Life At Slow-Mo

My wife had a bad case of nasal congestion at the onset of her Covid-19 episode. At one time, both her nostrils were blocked she had to breathe through her mouth. “Maybe nasal spray can help,” I told her.

Because the SARS-CoV-2 virus enters the body through the mouth and nose, Covid-19 patients should rinse their nose and their mouth to reduce the viral load in those areas. One journal article advocates nasal irrigation and oral rinse as additional procedures to current public health measures.

I am very familiar with oral rinsing because it is part of the daily oral hygiene practice along with tooth brushing and flossing. Nasal irrigation, or rinsing of the nasal cavity, was new for me.

I looked up the subject and I found that normal saline solution is the most used as a cleaner fluid in nasal sprays. It contains 0.9% salt. It is often used as IV fluid to prevent dehydration and electrolyte imbalance and to clean most wounds.

When searching online for nasal sprays, I found at least three methods of nasal rinse:

• Syringe. Buy an IV bottle and some syringes. Fill a syringe with normal saline fluid, stick it up your nostril, and press the plunger until it’s empty. A set of 500ml normal saline IV bottle and syringes costs about IDR 30,000 (USD 2.10). 500 ml saline water is enough for several thorough washes. The only downside is you have to refill the syringe for every spray.
• Pressurized Cans. All you need to do is just put the nozzle in the nostril and spray. This is the most convenient method. You can keep one can in your purse (or man-purse) for everyday use. The downside is that in my country, the only available aerosol nasal sprays are imported. The one I found is made in France. One can costs about IDR 155,000 (USD 11.00). One can is good for about 150 sprays.
• Nasal Wash Bottle. This is similar to the first method, except that instead of using syringes, you can get a wash bottle. Fill the 300 ml bottle with normal saline fluid, hold it upside down, put the nozzle in the nostril, and press the small button at the bottom of the bottle. Gravity will push the fluid down and up the nozzle into the nostril with enough force to make it come out of the other nostril. You can use saline IV fluid. Or you can buy a box of nasal saline salt and dissolve one packet in 300 ml water, which is enough for two or three washes. One wash bottle and a box of 50 saline packets cost IDR 85,000 (around USD 6.00).

As you can conclude from the pictures, we used the aerosol (middle pic) and wash bottle (right pic) with saline packets (left pic). When I tried the wash bottle, I spent the whole 330 ml fluid in one go. Now I know how to make the fluid come out of the other nostril, I think I can use that much fluid for two wash sessions.