5 days ago I took a job at a local YMCA working at the front desk checking clients into the facility. I am nowhere near the vicinity of the 3 indoor pools, yet I smell the chlorine and there is a burning sensation in my nose and I begin to sneeze. I do not feel ill when there, just uncomfortable and embarrassed as well, as I have to deal with the public while I'm sneezing. My co-workers all say I will get used to the smell, but none of them have ever had any burning sensation or sneezing.
My pharmacist suggests an antihistamine, and my husband feels that if I have to take medication in order to do my job, I shouldn't be working there. I tend to agree with him. Though I love my job, my health is more important, and will gladly resign. When I leave the building I am fine.
I have no other allergies.
Have any of you experienced this reaction before? I have swam in outdoor chlorinated pools many times and never had a problem.
Any suggestions would help.
Marta
(Well I just discovered another function of the new forums. As I was creating a new thread, I typed “allergic” in the subject line and I was presented with all these former threads on the same topic. So, I’m just responding to the newest, more than 14 year old thread of which it appears that only one of the respondents is still a member.)
Anyway…over the past two or three years…I’m coming to the realization that I have a slight allergic (or sensitivity) reaction to chlorine. After doing a lengthy swim in a chlorinated pool, I have sinus congestion, runny nose, and sneezing for about the next 24 hours. I’ve tried doing sinus rinses after the swims (I regularly use a sinus rinse anyway) but it doesn’t really seem to help after a prolonged exposure (lengthy swim). And the thing is…it doesn’t happen when I swim in open water (salt or fresh). As I said I use the sinus rinse, and nasal spray to help me get through it. But otherwise I’m a mouth breather for about a day post-swim. Just wondering if others have this issue, and what you do to combat it.
Actually, I corresponded with my primary care doc via a patient portal about this symptom and he just prescribed Flonase for me (I know it’s OTC but it was just to get me started I guess). He told me to just use it daily. It’s a good thing I did correspond with him. I mentioned that I also currently take a Claratin daily and wondered if maybe Claratin-D might resolve the problem. He informed me that pseudoephedrine (Claratin-D) can cause, or worsen urine retention in guys with BPH (which I’m also in treatment for).
