help! swimming is killing me...i started a masters program 6 months ago, up to 3500 yrds 3-4 times a week, love it, feel great, more energy,lost weight however... started getting sick about 5 weeks ago after workout,labored breathing chills and flu like pain lasts 24 hours or so. my dr prescribed anti biotics and inhaler took 1 week off went back strong workout felt great, got even sicker next day better. now prednisone and 2 weeks off, feel great,go back, go easy 2000 yrds-sick again! my goal is to swim open water mile this june and i need to get this thing solved, i don't think it's asthma as the inhaler does nothing and also my eyes were horribly bloodshot when i was acutely sick, any ideas? i even tried another pool thinking same results.
If you can find a pool somewhere in your area that uses an irradiation system, you could rule out chlorine's effects by swimming a couple practices there.
The past couple years chlorine has been wreaking havoc with my nasal passages. Last week we were in Florida and I got to swim outside. I didn't wear the nose clip that I've been using indoors. I had no trouble at all with my sinuses.
Definitely worth a try to see if you can find a pool with a different sort of filter system (bromine-based might help as well), or, if you're going to be somewhere that you can swim outside for a couple practices you might see if that helps.
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I take my heart rate after most main sets and if it goes above 200 I usually come down with a cold or other virus the next day or shortly after. Just listen to your body and try not to over do it.
If you can find a pool somewhere in your area that uses an irradiation system, you could rule out chlorine's effects by swimming a couple practices there.
There was a thread somewhere on these forums about allergies, and the consensus was that swimming with nose plugs can be lifesavers. It seems like it would be too good to be true, but they really seem to eliminate post-practice cold-like symptoms in lots of people.
Do you have the problem with any other form of exercise?
More and more, I am inclined to adopt the HTFU Rx with regards to any somatic complaint. Tell yourself it's only a nuisance and soldier on. Eventually it will either go away, stay the same but not get any worse, or get unbelievably worse, making diagnosis by ER doctors and/or the medical examiner all that much easier.
I swam 6000 yards the same day my retina was slowly detaching from its perch on the back of my left eyeball. Afterwards, the presence of a shadow in my visual field made even this armchair diagnostician reasonably confident that I knew what was wrong. I got it fixed and am back!
My friend and swimming coach has been suffering from supraventricular tachycardia during practice much of the last three months. He is soldiering on even as the occasional wafting vapours of halitosis from the Reaper make us all wonder it this is advisable.
Time will tell.
Improvement. Stability to the new reality. Or much, much worse.
Swimming, in my opinion, will not materially alter the course of, and therefore should not be a contraindication to, any of these fates!
CRAYON - WOW - the EXACT same thing has been happening to me. I Just started swimming seriously again in Septmeber and it started getting bad in December. It happens everytime now and starts about 2-3 hours after I get out of the water. All the same symptoms. I even tried an inhaler last time and it did nothing. I'm now done with swimming until I can find out what's going on. Have you had any luck in this? I hope it's not chlorine toxicity, but I'm afraid that's my theory . . . Let's keep in touch in case one of us finds out the cause.
Stop looking for zebras, when the culprit is probably a pony.
Most likely your immune system is depressed, and as taruky said, it is merely coincidental that you have succumbed to illness so much recently. You probably had a relapse because you didn't give yourself time to recover completely. People don't develop chills and fever from pool water. Also, since you did not respond to the antibiotics, you most likley have a virus, no? Perhaps even influenza. True influenza takes a good 3-4 weeks to run its course. The shortness of breath thing may be a mild form of a laryngospasm rather than asthma (where you just can't get that good deep lung air?) - and you can help this by relaxing your breathing, and making sure you are exhaling all the CO2 - this is often helped by breathing every 3rd or 4th stroke for a while. Try and relax - this too shall pass. :blush:
This would be my guess as well. Of course I hope this is the issue and not a chlorine intorlerance. Sometimes viruses can take a while to run it's course, and constantly wearing yourself down (swimming) may extend the life of the virus. However, I had a bout with Strep in November - no big deal took a round of antibiotics and assumed it was gone. Was feeling exhasted around the beginning of Feb - went back and still had strep. It took a higher dose of anitbiotics along with a strong steroid to knock it out.
I hope you get it resolved and can get back into the swing of things.
Hard workouts with a lot of anaerobic swimming can really beat you up after the natural endorphins wear off. Make sure you get a good warmdown and replenish fluids.
