating salty air costs just the price of the humidifier — around $20 or $30! I also came across this UK company selling 60 minute sessions sitting in their salt room for £35.

By comparison, the ultrasonic humidifier approach to halogeneration is a much cheaper and much more straightforward means of saline air generation, and one that can be used at leisure in your own home.


Edit: actually, I just found this $85 product which is a purpose-built ultrasonic halogenerator for halotherapy. This product appears to be basically just an ordinary ultrasonic humidifier in which you place a saline solution. So it's no different to the method I detailed above, involving placing a saline solution into regular $20 ultrasonic humidifier in order to create salt filled air.

I agree. When I breathe in the mist from my diffuser, it tastes salty, so it must be effective at getting large amounts of salt into the air. I don't see why the very expensive halogenerators could be any better.

 

[manna]

salt inhalers do not, from what i can tell, release any amount of actual salt as you draw air through it. you can get a minimal salt taste at first but neglible in micrograms even. my understanding here is that the air drawn through it is negatvely charged electrically, i.e. lots of negative ions are created, or released, as you draw the air through. and it is that which releaves inflammation not salt particles..or maybe both. some might say that if the whole room were filled wih similar negative ions it might relax the "aura" too. my experience of using salt with water was that it did cause mold.

 

[Forebearance]

I've been using a Squip Himalayan salt inhaler for the past couple of days.
It makes my sinuses drain. I have a cold at the moment, so that's a good thing.
It also does feel relaxing after I've used it for a while. I've been doing one 15-20 minute session a day.

For people who are hyper-sensitive to mold toxins like I am, I would add a couple notes about it.
It's only as good as the air quality where you are using it. I'm using it outside in fairly decent air, but I bet it would be even better in a place with very good air quality.
I've had to wipe off the outside surface of the porcelain inhaler with rubbing alcohol, because it irritated my hands a little when I held it. I'm guessing that maybe it was exposed to a few mold toxins in a factory, warehouse, or shipping.situation. I'm hoping that the benefits of the salt will outweigh any slight exposure to toxins from the inhaler.

I had a problem when I tried a Himalayan salt lamp bought from Dr. Mercola's web site. The lamp had apparently been in a moldy place at some point in its life, and in that case the toxins radiating from the lamp trumped the benefits of it. So I couldn't use it.

 

[Forebearance]

Oh my gosh. It turns out that the salt inhaler is making me Herx like crazy. Or something. I felt like I had the flu or worse last night. I'm going to stop using it until I feel back to usual again.

 

[manna]

i had 8 days + of flu like feeling on them, following that my health was considerably better. going slower might have helped me but i feel it had to come out one way or another.

 

[KrisT]

Oh my gosh. It turns out that the salt inhaler is making me Herx like crazy. Or something. I felt like I had the flu or worse last night. I'm going to stop using it until I feel back to usual again.

Try using it a little less initially and more often as your airways begin to clear up. The reason this happened is the phlegm and mucous probably started breaking up and clearing out to quickly.

 

[cigana]

Oh my gosh. It turns out that the salt inhaler is making me Herx like crazy. Or something. I felt like I had the flu or worse last night. I'm going to stop using it until I feel back to usual again.

How sure can you be that it was the inhaler?

 

[Forebearance]

I can never be totally sure, of course. I stopped using the inhaler after two days and my symptoms are gradually getting better. I'll wait until I recover from the Herx type symptoms AND the cold and then try it again.

The cold has been a very mild one, not the type that would normally give me a fever. But it's good to get rid of variables.

 

[Little Bluestem]

For some reason I read the thread title as "salt colon" instead of "salt cave". Then stared at @manna's photo for a while trying to figure out how it works

I read it as "salt crave".

 

[Forebearance]

Okay, I tried my salt inhaler after my cold was over and I am tolerating it a lot better. No unusual scary symptoms. It is just making me feel a little better.

I think maybe there was something about the combination of having a virus and using the inhaler that was reminiscent of the mono I had in a moldy apartment at the start of this illness.