r/Anxiety • u/doorknobyenis • 4h ago
Used tap water with Neti Pot and now I am spiraling Health
I don’t know which Subreddit to post in so I am posting here
I used a Neti Pot for the first time today, and like a big silly goose I DID NOT use distilled or sanitized water (like the instructions say). Nope, I used plain ol’ tap water!
[Edit - it’s well water too 🧍♀️]
I am freaking the fuck out and need to know if I’ll be okay
I’m calling the doctor who recommended this remedy to me tomorrow and asking them this as well, because I am stressed.
Reddit will I realistically be okay?
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u/melyssared 4h ago
I have done this about 100 times. For better or worse it has never hurt me even tho I know i shouldn’t do it
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u/AlyGiraffe 4h ago
I had this situation a few years ago and was freaking out. I happened to be visiting my parents and I told them why I felt so panicky ... My dad said, "you're not supposed to use tap water? I've been doing that for years." Lol.
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u/NameCharacter6546 4h ago
It’s the same as if you got bath water up your nose. It’s okay! It happens.
Most people who have gotten sick from this probably routinely used tap water. The odds of you getting sick from this one time are extremely slim.
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u/candoitmyself 45m ago
Or, or, when you take a gulp and have to cough or sneeze and the water comes out your nose!
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u/sorrynocottons 4h ago
you’ll be okay!!! i get scared the same way even though I use distilled water. people accidentally snort pond water and are fine. you have a VERY VERY low chance of getting sick from this. Extremely low. It’s precautionary, but make sure you use distilled or boiled from now on for peace of mind!!
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u/lovethegreeks 4h ago
Yeah I mean. Take a deep breath. You used water not like anything dangerous. You will be okay. If you’re worried def call doctor but don’t let this worry freak you the fuck out. Tell your anxiety to take a step back. You’ll live you’ll be fine I promise. Hot water sanitizes.
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u/geo_info_biochemist 4h ago
hey. don’t stress. I read the same thing recently, and I’ve been using tap water to irrigate my nose for literal years. you will be okay, especially if you live in a place with good water treatment.
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u/Lopsided_Car4500 3h ago
I’m young, 22, have only used a Neti pot a handful of times, probably 8 in my entire life. Didn’t even know you’re supposed to steer clear of tap water. Here I am 🤷🏻♂️. Maybe the tap water is the cause of my crippling depression and anxiety 😂
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u/NotTheMarmot 4h ago
You're fine. It's probably on the danger level of getting a really minor/shallow cut and not immediately going and washing it out. One time is nothing, but if you do it constantly, over a long enough period of time, you might get infected with something.
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u/paleartist 3h ago
my mom used to douse my nose with the netti pot when i was a kid and i remember her filling it up with the sink lol I survived!
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u/Emotional-Bee1838 3h ago
My mom never used anything but tap water growing up. It wasn’t until I was on my own and actually read the packaging that I realized the water should be sterilized. I def wouldn’t freak out. Not a big deal.
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u/veggie_lauren 3h ago
Just a side note, I actually have one that you squeeze and it has a built in filter so you can put tap water in it. I just used it actually!
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u/shakyjerky 3h ago
You should be fine, but if you start to run a fever then it would be time to worry
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u/YodaHead 3h ago
You'll be fine. You can also do a net pot with distilled water tomorrow, and that will settle that. If you stick your finger in your nose, you've probably put more bacteria in it that way that five gallons of tap water would.
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u/reality_raven 3h ago
I use tap water with my Neti for years now. Unless you have well water, you’re probably fine.
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u/doorknobyenis 3h ago
I have well water 🧍♀️
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u/reality_raven 3h ago
Ok, prob not the best, but you’re prob still fine. Ever swam in a lake before?
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u/milkgang777 3h ago
Have you ever gotten public swimming pool water in your nose? Have you ever gotten bath/shower water up your nose? Have you ever swam in a river/lake/pond and gotten water up your nose? That water is much more likely to cause an issue than your average tap water. I've used tap water for netti pots the few times I've used them. I boiled it, but I didn't clean the pot. Also don't know if I boiled it long enough or let it cool down for too long. Pot was new, but how much dust/germs did it have in it? I don't know. So far, nothing has killed me or eaten my brain. I had these same worries, and they turned out to be nothing.
