tatest wrote:
Anybody else? Statistically, about 25% of visitors to altitudes about 5000-7000 feet will show symptoms of the most common altitude sickness, Acute Mountain Sickness (AMS) within 2-12 hours of their first night sleeping at that altitude, more quickly the higher the altitude. So you are in good company.
For most people, if they do not move to a yet higher altitude, the problem will often sort itself out in 24 to 72 hours if the person stays hydrated (dehydration complicates the oxygen absorption problem) which includes the part about no alcohol, which dehydrates one quickly.
AMS has little to do with age or fitness, except that 50+ age group tends to be less susceptible than infants and children. AMS is a blood chemistry adjustment thing, separable from more general breathing and cardiovascular health problems. Those problems are made worse by the lower O2 partial pressures, but that's a separate issue from AMS.
Supplemental oxygen can help, whether the problem is AMS, or a general fitness problem. Yours sounds like AMS, because it occurs in your sleep. Otherwise what your doctor says, sleep at lower altitudes.
I travel from the East Coast (pretty close to sea level) to Colorado annually to snowboard. We stay at Copper, elevation 9,700 feet at the base village. Top of the mountain is a bit over 12,000 feet. We've been fine every year until last year. My 16-year-old step son felt like he wasn't getting enough air. That set off what I can only assume was a psychosomatic chain of events where many people in our party felt like they could not get enough oxygen. Lots of water and the oxygen canisters they sell at the mountain seemed to help (whether they're a placebo or not remains to be seen).
I always feel more winded than normal trudging around in the snow at those altitudes. I know why so it doesn't really bother me. I take it easy until I feel better. After a couple of days I acclimate.
