I'm home sick and a very unhappy camper. Living in the North East, we suffer through our brutal winters waiting for 3 months of summer. Most of June was a wash due to bad weather. Two weeks into July and I got a wallup of a sinus infection. In 2 days I used almost an entire box of tissues! I've never been sick in the summer in my 50+ years. So the only thing different this year is that I joined a new outdoor community pool. I swim first thing in the morning before the crowds come in, but I notice lots of stuff on the bottom of the pool (goes to 10') including some hair balls. Yuk. Also, it's chlorinated, and I've been swimming in salt water pools for the last year. I'm thinking the pool is the culprit. How can I find out if they are maintaining proper levels?
A possibility that just occurred to me is that what seemed to be a sinus infection might've actually been extreme irritation be due to too much chlorine (as opposed to too little, leading to too many infection-causing nasties in the water). If I remember correctly, that pool seemed to cause more eye irritation as well, which is usually a result of high chlorine levels.
A couple summers ago, when my usual pool closed for two weeks and I had to switch to another, my nose went crazy. It was really bad. Nose plugs helped some. But as soon as I went back to my usual pool, the problem went away. So the problem could very well be your new pool. I never figured out if it was the chlorine or something else though. (Neither pool looked any cleaner/dirtier than the other.) Hope you find a way to resolve the issue.
Michael, do you think they will tell me that the levels are off?:DThey probably won’t say if the levels are on or off. But they should be willing to let you look at their log book where they record the testing results. If they won’t, then you can always bring your own test kit.
A possibility that just occurred to me is that what seemed to be a sinus infection might've actually been extreme irritation be due to too much chlorine (as opposed to too little, leading to too many infection-causing nasties in the water). If I remember correctly, that pool seemed to cause more eye irritation as well, which is usually a result of high chlorine levels.
Interesting point, Greg, since I've noticed that I reek of chlorine and there's a white film on my very tan arms even after I've rinsed down after my swim. I never noticed that before in the other pools I swam in.
just saw this The salt water pools also have chlorine, but just by a different process, The indoor pools are terrible for me, but not the outdoor because the chlorine escapes. II don't think it's the chlorine.