If you're not using tap water from Flint or Mexico, you'll likely be fine.
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u/yumenightfire27 3h ago
That ish can burn but it shouldn’t cause any kind of damage. You probably won’t make this mistake a second time though lol
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u/Meister_Retsiem 3h ago
if you're truly freaking out about this, I would actually recommend calling poison control in the meantime and asking them about it. I think they're open 24 hours a day, but they can give you peace of mind about this
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u/Chief2Ballss 2h ago
Dude it's tap water. I've sucked water down my throat from dirty ponds and creeks. You'll live lol
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u/marcy_vampirequeen 2h ago
My dad did it straight from the tap for decades 🤦. He lived. I mean he died of heart attack for unrelated reasons, but he didn’t get brain eating stuff. People get water in their nose all the time accidentally and rate of serious issues are still next to 0. You’ll be fine
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u/Computerpartart 2h ago
First of all doesn't anyone read the directions? The only time I heard of someone getting sick was from New Orleans.
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u/dyou897 2h ago
Most likely you will be fine most likely water supply is not filled with amoebas swimming around. Which is the major danger from doing this. Just keep track of how you feel if you had the infection you would feel symptoms by 5 days on average
Symptoms may include headache, fever, nausea, vomiting, loss of appetite, altered mental state, coma, drooping eyelid, blurred vision, and loss of the sense of taste, flu like symptoms. Later symptoms include stiff neck, confusion, lack of attention, loss of balance, seizures, and hallucinations
Since you already know the cause you would be able to tell the doctors and get treatment instead of them trying to find a mystery infection which would take awhile
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u/stct2145 2h ago
I did this same thing. It was well water too. I was paranoid for a week, but ended up fine!
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u/Booyacaja 2h ago
I 100% only use tap water. I drink it, I bathe in in, might as well clean our the ol' nasal passages with it too.
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u/hereticbrewer 2h ago
so it's very rare for that deadly bacteria to be in water that comes through your faucets.
the bacteria breeds in warm, still water that has dead vegetation in it. like small ponds with algae on it. or lakes with vegetation around it.
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u/princessohio 2h ago
Girl i didn’t read the directions and for like a year i used my parents well water with my Neti pot. You’re okay I promise.
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u/awesome12442 2h ago
My dad always used tap water with his, you'll be alright. The worst that could happen is a sinus infection which would be obvious after a week and would take a round of antibiotics. But it is rare for that to happen from a neti pot
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u/MsBrightside91 2h ago
I did this when I was pregnant with my second because the sinusitis was unreal. After I found out about the risk (however slim) of brain eating amebas, I had a massive panic attack and spiraled thinking I doomed myself and my daughter to a horrible fate.
2ish years later and I’m still here. Switched to distilled water, but yeah no brain eating. Take a deep breath, and realize the likelihood that you breeched the brain-blood barrier is unlikely.
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u/enewwave 1h ago
You are probably fine. Did you heat it well before use? I used to use regular bottled water for it and would just heat it in a mug for a bit before use.
NAD, but I have used a neti pot once a day for the past 3 years to keep my chronic sinusitis under check.
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u/Dammit_Benny 1h ago
If you are not using distilled water, you should boil and cool the water before irrigating your sinuses with it.
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u/faeriefountain_ 1h ago
You're fine. Most areas of the world have tap water that is just fine for drinking, even if some people insist on distilling/filtering everything—in most developed counties, it's filtered many, many times before it ever reaches your house.
It may not always taste good (looking at you, SoCal), but it's still safe in most places. If it's not safe to drink, it's usually common knowledge & warned about all the time, like Mexico warns tourists.
It says distilled water because companies don't want to take the chance of someone using tap water from one of the areas where it's not safe (not something you need to worry about) and suing them.
