I'm swimming with a new workout group this year, and am thus in a new pool. Something in the water (not necessarily chlorine) is giving my sinuses fits. It takes more than a day to unstuff, during which time sleeping is problematic. I've rather casually tried decongestant (currently only Sudafed PE) and antihistamines (Claritin) and my trusty neti pot. The neti pot doesn't help a lot if your sinuses are completely clogged though.
I'm skeptical that it's chlorine causing problems mostly because I swam in an older pool last season which had higher chlorine levels with no problem (at least by how long the chlorine smell lingered on my skin).
I realize that chlorine is an irritant, not an allergen, so maybe antihistamines or decongestants won't be all that effective. Is there a nose clip in my future? Anybody using a nose clip strictly to keep chemicals out of your nose and sinuses?
Thx,
Skip
Thanks for all the responses. I bought a nose clip just before Christmas. What with the holiday I've only had one chance to use it. So far, so good. At the end of practice the coach had us do some 25yd no-breath sprints from a dive. The clip came off on the second dive. I will check around and see if I can find a clip with a bit better profile so it's not "grabbed" so much by the water.
I was pretty amazed at how much I used my nose for at least exhaling. It's going to take a bit of getting used to only breathing in and out of my mouth.
Skip
Skip, was wondering how the nose clip experiment was going. I have finally thrown in the towel and started to use one as well. The sneezing was getting too bad. I was sneezing so much at night time that my ribs started to ache. I know it is the pool water. Recently, I took a month off because of a severe ear infection and whaddaya know: a sneeze free month. Two days after getting back into the water and it all started over again. I dread those sneezing fits. They really hurt and it is disconcerting for the rest of the family. In fact it was my wife who bought me the noseclip. It lay in my bag for months until, finally, this week I could take no more: I had to see if it worked. It has only been three days now and, although they have been sneeze free, I feel 'out of breath' the whole time and have to take it off at the end of every repeat to breathe properly. Does anyone else have this problem? Does it get better?
Thanks for all the responses. I bought a nose clip just before Christmas. What with the holiday I've only had one chance to use it. So far, so good. At the end of practice the coach had us do some 25yd no-breath sprints from a dive. The clip came off on the second dive. I will check around and see if I can find a clip with a bit better profile so it's not "grabbed" so much by the water.
I was pretty amazed at how much I used my nose for at least exhaling. It's going to take a bit of getting used to only breathing in and out of my mouth.
Skip
Skip, was wondering how the nose clip experiment was going. I have finally thrown in the towel and started to use one as well. The sneezing was getting too bad. I was sneezing so much at night time that my ribs started to ache. I know it is the pool water. Recently, I took a month off because of a severe ear infection and whaddaya know: a sneeze free month. Two days after getting back into the water and it all started over again. I dread those sneezing fits. They really hurt and it is disconcerting for the rest of the family. In fact it was my wife who bought me the noseclip. It lay in my bag for months until, finally, this week I could take no more: I had to see if it worked. It has only been three days now and, although they have been sneeze free, I feel 'out of breath' the whole time and have to take it off at the end of every repeat to breathe properly. Does anyone else have this problem? Does it get better?
