Sort of a medical question

[walter9999]

The wife and I ride a 25-30 mile loop almost everyday.  We live in humid east central Florida. My question is , after my body heats up some my sinus's run like crazy and I have to perform the "snot rocket" maneuver quite frequently.  Is there a solution for this issue?  ps.  She has never been hit by the said rocket, but finds it gross and asked me to seek help for my problem!  TIA Walter

[dubovsmj]

you could let her bike infront of you?

[whittierider]

It's quite common.  I stopped in at a fast-food restaurant last year to use the bathroom and a patron there who was obviously not in cycling shape was quite interested and had a load of questions for me.  The first one was, "Do you blow 'snot rockets'?" which I answered "yes" of course and told him that the activitiy makes our noses continue to clean themselves out, and why it was totally impractical and even dangerous to try to use a handkerchief.  Our kids who are cyclists learned the maneuver very young.  To try to mask the body's natural maintenance with a medical "treatment" cannot be healthy.

[waynemyer]

I don't think that there is anything to be done for it.  For most people I know, aerobic activity results in running nose.

[johnsondasw]

I often have to move out of the paceline or wait for my turn on back.  Whenever I know I'm going to be taking the lead soon, I make sure to "clear out" before I do.  My wife understands and gives me no grief about it, even occassionally doing it herself.

It's a natural cleaning process and feels healthy to me. 

[litespeed]

Taking an antihistamine is probably your only solution but these tend to dry out your mouth as well as your nose. You'd be continually thirsty which you could offset by using a camelback. I had a problem years ago with periodic very runny nose with watery eyes - not exercise related - and took a powerful antihistamine called Flavihist. It dried me out like a prune and was barely worth the trouble.

I, personally, never had an exercised-induced problem like this and have never known anyone who did. News to me. Learn something every day.

[bogiesan]

Overactive sinus secretion can be symptomatic of lots of interesting medical issues. You want to talk to an ear-nose-throat specialist who has a passion for sports medicine. Difficult to find but call other sports medicine specialists and see if there's a referral they will offer.

I strongly recommend sinus irrigation. It's an ancient practice, flushes out the cavities and prevents irritants from causing hystemic reactions and rogue bugs from setting up colonies. Many different techniques and products on the market, pick one and give it a try for a few months. I use the NeilMed kits  www.neilmed.com/usa

Rockets are rarely an option on a recumbent due to body position.

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