Greetings, I just joined this group last night (08/14) due to my latest round of allergy attack prompted by swimming. Briefly, I am 61 yrs old, swam distance, some masters, and college intermurals from age 20 - 40. Around 40 I developed allergy to something in the pool, worked with allergy clinic at Ohio State Medical Center. Doc could not figure it out. Was on med for awhile that worked, but it was taken off the market.
I finally gave up, went to running long distance for the next 21 years. Lately I have been tiring of running, have tried on a few occasions to return to swimming, this past week for example. Mon. 1000 yds, Wed 500 yds, Fri. 1000 yds. Started some sneezing during the week, determined I could beat it this time until Friday night and a huge allergy attack, repeated sneezing, runy nose, burning eyes......and I am about to admit defeat again. It is very unpleasant, very disruptive.
I do not have other allergies. In a regular year I dont even typically get sick, maybe the rare sneezing. Also live with 4 dogs, two of them big GSDs, meaning lots of dog dander. No problem.
Go swimming a few days in a row and it is a disaster, same as 20 years ago when I finally switched to running. I would like to get back to swimming, but.............
There is a lot of insight and experience in this group. Does anyone have any ideas about this, antidotes, medications, techniques to address this problem? Any thoughts will be appreciated. I may return to OSU allergy clinic, see what they will say. Meanwhile, your comments are welcome.
Skip Cornett
Columbus, OH
Parents
Former Member
I'll tell you my story, maybe it will help you?
I react to chloramines, which are present in (hopefully) trace amounts in chlorinated pools, but which may be present in very high levels in pools that haven't been "shocked" recently. While the body usually doesn't react to the chlorine it does react to chloramines I believe.
The symptoms are the worst when I get such poorly treated water in my nose, such as on backstroke turns. Then I'll spend the entire evening with what feels like a bad cold - very runny nose, sneezing a lot.
As an example, I swam for a short time at a fitness club pool. The pool wasn't really their main focus...it was a stuffy pool, cloudy water, and (I suspect) a lot of chloramines. So I switched to a university pool, and swam with their masters groups. It was very well maintained and I had only a little sensitivity from that pool.
I'd recommend finding a competition pool in your area - either a competitive club pool, or a university pool (OSU?). i.e. some pool that gets used by *real* swimmers, who know when something isn't quite right with the pool water, and that typically hire professionals to maintain the pool.
If it turns out you are *highly* sensitive to something in the water, such as trace chloramine levels, then you might be able to find a pool that doesn't use that particular substance, if it is a chemical or byproduct that is the problem.
One more thing, you would want to avoid a pool that is really crowded, because I think that urine/sweat combined with chlorine could produce chloramines.
I'll tell you my story, maybe it will help you?
I react to chloramines, which are present in (hopefully) trace amounts in chlorinated pools, but which may be present in very high levels in pools that haven't been "shocked" recently. While the body usually doesn't react to the chlorine it does react to chloramines I believe.
The symptoms are the worst when I get such poorly treated water in my nose, such as on backstroke turns. Then I'll spend the entire evening with what feels like a bad cold - very runny nose, sneezing a lot.
As an example, I swam for a short time at a fitness club pool. The pool wasn't really their main focus...it was a stuffy pool, cloudy water, and (I suspect) a lot of chloramines. So I switched to a university pool, and swam with their masters groups. It was very well maintained and I had only a little sensitivity from that pool.
I'd recommend finding a competition pool in your area - either a competitive club pool, or a university pool (OSU?). i.e. some pool that gets used by *real* swimmers, who know when something isn't quite right with the pool water, and that typically hire professionals to maintain the pool.
If it turns out you are *highly* sensitive to something in the water, such as trace chloramine levels, then you might be able to find a pool that doesn't use that particular substance, if it is a chemical or byproduct that is the problem.
One more thing, you would want to avoid a pool that is really crowded, because I think that urine/sweat combined with chlorine could produce chloramines.
