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Dizzyness after open water swim
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I've now had 3 swims with dizziness afterward. I swam in Sweden a couple years back in 55 degree water which really sucked. I got out feeling fine then all of a sudden crazy dizziness to the point I wanted to puke. Last year in my first tri in a couple years same thing. I almost had to sit down before I got on the bike! Water was probably 70. Yesterday again. I swam about a mile in 62ish water and got out feeling good then within a minute boom....dizzy and feeling like crap. It only lasts a minute or 2.

Can this be a result of "cold" water in my ears? A lack of swimming in a suit? I generally swim in a pool 3 times / week. I've never been dizzy after pool swimming. Only after a wetsuit swim in a lake.

Any thoughts appreciated.

24 Hour World TT Champs-American record holder
Fat Bike Worlds - Race Director
Insta: chris.s.apex
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Re: Dizzyness after open water swim [cmscat50] [ In reply to ]
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As far as I know, that's normal and yes, it's the result of cold water in ears. Some people use earplugs to avoid/alleviate that.
To me that seems to happen mostly on my firsts OW swims of the year, then it seems my body adapts.
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Re: Dizzyness after open water swim [cmscat50] [ In reply to ]
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This happens to me on most of my OWS swims, I chalk it up to the increased amount of chop in an open water setting compared to a pool, that can throw your balance off. Normally when I leave the water (I see a lot of other people do this) I have to look down at the mats while I do the transition run otherwise I would probably fall over. By the time I am at my bike it passes. I tried using ear plugs but those were more annoying than being temporarily dizzy.
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Re: Dizzyness after open water swim [cmscat50] [ In reply to ]
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Ear plugs took care of this for me. I use the silicon ones you can buy at any drug store.
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Re: Dizzyness after open water swim [PeterAK] [ In reply to ]
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++earplugs. I use the speedo ergo:

http://www.amazon.com/...ords=speedo+earplugs
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Re: Dizzyness after open water swim [cmscat50] [ In reply to ]
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It's a condition called "Swimmer's ear". I didn't know what it was until I read up on how so many others have the same problem. Now I can't swim without earplugs at all.

There are a multitude of swim plugs out there, but these worked well for me and are re-usable:

http://www.howardleight.com/earplugs/aquaseal


Brian
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Re: Dizzyness after open water swim [Brian7581] [ In reply to ]
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could be dehydration too.

Such a Bad Runner
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Re: Dizzyness after open water swim [Brian7581] [ In reply to ]
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I am not convinced the vertigo is an issue with swimmers ear, people affected by that will also be affected in a pool. Our brains are designed to understand our orientation by the horizon. When you are in open water the horizon can be obscured by waves which means while are you are in it, you are fine, once you get back on dry land you are out of whack. In a pool the lanes and side of the pool are always easily in sight. This is a principle of flying IFR (instrument flight rules), if you are in a cloud you don't have reference to a natural horizon so the plane could be 90 degrees or totally upside down and you may not be able to detect it. When you are trained as an open water lifeguard, this is also taught. Swimmers will panic when they can't see land and will often start swimming away from land as opposed to towards it because they become disoriented.
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Re: Dizzyness after open water swim [cmscat50] [ In reply to ]
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Get earplugs. Even the $.25 foam type from a drug store will work for enough swims to make sure that's what is causing it.
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Re: Dizzyness after open water swim [patsullivan6630] [ In reply to ]
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patsullivan6630 wrote:
I am not convinced the vertigo is an issue with swimmers ear, people affected by that will also be affected in a pool. Our brains are designed to understand our orientation by the horizon. When you are in open water the horizon can be obscured by waves which means while are you are in it, you are fine, once you get back on dry land you are out of whack. In a pool the lanes and side of the pool are always easily in sight. This is a principle of flying IFR (instrument flight rules), if you are in a cloud you don't have reference to a natural horizon so the plane could be 90 degrees or totally upside down and you may not be able to detect it. When you are trained as an open water lifeguard, this is also taught. Swimmers will panic when they can't see land and will often start swimming away from land as opposed to towards it because they become disoriented.

Yeah, ask the Kennedys about inadvertent IMC.
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Re: Dizzyness after open water swim [cmscat50] [ In reply to ]
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This happens to me when the water is really cold. It'll get better as it warms up
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Re: Dizzyness after open water swim [cmscat50] [ In reply to ]
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Happens to me when I ows in cold water. Earplugs, the Christmas tree kind, eliminated it.

@floathammerholdon | @partners_in_tri
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Re: Dizzyness after open water swim [cmscat50] [ In reply to ]
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As with others, it's cold water in the ear for me. I always swim with plugs or waterproof headphones (pool only).

I think swimmer's ear is something different -- an infection or maybe also inflammation from water staying in the ear for hours or days after a swim. I used to get ear infections as a kid, and the doc called it swimmer's ear. Rubbing alcohol will fix that, but it's easier in a race to just use the plugs.


