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.
Former Member
Nose clips really do work. Please consider them before you do anything drastic like curtailing swimming. The water goes into your nose and causes the problem. With clips, it doesn't.
(clips make underwater dolphin kick in backstroke easier also.)
I started out using a saline spray; that helped the dryness but not the congestion. I then tried the over-the-counter sinus spray mentioned above. That did work great until I became addicted to it (had to use the spray or my nose would get congested, even if I did not swim). Then my doctor put me on Flonase, a prescription spray for allergies and inflammed membranes. It works great and is not addictive (if I don't swim for a few days and stop using the spray, I don't get congested again). One spray in each nostril every day and I haven't had any problems.
I hesitated to use nose clips because of my natural rhythm breathing in through my mouth and out through my nose.
I hope that helps.
I too, started using flonase for allergies (I pretty much only use it during the spring and summer months when my allergens are abundant). It works very well and has prevented the occasional chlorine up the nose irritation as well. If you don't have other allergies, the nose clip is probably the best way to go.
Badge of Honor. Just like red eyes and smelly skin and hair. Wear it proudly! :p
Seriously, I had the same problem when I used to swim at the University pool. I am at a different pool now and I no longer have that problem. I really think that it has to do with the type of chemicals that the pool jockey uses. This must be the case because I find that I no longer REEK of chlorine (just a little smelly)
Another theory that I have is that I actually have fried my sinuses out from excessive pool water exposure. If this is the case, just keep swimming and your symptoms will go away :D
Swim hard
Hi Jim,
It was suggested to me a few years ago, to put a thin coating of vaseline around the inside of the nose before entering the pool. I did this and before long I did not have any further problems. The biggest problem I have, is to remember to do this prior to training. Good Luck.
Dawn
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 have the opposite problem. If I get water up my nose it burns behind my eyes. My nose would dry out so badly it would bleed. Saline spray really helped me!
I was getting recurring sinus infections until I tried a nose clip. I used to breathe out thru my nose as well, and it took me all of two laps w/ the clip to learn not to do that. Swimming without the sinus problems is worth looking a little dorky.
Breath rite nasal strips for the times after swimming(like at night when you are most likely to notice the nasal stuffiness)have worked well for me. Also greatly decreases snoring which has contributed greatly to my wife's improved dispostion.;) This product has no side effects, no downside other than the possible slight superficial skin redness when you first remove it in the morning. I personally highly recommend this very simple and very effective product. I don't have any congestion problems while swimming or I would probably wear one in the pool also. IMHO. Am also a believer in using nose plugs and I don't care what I look like as long as I can swim regularly.Good luck.
