Low altitude sickness

Posted by: wandering_daisy

Low altitude sickness - 08/15/08 08:48 AM

Does anyone else get ill when returning to sea level from high altitude? I am lucky in that I aclimate quickly to altitudes of 10,00-14,000 feet but after every long trip, I am sick a day when I return to home at sea level. Plugged sinuses, headache. I am usually well rested and feeling great when I leave the trailhead and by the time I get home, ugh! I have tired not drinking beer or wine the day I return, staying on backpack food for a day - nothing seems to work. I fear it is the horrible air pollution down here in the lowlands. I am allergic to my home!
Posted by: Dryer

Re: Low altitude sickness - 08/15/08 04:54 PM

Yup...not just altitude though. I went to Ireland for two weeks in May and my sinus issues cleared up completely. I felt like I was a teenager again. Came back home and the cedar/juniper put me on my back. There simply isn't as much gunk in the air at altitude, or in some foreign places.
Posted by: Jimshaw

Re: Low altitude sickness - 08/15/08 08:14 PM

Daisy,
After becoming acclimated to altitude and then returning to sea-level, I felt the air was thicker. It didn't rush in and swirl around in my lungs like breathing thinner air. I found myself sort of going - inhale [wait for the molasses like air to flow in], exhale [and have to push harder with my diagram to push it out], but the amount of oxygen in the air more than makes up for any muscle tiredness. I used to suffer a lot on trips going UP until I learned I am lactose intolerant and the MCDs cheese burgers were killing me. The air is most probably A LOT CLEANER in the mountains and the drive home on the freeway exposes yer lungs to all kinds of stuff. I am generally dehydrated too. It always took my body 2-3 days to recover from BPing. Like on Wednesday after coming home on Sunday - but it was all dietary/water related not altitude related.

On a side note - living in Bend at 4,000 feet I can totally kick the rear ends of my friends who live at sealevel. <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />
Jim <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/cool.gif" alt="" />
Posted by: tahomus

Re: Low altitude sickness - 08/17/08 08:44 AM

wd- i live at 6200'- and when i visit the low lands, i feel very sleepy and headachey and unmotivated. my brother suggested that my body is used to thinner air- and when i go down in altitude, i super-saturate with o2; causing the malaise. eventually the excess red blood cells will die off- taxing your liver as well. fortunately i'm not usually at low altitude for more than a couple days. when i get home, i feel better.

your body will make more red blood cells to compensate for the lower o2 concentration at higher altitudes. i read a suggestion for dealing with this problem- donate blood right after a high altitude trip.

i have not tried this approach for my sea-level visits, since i am only down there a couple days, and only once a year or so. it would take some "homework" to find a blood donation center & schedule an appointment & etc. - not a convenient job for a 48 hour trip, already scheduled full.

if you try the blood donation, let me know how it goes.
Posted by: Paul

Re: Low altitude sickness - 08/17/08 09:45 PM

Have you tried drinking a LOT of water on your way home and after you get there? This seems to help me. I don't get the sinus issues usually, but I do get the headache and malaise, and superhydrating seems to help.
Posted by: midnightsun03

Re: Low altitude sickness - 08/18/08 01:03 PM

Interesting... how about giving blood right before you leave on your trip?

MNS
Posted by: dkramalc

Re: Low altitude sickness - 08/18/08 01:42 PM

Another idea to try, wd - I always feel like I retain more fluid for a few days after returning to lower elevations. I know that the tendency when getting to higher elevations is to be dehydrated, so maybe I'm just extrapolating, but how about trying things that tend to have a diuretic effect (sudafed, tea/coffee, grapefruit, melons - these are what I've read, anyway - etc. as well as generally low sodium intake for a few days)?

I usually feel energized the first day I'm back from a high-altitude trip myself, though not on my most recent trip...maybe because I had too many undone things waiting for me, hmmm? <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/tongue.gif" alt="" />

I think the air is definitely cleaner up there, so allergies could also be the reason. I am always struck by the fact that my skin gets much clearer up there (no wayward zits like I usually have) even though I am not as clean in general.
Posted by: trailblazer

Re: Low altitude sickness - 08/18/08 04:14 PM

I almost always seem to get that lazy feeling when returning to low altitude. Like dk, I also seem to retain water for a day or two Unfortunately I don't have a solution, but drinking lots of water has seemed to help the few times I've drank a lot of water on returning (diuretics only seemed to make things worse). Although I can't help but return from a trip and reach for the beer before the water <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />
Posted by: Rick_D

Re: Low altitude sickness - 08/18/08 04:25 PM

I'm always sore, but that's to be expected <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />
I too get fried airways and sinuses, and I've concluded it's because they get severely dried out in high altitude/low humidity and don't begin to heal until I get home to sea level.

