really bad swimmers sinusitis

December 15, 2009 1:10 AM

Please help me beat my swimmers sinusitis - I need too breathe!

This past year I have taken up swimming again primarly for triathlon and really been enjoying it.

However as I increased my time in the pool I started to notice I was getting a blocked nose, as it was during the summer so I assumed it was HayFever - but now is winter its even worse.

I try to do four pool sessions a week, and after the 3rd sesson I'm completely blocked, even after the first sesson im really struggling. After a a couple of days im normally just about back to normal.

I don't want to give up swimming but ive tried lots of things and I can't beat this thing. Heres the list:

1.) Different pools - aways the same.

2.) I tried snorting warm shower water straight after swimming -

3.) I tried nose clips - It ruined my breathing I couldn't swim with them on.

4.) I tried nasya oil - its like expired olive oil and doesnt have much effect at all.

5.) I tried drinking lots of water before I go swimming, no real improvement.

6.) I tried SudaFed and Beconase (pseudoephedrine) it does help clear me up short term but I don't think I should be using it every day

7.) I tried snorting salt water and it does help clear the sinses short term but again I think its causing more harm than good.

What else can I try?

posted by complience to Health & Fitness (9 answers total)

First try a neti pot. (Unless that's what you mean by snorting salt water; I think usage of a neti should be more gentle than snorting, though, and the amount of salt somewhat measured.)

Also check your breathing technique while you swim. Do you make sure to breathe out a little when you do a flip turn?

Next, if you actually are getting bacterial sinusitis (I'm not sure what you mean by blocked nose, here; bacterial sinusitis is generally more painful than just a blockage, I think) have you been looked at for a deviated septum? My swimmer sister used to get repeated bacterial sinusitis episodes, and getting a septoplasty really helped her.
posted by nat at 4:26 AM on December 15, 2009

I'm surprised you breathe through your nose at all when swimming, so it's odd to me that the nose clip was unwearable. I know they're not the height of sexy swimwear, but they work.
posted by rokusan at 5:36 AM on December 15, 2009

Isn't Beconase the kind of nasal steroid that you DO take daily? As in, it's not pseudoephedrine at all, and it's meant to treat a chronic problem (and be taken chronically, or at least through, say, an entire allergy season)? You may still not wish to take it all the time, but if you were expecting it to provide acute relief, it seems like it wouldn't work that way.
posted by tss at 6:13 AM on December 15, 2009 [1 favorite]

I got very bad irritation as well when I started swimming. The nose clip was the way I went, not much good to you except to echo rokusan.

One off the wall thought, have you swum in only chlorine treated pools. I don't know if public pools are using salt, but the saltwater pools I have swum in are definitely more gentle.
posted by sundri at 6:56 AM on December 15, 2009

If it's an option, get yourself worked up by an ENT. Sounds to me like you've got a structural problem in there somewhere. I had my sinuses routed out with a drill a few years ago, and it's been like night and day. I had pretty bad chronic sinusitis for years, and it had gotten to the point where I couldn't even submerge my head without unbearable pressure. I'm fine now.
posted by valkyryn at 8:24 AM on December 15, 2009

Look into the neti pot, and consider the stuff that goes into the pot. Use distilled water, plain salt (without iodine) mixed with a pinch of baking soda. Some people also add glycerine to the mix as a protectant.

And.... the ENT thing could also be useful.
posted by answergrape at 8:50 AM on December 15, 2009

Are you swimming in heavily chlorinated pools? I get an allergic response to those pools with lots of congestion.

A quick trip to the doctor for a daily decongestant cleared up that problem.
posted by 26.2 at 9:45 AM on December 15, 2009

somewhat in the same position as you, but yours sounds worse.
For me, I have found the following helps in total. Not one item by itself seems do to the trick...

I wear a hat after I have been swimming (starting in the Fall)

I breathe through a scarf so the air is warming into my lungs on the way to the car and then crank the heat (again starting the Fall, summer is less of an issue)

have a little heat in my bedroom which has helped (portable oil radiator) and again just a little to keep the chill out of the air. Turning my furnace up only over dried the air.

Most of the above is aimed at keeping the chill out of the air I breath after I am done swimming and until it appears to dry out (overnight.) No matter how careful you can be, after swimming distance for an hour you will get some moisture into your sinuses.

I will second an ENT opinion. I was in front of a bunch of them earlier this year for a different reason, and every single one of them, when looking at my ears asked "Are you a swimmer?" There is something about a swimmers' inner ear that tips them off. There is a physiological change - I had bigger concerns at the time, but I remember their observation.

I follow the above and do okay. I miss a step, e.g. breath chilled air after swimming, and I feel it the next day.
posted by fluffycreature at 9:50 AM on December 15, 2009

You should see a doctor, mostly because Beconase isn't pseudoephedrine and you shouldn't be "snorting" salt water. They can set you straight with the proper meds (there are a lot of options these days) and a proper sinus rinse.

I'm on fluticasone which is a generic and dirt cheap.
posted by chairface at 6:48 PM on December 19, 2009