How to live with dogs and breathe (cats too, I guess)

Not used to being a trend-setter, I was quite excited to see in my local paper today that I'd started doing something almost two years ago that only recently became quite the thing. And that this thing is popular because a model demonstrated it on Oprah.

Here's where I'd like to say that the trend is an easy and glam way to fix hair, apply makeup, decorate with style, eat less fat, or earn a fortune. Nope. Can't do it. It's something with far-reaching impact and an ugly name.

It's called nasal irrigation.

For those of you thinking "Ugh" or "I thought this was about dogs," I hasten to add that this does involve dogs. I can't do anything about the ugh-factor, but it doesn't bother me any more. It's far more ugh-worthy to be unable to taste the gourmet cooking of your friends, enjoy a burger from your favorite joint or fake your way through judging a barbecue sauce contest. All of these things transpired in the months of 2006 and 2007 that I was unable to taste a darn thing.

Where do dogs enter in? My nose shuts down (and then of course my sense of taste) because I am allergic to most things living and not. This includes four-legged creatures and dust bunnies with an unknown number of legs. It includes, surprisingly, peanuts (which I love and which my doctor was surprised to see I reacted to as well). It includes cedar, mold, grasses and most trees.

When I look at the list of things that irritate my nose, lungs and skin, I think it would be easier just to list the things I am not allergic to. So in an attempt to salvage sanity, I look at the list rarely, enjoy the occasional peanut (the doctor said to "watch it," whatever that means) and to refuse to give up animals, which are a Big Deal in our household. And anyway, I am probably allergic to two-legged creatures too and I happen to like them. Or most of them.

Although the story in my  morning paper revolved around alarmingly gigantic neti pots which I am sure work just fine, I choose to use a plastic squeeze bulb which is smaller and won't break or hurt the floor if I drop it. Which I have several times. I make up the saline solution recipe that my doctor gave me one pint at a time, and use it as often as I need to. Sometimes it's just once a day after my morning walk. Sometimes it's several times a day. Depends on what's blowing around outside.

It's cheap, easy, and it keeps me smelling the delicious things I love to cook and eat. My sense of smell had deserted me for such long periods in the last two years that I am even happy to get a whiff of the more unpleasant odors of life. Use your imagination here.

Because the story in my paper didn't give the recipe for this miraculous solution, here it is:

1 pint distilled water, room temperature
1 teaspoon sea salt or canning salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
Mix well and use in good health. (I added the good health part myself)

The contents change slightly depending on your doctor. I have compared notes with a similarly allergic relative who said she never used baking soda but that the doctor told her to always use distilled water. Did your doctor demonstrate how to use it, I asked her. She told me it was a bit of a trick to learn the proper way, but her doctor helped by saying to gently sniff. That I can do, and I don't worry about anything else...like doing it the way some robed gentleman does in another country. Now those pictures are intimidating!

It works for me. If you try it, perhaps you will, like me, discover what the world is like without antihistamines and decongestants. I haven't had either since June 2007. And I can smell most things...even Sam, who doesn't stink all that much.