Allergic reaction to the pool

Sconsey

Hi,

I've been swimmin for a couple of years now, maybe two or three times a week. Over the last year I appear to have developed an allergy to the pool water. It took a long time to figure out what was causing the reaction because it doesnt happen when I get in the pool. I normally go swimming at lunch time and find that my sinuses go crazy in the early evening. For a long time I thought it was something at home or something I am eating, but after a lot of trial and error I am now sure it is linked to the pool, it only happens on days when I've been swimming.

I'm sure I am not the only one who has had this problem but I wonder if anyone has any advice on how to minimise the symptoms? I read that using a nasal wash after swimming can help but that seems very messy

Thanks

mad m

Do you have a nose clip? Couple lads I swim with have nose clips and ear plugs. One suffers terrible if he doesn't wear them

Oryx

I cant swim in a pool without a nose clip or I will have awful issues for up to 48 hours afterwards. The clips take a little getting used to but theyre grand once you do. I heard of the nasal wash stuff, but couldnt get around the idea of squirting stuff up my nose.

griffin100

Oryx wrote: »

I cant swim in a pool without a nose clip or I will have awful issues for up to 48 hours afterwards. The clips take a little getting used to but theyre grand once you do. I heard of the nasal wash stuff, but couldnt get around the idea of squirting stuff up my nose.

I'm a nasal wash person. I used to have the same problem but now when I finish a swim now I use a lucozade sport bottle filled with clean water and I gently squirt water up each nostril a few times until I can feel the water on the back of my throat. It takes some getting used to and you will gag at first but it's way better than dealing with a blocked nose for days on end. I used to follow that up with a squirt of flixonase up each nostril which also helped, but now that I swim in a low chlorine pool I don't need to do this bit, but still wash the nose out after every swim.

Swimmer2

Where are you swimming?

It could be something in the water. Is the pool white flag audited? Part of this accreditation is regular water quality checks.

Developing an allergic reaction to a well maintained pool would be irregular.

Are you a hayfever sufferer?

Rented Mule

Swimmer2 wrote: »

Where are you swimming?

It could be something in the water. Is the pool white flag audited? Part of this accreditation is regular water quality checks.

I was a lifeguard for many years in the Chicago Park District. We dealt with some very old pools/ pools in older buildings. One of the pools that we ran had an issue with people having similar issues as yourself. There was also an issue of very itchy skin a few hours after swimming.

What we had found out after doing some research was that an old 'oil tank' (for lack of a better word) had been filled over without being drained several decades ago. It was causing some extreme discomfort for many of the swimmers.

We were brought in as the 'control group' without being told as to why we were assigned to play a water polo game one Tuesday morning. Who was going to complain about that? Several hours later we all got calls asking how we felt. They then explained why were we sent there.

I would ask around and see if anyone else is having issues with the pool. It might be a long shot. but you never know.

pc11

If it's an allergy you could try an anti-histamine. Usually taking them the night before is best as they may cause drowsiness. I had an a nasal allergy spray many years ago also that seemed to help with hay fever.