Possible Chlorine Allergy?

mary white said:

I have swam regular for a number of years, but after a 4
month lay off I started swimming again. I have experienced
severe itching on my back , legs and scalp. Bald patches
have started to appear on my neck.It is not completely
bald, but thinner texture and different pigment( grey)
Could it be Chlorine allergy or something else? Any
suggestions gratefully accepted.

Have you changed pools since you last swam?

--
"If only there were evil people somewhere insidiously
committing evil deeds and it were necessary only to separate
them from the rest of us and destroy them. But the line
dividing good and evil cuts through the heart of every human
being." - Alexander Solzhenitsyn

mary white said:

I have swam regular for a number of years, but after a 4
month lay off I started swimming again. I have experienced
severe itching on my back , legs and scalp. Bald patches
have started to appear on my neck.It is not completely
bald, but thinner texture and different pigment( grey)
Could it be Chlorine allergy or something else? Any
suggestions gratefully accepted. Mary

Some pools use chlorine. some ozone, some salt water, and
there are are possibilities too. They are all strong
oxidising agents.

You could be suffering an allergic reaction.

gtoomey

mary white said:

I have swam regular for a number of years, but after a 4
month lay off I started swimming again. I have experienced
severe itching on my back , legs and scalp. Bald patches
have started to appear on my neck.It is not completely
bald, but thinner texture and different pigment( grey)
Could it be Chlorine allergy or something else? Any
suggestions gratefully accepted. Mary

Some pools use chlorine. some ozone, some salt water, and
there are are possibilities too. They are all strong
oxidising agents.

You could be suffering an allergic reaction.

gtoomey

mary white said:

I have swam regular for a number of years, but after a 4
month lay off I started swimming again. I have experienced
severe itching on my back , legs and scalp. Bald patches
have started to appear on my neck.It is not completely
bald, but thinner texture and different pigment( grey)
Could it be Chlorine allergy or something else? Any
suggestions gratefully accepted. Mary

Some pools use chlorine. some ozone, some salt water, and
there are are possibilities too. They are all strong
oxidising agents.

You could be suffering an allergic reaction.

gtoomey

Gregory Toomey <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:<1522163.8cEnqH7G5v@GMT-hosting-and-pickle-farming>...

Quoted message said:

mary white said:

I have swam regular for a number of years, but after a 4
month lay off I started swimming again. I have
experienced severe itching on my back , legs and scalp.
Bald patches have started to appear on my neck.It is not
completely bald, but thinner texture and different
pigment( grey) Could it be Chlorine allergy or something
else? Any suggestions gratefully accepted. Mary

Some pools use chlorine. some ozone, some salt water, and
there are are possibilities too. They are all strong
oxidising agents.

You could be suffering an allergic reaction.

gtoomey

Thanks Steve and Greg. I use the same pool as before, but it
was shut for a while for alterations. I have started using
e45 anti itch cream, but no relief as yet. Mary

mary white said:

Thanks Steve and Greg. I use the same pool as before, but
it was shut for a while for alterations. I have started
using e45 anti itch cream, but no relief as yet.

I've got similar probs with itching, but I'm not entirely
sure what all the contributing factors are. Going to my
normal pool early in the morning seems to help (I guess
after the filters have had all night to degunk the pool).
I'm also investigating other local pools - I've tried one
already and it seems significantly better than my regular
one: even though both use chlorine, there's obviously a
difference in the compounds used, dosage, or something..

I'm also pondering the idea that the chlorine is
aggravating existing mild skin problems - I'm going to try
switching my washing powder to something like Ecover and
see if that helps.

S.

--
"Leave the matter of religion to the family altar, the chur-
ch, and the private schools, supported entirely by private
contributions. Keep the church and the state forever separ-
ated."
-- Ulysses S. Grant

||mary white wrote:
|| I have swam regular for a number of years, but after a 4
|| month lay off I started swimming again. I have
|| experienced severe itching on my back , legs and scalp.
|| Bald patches have started to appear on my neck.It is not
|| completely bald, but thinner texture and different
|| pigment( grey) Could it be Chlorine allergy or something
|| else? Any suggestions gratefully accepted. Mary

I had a skin problem when returning to the pool for regular
workouts after 25 years. My symptoms were more like a rash
rather than a bald patch. Here is a post from just over a
year ago on what I did to overcome it.

tinyurl.com3fjkpOpen ↗

As of this writing, my pool put in a system (a UV system??)
3 months ago that removes the level of chloramines (used
chlorine that makes a molecular substance when combined with
hair spray, perfume, hair conditioner, etc, and any human
contaminants). My research from the web indicated that
people are not allergic to chlorine but can be sensitive to
the chloramine compounds. You can't take an antihistamine
and reduce the sensitivity. I now swim 5000+ yds x 3 times a
week without any of the vaseline!!

Hope this helps. You might want to see a dermatologist too.