Buckeye Lake Trek Tri: The aftermath

[artifactos]

Soooo it looks like I picked up a systemic infection (most likely strep or staph) from my open water swim in Buckeye Lake. Has anyone else experienced something like this?

Any little nick/bug bite I've gotten in the last week or so has gotten quite infected-looking, very quickly (this includes some crazy breakouts on my face). Red, hot, puffy, producing pus (not a lot of it, but you know..). For most of these little bothers, a bandaid + neosporin for 24-48 hours has cleared it up. I also had gooey eyes upon waking for two days (I figured it was from dust or something similar), and over the weekend a few lymph nodes (under the angle of my mandible and those right in front of my ears) became quite enlarged, hard, and painful.

I probably should have gone to the doctor on Saturday when I noticed the first tender lymph node, but I decided to wait it out. I plucked my eyebrows on Saturday night.. Sunday morning, I had a couple little bumps where I had plucked a couple hairs. By Sunday night, it had gotten more puffy and more pus-y (getting around the filter there), even after having a bandaid + neosporin on it all day. When I woke up this morning, my eye was swollen shut.

I iced the swelling down enough to go to my lab class in the morning and take my lecture quiz (I'm in a 3.5 week very condensed anatomy course), but left to go to Urgent Care on my way home. They gave me sulfas and some ointment to apply that will hopefully (?) take care of the infection.

After this, I don't know if I should do any more open water swimming this year. I want to do a tri on Wednesday and another at the end of August, but I'm really questioning the open water thing. I always tend to have bug bites or scrapes (part of living on a farm and enjoying the outdoors), and there's no real way to keep EVERYTHING covered up and sealed. Sigh.

BUT! At least I did well in the triathlon!!

[OakLeaf]

Ugh. I'm sorry that happened to you.

I would definitely report it to the race organizers. Really, the lake is notorious locally. I made a point of mentioning the polluted water in my post-race survey, but since I didn't actually suffer any (short term noticeable ) ill effects, your feedback would probably have more impact.

Hope you feel better soon.

[artifactos]

Do you happen to have the link to the post-race survey? I believe most of those messages probably went to my spam folder, and I didn't look through it before the last time I emptied it. Poop!

I suppose I could email the "info@" address provided on the site, but I would rather know that my email is going to someone who will actually read it. The doctor didn't bother taking a skin scraping or anything for a culture, so I don't actually know what kind of bacteria it is.. but either way, the only other place I would have picked it up is at the hotel, and neither my boyfriend nor his kids have developed anything like this, and I was the only one of us in the lake.

Sigh.

[OakLeaf]

I must've deleted the email with the link to the survey, but I had this in a followup email.

If you did not complete the survey, but have remarks negative (or positive) that you would like to share, please contact me at msullivan@thexxtramile.com.... - Maggie Sullivan, Director

[artifactos]

Thank you! I just sent her an email about my issues.

Now.. does anyone think that I'm being a baby about potentially not doing any open water swimming for the rest of this year? I'm afraid that if I don't do it, I'll lose my nerve for it altogether.. but I really don't feel good, and I hate the idea that I might need antibiotics regularly to keep up with my chosen sport.

[Bike Chick]

How awful. I heard there were issues like yours with a tri at Lake Springfield a couple years ago and now they treat the course and the beach with chlorine. The organizers definitely need to know and, no, you are not being a baby!

[NDIrishO3]

Wow! I did the Trek tri and I was joking with my husband afterwards that I was going to end up with some hideous disease after swallowing the lake water - it was pretty gross! I am a very strong swimmer (swam competitively for 10 years, it's the bike and run that I struggle with), so swimming in open water has never bothered me, but it was a little weird to see nothing but brown underwater - that couldn't be healthy. I have been fine since the tri but it is interesting to know that you've had issues.

[artifactos]

The race director replied to my email saying that they have not gotten any other reports like mine, but that she will share my email with the rest of the race organizers.

