Sick from Swimming: Fact or Fiction?
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Nathan_m posted 19 weeks ago.
I guess you could take this as your body telling you to slow down and start easy, if theres one thing i've learned (learned many) from reading in these forums is : listen to your body and gradually build up your workouts
good luck with your race
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385 days
TriSooner posted 19 weeks ago.
gmccormi wrote:
I developed a 'mild chest infection / bronchitis' . . . My doc seems to think this sort of thing happens to many people who start serious swimming programs.
What? Your MD is implying a causal relationship between swimming and bronchitus? Haven't heard that one before. Bronchitus can be caused by numerous factors. Swimming could be one of many. Seems anecdotal and based on his/her personal coincidental experience.
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Raygir posted 19 weeks ago.
If your question is can you get sick from "dirty water" then the answer is YES, or HELL YES.. , a lake with stagnat water or sewage spill in the ocean,, a couple years ago there was a tri where alot of people got sick from the lake swim,, dont remember the exact details but alot of atheletes had to go on antiboticis b/c of it
ask any surfer about runoff and the nasty brown foam that forms from polluted water,, there is a couple of local Tris I will not do due to bacteria count in the water.. one near the US/Mex border,, the other poor water flow in that section of the bay
As for the local pool, yep there too, rememebr the health warnings about the hottub at the gym, swimmers ear etc...
one of the most unpleasant things I've done was swim through a diesel spill on an open water swim ,, smelled like diesel for days and had to wash my wetsuit 3 times and still could smell it , didnt get sick per say although got a pretty good head ache for a day or so afterwards
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beads1985 posted 19 weeks ago.
Could be that you are a little worn down from swimming and that made you more susceptible to infection.
Also consider the public pool; lots of people, carrying an assortment of germs, in a warm moist environment. Sounds like a petri dish to me.
If you are swimming outdoors, there could be lots of junk in the water.
BTW - If there is diesel in the water, don't swallow any, It is a BAD thing ;-)
Nothing to it, but to do it
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jtrimom posted 19 weeks ago.
when I got a stomach virus and an eye infection (my goggles were leaking), the Dr. said that he had seen lots of cases and most likely it's from the pool
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sheracr posted 19 weeks ago.
Last year I got bronchitis just a few days before my first OLY event; I drove up there with serious intentions. But after having kept not only myself but possibly half the Inn awake the night prior to the event with a loud and hacking cough, and discovering that coffee at 5 AM was NOT going to resolve the issue, I sat out the race. I went home, had 10 days of antibiotics, and felt great before the course was even completed.
All that was said to appear encouraging, because you are 2 weeks out and already well on the mend. Keep an eye on it but I bet you will be able to have a very successful race. I have found that my bronchitis tends to re-occur mostly when I overtrain, and backing down or taking the dreaded day off provides plenty of remedy.
More to your question (finally) I have never been told by my doctors that swimming/water is the cause, however definitely it exacerbates the condition more than anything else I do, for whatever reason. FYI some people are allergic to chlorine, which can cause breathing issues in some cases.
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LASswim posted 19 weeks ago.
As a certified pool operator and a swimmer I feel I must comment. In a pool 99.9% of all germs are killed within the first .1 ppm of chlorine. Chlorine levels are generally kept between 1.0ppm and 3.0ppm. So it is not likely that you caught anything from a pool (if you in fact swim in a pool). However, the effort from swimming can lower your immune system making you more prone to something you may have been fighting off. I've experienced this a lot myself and stay away from the pool if I am suffering from anything other than allergies.
As for swimming in a lake...when I was 15 and and going to summer camp where we swam in a lake 2 times a day I got very sick. I had an infection for about a month and the lake was the most likely culprit. Lakes get all the runoff whenever it rains and there is no sanitizer to kill the germs. So you do the math on that one. I myself do not like open water swims for that reason. I will always train in a pool...I don't care about the benefits of training in open water.
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Ironmom posted 19 weeks ago.
My .02: I have never heard of anyone getting sick from swimming specifically. And I've been a lifeguard, swim instructor, master's coach, etc. and swam myself in pools, rivers, lakes, and oceans for 20+ years. Now I wouldn't recommend swimming anywhere that's polluted, but as LASwim says, a chlorinated pool is probably the least likely place for germs to hang out. Myself, I love swimming in open water and the only problem I've ever gotten from that is swimmer's ear and swimmer's itch from swimming in several duck and goose-infested lakes in Washington state.
Regardless, I'd say the illness is more likely from an abrupt upswing in training or overtraining or just plain ol' catching a bug from somewhere, and I've never heard of anything like that being related to swimming.
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242 days
thesonicson posted 19 weeks ago.
Two words. Supplements and rest. While I seriously doubt your illness came from a chemically treated pool, I think it came from an overall breakdown of your bodies immune system due to a brutal training regiment. And a lack of adequate sleep will only break down your bodies immune system further. I believe you need to do whatever you can to help your body recover and fast. I would recommend most to supplementation. While I take what seems to feel like an 80 year olds daily med intake, I do seriously recommend a couple of supplements. One, as everyone knows, is a multi-v and the second is bee propolis. Bee propolis is a natural antibiotic and helps your immune system. After getting sick after my first month of training I added propolis and haven't even had a problem with allergies, sinuses, or other illness. You can normally get it for about 10 bucks. And recommend most to check it out. If you are allergic to bees, consult your dr first.
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Crazyquick23 posted 19 weeks ago.
Why is everyone so quick to jump on the doc. I mean they kinda have a medical degree and he prolly didn't feel like going into the details of how as your body is broken down by overly aggressive training and all the ways that weakens your immune system. A lot of people don't really care about the details of why they're sick, they just want better NOW. Hence docs giving drugs for the common cold to shut patients up (not that it's the right thing to do at all.)
So here I am, just over two weeks before my 1st Tri, coming to the end of a antibiotics regimine =(
I developed a 'mild chest infection / bronchitis' about a week ago and it's pretty much shot my training in the foot. My doc seems to think this sort of thing happens to many people who start serious swimming programs.
My question is: has anybody heard of this?
My Doc is part of a masters swimming program, and his kids do swim/dive. So it seems like this is accurate info. But i just wanted to throw it out there and see if anybody had heard a similar story.
Oh and my race has gone form a confident "let's see how fast I can go" to a slightly less bold "let's see if I can finish"
But I will finish... oh yes.