Swimming in a chlorinated pool

sgreenarch

Hi. Need some sanity here...

I love to swim. In fact, it is one of the few things that is keeping me sane lately. I got a prosthesis for my bathing suit 4 weeks post mastectomy and before I even got one for my regular bra. I am now training for a 1.5K swim in May, first race I've ever entered and I'm really excited about it (for charity, too!) I swim 60 laps in an Olympic sized pool (1.5K,) 3 times a week. I try to walk the other days for about an hour a day so that I'm doing something aerobic each day, but nothing feels as good as swimming. Soothes my tamoxifen achey joints and I feel great afterwards. Problem is someone mentioned that spending so much time in a chlorine pool (45 minutes 3x a week) can cause cancer (like what doesn't?) Please say it isn't so...Anyone know about this? (My onc says to ignore it. Not proven and that the benefit of the exercise outweighs the risk.) Would appreciate your thoughts?

Thanks, Shari

Faith316

Like you said, everything causes cancer.  I have a pool and I love to be in it, too.  Go swimming and enjoy yourself

painterly

I am in the same boat as you Shari, or should I say the same pool. I used to swim a lot when I was young, brought up on the beaches of Sydney Australia and every weekend for me and my siblings was swimming either in the ocean or in the pool filtered by the ocean's salty water.

A few years ago prior to my dx, I began swimming again after many years, but it was only this last year that I became more serious about swimming. I keep a log of how many miles I do over the winter (here in Florida), and just as I was becoming energized and focused on swimming, and feeling really really fit, I read that chlorine depletesour body's iodine levels, which in turn could cause cancer...WTH. !!! Working getting in shape is bad for us?..I just don't believe it! But there it is! Yuk!

After some research it seems that chlorine depletes our iodine levels. Just when I decided that I would supplement with iodine, the Japanese tragedy happened and now iodine is hard to get hold of, or you have to pay exorbitant prices for it.

 If you can swim in a salt based swimming pool it is much healthier.

I am like you I do about 60  - 70 laps in an olympic pool. I feel so good after my work out, but at the same time worry about the chlorine. I worry all the time, and will feel a lot better when I can get hold of the iodoral (iodine). It is sold here on breascancerchoices.org but is presently out of stock. Some members reported seeing iodoral prices skyrocketing because of the Japanese tragedy. It is so hard to know what to do...on the one hand, we are keeping fit and healthy, but on the other hand chlorine is so bad for us. Once the iodoral is available again, I will feel comfortable thinking that I am offsetting the bad effects of chlorine by taking the supplement.

Glenis

SuebeeBC

This was disturbing for me because of the amount of time I spent swimming as a kid.  Not the normal summers thing....but I went to lessons and team from age 4 to about 13 and we had a backyard pool I was in the rest of the time.  I was always around chlorine and love to swim and want to start it again.

I think its important that if you are going to swim for long periods of time, is to wear a cap and goggles and shower immediately afterwards to reduce the absorbtion of chemicals into your skin.

sgreenarch

Wow. Thanks for your responses! I am going to hedge my bets and risk 3 forty five minute sessions a week in a chlorine pool vs less exercise and less sanity. I also read a study about how air pollution is riskier for us BC women, so leaving the pool maybe as bad as staying in! Love you guys. I'll keep you posted on my may 25 1.5K swim. Its in fresh water, the Sea of Gallilee, so at least that!

DesignerMom

I may not be remembering correctly, but I think supplementing with iodine offsets the impact of exposure to chlorine, bromine and other things.  I am vaguely recalling that if our bodies are iodine deficient they sort of suck up chlorine.    I am going by memory (a scary thing) so please do more research.  A good starting place would be breastcancerchoices.org.  I am taking iodine as part of my plan to knock down BC recurrence. 

painterly

BCO is sold out of iodoral at the moment...but as soon as they have some, I will take the supplement to offset the damage from the chlorinated water in the pool.

After I come home from the pool,I soak in a tub of water into which I pour iodized sea salt, in the hope that this is at least something. I have just had my iodine test to see how deficient I am...I will see the results in a few weeks.

Hils

Interesting to read about the chlorine, but my view is that I love swimming and this is not going to stop me. If I stopped everything that may or may not cause cancer I think I would give up on life itself. Getting back to swimming after my UMX has re-energized me. It has made me face some of my fears like changing in public post UMX, re using my pecs to their full potential and stretching my arms. Have to say my pec still feels a little strange when swimming but it gets better each time. Looking forward to the Summer (as it is a few months off here in New Zealand) and then I can go back to sea swimming. It is great for me to have things to look forward. I know all of this is very personal and everyone has to do what is good or right for them. Happy swimming everyone