I have hurt myself with my nasal irrigator.

Cheryl M

Cheryl M

Senior Member
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115
Location
North-west England
Background: I have had rhinitis constantly since September 2016. This year my GP finally agreed to refer me to an ENT. Months went by; several appointments were made and then cancelled by the NHS; I gave up and went to a private ENT who put the camera up my nose. He said he could see nothing wrong and gave me a Neilmed squeezy bottle nasal irrigator with sachets of special saline.

More background: I have progressive memory loss and frequently get confused.

When I got home I used the bottle once (correctly, I think), then discovered it had to be sterilised after each use. Since I have no care, it took a month to clean and sterilise it, after which I decided to try using it a second time. I am pretty sure I mixed the solution correctly.

The instructions are in extremely small print and I read them wrong. Instead of letting water flow into one nostril and out through the other, I sealed the other nostril and attempted to let the water flow out through my mouth. Pretty soon my inner ears were full of water and I felt my head was exploding. I managed to choke a bit of water out through my mouth but that was all. I used 3/4 of the contents of the bottle this way. I then went and checked the instructions because I felt something was wrong. Needless to say, there was.

The water drained slowly out of my nose for the rest of the day and I've been left with headache, dizziness, pain in my inner ears and my cheekbones. I'm even more exhausted than usual and I am nauseated most of the time. Can anyone explain what I have done to myself?
 
Hip

Hip

Senior Member
Messages
18,109
Cheryl M said:
The water drained slowly out of my nose for the rest of the day and I've been left with headache, dizziness, pain in my inner ears and my cheekbones. I'm even more exhausted than usual and I am nauseated most of the time. Can anyone explain what I have done to myself?
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It's not unusual for the water to drain out slowly over a period of a few hours after nasal irrigation. This is because when you irrigate the nasal cavity, water will also flow into the sinus cavities, which connect to your nasal cavity via a tiny hole.

But because the hole is tiny, the water does not drain out straight away from the sinus cavities, but may drain out slowly later, often when you turn your head, or look downwards.

I doubt that you have hurt yourself from this irrigation.
 
Hip

Hip

Senior Member
Messages
18,109
Cheryl M said:
Well, it's been three days now :/
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Maybe you forced some water (and some bacteria) into the tubes which run from the nasal cavity to the ears (Eustachian tubes). Perhaps that might be the cause of the symptoms you are experiencing (headache, dizziness, pain in inner ears and cheekbones).

You might try artificially yawning (pretending to yawn, which opens the jaw to maximum extent). Often when people have pressure building up in their ears on aeroplane flights, yawning like this can "pop" the ears and help relieve the pressure in the ear.

Perhaps you might also see your doctor, and get their opinion?
 
Hip

Hip

Senior Member
Messages
18,109
Another thing you can try is pinching your nose closed with your fingers, closing you mouth, and then creating a suction or vacuum in your nose by trying to breathe in with your lungs. This might help pull the water out of the Eustachian tubes.

Normally nasal irrigation helps clear the Eustachian tubes, which often become a bit blocked (the blockage is the reason that people's ears pop on planes, because it's these tubes which release the pressure in the ear).

It's possible that further nasal irrigation done properly might help you. You normally use warm and slightly salty water (about one gram of salt in 100 ml of water), and the salt helps clean out the gunk. There are lots of videos on YouTube showing how to do nasal irrigation (or jala neti as it is called in yoga).
 
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