Comment Re:Try a Neti Pot (Score 1) 87
What your wife experiences is different from those of us with a chronic sinus infection. Saline rinses only flush out the passages between the nose and the mouth. They don't reach the tear ducts or the sub-mandibular glands. For people like your wife, saline rinses are very effective. What I have is a latent infection that cannot fully heal. It's not the same thing.
I've had sinus infections for 30 years. When my sinuses are inflamed all the drainage passages close off. For about 20 years my sinuses flared up approximately every 7 days, with a 3 day recovery for each flare. After having surgery on my sinuses I got it down to every two weeks.
I now have a routine involving moist heat, regular cleaning of the ears and gargling twice a day with Listerine (original, not the sweet stuff). If everything is stable, the Listerine gargle creates suction that draws out fluid. When my sinuses do get inflamed, I have one last resort. That's when I use a straw to drip Listerine directly into my nose. It hurts like hell but also causes all the glands in the head to release at once, flushing out what a saline rinse can't.
Let me be clear about this. This is what I do, and it is not medical advice. Every doctor I've talked to has looked at me flabbergasted when I tell them about this. There are serious and valid concerns about accidentally ingesting a form of alcohol that is not intended for human consumption. On the other hand, the doctors don't have a treatment that can fix the problem.