A reason to avoid the water: Recreational water illnesses

During summertime, I love spending my days on the water, and since I'm pretty far from the ocean, it's lakes and pools for me. But here's a reason to avoid the water: Recreational Water Illnesses. Basically, RCIs are any sort of condition you can develop from swimming. Such as? Swimmer's ear -- where water trapped in the ear canal breaks down protective barriers, allowing all sort of gross germies (technical term: bacteria, parasites, etc) to enter your ear and set up a house. Ewwwww! Another common one? Swimmer's itch--rash-like symtoms that result from being exposed to parasites in the water. Double ewwww!

How to avoid RCIs? Other than not swimming? Shower after swimming, fully dry out your ears, don't swallow water and see your doctor is something seems awry.