Depleted Oxygen Levels

Moving to Colorado from sea level was a physical challenge that one cannot prepare for. Some will tell you to eat a lot of red meat before coming; the extra iron will help carry oxygen in the bloodstream. Others will say that high carbohydrates will lessen the effects of arriving at a high altitude. These remedies may help some people, and others may find that they were wasting their time. I will relate to you my experience of coming to a higher ground, and let me begin by saying that it was quite painful for the first three days. I am used to the altitude now (as much as a human can be) but I will never forget waking up at midnight that first time, fearing that I was going to suffocate.

Colorado Springs sits at 6000 + feet above sea level. There are plenty of cities in the world that are even higher. Leadville, another Colorado town and the highest city in America, breathes uneasy at 10,152 feet. La Paz, Bolivia is the highest metropolitan area in the world, at approximately 11,900 feet above sea level. My friend Oliver, who is from Bolivia, tells me that they have quite a supply of oxygen tanks at the La Paz airport for the rescue of unsuspecting tourists. The highest inhabited area in the world seems debatable, but most research puts it somewhere in Tibet at a lofty 16000 feet above sea level. The human race seems content to avoid anything higher than that, with the exception of a few crazed mountain climbers.

Some people seem to adjust to high altitudes relatively easy, having just a few minor heart palpitations and then they are good to go. Others need a period of adjustment. Though I grew up in a town with similar altitude as “the Springs”, my seven years at sea level had erased my body’s memory and apparently I had to start for scratch.

I started to feel tired somewhere in Kansas, where Rand McNally’s road atlas told me I was somewhere around 4000 feet. Later that same day when I arrived in my new hometown, I noticed that the uphill climb to my apartment added several hundred feet to an already high base. Note to self: When renting an apartment over the Internet, be sure to ask more questions about location.

Forget about unpacking. It was time to lie down. My father and brother were helping me during the move, and I felt guilty lying there, useless, as they struggled to heave my couch through the sliding glass door. I was pooped! A pine pollen allergy was making the effort to breathe deeply even more futile. Even my cats seemed more lethargic than usual.
I had read somewhere that drinking a lot of water could help the initial feelings of high altitude sickness, and that seemed to work for a while. If I stood up too fast, the dizzy feeling would return. Walking outside to my car seemed to take the wind out of my sails. This was a very disappointing to someone who had visited the gym in her former city at least four days a week.

The first night I was in Colorado I woke up at midnight, gasping for air. I could not tell if I was ‘clogged’ or if my lungs just wouldn’t have it anymore. I actually panicked a bit. I promptly retrieved a glass of water from the kitchen. The hacking noises I made woke up my father and brother, who appeared mildly annoyed. They were coming from Montana, and we weren’t much higher than what they were used to. This added to my feelings of inadequacy.

Doctors will warn travelers to higher altitudes to take it easy, especially those with heart or circulatory problems. Symptoms of high altitude sickness include shortness of breath, heart palpitations, headaches, vague feelings of uneasiness, fatigue, and dizziness. There are a few different forms of altitude sickness – one is Acute Mountain Sickness (AMS). A person traveling to the even higher “middle” of Colorado who experiences altitude sickness or AMS might be told to return to Denver or Colorado Springs for a day to adjust. What happens if you are already in Colorado Springs? The feeling does go away, and eventually the body adjusts completely to the new location. Hopefully you won’t have the trouble I did next time you visit.