Altitude Sickness

The city of Quito rests at an elevation of 9,350 feet. By comparison, Orlando, Florida sits at an elevation of about 300 feet. Obviously this is going to be an adjustment. As you go up in elevation, the oxygen becomes thinner. As a result, your body goes into a sort of overdrive trying to get sufficient oxygen to your heart, lungs, brain, and every other organ. What does this feel like? The first thing you notice is how quickly you get winded. Walking briskly, climbing up a few steps,  even hauling a suitcase from the closet to the bed can easily make you short of breath. I even noticed a few times when I was just having a conversation with someone that I became winded from just talking! The other things you feel are a dizziness or lightheadedness, headaches, and fatigue. According to medical opinion, the most important advice to help you acclimate is to not overexert yourself in the first few days. Sleeping, despite the fatigue you feel, is to be avoided as it will only make you feel worse. Instead, light activity that will pump more oxygen through your system is advised. But I wouldn’t necessarily call three days of apartment shopping (jumping in and out buses, climbing up flights of stairs, trudging through flat after flat) light activity.

Before leaving the states my doctor prescribed acetazolamide, a medication used to prevent altitude sickness. I believe it works by lowering the pressure in your body, caused by the lack of oxygen. After taking the medication for the first few days and feeling virtually no symptoms, I assumed I was in the clear and discontinued the medicine. Bad idea. The next day I got hit hard – a tremendous headache with intense pressure behind my eyes and ears (much like a migraine), and a queasy stomach. Unfortunately this hit me as we were in the middle of mattress shopping with a group of about 8 people. It was a pretty miserable feeling and lasted for the next 2-3 hours. The best thing to do when you have a spell like this is to rest, drink a ton of water, take Advil for the headache, and according to our school doctor – get some sugar into your system. She explained that the glucose aids your body’s metabolism as its struggling with the lack of oxygen. Sure enough, after eating some food, I felt on the mend again.

Justin and I still get winded after climbing the stairs or making the brisk 10-minute, uphill walk to school each day, but for the most part the headaches and fatigue have subsided. What I read online prior to travelling said that acclimatization can take around 3-4 days. But after talking to some actual Ecuadorians, they said the process can actually take up to a month before you feel in peak condition again. We can’t wait until we reach that point so we can really start taking advantage of some of the beautiful public parks and hiking trails in the city. But until then, we’ll just keep huffing and puffing our way along one day at a time.