water additives??

[fkarl]

I have bad allergies and was wondering if, since when i was a kid that vicks vaporub in a vaporizer helped, I put some in my humidifier it might help as well? Anybody ever try this??

[N6CRV]

Hello, you really don't want to put anything in the humidifier but water. What you might want to try is put some Vicks on a dish and set it near the air intake. That should be safe and still allow you to get the vapors.
Don

[Bearded_One]

Vicks Vaporub is not a decongestant; the perceived breathing improvement was an illusion caused by an irritant action, which caused you to feel a cooling sensation.

You would be better off to try nasal irrigation using a netti pot or to use Afrin for a day or two. If you have chronic congestion, you might want to talk to your doctor about starting on a steroidal nasal spray.

[mars]

Hi

If you want to improve the quality of air where you live you might try

1 A vapouriser, perhaps with a decongestant additive

and/or

2 A negative ion machine, perhaps with an ultraviolet element to kill some of those allergens..

cheers

Mars

[RipVW]

Ditto! Never put anything in the humidifer water.

[fkarl]

Ok, thanks folks. i just thought it sounded good but I can see your points that its not. Netti pot eh? i don;t think I could do that. I am not convinced that those air purifiers work.... is there one specifically that you could point me to so I could do some research?
Thanks all

[DreamStalker]

Good thing it only costs $179 to replace your H3i humidifier unit ...

Only distilled water should go into you HH!!

[Driver59]

I know what you mean about the Netti Pot. Let's see put enough water in one nostril so that it runs out the other nostril, nope didn't sound like a good idea to me. I did though start nasal irrigation a couple of months ago and it really isn't a big deal. The relief I got from it was well worth giving it a try. My nasal passages stay clear through the night and most of the next day. I use a Mirage Liberty mask and am able to breathe freely through my nose all night. I don't use a Netti Pot, I use a poultry flavor injecting syringe with a little sea salt and baking soda in warm filtered water. I started out rinsing every night, but now only need to about twice a week. When you breathe better, you sleep better. Those plastic syringes are only a couple of dollars, so you haven't spent too much if it doesn't work for you.
Don

[mars]

Ok, thanks folks. i just thought it sounded good but I can see your points that its not. Netti pot eh? i don;t think I could do that. I am not convinced that those air purifiers work.... is there one specifically that you could point me to so I could do some research?
Thanks all

I did my research initially on Google using "negative ions" and "negative ioniser" as my keywords. Now all I have to do is see how much dust and allergens the machine has collected in a few days, stuff I am no longer breathing in.

The brand I have is IonMax, but that is in Australia. What you have in the US no doubt Google will tell you.

When I first installed the machines (I have one in every room) I could tell the difference in the air I was breathing. It seemed fresher to me (all subjective of course).

The vapouriser stops my throat from being irritated by either warm dry air or cold dry air, it also help with the humidity output by my machine.

Good luck in your research

cheers

Mars

[DreamStalker]

I know what you mean about the Netti Pot. Let's see put enough water in one nostril so that it runs out the other nostril, nope didn't sound like a good idea to me. I did though start nasal irrigation a couple of months ago and it really isn't a big deal. The relief I got from it was well worth giving it a try. My nasal passages stay clear through the night and most of the next day. I use a Mirage Liberty mask and am able to breathe freely through my nose all night. I don't use a Netti Pot, I use a poultry flavor injecting syringe with a little sea salt and baking soda in warm filtered water. I started out rinsing every night, but now only need to about twice a week. When you breathe better, you sleep better. Those plastic syringes are only a couple of dollars, so you haven't spent too much if it doesn't work for you.
Don

I would not use "sea" salt. It may have unfriendly contaminants. Stick with plain Morton salt without the Iodine additive.

[Driver59]

DreamStalker,
Thanks, never thought much about whether using sea salt was good or not. Ran out of non iodized salt and had sea salt so started using it. I read somewhere on the net to use pickling salt or canning salt and I have some, would that work as well?
Don

[DreamStalker]

DreamStalker,
Thanks, never thought much about whether using sea salt was good or not. Ran out of non iodized salt and had sea salt so started using it. I read somewhere on the net to use pickling salt or canning salt and I have some, would that work as well?
Don

Yep ... that works better than sea salt. Sea salt will have various minerals and also dead organisms (plankton etc.). It may be ok but I would not risk some weird infection from sea salt.

Pickling salt should be ok.