I'll use saline nasal spray in the mountains and back home to reduce the symptoms, but it only lessens the symptoms.

The other thing is I have a hard time sleeping through the night when I get home, which seems counterintuitive considering the comfy bed and no bears skulking about the yard.
Posted by: tahomus

Re: Low altitude sickness - 08/19/08 08:22 PM

ms,
i haven't tried it directly.
one time, when i was towards the end of my initial bleed out for hemochromotosis, i did make a trip down to the flats. did i have the malaise? no. i came back up to what was my last bleed- then ended up very anemic for a year...since then, a genetic test shows no hemochromotosis. i actually feel better (more energy) when a little anemic, even at altitude.

good suggestion to try to donate right before the low-altitude trip. i'll see if i can schedule it before my next trip.
Posted by: OregonMouse

Re: Low altitude sickness - 08/29/08 09:46 PM

I've had the same feeling since coming home from the Wind Rivers--just beginning to snap out of it. The worst of it was that after 2 weeks in the outdoors, I couldn't sleep in the enclosed motel rooms. As a result, I drove 1,000 miles home on very little sleep and a ton of caffeine. Not at all good for the body, especially a 72-year-old one!

Some of it is post-trip depression, too. I probably should have packed my stuff back up and headed up Mt. Hood.
Posted by: lori

Re: Low altitude sickness - 09/02/08 07:27 PM

I thought I was the only one with this problem - everyone else gets headaches at 10000+ feet, I get them when I get home. My sinuses also get impacted and painful. I think our bodies are trying to tell us we need to stay "home."
Posted by: OregonMouse

Re: Low altitude sickness - 09/03/08 04:19 PM

No, I think our bodies are trying to tell us that we should have stayed out in the mountains!
Posted by: lori

Re: Low altitude sickness - 09/03/08 08:25 PM

Quote:
No, I think our bodies are trying to tell us that we should have stayed out in the mountains!


Yes, that would be "home". <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif" alt="" />

It's only when I come to that little box with windows at low altitude that I start feeling cruddy. I wonder if I can get a doctor's note so I can telecommute via satellite from somewhere in Yosemite.
Posted by: kevonionia

Re: Low altitude sickness - 09/04/08 08:22 AM

wd:

Just got back to sea level -- the berth I sleep in on the boat is a foot above sea level -- after working on a friend's cabin above Fairplay, CO, for a week at 11,200 feet. I've followed your post and wanted to see if I had any of your symptoms, but didn't. Because of the sea breeze the air's pretty fresh here, so I'm thinking you're right about it being the pollution you're dealing with when you get home.

I had been real worried about doing construction work at that altitude, having had a bad bout with altitude sickness several years ago trying to bag a Collegiate Peak. (Have done plenty of high altitude hiking since then.)

I went back in the archives here and found the Ginko Biloba suggestion (120mg./twice-a-day) and did that and had no problems up there. It helped to 'adjust' in Denver for two days before heading up, I believe. Plus I forced myself to drink alot of water.

For you, well it is the price to pay for getting to do ALL those great hikes you do. I'd pay it to have those outdoor experiences.
Posted by: Trailrunner

Re: Low altitude sickness - 09/04/08 09:41 AM

When I come back from a Sierra trip, even just a weekend, I feel like a million bucks during my first post trip workout.

If anything, returning home after a trip is a mental let down. My line of work can be depressing, especially after waking up next to a pristine meadow the day before.
Posted by: phat

Re: Low altitude sickness - 09/04/08 07:24 PM


I don't find I get it from altitude - but I do from allergies.. The nice thing about the mountains is I can go there during the worst allergy times for me anywhere and not suffer. coming home is a different story - and I find I tend to notice it when I get back. You take
anything for allergies?