High-altitude Vacation

[green]

Hello everyone,

I have the opportunity to go on a skiing trip with my family this spring. We're supposed to spend a week skiing in Keystone Colorado. I want to go, even though I expect that I'll spend the week in the ski lodge reading and swimming rather than skiing. But I've been worrying about the high altitude. The base height at Keystone is 9,000 feet (the mountain peak is 12,000).

This concern might be unwarranted, but I'm worried about the potential for mountain-sickness related brain damage. Here's a link to an article saying that healthy people can suffer brain damage by quickly transitioning from sea level to 14,000 feet (http://climbing.about.com/od/mountainclimbing/a/AltitudeStudy.htm) If normals are at risk from a 14,000 foot increase in elevation, then I wonder whether someone who has impaired orthostatic tolerance is at risk from a 9,000 foot increase in elevation.

I figure I'll spend the first night in Denver. The elevation there is 5,000 feet. That would give me some time to acclimate. But the more I think about it the more unnerved I am at the idea of spending a week at 14,000 feet.

Thanks.

[Guest GayleP]

Hmm..I don't know what to tell you because we're all so different as far as what we can and can't tolerate. Here's what happens to me at altitude. I moved to Denver in 1990, before I had dysautonomia. I did fine when we went to the mountains and had no problems acclimating. I was able to hike and bike and even climbed a 14,000 ft peak. Ah, those were the days....... Anyhow, when I got dysautonomia things changed for me. I find I'm OK going to the mountains for short trips, for a few hours but that's about it. And I seem to do OK at altitude below 7,000ft. My husband and I took a weekend trip to Breckenridge(9,600 ft) when I first started getting symptomatic and I was miserable. I was very tachy and lighheaded the whole weekend. This was a place where we had gone to many times when I was healthy so this was the first time I had problems.

If you do decide to go, stay hydrated. I don't think you're at risk for any brain damage, that usually happens when people are at higher altitudes than 9,000 ft and have been drinking a lot of alcohol or over doing it. The worst that will happen is that you'll be uncomfortable. Expect your HR to go up and remain high unless you don't have any issues with tachycardia to begin with.

[jump]

I agree that you probably don't have to worry about brain damage, but if you're concerned check with your doctor. Brain damage related to altitude is rare, and in normal populations you would have to LITERALLY go from sea-level to 14,000 feet -- no stop in Denver, no time to acclimate whatsoever. Since you have time in your trip to acclimate and since you are still going to be well below 14,000, even taking into consideration your ans dysregulation, it seems profoundly unlikely that that would be a problem.

However -- feeling sick is definitely something to be concerned with!! I have been to Colorado (up to 13,200 ft) when I had POTS, but it was during a time that my POTS symptoms were not at their worst. I felt light-headed, out of breath, etc but nothing that was incapacitating. I let myself acclimate really slowly: I was in Denver for two days, then at an elevation of about 9,000 for a few days, then 11,000, then 13. I hydrated like a fiend and ate a lot of salt. I also started taking asprin about 5 days before I left and continued taking it while I was there. I took two a day every day until I got to Colorado and then once there I took three a day. I avoided all potential triggers like the plague (caffeine, alcohol, etc), got plenty of sleep the week leading up to the trip. I didn't feel my best while I was there, but it was still a good trip and I was able to enjoy myself.

Another time I went to a different high-elevation place with some friends. I took a tramway from about 9,000 ft. to 12,600. THIS was a huge mistake, because it was too fast and I didn't have time to acclimate. Also, I hadn't planned ahead of this, so I didn't take asprin or hydrate or eat extra salt or anything in preparation. And I got really, really sick. So POTSy I couldn't stand AT ALL - it was the first time I ever completely collapsed with POTS symptoms. My hr lying down was like 150, and I turned chalk white and was sweating this cold sweat.... but, the good news was, once I took the tramway down to 9,000 ft again, I felt fine. Again, not great, but well enough to enjoy myself.

People with this condition are definitely much more succeptable to altitude sickness, so if you really want to go on this vacation, I would strongly advise you to plan ahead. Talk to your doctor and find out if an asprin regimen would be ok for you -- it really helped me a lot. Also, if you do start feeling sick, make sure you eat. One of the biggest problems with altitude sickness is that people feel nauseated, so they don't eat, and this in fact makes it much much worse. So eat plenty, drink plenty, and acclimate as slowly as you can. Keep in mind, too, that if you do start feeling unwell, you can always drive back to Denver and that should make you feel ok again. Even if Denver is a lot higher than your hometown, going "down" from an altitude almost always eases the sickness, even if going down doesn't bring you back to sea level.

Even if you feel up to skiing, I would strongly suggest that you don't for at least a few days -- because the chair-lift would be a very similar situation to what I experienced with the tramway. You would be going too high too quickly. If after a few days you want to try it, then I'd recommend not going to the top of the mountain. You wouldn't want to get up there and then be so sick you couldn't ski down!!!

[Miriam Poorman-Knox]

Ask your doctor for a medicine that works for altitude sickness. Will check the name, as I need some also. You take it for the # of days there. Went to Santa Fe a couple years ago after spending 4 months on Hawaii, caring for grandchildren. Spent 3 days prone on bed. My Husband was at a wilderness medicine conference and after the second day said you probably have altitude sickness.!!!!!!!!!!!!! Got the meds and had a couple nice days. M