Hi, this is my first post and it’s a long one – I hope you’re able to persevere because I really need some help.
I seem to fall ill every time I push myself a little in the pool. I always take alternate rest days and I build up slowly after a gap. I cool down adequately and generally feel good after the swim. But if I keep it up for two weeks or so, bam, I’m ill. This cycle started about two years ago when I was with a Masters swim group.
The symptoms are always the same – it starts with itching/irritation at the back of the throat, then a general malaise comes on, a feeling of haziness (that you get with virals) and sometimes, a very slight fever. There’s slight stuffiness and occasional sneezing. There’s often a sore throat. The symptoms are never severe, but enough to make me tired and keep me home. It takes one week before the major symptoms reduce and as much as one more week before the haziness and tiredness disappear completely. The haziness is especially annoying and persistent. Sometimes, it's like an allergy and antihistamines help (please, please don't tell me I'm allergic to swimming!)
These symptoms have been the same in three different countries – making me wonder if I have some underlying infection that has never quite left me. (Colds often have varying patterns – but this pattern is IDENTICAL each time.) I don’t know whether it’s hard exercise in general that sets it off, because I never push myself in the gym as hard as I do in the pool.
My nutrition used to be bad, but in the last five months or so, I’ve been careful (fruits, veggies, multivits) and it has helped. I get adequate and quality sleep.
But two weeks ago, since the weather got warmer, I moved from the stationary cycle back into the pool. I got back up again slowly, started doing sets with kicks and swims, started feeling good in a way that nothing in the gym can do for me, and then wham, I’m ill again.
The only thing I’ve had from doctors is: “Eat fruits and vegetables and get enough sleep.” No explanation as to why it’s identical each time and why it might be set off by swimming.
I’m not a major swimmer – during the masters course I was doing a max of 6,000m a week and after that it’s never been more than 3-4,000m a week. So while I push my personal limits a little each time, I’m hardly going crazy here. I’m not overweight on a weighing scale, but do have a bit of paunch that I’m trying to get rid of.
Thanks for reading and I do hope somebody can help.
-Thom
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 antihistimines 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 specialist 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 immersion. 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 since I was swimming outside 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 antihistimines 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 specialist 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 immersion. 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 since I was swimming outside 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??