<The Dew Abides>
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Re: Dizzyness after open water swim [cmscat50] [ In reply to ]
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I will concur with

1) Never had happen in pool
2) Happened 100% in OWS without earplugs
3) Never had it happen in OWS with earplugs

So for me, the solution is throw on some earplus for OWS
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Re: Dizzyness after open water swim [copperman] [ In reply to ]
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It is the caloric response. Cold water in the outer ear causing convection currents in the endolymph of the semicircular canals, which stimulates the vestibulo-ocular reflex and creates vertigo.

I suffered from this really badly with an open water swim 2 weeks ago. It took hours to settle down.

Ear plugs work for most people if they seal the ear - if they leak obviously the cold water gets in and can cause those convection currents. For most people as the water warms up the difference in temperature between the water and the body becomes small enough that there is no appreciable response. Probably some people do learn to damp the response and acclimatise, empirically that seems to be the case. I'm not sure if it's an actual fact that people acclimatise though.

Another practical example of how the many things I learnt at medical school are actually true and relevant to real life!
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Re: Dizzyness after open water swim [mithrasm] [ In reply to ]
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mithrasm wrote:
It is the caloric response. Cold water in the outer ear causing convection currents in the endolymph of the semicircular canals, which stimulates the vestibulo-ocular reflex and creates vertigo.

I suffered from this really badly with an open water swim 2 weeks ago. It took hours to settle down.

Ear plugs work for most people if they seal the ear - if they leak obviously the cold water gets in and can cause those convection currents. For most people as the water warms up the difference in temperature between the water and the body becomes small enough that there is no appreciable response. Probably some people do learn to damp the response and acclimatise, empirically that seems to be the case. I'm not sure if it's an actual fact that people acclimatise though.

Another practical example of how the many things I learnt at medical school are actually true and relevant to real life!

Without ear plugs it happens to me even when pool water is 80F+.

No plugs, no swim, no puke.....
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Re: Dizzyness after open water swim [OlderTryGuy] [ In reply to ]
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OlderTryGuy wrote:
Without ear plugs it happens to me even when pool water is 80F+.

No plugs, no swim, no puke.....

I mean your body temp is 98, so even at 80 you still have a delta
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Re: Dizzyness after open water swim [copperman] [ In reply to ]
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copperman wrote:
OlderTryGuy wrote:

Without ear plugs it happens to me even when pool water is 80F+.

No plugs, no swim, no puke.....


I mean your body temp is 98, so even at 80 you still have a delta

I hear yah. Even when our in ground pool in SWFL gets to 90F+ in August it still happens. Guess I'm a plug user for life. :0)
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Re: Dizzyness after open water swim [patsullivan6630] [ In reply to ]
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patsullivan6630 wrote:
I am not convinced the vertigo is an issue with swimmers ear, people affected by that will also be affected in a pool. Our brains are designed to understand our orientation by the horizon. When you are in open water the horizon can be obscured by waves which means while are you are in it, you are fine, once you get back on dry land you are out of whack. In a pool the lanes and side of the pool are always easily in sight. This is a principle of flying IFR (instrument flight rules), if you are in a cloud you don't have reference to a natural horizon so the plane could be 90 degrees or totally upside down and you may not be able to detect it. When you are trained as an open water lifeguard, this is also taught. Swimmers will panic when they can't see land and will often start swimming away from land as opposed to towards it because they become disoriented.

i'm going with this. i swim in the caribbean (which is quite warm) and i am always a little dizzy and unsteady on my feet getting out of teh water and walking up the beach. by the time i've walked up to where my stuff is i'm back to normal. definitely NOT a cold water issue. when i swim in teh pool (much colder than the sea) i do not come out dizzy

http://harvestmoon6.blogspot.com
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Re: Dizzyness after open water swim [mithrasm] [ In reply to ]
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mithrasm wrote:
It is the caloric response. Cold water in the outer ear causing convection currents in the endolymph of the semicircular canals, which stimulates the vestibulo-ocular reflex and creates vertigo.

Took the words right out of my mouth. Did you copy my answer?
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Re: Dizzyness after open water swim [cloy26] [ In reply to ]
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cloy26 wrote:
Happens to me when I ows in cold water. Earplugs, the Christmas tree kind, eliminated it.


^^^^This. I also found it reduced nausea on the run from having water in my ear canals.

Cheap, and easy to pull out on the way to T1:


ECMGN Therapy Silicon Valley:
Depression, Neurocognitive problems, Dementias (Testing and Evaluation), Trauma and PTSD, Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI)
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Re: Dizzyness after open water swim [Titanflexr] [ In reply to ]
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Thanks everyone. I thought I just needed to HDFU. LOL.

Earplugs ordered!

24 Hour World TT Champs-American record holder
Fat Bike Worlds - Race Director
Insta: chris.s.apex
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