Altitude sickness

Oh yeah - obviously those of us who just *drive* around at altitude are at much lesser risk that those who get out and walk or do some other form of exertion.

The Argentine soccer team has found a solution for Altitude Sickness.
Link. Talk to your doctor. Might work for you.

So I live up here... :) Take this with a grain of salt, but sometimes I think my breathing issues are compounded by my thoughts. If I find myself thinking about how thin the air is at 12,000' then it just plays on my mind. And seems to get worse.

First off altitude sickness should be taken seriously. If your doctor thinks you're OK, then what you could do is pop into an Urgent Care someplace at altitude and have them give you a thumbs up too. If anyone's going to know alot about it, it'll be the docs in Dillion or Silverthorne for example.

Instead of oxygen, you might try BreatheRite strips. Those nose bandaids that really open up your nose. I've found they also help me get over the mental barrier and I can relax.

Know that it takes alot of us 3-5 days to acclimate. Those of us on the older side of the hill are probably closer to 5. Five days for your body up ramp up red blood cell production.

Fluids help with the headaches but some folks just never seem to acclimate.

If nothing seems to help, then I'd discuss the use of a Portable Oxygen *Concentrator* with your doctor. My guess is that would be a much more reasonable first step.

Wow! Someone else with my exact issue!. Had this awful problem several years ago when camping in Yellowstone at 8400 feet. Same thing....not bad at day but middle of night I started to feel like " there was not enough oxygen in the air....awful feeling...and scary. Went through two nights like that before we figured out what was going on. Headed down the road and problem just disappeared once I was below 5000 or 6000 feet.

Did as you did...saw a doctor with similar results. He did suggest I start taking Ferrel Sequels iron supplement before ascending altitude again so I got some. I started taking multi-vitamins with iron supplement regularly.

I also purchased several cans of oxygen to keep in our motor home....got them from Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Boost-Oxygen-Natural-Energy-Ounce/dp/B005SUEVHU

I really have not stayed at such elevation since that episode years ago, but I have used a couple breaths of the canned oxygen a few times at night when staying around 6000 feet. I don't know if I was starting mild altitude sickness or just having slight mental panic ...but the oxygen seemed to alleviate the issue. It is calming just to know I have it.

Good luck!

I'm 61, live at sea level and have been to higher elevations with no problems. We were at Eisenhower Tunnel and Steamboat without any problems.

Bill