Altitude sickness

[Ramp_Digger]

Just wondering if anyone else gets altitude sickness.Seams every time we travel to elevations above 8000 ft.I will be ok untill about 2 am I will awake with problems breathing.If we move quickly down to lower elevations the problem goes away.Never had any problem when I was younger,just after age 50 did this start.I had my doctor do a complete physical, no health issues to suggest cause. I could loose about 15 pounds, that might help.What does one do to prevent this? Doc said to drink plenty of fluids,climb high then retreat to lower elevation for the night,avoid alochol and heavy meals ect.So far nothing has worked except going down to 5000 ft. or less at night.Are there any meds that can be taken to help? does anyone use oxygen?thanks in advance for any suggestions,my wife loves to camp in the mountains but it is very uncomfortable for me Thanks
Ramp

[pnichols]

I wonder if those camping at high altitudes sleep better when on a CPAP machine?

A lot us use CPAP machines each night. I use one in our RV ... I'll have to take note of how I sleep the next time we camp at high altitude.

[jwmII]

I worked a job in New Guinea when I was in my thirties. The elevation was at 12000'. I had sever symptoms of altitude sickness at night and would wake up gasping for air. It makes it hard to get a nights rest. I finally relocated to accommodations at 8000'. That was a cake walk compared to 12000'. Now 40 years later I cannot handle 8000' elevations even walking. I have to stop and get my breathe frequently. Seven thousand feet elevation works much better for me. I do use O2 for sleeping tho. You may have to consider O2 when you are at higher elevations. I do fine below 5-6000'. Good luck.

[Ramp_Digger]

Thanks for the response.When I was in my twenties we traveled and hiked at elevations of 8000 to 10000 or more,never had any problem.I think getting older is a major part of my problem now.Heck getting older seems to affect a lot of other things too.

[2gypsies1]

down home wrote:
At Grand Canyon wife and I went down the Angle Trail and back up and I though I was going to die. It was like Asthma not from exertion.

We've done Bright Angel, too and I'll bet your problem was a combination of altitude as you climbed up, exertion and dehydration even though you probably 'thought' you were drinking enough water. That is a wicked climb!

[down_home]

.......

[PatrickA51]

Tiger4x4RV wrote:
Take altitude sickness seriously; the advanced stages of it can kill you. Even the early stages are a pain, as you have discovered. I have had troubles with it for years, usually cope with the "climb high, sleep low" method. For me, this can be hiking at 10K+ feet and going back down the hill to a camp at 7K feet in California's Eastern Sierra. The problem for me does seem to be getting worse as I age.

Reputable info can be found online at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control:
http://wwwnc.cdc.gov/travel/yellowbook/2014/chapter-2-the-pre-travel-consultation/altitude-illness

U.S. National Library of Medicine/National Institutes of Health:
http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/000133.htm

Good luck!

I went to my family doctor after suffering a bout with Altitude Sickness, she also said I have A Fib. I would say go get checked out.
(I know that this is an older post but here lately a lot of posts are showing up in my Junk or Bulk Mail folders)

[pkunk]

I live at 8200ft and have sympathy for my sealevel visitors. I keep an O2 concentrator for their use. I was ski patrol for many years at areas with a base elevation of over 9000ft, summits of 12k+ and common treatment was hydration & O2. At 72 I can still move briskly from 8k to 10-11k for a day hike with no ill effects. Condition.

[Wildcants]

Spent the pass two summers in CO at about 8,400 feet. Could not breath. Stress test showed all is OK with heart and lungs. Stayed 3 months and loss 15 pounds. Could not eat, much. Yea. The second summer I purchased a OX concentor (you can make that happen in CO) (look on Craig list or the ads in news papers).

Would use the machine whenever resting, day or night, just sit a relax and take the anxerity (can't spell) out of breathing. Helped enough to be able to go out and play, some.

Back at sea level but still use my machine to relax and un-stress. Good luck.

