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 suffered similar problems many years ago. I'm not an otherwise allergic person, but after a swim my nose would run, I would sneeze constantly and after a few hours of that I would feel completely run down. Nose plugs don't work for me.
I talked to my doctor and we came up with plan. I take one Allegra 180mg antihistamine before I swim and then a once daily spritz in the nose of a Flonase type nose spray. It completely cured the sinus reaction to my swimming. It was amazing. What I also found was that if I swam first thing in the morning, my allergic reaction was far worse than if I swam later in the day. Whether this is due to a different chemical balance of the pool during the day or my body being less sensitive later in the day...I have no idea. But, I do know that my allergic reactions were so bad, I thought I was going to have to give up swimming if I couldn't change it. I find the negatives of taking these drugs is not nearly as bad as the negatives of not swimming/exercising.
Good luck.
I suffered similar problems many years ago. I'm not an otherwise allergic person, but after a swim my nose would run, I would sneeze constantly and after a few hours of that I would feel completely run down. Nose plugs don't work for me.
I talked to my doctor and we came up with plan. I take one Allegra 180mg antihistamine before I swim and then a once daily spritz in the nose of a Flonase type nose spray. It completely cured the sinus reaction to my swimming. It was amazing. What I also found was that if I swam first thing in the morning, my allergic reaction was far worse than if I swam later in the day. Whether this is due to a different chemical balance of the pool during the day or my body being less sensitive later in the day...I have no idea. But, I do know that my allergic reactions were so bad, I thought I was going to have to give up swimming if I couldn't change it. I find the negatives of taking these drugs is not nearly as bad as the negatives of not swimming/exercising.
Good luck.
