instruction: hello doctor first of all I have an anxiety disorder so I got shaken up by bad news a lot and I just want to ask you about this I am afraid of this and please can you give me an answer that does not scare me more I have had sensitive nasal passages and mild end for about 12 years I get very dry sinuses when the temperature is low and it can sometimes clog up my ears and nose I keep it in check by using nasal rinse with neilmed purified salt and alkalol all natural products these work great we live in a small island country where we get water from mountains straight into a commercial cleaning station with filters and laser I have always used this clean tap water in a netipot and then pour a little bit of boiled water into the netipot to get the temperature perfect but now this morning when my sinus feel dry and just by accident I googled what is the best water is to use in netipot and all kinds of warnings pop put that you should never use tap water for netipot a google report says that tap water is not safe for use as a nasal rinse because it is not adequately filtered or treated some tap water contains low levels of organisms such as bacteria and protozoa including amoebas that may be safe to swallow because stomach acid kills them but in your nose these organisms can stay alive in nasal passages and cause potentially serious infections they can even be fatal in some rare cases very well I can very fast shift to distilled water and sterile water in the future but I just want to ask you if I make these changes now can I be safe that these dangerous bacteria are not living inside my nose already and get problems in the future or would I feel sick right away if I get this after using clean tap water for years without problems can I be safe that I did not get any of these dangerous bacteria will distilled water even improve my nasal rinse
output: hello thanks for the detailed history first of all netipot nasal washes are a great way to keep your nose and sinuses clean this method is used in india from ancient times it is a part of yoga practice now you can understand that neti pot washes what was used centuries back were always from tap water and there are no complications written anywhere in the older textbooks and even in yoga literature it is the duty of health department of the country to warn the citizens regarding the use of regular tap water because in some places it may be impure it should not be generalized our body and nose in particular have tremendous local defense mechanisms against bacteria and they can very well take care of small amounts of bacteria if at all they are present in normal water since you have not developed any significant signs and symptoms of infection there is no need to worry tap water has not caused any problems in future you can use boiled and cooled tap water for nasal washes that could take care of bacteria and any remote chance of infection