High Fever, Stomach Ickies After Swimming at Pool?

Public pools are usually far more heavily chlorinated than private pools. She may be suffering a reaction to the chems in the water. You can ask to have her tested for that possibly.

I also agree with Dawn that perhaps it's a good time to locate another public pool and give that a shot. Maybe the heavily trafficked pool you are using ISN'T properly chlorinating.

This just reminds me of the story another mom told about her teenage son and his two friends that went camping for a couple of weeks and then on the drive home, stopped at a water park to "wash off the grime" in the public pool.

Public pools can be pretty gross.

How often do you go to the pool? Do you go every week to the pool and she gets sick every week? Does she only get sick in the summer? Does she ever get sick out in the heat without being in the pool?

How about if you only take her to another pool. Isn't there another one you could use? Perhaps an empirical approach might help - trial and error?

Good luck!
Dawn

I have banned public pools! In our previous home, we had a clubhouse/pool area for homeowners. It seemed like every other week we received letters from the association that the pool was closed down because they detected feces in the water after some of the residents reported stomach ailments, bleck! If they don't chlorinate enough, it could be bacterial...?

As a kid, I used to get nauseous from swimming all day in the sun.

I wonder if water is getting in her ears and sticking there? You know not draining enough.. This will cause a lot of drainage, which upsets tummies.. and then a sore throat happens.

Consider some of those swimmers ear drops from the pharmacy.. see if that helps, poor dear..

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Pools are places where large numbers of kids and adults congregate, so if there is a virus going around --and there are plenty -- it's a great place for a kid to pick it up.

Some folks have said sun poisoning, but if the problem were that, it would show up much sooner than 4-5 days after being exposed to the sun.

But the fact this always seems to be tied to the pool indicates the problem may be the pool itself. Either it's not well maintained (and the thought is just too gross!) or there are a LOT of smaller kids there who may be doing things in the pool that foul it. Does the pool shut down for 10 minutes each hour for enforced potty breaks? Our local rec center pools do that religiously, forcing ALL swimmers out of the water for 10 minutes of each hour, the idea being that it reminds parents to remove kids and make them use the toilets, or to change swim diapers, etc. If your gym pool does not do this, they should. But that wouldn't solve problems if the pool is improperly chlorinated and maintained.

I know you don't want to deny her the fun -- but is it really worth her getting sick every single summer? Your other daughter may be less affected because she just has more immunity to whatever is causing this, but why let one daughter suffer just so both can have a pool? Find another pool or do without.

If you continue at this pool and it happens again, get her doctor to run tests on her for things like E. coli, cryptosporidium, salmonella, shigella, etc. That may show that the pool's contaminated, and you would have grounds to go to the gym management and demand changes. But I wouldn't wait to make my kid an experiment like that; I'd stop going now.

sun poisoning? some people are more sensitive than others (or is it an indoor pool then oops)

Pools and hot tubs, are actually very dirty.
And so I wouldn't be surprised, that your child is reacting this way.

Do you have a yard?
If so, maybe your family can get an above ground pool, yourselves.

It could be the other kids immunities are stronger than your daughter's.
And many public pools are not cleaned/managed properly - they are disgustingly filthy.
There was an article I read a summer or 2 ago about a public pool with cloudy water that actually had a body on the bottom of the pool for 3 days before anyone noticed.
No one - not one single person using that pool - thought cloudy pool water was an indication of a problem - "it's always that way and it's normal for that pool".
If it just happens with that gym pool, then stop going there.
If it happens with all pools, then your daughters health is more important that swimming and you'll have to stick with sprinklers in your yard.