I have been on a quest to lose weight and try to get healthy since January. I haven't been on here much, I admit. I was in the hospital over New Years with possible meningitis. They still don't know for sure if it was meningitis or just severe migraines. At any rate, I had a high white cell count in my spinal tap. They suspected a light case of meningitis. I have never had such pain in my life. I never want to again. I've lost about 40 pounds and still fighting to lose more. I've been walking and exercising. I have joined the YMCA and been working out there, and been taking my daughter swimming in the pool. I have discovered they have belts I can use because I'm not a strong swimmer and can exercise. I love it! Now I read a note about migraines and chlorine. I notice an increase lately in my migraines and the severity of them and I wonder now if they are from the chlorine. They put a LOT of cholrine in the water there and I come out smelling like a bottle of bleach water. I will have to actively watch myself and monitor my migraines to see how I do with them. If I get them after swimming I will know now it's from the chlorine and I won't be able to go into the pool anymore. :( I'm sad because it's such good exercise!!!!! It's a shame! I wish they didn't use chlorine!!!!!!
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I just read a post about chlorine and migraines.....
I'm so gladyou wrote. I've had terrible migraines for 30 years. Had forgotten could be triggered by chlorine until now. Have had a sinus problem lately and every time I take my daughter to her swim practice I come back with a feeling of sinus swelling/drainage and then get another migraine. I don't know what I am going to do as I can't make my kids give up yet one more thing because I am sick all the time. I have to be able to go to the pool. If you get any further info on this I'd appreciate it.
Thank you for sharing.
I am so happy to have read this about the chlorine-related migraines. I'm an elementary teacher, and every Tuesday for around 7 weeks, I took my class to their swimming lessons. As I watched them with their instructors, the chlorine smell was overpowering. The smell itself doesn't bother me, but around two hours after leaving the pool, my migraine would start and go from bad to unbearable when I would get home from school on into the night.
It happened every Tuesday, but I thought it might be stress-related or just something to live with. But, after reading this, I am relieved to see that this is a "common" situation and that others have this issue as well. I know that I cannot continue going to the pool with my class next year.
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I'm very migraine-sensitive to chlorine... which stinks, 'cause I love to swim, and our apartment complex has a nice pool, and I've put on weight also, and would love to take it off in a manner that wasn't harsh to my poor joints and elbow tissue problem... But, swimming in a chlorinated pool's out for me.
Ya know, Disney uses another method (Ozone, I think) to purify their water. So, there are other options out there... I'm currently trying to find places near me that also use ozone or other non-chlorine based system myself...
Good luck!
Pools.com has a list of pools that lets you search for chlorine-free pools. I don't know how reliable it is, however, as it lists some pools as chlorine-free which I know for a fact are heavily chlorinated.