I'm Allergic to Swimming

Oh, I wish that were the case in order to justify my turtle-like crawl across the water.  More specifically, though, I'm referring to being allergic to the pool.

I've diagnosed myself (who needs doctors?) as being allergic to pool chemicals.  Whenever I leave the pool, without fail, my sinuses congest and I turn into a sneezing, dripping mess who goes through a box of tissues like a premenstrual woman watching "Titanic."  If you've ever encountered me at the end of the day and it sounded like I was getting a cold, it was probably a swim day.

I made a mental note to bring up my reaction to the pool to my doctor at my upcoming checkup.  Maybe something can be done to alleviate my symptoms.

Then I watched a very interesting documentary on Netflix (yes, while I was on a spin to nowhere).  It's called "Food Matters" and I would highly recommend it.  The basis of the documentary is a discussion about the importance of high-quality nutrition and its role in preventing and, in some cases, reversing chronic disease.  Although some of it needs to be taken with a grain of salt (I mentally tuned out during the portion where the raw food advocate goes on a rant about the importance of colon cleanses), there were some great nuggets from the movie.

Some points I took to heart:

1. Nutritional studies are normally not a main focus in medical science and schooling.
2. Most medications treat symptoms, not root causes.
3. Healthy eating is not important because the foods are so potent; it's because our "traditional Western diets" are so lacking in the nutrients we need to perform optimally.  Hence, the high rate of illness in our society.
4. The pharmaceutical industry has a paradoxical relationship with treating disease. (No diseases = no money.)
5. When the body is healthy, it will naturally fight off many toxic invaders.  One expert even went so far to say that much of the traditional Western diet is seen as toxic to the body, so our bodies are in constant immune-system overdrive.

I could go on and on, but these points got me thinking about my pool reaction.  What will happen when I go to the doctor?  He will probably prescribe me pills that I don't want to take, that may not even work, and may have worse side effects than just dealing with my sinus issues.

Let's go another layer deep.  Why is my body reacting to the pool?  Why am I thinking something is "wrong" with me?

Maybe I am healthy, and my body is viewing the pool chemicals as toxic invaders that need to be ejected -- pronto.  Maybe my sinus issues are the equivalent of my white blood cells unleashing nuclear warfare on the pool chemicals so that they can't wreak further havoc on my body.

Or maybe this is all speculation.  After all, I'm no biologist.  But it is very interesting to think about.

In the end, I've decided to just deal with the sinus crap and go about my business.  It's tolerable -- just annoying.  I prefer a box of tissues to a bottle of mystery pills any day.