Every time I start back swimming, I get sinusitis. I can lay off of swimming for about a month and it clears up. There appears to be some research to indicate that this happens to some people, but I cannot find any indication that there is anything that can be done to stop it. I will have to stop swimming altogether if I cannot find a way to control this. I have tried nose clips, but I still get infected sinuses.
Has anyone had this problem and found a solution that worked for them?
Last year my pool quit using chlorine and changed to a salt pool. All my sinus problems went away.:bliss: And it's been so much better for my hair and skin. :)
You're lucky -- I swim in a scy salt pool and consistently have sinus problems from it.
Flonase does wonders, but I try to limit my use of it. Saline and neti pot have never seemed to help. Now that I'm used to it I won't ever give up my nose clip.
I've had really bad rhinitis ater swimming for six months and have tried everything. However, a few weeks ago I had swine flu which hit me pretty hard.
I've had a very slight runny nose for two weeks (nothing too bad but just a hang on from the flu) but in the first four sessions since the flu I have not had rhinitis once.
I have no idea what's going on and I hope it stays like this because I feel so much better. Can rhinitis be a transient thing?
I had a similar reaction for about two years, fifteen years ago, after drinking red wine. If I had a couple of glasses of red wine I woke up the next morning sneezing really badly. That passed too.
What happens if sinusitis is left untreated? I only went to the doctor once for my sinusitis and got t treated but it came back several times after that and I just took ibuprofen for it and it worked for a little while but it comes back every couple of weeks. Is it that bad if I leave this untreated like I have before?
It is now 10 years after my initial post on this. I was searching again to see if I could find any new solutions to my problem, and I came upon this thread. I have tried everything listed in these suggestions but still have the problem. After not swimming for several years, I swam for about 20 minutes a few weeks ago and, that night, could feel the sinus issue coming on again. I really miss being able to swim, so if anyone has any new ideas, I would love to try them.
Have you tried a nose plug? That is what worked for me.
Anna Lea
It is now 10 years after my initial post on this. I was searching again to see if I could find any new solutions to my problem, and I came upon this thread. I have tried everything listed in these suggestions but still have the problem. After not swimming for several years, I swam for about 20 minutes a few weeks ago and, that night, could feel the sinus issue coming on again. I really miss being able to swim, so if anyone has any new ideas, I would love to try them.
I hate that anyone suffers from this, but am glad I'm not alone. For me I am pretty convinced the particular facility where my team swims is the culprit - it's terribly stuffy in there and has poor circulation. Even with a nose plug and not doing flip turns I was having problems. When I swim at a different pool I seem to be ok. I hope you find relief!
Agreed. I think a lot of it has to do with the facility and the indoor/outdoor air quality. If you have allergies or asthma probably even more susceptible. My environmental allergy test lights up like a Christmas tree (everything tests positive) and whenever I would tell allergists that the pool made problems worse I basically got the hairy eyebrow. I would come out itchy eyes, itchy nose and sneezing...from an indoor pool with poor air quality. I think that if your passages are inflamed or struggling with other issues poor pool water or air quality can really add to the irritation. I feel like I'm finally at a place where my allergies are under control with a combination of meds. I don't have any problems with any of the pools I swim in anymore. The previous itchy eyeball pool has been torn down because the entire school had ventilation problems too big to handle so I can't say if it would still be a problem. But I walked into an old pool area the other day to observe lessons and I was very itchy after watching for an hour without even going in the pool.
Point being...make sure any other ENT problems are under control and even then you just might have to find a different pool.
For me, Flonase has been the answer. It took about two weeks following the package directions but I started to see results after the first week. Hope this helps someone else too.
