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Hi, I just rediscovered the fantastic joys of swimming & joined this club . (Hard to find these places in Ireland, so I was quite excited). But, I noticed that every time I swam, I would end up with a horrendous headache and the days that I didn't swim (only 2 or 3 of them), I had no headache.

I did some research and it seems that swimming in an indoor chlorinated pool is extremely toxic. I am so upset at this point because, as I said, I've finally found an exercise that I absolutely love and secondly, I had spent the last year and a half detoxing my body of heavy metals and chlorine, so now here I am swimming around in a toxic bath! Cancer and kidney disease are just a couple of the consequences. I found this Olympic Medalist that says she'll never enter a swimming pool again.

I've read that there are things we could possibly do, such as take Zeolite (a clay that binds the heavy metals & removes them from the body); it seems there are other things like Chlorella, Spirulina etc.

Does anyone know of anything that would actually work to detox the body so that I may continue to swim?

Thanks everyone,

Nancy

I have been wondering the same thing, NancyNurse! Apart from getting your own pool, with a non-chlorine system, I have no answers. Hopefully someone else will.

I know what you mean. I race triathlons, so I spend some time in chlorinated pools, and while I've never experienced the syptoms you describe, I did watch my leg hair disappear one summer! Here is a podcast interview on the topic that might get you started. The interviewer is smart and interesting, but he recommends a diet and lifestyle very different from McDougall.

Check it out here:
http://www.bengreenfieldfitness.com/2012/05/how-to-reduce-the-risk-from-swimming-in-chlorinated-pools-and-drinking-chlorinated-water/

I swim during the cold months, about 5 times a week 1200m. I don't know about the toxic effects of swimming in chlorine, but I can offer one tip that I learned. I hate the smell of chlorine on me after I swim, so I bought a product on Amazon.com called Swimspray, or something like that, and it worked for removing the chlorine smell. But then I realized that it was just asorbic acid and water so started making it myself for like 1/100th the cost. You simply mix powdered asorbic acid, which is just Vitamin C, in water in a spray bottle, and then right before you shower spray this over your body, then soap up and rinse like normal. It's a chemical reaction; the asorbic acid neutralizes the chlorine. This can also be done with tap water for drinking to get rid of the chlorine taste.

I found this study abstract:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11253037

about ascorbic acid and chlorine, but I am not sure what the conclusion is - does it neutralize chlorine but not the other mutagens? Or does it not really do anything? Anyone have a clue how to read this science-speak?