I've started swimming recently. I swim 3-4 days a week, and I'm enjoying it very much. I am experiencing one problem, however, that I would like to overcome if possible. Typically after swimming, my nose gets very stuffy, and this can last for as long as a day or two. It can be pretty uncomfortable, and others notice it when I speak. It's especially bad if I do a lot of backstroke or otherwise get a few good splashes up my nose.
Any suggestions will be appreciated, especially from fellow sufferers.
Parents
Former Member
I too have suffered. I was a Masters Swimmer and a lifeguard when I started getting severe congestion on days when I swam. The wierd aspect of this was that the symptoms wouldn't start until 4 hours or more after I had swum. It would get progressively worse thru the day, and be cleared up the next morning.
I have to agree this is not an 'allergy' for two reasons. First, an allergy gets better when you leave the allergic area. If it were an allergy I should have had my worst symptoms just after I swam, not hours later. Second, for me antihystimines just didn't seem to work. I would take them before I swam, and they did not appear to ease any of the symptoms.
I gave up my job as a lifeguard, and finally went to an ENT for advice. Luckily he was also a Masters Swimmer so he know that abstinence was not a valid choice. He declared that it was not an allergy and not an irritation of some long lasting infection. He had no answer for why it would start hours after the immesion. He gave me a prescription for Flonase and I had to spray both nostrils twice a day every day. This seemed to work, but then the summer came and the symptoms went away and I stopped using it.
I am now swimming indoors again trying to get ready for a triathlon, and guess what is back. I am going to try the nose plugs. I really don't like having to take a prescription nose spray twice a day every day for the rest of my life.
Any news on how the nose plugs worked??
I too have suffered. I was a Masters Swimmer and a lifeguard when I started getting severe congestion on days when I swam. The wierd aspect of this was that the symptoms wouldn't start until 4 hours or more after I had swum. It would get progressively worse thru the day, and be cleared up the next morning.
I have to agree this is not an 'allergy' for two reasons. First, an allergy gets better when you leave the allergic area. If it were an allergy I should have had my worst symptoms just after I swam, not hours later. Second, for me antihystimines just didn't seem to work. I would take them before I swam, and they did not appear to ease any of the symptoms.
I gave up my job as a lifeguard, and finally went to an ENT for advice. Luckily he was also a Masters Swimmer so he know that abstinence was not a valid choice. He declared that it was not an allergy and not an irritation of some long lasting infection. He had no answer for why it would start hours after the immesion. He gave me a prescription for Flonase and I had to spray both nostrils twice a day every day. This seemed to work, but then the summer came and the symptoms went away and I stopped using it.
I am now swimming indoors again trying to get ready for a triathlon, and guess what is back. I am going to try the nose plugs. I really don't like having to take a prescription nose spray twice a day every day for the rest of my life.
Any news on how the nose plugs worked??
