I bought one about a year ago, and there is nothing to fear. Seeing someone else using one may look freaky, but it’s no more uncomfortable than blowing your nose, putting on socks or combing your hair.
I use the “Neil Med” version, which I picked up at a Walgreens. It’s no miracle cure, but it helps.
I seem to recall something in New Scientist about honey being effective, but that to be effective it needed to be local honey as it is thus loaded with the local irritants your body can practice getting over.
a “schnozz” is a nose
Damn, and all these years I’ve been using kleenex on the wrong thing. >.<
They mention to avoid honey in kids for the first couple months to a year of them being born, I suspect it’s to do with what you mentioned.
This is actually because honey can cause an infant to get thr botulism on.
Huh?
I believe that a doctor at one point prescribed a placebo for me because when I was about 10-2 I was so blindingly frightened of vomiting that I wouldn’t eat enough food to…well, to live, really. So my dad took me to freaky blue-eyed doctor lady and she prescribed something that came in a liquid and tasted like Caro Syrup. And, as far as I have been able to tell, was. And it worked to a great extent - I stopped picking at my food like an anorexic.
I guess my dad could have been in on it - I never got a chance to ask him.
But doctors can definitely prescribe placebo pills according to what Dunning had to say on one Skeptoid or another (I’ll need to find the link) - any pharmacy should keep a stock of them, and depending on the regulations you may or may not be able to get them over the counter (on account of they don’t actually do anything). I’m not sure if they can do it and then lead you to believe that they’re describing something with medical effect, though.
You also could have given hookworms a try!
kleenex is for noses?