Friday 27th July –Noosa Heads Day 2
After walking round the national park and failing to spot any koalas, we set up shop on the beach. I paddled in the sea only to find that I was allergic to the sea -again. A similar reaction had occurred when I went swimming in the Southern Ocean near Rye in Victoria, but I was very surprised that the same thing would happen so far North. A hot, blotchy histamine reaction seared across my body and was only doused by loratidine tablets and a cold shower at the lifeguard tower.
After the last episode of reacting badly to the sea, I have been told that sea lice can elicit this sort of allergy. However, I am yet to find out exactly what the problem is. I was later to find that freshwater on Fraser Island also caused the same problem and so I now take hayfever tablets before I swim in any water other than swimming pools.
Please leave a comment if you have any information concerning similar symptoms after swimming in Aussie waters.
Sounds like you have some sort of cold water urticaria - though I’m not a doctor. I get this when exposed to the cold in general, though only a slight reaction. With me it looks like I’ve been stung with nettles. It’s just a type of allergic reaction, with antihistamine tablets of a hot shower guaranteed to sort the problem out. Or you could take more serious remedial actions and just move from the cold UK to the much nicer climate in Australia - that’s what I did!
Thanks for that Rob - we will have to check it out - having found that the warmer climate here in Australia is better for our health generally, it would be good if Linda could go for a swim too!