Chlorine Poisoning!

Chemical Pneumonia / Chemical Poisoning

Most people know I suffered from chlorine poisoning from the 24h swim in Waterford in April 2011 which jeopardised my Channel swim. When my lungs collapsed twice in a week with my nose, ears, and eyes bleeding I realised something was wrong and thought “what have I done to myself?” Chlorine gas was first used as a chemical weapon in 1915. In World War I 1843 soldiers were exposed to chlorine gas.

I decided to write about it to share my experience and leave a trace on the web to other people who might experience something similar. Doctors tried to look for more information and found it difficult to solve my health issue. They do have people inhaling or drinking some chemicals by accident but not for a long period of time and on purpose.

Collapse and Hospital Treatment

The next day after the event, I went to see my doctor, he asked me to go straight to the A&E. I wasn’t too keen about it so just went home with a steroid prescription and antibiotics along with a letter from the doctor in case something happens to me. A few hours later I collapsed in my kitchen and my lungs started to give up and I ended up at the A&E. I could not breathe and my lungs were collapsing. My partner was not too impressed especially when I was trying to go home and had “the killer look” I am sure you know what I mean. (Editor comment: What are you talking about, you are lucky you only got a killer look!)

A few days later I collapsed again and heard the same story from the doctors: “Why would you swim 24h in a toxic environment?”, “do you know that people die of chemical poisoning?” One of the other issues was because my body was exhausted after my swim, it found it hard to fight any infections, or build up itself, my body was too weak to fight and resulted in chemical pneumonia. Unbelievably sick, vomiting, my left kidney giving up, bleeding from every single orifice, I realise I did something really wrong and there was no easy exit and that one, with maybe long term damage.

The doctors and staff have been fantastic, I knew they really did not know what to do, I was just burned inside, and chlorine goes through the skin and does not exactly flush away. It will be a long process with many reviews, inside camera and a good treatment ventolin, pulmicor respule (steroids), benzocaine & tyrothricin, zinc, manuka honey, expectorant, eye and ear Sofradex, beclazone & ventolin inhaler (because the nebulizer is not enough) Omega 3. Lucky enough my friend Ray O’Connor had a nebulizer which when the oral steroids stopped working helped me so much. Another desperate thing I tried was marshmallow tea given by a parent of the swimming club Anne Marie Caroll, along with some other treatment which I would never usually consider. Well it did help and the tea did make me feel very good after some rough patch of cough. Finally the best of the best was Vicks Vaporum, one spoon with boiled water in a bowl and a towel over your head, helped me finally to be able to sleep.

Returning to the Pool

I just couldn’t. I know health is more important than anything, but I had a few National championships to attend, British Age groups, youth international European athletes to look after and when you work for so long to achieve something it is difficult to just stop. I did reduce my pool sessions with Pulse Triathlon club which I felt really bad about, but one evening in the middle of a session I had to run away as I was bleeding and vomiting badly. I also coach in Castlerea pool which is one of the rare outdoor pools left in Ireland.

Alternatives to Chlorinated Pools

Swimming pools can work without chlorine, many other systems exist, Co2, ultra violet etc…. Swimmers who spend between 10h to 20h a week in a pool environment or coaches spending more time in them do have to be careful. I read an old article that there is no way to get rid of chlorine going through the skin, it has to be sweated out and would take 2h a day for 6 months to do so. How many Coaches would do this? NONE

In Europe outdoor pools are great and Ireland is not the only country to have rain and they still use outdoor pools. Swimmers who swim in outdoor pools suffer less of chlorine allergies, breathing problems. While swimming is good for people who have asthma, I believe it is certainly not for people who do not have any asthma. There is lots of discussion about this at the moment lots of pros and cons which would take too long to talk about.

sometimes we have to accept our mistakes and acknowledge the risks we are taking

Recently over 850 people suffered chlorine poisoning after the toxic gas leaked from a cistern in a shop on the outskirts of Disuk in northern Egypt (more)

Lessons Learned and Recovery

You will probably never spend 24h in a pool with a higher rate of chlorine than usual overnight. After 14h 3 people suffered from a dry cough and I could have stopped, even if the chlorine level was higher than usual sometimes we have to accept our mistakes and acknowledge the risks we are taking.
A funny thing happened a few weeks later, I decided to go to McDonalds which I might go 3 or 4 times a year, and decided I deserved it. I sat down and took the tray and it said “Printed on 100% recycled paper which is totally chlorine free”
I am back training since August with very little problem, I went to Portugal on holiday and spent my time breathing salted air, and found it beneficial, slow run also helped me to develop my thoracic cage. It was sore and had some minor bleeding which I expected but after one month of running 30 to 40k a week at slow pace I am sure my final appointment and inside camera will look good.