I know about sinus infections. Sinuses hurt because there’s an infection in there. The warm salt water solution cleans the pus from your sinus cavities. That’s the green goo that comes out. The salt water cleans out the cavities and helps you recover from the infection.
Your friendly local pharmacist will give you a plastic syringe (minus the needle). These cost him about a nickel each. Put a 1/4 tsp. of salt in 4 oz. of warm water and squirt it up either nostril as you snort it, alternating from side to side till the water is gone. It’s cheaper than a Neti pot, very portable, and puts the solution deep in.
I am trying not to let my flute get passed around in a session. Christy Barry, for instance, is very leery about letting other people play his flute. I try to say “no, sorry,” as nicely as I can and just say that I am trying to avoid getting sick this winter. I also have been avoiding trying other flutes. I do not want to deal with getting sick this winter.
Kissing an attractive stranger is something else…
David,
Thanks for the advice about the syringe and salt water. This sounds more “do-able” for me than a Neti pot (just the name frightens me.)
I also agree about the dangers of flute-sharing. One hates to seem rude, but a person also needs to protect their health.
I teach music to elementary age students, and one facet of that involves playing the recorder in 4th grade. Some of the kids like to swap headjoints, middle joints, etc. because the Yamaha recorders come in different colors. I warn them about the dangers of this, particularly since a few have told me their dog has chewed on their recorder! You never know who or what might have been playing an instrument. Hopefully, the same would not be true at a session! 
Thanks, Jeanie
i think she’ll play your flute after you’ve kissed her 
I have a bunch of plastic syringes laying around that I have used to refill printer inkjet cartridges. Instead of using a syringe, however, I refill a half-ounce nasal spray bottle with salt water. The one that I have has a hand pump on top (Nasalcrom), so that it ejects the contents as a mist rather than stream of liquid. It is very easy to use, so you can use it frequently.
Oh my! You folks are soooo dependent upon technology!
Lacking the above, you can simply pour the salt water into your cupped palm and snort it.
It works.
Or, you can go to the opposite extreme, like my husband Paul. He uses a water pic, with a special nasal attachment. His ENT doc recommended it for his repeated sinus infections. Paul calls it the nose picker. 
Dana
My wife, who never wants to live more than a few miles from a beach, used to use perhaps the ultimate low-tech method. She would float face-down in the ocean with her hands on the bottom and inhale salt water until it cleared.
– Don
i would like to point out that you should not “snort” salt water up your nose. that will put it far into your sinuses, thus making the problem worse. gravity should do it. this is why it is also important to keep your throat open (beginners should say the abc’s) because again… it will go up into your sinuses. then you’ll get a headache and wonder why its not working.
i’ve never tried a syringe, but in principle it should be the same. if you use a syringe, make sure to have your head sideways, the nostril you are pouring into on top. gravity should pull the salt water through, not force by “snorting” or “injecting”.
how thankful i am that we play flutes with our mouths
Yeah, imagine playing a nose flute with a sinus infection…
After a lifetime of sinus misery, I finally took my doc’s advice and started daily “saline therapy.” And so far, I’ve made it six months without an infection – a record for me! Better yet, I’ve been able to back off from taking Claritin D every day to a more “as-needed” basis. (Although “as-needed” is still fairly frequent for me, being as I live in the allergy capital of the world)
Other saline options …
You can buy an inexpensive kit at the drugstore that’s basically a squirt bottle and premeasured packets of the stuff.
Or, in a pinch, just buy some of that “Ocean” or generic saline nasal spray at any grocery or drug store. If you want to get really aggressive, tip your head back when you spray (but get ready to cough!). It’s not a bad idea to do this in the shower.
The minute you feel any sort of nasal infection coming on, start using it.
Hope this helps!
(Please do not throw your flutes at me for my really bad pun. Unless of course they play wonderfully, are reasonably priced, and are not sinus infectiony).
I’m not an expert here, but a couple of things not yet mentioned can help.
1)Warm mist (humidifier)–every night. You could run a shower too, however this is not water-efficient
2)antihistamine (but NOT Benadryl)–you want an antihistamine that isn’t drying (this tends to thicken the mucus and cause the sinus infection to persist)–loratadine or desloratidine based ones are ok (make sure there’s nothing else added to it).
3)rest!
4)Fluids
5)Going to the doctor-- (don’t forget this if your sinus infection is severe or ongoing). Don’t wait till things get worse!
6)Please note, there are people around who need sinus surgery to completely rid them of chronic sinus infections. Going to see the doctor first may be helpful in preventing this issue.
Hope this helps!
EEEEEEEEEEWWWWWWWWW!!!