Lately I am swimming at 2 different pools. I am a late blooming, 45yo, fitness swimmer. I am up to doing about 3800 yds per workout. I find that I often have a very runny nose and sneezing fits that can last the entire day. I will take benedryl but it only seems to help a bit. I have tried to pay attention and think that one of the pools may be causing much more of a problem than the other.
As an experiment I tried takign a single benedryl (sp?) about a half hour before swimming. THis seems to be helping. So am I alergic to the water?
Is this common and what other suggestions if any?
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Former Member
This issue comes up very often. Almost surely it is rhinitis as mentioned by aschueler. The fact that it is more likely to occur during backstoke workouts, when water often washes in the sinusus, is a good clue. While very annoying and debilitating in some cases, it is not technically an allergy and allergy medications will probably not help. I have some experience with this -- at one time a pool I swam in made me sneeze and have an extreme runny nose for a couple of days after each workout.
There have been many suggestions; in my order of preference - swim in a pool that does not cause the problem (well maintained and/or outside), nose plug (you will be surprised how quickly you can get used to it), and nasal washes (yech!). I would avoid the drugs as they are expensive, and well, drugs, with unnecessary side effects.
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Former Member
This issue comes up very often. Almost surely it is rhinitis as mentioned by aschueler. The fact that it is more likely to occur during backstoke workouts, when water often washes in the sinusus, is a good clue. While very annoying and debilitating in some cases, it is not technically an allergy and allergy medications will probably not help. I have some experience with this -- at one time a pool I swam in made me sneeze and have an extreme runny nose for a couple of days after each workout.
There have been many suggestions; in my order of preference - swim in a pool that does not cause the problem (well maintained and/or outside), nose plug (you will be surprised how quickly you can get used to it), and nasal washes (yech!). I would avoid the drugs as they are expensive, and well, drugs, with unnecessary side effects.
