What kind of things help with the altitude sickness. I saw on travel websites, hotels in La Paz and Lhasa keep oxygen tanks in their guest rooms. I also see acetazolamide seems to help some but not others, according to the Internet travel websites
When we moved from St. Louis to San Diego we drove. We decided to stop in Grand Junction, CO which is one of our favorite cities. Normally we’d fly into Denver and the next day drive up, no worries. This time we drove straight through, having spent the previous night in Kansas. We stopped somewhere in Summit County (around 14,000 feet).
Did I mention I was preggers? So no time to get acclimated and an increased demand on oxygen needs. Not good!
I’ve never had altitude sickness before and it was horrible. Our hotel room had a loft where we slept, so I had to climb a little ladder to get there. Cool room otherwise, but I thought I was going to fall constantly- such vertigo, nausea, dizziness. It was terrible.
Uh, Denver?
Landed on a little puddle-jumper, walked a few hundred feet (outside) from the plane to the terminal, then some distance inside the terminal to my next gate. By the time I sat down I was gasping for breath and felt like I’d been run over by a bus.
FTR, the elevation of Springfield is 600 feet.
I’m aware that there are anti-altitude sickness pills that some hikers use. When I was in Ecuador, a local guide who took tourists to the top of Cotopaxi (19,000 feet and the closest point on Earth to the Sun) recommended that climbers not use them, because they make you pee frequently and it takes too long to unbundle, pee, and rebundle when you’re wearing so much warm clothing.
I live in central Illinois (flat as a pancake) and have stayed several times in Vail and Breckenridge (last place was at 11.000 feet). Our main weapon is to have a water bottle on hand at all times and drink like a fish (water, not booze). The only trouble I usually have is mild nosebleeds from the dry air. But my husband and I were in Vail on a business trip, and like upthread, many of the guests partied the night away and were sick as a dog the next day. One particular couple I remember was from Mississippi, and had flown in and started drinking. The wife didn’t drag out from her room for three or four days.