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?
Parents
Former Member
I think this topic will always reappear and people will always be interested in it because we generally don't understand the difference between an allergic reaction and an irratation. I've been told that chlorine isn't a protein so it can't cause an allergic reaction. It can, like aspirin, cause an irratation. There is no IgE. That's why you cna't be skin-tested for chlorine!
Then during this past week, I was getting ready for work when I heard on a morning chat show that swimmers can have problems with chlorine and nasal congestion. About 2 years ago there was an article in Lancet that suggested swimmers with asthma have slightly different lung structure than do both asthmatics who do not swim and nonasthmatics who swim. This new study seems to suggest that the same thing can happen in the nasal passages of asthmatic swimmers and what might also happen in their lungs. I guess your nasal passages get irrated so many times hta they create a defense mechanism to fight this.
I've had polyps removed two times. I also have severe asthma. I've had doctors do all sorts of weird things to my nose. I was told that since I broke my nose (actually my older brother broke my nose when he was a tennager by throwing me off of the garage roof when I was 4 yrs old), I am particularily susseptible to polyps.
I'm not a doctor nor do I play one onTV. I've found Flonase really helps keep the situation at bay though.
Reply
Former Member
I think this topic will always reappear and people will always be interested in it because we generally don't understand the difference between an allergic reaction and an irratation. I've been told that chlorine isn't a protein so it can't cause an allergic reaction. It can, like aspirin, cause an irratation. There is no IgE. That's why you cna't be skin-tested for chlorine!
Then during this past week, I was getting ready for work when I heard on a morning chat show that swimmers can have problems with chlorine and nasal congestion. About 2 years ago there was an article in Lancet that suggested swimmers with asthma have slightly different lung structure than do both asthmatics who do not swim and nonasthmatics who swim. This new study seems to suggest that the same thing can happen in the nasal passages of asthmatic swimmers and what might also happen in their lungs. I guess your nasal passages get irrated so many times hta they create a defense mechanism to fight this.
I've had polyps removed two times. I also have severe asthma. I've had doctors do all sorts of weird things to my nose. I was told that since I broke my nose (actually my older brother broke my nose when he was a tennager by throwing me off of the garage roof when I was 4 yrs old), I am particularily susseptible to polyps.
I'm not a doctor nor do I play one onTV. I've found Flonase really helps keep the situation at bay though.