Now.. maybe I should just go do the OWS in the Wednesday night tri while I'm still on antibiotics and the evil little bacteria (that aren't quite as bad in Caesar Creek) can't cause as much damage. Sigh.

[colby]

Well, you're on antibiotics this week, so I guess the biggest risk is that you get exposed to something else and your immune system is already taxed.

Normally, swimming in better water, your immune system can take it. Make sure that you are well hydrated and up to snuff on your nutrition and your immune system can do the rest in most open water situations. Maybe after this experience take care to clean any open wounds very well after the race? I wouldn't let it keep me from racing, but I am super stubborn.

[artifactos]

I doubt I will do the race tomorrow, as much as I would like to. I have a yeast infection today, so the thought of cycling or running makes me cringe. I'm rather uncomfortable.

I need to check on the rules again, but I may not be able to swim at all for a couple weeks, since I know our Rec center has rules against swimming during/after skin infections or illness in general. Sigh. It would be hard to deny it with a big ol' red lump on my calf..

[colby]

I doubt I will do the race tomorrow, as much as I would like to. I have a yeast infection today, so the thought of cycling or running makes me cringe. I'm rather uncomfortable.

I need to check on the rules again, but I may not be able to swim at all for a couple weeks, since I know our Rec center has rules against swimming during/after skin infections or illness in general. Sigh. It would be hard to deny it with a big ol' red lump on my calf..

Rather uncomfortable sounds modest.

It sounds like others who were in the race who also feel like the water was icky and not appropriate for swimming should email these guys and let them know. Last year I did an Olympic distance race in a lake that was then found to have unacceptable levels of bacteria in it, and I recall afterward feeling really icky, more than normal. I assumed it was due to the heat, but I really don't think so. I like the race otherwise, but, seriously gross.

[OakLeaf]

I did let them know. I hope others do. But I think the majority of people who know the condition of the lake just didn't enter the race. I made that point in my survey too. I think they would've had a lot more participation if they'd had it at Hoover Dam or even Dillon (which is no prize itself, but better than Buckeye Lake).

[OakLeaf]

I don't think you're being a baby at all, but I think once you're recovered from this mess, a bit of neosporin is plenty to protect you in the future. Just a dab wherever your skin is broken, wouldn't take long to apply.

I had a paper cut the week before the race, and it did worry me a bit. Before the race I slathered it with neosporin and put a band-aid on it. The band-aid came off in the water (my own little contribution to the muck in the lake ), but the cut was as healthy and pristine the day after the race as it was the night before. (I also wore silicone earplugs since I'd just gotten over a case of swimmer's ear from the pool.)

I don't know if you were ever into those sensory-deprivation flotation chambers that were popular in the '80s, but they'd just tell you to put a dab of vaseline on any broken skin, so that the salt water wouldn't burn. It sealed the water out fine.

[artifactos]

I was born in the 80s, so no..

3.5 days of antibiotics later, I am feeling better. I'm considering taking my second dose of diflucan today (first was on Tuesday) since my yeast infection is still kind of uncomfortable (almost gone, but not quite). Sigh.

I'm hoping to be able to ride my bike tomorrow! I am having a very stressful week and I've been totally unable to exercise (my go-to for stress), so I really need to do SOMETHING. Running is still uncomfortable today, I'm still not allowed in the pool, and weight equipment is a no-no for a while. Le sigh.

Thanks for the neosporin tip, though. I thought I had gotten everything with neosporin + bandaid, but my chainring did stab me in the back of the calf when I was walking my bike to transition (one of my boyfriend's kids stopped suddenly in front of me), so I didn't get that covered.

[Bike Chick]

I feel for you dear. If it isn't bad enough that you end up with an infection after the swim, now you end up with a yeast infection from the antibiotics! That sucks big time.....doctors should just automatically write a prescription for diflucan when they prescribe antibiotics

I hope you get to feeling better soon.