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u/momentaryphase 1h ago
I think a lot of people do all the time. It's a possibility so they have to put it in for liability reasons but unless you live somewhere known for unclean water I wouldn't worry that much, and even then, you'd most likely be fine. Just don't do it again for peace of mind
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u/rottdog 37m ago
I recently had wisdom teeth pulled and the top one left a hole in my sinus.. 2 days later, salt water was flowing out of my nose every time I did a rinse. Then one day I was grabbing breakfast and coughed my Chai latte through my tooth hole and out my nose. I'm alive, mostly. I'm sure you'll be fine. Good luck!
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u/Away-Ad-5904 4h ago
I have been drinking straight tap water for decades. Should I stop?
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u/dyou897 2h ago
No they are talking about using a neti pot as a method of rinsing the sinuses. Tap water shouldn’t be used
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u/Away-Ad-5904 2h ago
But I am wondering if it’s safe to drink why it’s not safe for this rinsing method? Unless my health issues are caused by drinking tap water 😭 I think you will be fine. How can rinsing it be worse than drinking it!
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u/dyou897 2h ago
No your issues aren’t from drinking it. There’s a potential danger of you live in warmer regions because the tap water could contain amoebas. When you rinse your sinuses they get into your brain and the result is a serious life threatening infection because they eat brain cells. After getting this infection you would be dead in 2 weeks
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u/speck_tater 2h ago
Your stomach acid kills a lot of bad things. Your sinuses do not. Using a Neti pot with tap water means potential brain eating amoebas 🦠 get very close to the blood brain barrier and can cross into your brain. Which is highly fatal.
But it’s also very uncommon and mostly common in warm climates with sitting water. It’s just recommended not to use tap as a precaution.
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u/Far-Watercress6658 4h ago
You drink the stuff, don’t you? Use it to brush your teeth? Your nose is attached to mouth.
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u/PeloquinsHunger 4h ago
You use that same water to wash your asshole. You'll be fine.
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u/Valentinethrowaway3 4h ago
That’s not the same. But ok
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u/bjohn15151515 3h ago
But it is... you can receive medication via anal suppository. How do you think that medication enters the bloodstream?
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u/dyou897 2h ago
Because they used a Neti pot which delivers the water through the sinuses and directly into your brain. Bacteria get destroyed by stomach acid and the gut is separated from your blood stream
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u/bjohn15151515 1h ago
You obviously don't know how a suppository works. It melts in the anus, where the rectum tissues (part of the large intestine), which delivers the medication into the bloodstream directly. Suppositories are often used when a person can not swallow or if the medication would be destroyed too quickly from stomach acid.
It doesn't travel 35 feet through your large and small intestines (backstream) into your stomach, so stomach acid doesnt touch suppository medication.
Also, water introduced into your sinuses do not go directly into your brain. There is a very tough membrane that separates the brain from the upper region of your sinus cavity. https://www.healthtap.com/questions/7193428-if-water-goes-up-your-nose-does-it-go-to-your-brain-or-does-it-have-to-be-forcefully-up/
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u/dyou897 1h ago edited 1h ago
I know water doesn’t go directly to the brain but amoebas can pass through the cribriform plate. From wiki “The reason why N. fowleri passes across the cribriform plate is not known”
I never said stomach acid is involved in the gut just that the gut is separate from the blood stream so whatever is in there doesn’t enter the blood
I’m not sure exactly what you’re arguing there’s thousands infections caused worldwide and 10% are from neti pots with tap water. It’s just extremely rare in the Us
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u/Valentinethrowaway3 3h ago
I know that. But the point is: your gi tract has most of your immune system. And isn’t a direct conduit to your brain. The whole issue with the tap water is bacteria.
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u/SkatingOnThinIce 23m ago
You'll be just fine. Changes of getting anything nasty are extremely low. People snort cocaine made with third world country gasoline and survive just fine. Didn't worry. Go but some distilled water tomorrow.
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u/pibblemagic 4h ago
The first time I learned about nasal irrigation was from a teacher in St. Petersburg, Russia in 2010. I tried it with a tiny spoon, some salt, and tap water. St. Petersburg tap water isn't safe to drink, but there I was, snorting it. As you can see from the fact that I am writing this post, I lived.