What an Awful Vacation So Far

[JustAPrepper]

Justa here, venting from Salt Lake. My very first time out here and not only was I excited to get here but DH was so excited to finally get me "home". What an incredibly beautiful place. Everywhere you turn there is a mountain range, some are topped with snow, and there is still a little Fall color happening along the slopes and in the valley.

We arrived Thursday and everything was going well. Got up Friday morning and I wanted to head in to the mountains so DH takes me up Little Cottonwood Canyon first. Keep in mind, I've lived in Florida the past 35 years...Sea Level...the valley ranges 4500 - 6000 feet above sea level depending. Little Cottonwood...10,000 feet. On the way up I started getting a headache and thought Uh-OH! Then it went away. One the way down I had two serious episodes of Altitude Sickness and have been dealing with it ever since. Today I ended up in the ER because I just can't breathe and/or get enough oxygen here. Fatigue, dizziness, nausea, shortness of breath, you name it. It's pretty serious business and people have died here from it so the ER ran a bunch of tests to make sure there weren't any other underlying issues but all is good and I'm healthy. I'm just "One of those Flat Landers that can't seem to adjust". So, they gave me a breathing treatment and an inhaler to use for the rest of our trip but if it doesn't kick in by tomorrow and I start feeling some real relief I may fly home early. Sucks because I'll miss one of the things I was looking forward to most, travelling to Moab and visiting all the Arches and dessert canyons but in order to get "down" there we have to go "up" and over a mountain range and that scares me to death. I don't want to go any higher! :eek:

Anyway, just thought I'd pop in since I'm here in bed resting and trying to BREATHE.:rolleyes:

[izzyscout21]

Hey, hang in there. Glad to hear you're doing ok.

[bacpacker]

Sorry to hear that Justa. Just not enough time to acclimatize. We want to go to Utah so bad. We had a trip back in 05 and made it to the south rim of the grand canyon for 4 days and had planned on 3 days on the north rim. Then on up to Zion and Bryce Canyons.
While at the south rim got a call my grandmother was in the hospital, so we headed back home. We've wanted to go back out ever since.
Get well quick!

[The Stig]

I experienced much the same during a business trip to Denver.

I was there in 98ish and had no issues. In 2007ish went to Golden and one of our excursions was to drive to the top of some bigass mountain (wasn't Pikes Peak, but one actually slightly taller). Anyway, got to the top, hopped out of the car, walked ten steps and about collapsed. Took me a good fifteen minutes before my head stopped spinning. Felt like hell the rest of the day.

Hope you can adjust long enough to enjoy the rest of your vacation. Good luck!

[Sniper-T]

sorry to hear.... rest and recupe... I think that given some time you will acclimate, just dont push it.

[ladyhk13]

What a horrible way to start your vacation! We go out to Reno every year and up to Tahoe. I had never been there before 4 years ago and it was really different! I have lived in TN since 2003 so am used to going up and down the mountains but I have noticed that my migrains are much much worse up here than when I lived in FL. I imagine it's from the difference in altitude. They almost don't stop here but I have learned to just live with them.
I sure do hope the rest of your vacation is better since you have an inhaler now...did they give you anything to take just in case your headache comes back? Well keep us updated and maybe add some pics of where you have been???

[Sparrow]

I am sorry to hear about this :( My only suggestion is chamomile tea, and lots of it even if not hot. And also ginger tea. Those two should help you recover easier.

[mollypup]

Sounds awful! Just reading it made me feel bad lol! Comon' back and just chalk it up to try and take it a lot slower the next time you go there.

[Stormfeather]

The trick is to acclimatize yourself, its that way in any country, at any altitude. Take a few days to acclimatize and you should be fine!

[ladyhk13]

Just checking in with you Justa...how are you feeling? How is your vacation goin? I hope you have adjusted and are having a wonderful time. Let us know when you get back...sure do miss you here!!!!

[JustAPrepper]

Hey everybody, thanks for the well wishes! We got in late last night.

It really was the worst vacation ever. :( I never did recover and believe I'm suffering from something called High Altitude Pulmonary Edema (HAPE). It's fluid on the lungs brought on by sudden and high altitudes. It's something the doctors warned me about and told me to pay close attention to. It *can* go away on its own if I get lots of rest but it can also turn in to pneumonia if my body doesn't flush the fluid on it's own. The only way to know for sure is a chest x-ray so I'm still taking things very slow and monitoring myself closely. If I get worse I'll head in to the doctor but hopefully now that I'm home I can get this monkey off my back...err, umm, chest. I should have flown home but I was too sick to fly alone and there was no way I was going to ask DH to shorten his trip...we went to see his (our) new grandbabies that were born a few weeks ago so I toughed it out.

Since I never really felt good enough to do anything I didn't get to see much. Even driving around town was really hard on me so I didn't get out much at all. When I was out I felt so bad I really couldn't enjoy it but I do have a few pics that I'll put up shortly.

[bacpacker]

Glad your back home. I really hate to hear your trip turned out so bad for you. Take it easy and keep a close eye of the fluid build up. Thats a very serious condition you have there.

[ladyhk13]

Soooo happy you are home!!! Ok on the serious note, I had a client (patient) that was from Colorado. She moved to Fl and was having lung problems. They did all the "normal" tests and ended up removing part of her lung. Come to find out, she finally went to a doc familiar with bacterial infections that are common mainly in Colorado and told her that her lung really did not need to be removed, she needed an aggressive treatment of antibiotics that works for that bacteria. If this does not clear up MAKE SURE they know where you were and are familiar with the diseases in that area.