I’ve seen that you should buy distilled water to rinse your nose with, but I probably get regular water in my eyes and nose when I shower anyways wouldn’t it be dangerous while showering also?
In: Biology
The water you get in your nose and eyes in the shower doesn’t penetrate into your sinuses in most cases, vs if you are doing some sort of netty pot or nasal rinse you are sending that water far deeper then normal water would get.
What about if I go swimming in a lake? Doesnt that expose your sinuses to some sort of bacteria that may be in the lake?
What about ocean water after getting taken out by the waves?
Neglaria. It’s a brain eating amoeba that gets in through your nose and can live in fresh water
It depends on the quality of tap water where you live. If it is high quality then you can use it. It’s also the same with wound care: in some countries you shouldn’t wash a wound with tap water because of the low quality water.
https://www.healthline.com/health-news/person-dies-from-brain-eating-amoeba-after-sinus-rinse#:~:text=A%20person%20in%20southwest%20Florida,23%20in%20a%20news%20release%20.
A person in southwest Florida died after being infected with Naegleria fowleri, commonly known as the “brain-eating amoeba.”
The infection occurred “possibly as a result of sinus rinse practices utilizing tap water,”
Most likely due to the fact that tap water can have different ranges of organisms or bacteria in it, which could at irritate your sinuses. Distilled water at least gets rid of that risk.
Also, “clearing” your sinuses by breathing in the steam from a shower is very different than flushing them with a direct squirt of water directly up your nose.
Yeah. Theres that lady in Seattle who got the brain eating bacteria from washing out her sinuses with tap water. https://www.cbsnews.com/amp/news/woman-dies-from-brain-eating-amoeba-after-using-neti-pot-tap-water-to-rinse-sinuses/
Flushing your sinuses is an entirely different ballgame than just getting the lower 5 mm of your nostrils slightly moist.
There is a very thin membrane in your sinuses that leads to your brain. Tap water can be contaminated with microbes that can pass this barrier and cause various brain infections, in addition to the chlorine and fluoride not being very good for your delicate sinus skin. Sealed distilled water on the other hand is sterile and pure.
That is _mainly_ a concern for deep sinus douches like Neti. Just cleaning out your nostrils with wet hands is a lesser issue
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