[DiploStrat]

Sometimes the "climb high/sleep low" can't be used. When you get off the plane at El Alto, at 13,000 feet, you can't really go anywhere to sleep low for several years. 😞

But, when traveling in your own RV, this can be very good advice as you may be able limit your forays higher than your comfort level to day trips and return to lower campsites.

N.B. La Paz, Bolivia, is one of the few cities in the world where property values increase as the altitude diminishes. The lowest cost housing is up on the altiplano at around 13,000 feet. The City center is at about 12,000 and the bedroom suburbs drop as low as about 10,000 feet. Paceñas believe, and I agree, that you can feel as little as 500 feet in difference.

View of La Paz from El Alto. The city center is around the tall buildings in the middle. The volcano Mururata is the flat topped mountain in the center background and Ilimani is to the right. The view is, as they say, breathtaking.

[loggenrock]

As a climber/mountaineer, any illness at altitude (>8000') is considered altitude-related until proven otherwise. The climbers adage of "climb high/sleep low" works - mild exercise at altitude, then go down to sleep is a good way to acclimate. One big misnomer - there is the same amount (%) of oxygen in the air at the top of Everest as there is at sea level - there is just more "space" between those molecules. it is the atmospheric pressure that is less. It is perfectly normal for folks to be able to walk and talk at 12,000', maybe just not at the same time! Diamox is a prescription medication, and not without its own side effects. Best approach remains to acclimatize slowly. headaches are "normal" - difficulty breathing (more than just needing to catch your breath) is not - cure is to descend. And yes, folks with pre-existing breathing issues will be more susceptible. ST

[DiploStrat]

Ramp Digger wrote:
Thanks for the info. Just wondering if there might be an alternative to Diamox that might work just as well.
Thanks Ramp

Way beyond my ability to answer and even Diamox probably requires a prescription in the US.

You would need to find a doctor with experience in actually treating altitude sickness. Fortunately, for most of us, it is sufficient to suppress the symptoms for a few days while you acclimate. Beyond that, you will need to seek competent medical advice.

Best wishes.

[Ramp_Digger]

DiploStrat wrote:
As a certified SOB (Survivor of Bolivia), as well as Peru and Ecuador, for many years, please let me add a few comments. The links posted by Tiger4x4RV are essential reading.

-- Diamox works well for many people. Not me, but for most folks it does make a difference. Dramamine can also be help in suppressing vomiting. This is only a treatment of the symptoms, but in general, it is easier to control vomiting if you don't start.

-- Analgesics help with headaches for the first three or four days. (You are going to get them; why suffer?)

-- The most dangerous sign is a persistent, non-productive or "dry" cough. After about six hours this is almost certainly a sign of pulmonary edema and you need to get on inhaled oxygen fast. This one can kill you quickly.

-- Hydrate! The old mountaineer's rule is that your urine should be "gin clear." (Good luck, but you get the idea.)

People with Sickle Cell anemia or Sickle Trait are at special risk and may not know it. This condition is generally only found in people of African descent, but it is also found in some people of Sicilian descent. (The good news is that people with Sickle Cell can't contract Malaria, but that is another post.)

Final, anecdotal, observation; younger, fitter males suffer more than older females. Can't find any medical data to back this up, but, I have noted it to be true. Be careful.

Thanks for the info.Just wondering if there might be an alternative to Diamox that might work just as well
Thanks Ramp

[Ramp_Digger]

Wow, thanks for all the replies and good advice.First I am going to copy and save all the links for future reference.My last episode with AMS was about two years ago, the last time at altitude.I will schedule a new physical with my Dr. When I was about 3 or 4 years old I had some mild encounters with asthma however I never noticed it since. Could be part of the problem now.About 5 years ago at Breckenridge,the Dr at the local ER gave me a prescription for Diamox.I tried taking it for 1 or 2 days before leaving for my next trip to CO.I could not tolerate it, it made me very nervous.However it must have helped some because I had no problems that trip.But then again I would not have problems every trip.Thanks again very much for all your help.Wife and I are looking forward to a trip to Yellowstone this year, with all your help I am sure it will be much more pleasant.
Ramp and Family

[turbojimmy]

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.