Aelfgifu Travels

Hi Aelf Crew,

Today I wanted to touch on something that I hadn’t heard of before experiencing and hadn’t seen mentioned on the usual travel pages I follow: altitude sickness.

Coming from London (which sits at just 11m above sea level), I’d never spent extended time at high altitudes. 

I went from Chengdu to Kunming and whilst there, I noticed persistent headaches (which I rarely get in normal life) and a sense of dizziness. I’ve had occasional vertigo in the past, but not had a dizzy spell for almost a decade. 

After sharing my symptoms with my friend, he advised me that it could be altitude sickness, as Kunming is 1,900 meters above sea level, so a lot more than I had ever experienced, and my symptoms seemed to correlate with those of the sickness.

An interesting fact I read online is that it can affect even young, fit individuals, especially if you ascend quickly from lower altitudes.

Symptoms to look out for include:

• Headaches
• Nausea or vomiting
• Tiredness
• Dizziness
• Confusion

I’d never considered this as a travel risk and definitely wouldn’t have thought to research it beforehand – so I hope this post helps someone else avoid a nasty surprise.

I include a list I have collated from various sources below of the 10 highest altitude cities in China to keep in mind:

1. Shigatse – 3,836m
2. Lhasa – 3,658 m
3. Shangri-La – 3,280m
4. Lijiang – 2,418m
5. Xining – 2,295m
6. Dali – 1,976m
7. Kunming – 1,900m
8. Lanzhou – 1,520m
9. Dunhuang – 1,139m
10. Yinchuan – 1,100m

Whilst the altitude in Kunming was a shock to my body, it is considered relatively low altitude for altitude sickness (usually expected at more than 2,500m above sea level). Therefore taking over-the-counter pain relievers like paracetamol helped the headaches and keeping hydrated seemed to ease my discomfort. After a few days, my body did start to acclimatise. 

Doctors advise avoiding alcohol and smoking to ease symptoms, albeit I did both and survived – perhaps by now you should have probably learnt not to follow my lead in health and safety!

There are also medications one can take to help the body adjust to higher altitudes and to prevent and treat the symptoms of altitude sickness such as Acetazolamide, which helps the body adapt to lower oxygen levels.

A more natural remedy is eating foodstuffs high in iron to help the body produce red blood cells, reducing altitude sickness symptoms over time.

Top Tips to Learn from Aelfgifu:

• Don’t stress about researching altitudes ahead of every trip – unless you’re planning serious hikes (like Mount Everest!) But if you start feeling unwell with the above symptoms, consider that altitude might be the cause. 
• If you are going somewhere with a high altitude, easing into it gradually gives your body time to acclimatise so the symptoms are not so severe.
• If you suddenly feel ‘off’, don’t panic – there are simple solutions to the symptoms like keeping hydrated and taking painkillers. If symptoms persist, descending to a lower altitude can help your body recover.

Have you ever suffered from altitude sickness in the past? Let me know any top tips on how you acclimatised below!

From high heights,

Aelfgifu