My Terrifying Experience with Altitude Sickness in Ladakh - India
To be honest, I had read a lot about altitude sickness before going, but I was busy and didn't prepare my health carefully enough. If anyone is planning to go, please take note because it is truly dangerous 😞
My Condition:
I am a 30-year-old female. A little background: I have low blood pressure. I had Covid 4 months ago and had recovered from post-Covid symptoms like shortness of breath. On this trip to India, I had a fever on my first night in New Delhi due to the change in environment. I rested for a day and recovered enough to fly to Ladakh the next day.
Understanding the Air in Ladakh:
For those who don't know, Ladakh is at an altitude of 3,500m above sea level, so the air is thin. Oxygen levels are only around 12-13% (average is around 20%).
Symptoms of Altitude Sickness:
I arrived in Ladakh at 9am and was a little airsick from the turbulence. We spent 2 days just walking around the central main market to get used to the air. I felt fine on the first day, and still okay on the second morning, with a slight nauseous feeling like my blood pressure was about to drop, but I felt better after eating. But things started around 3-4pm when I woke up from my afternoon nap. The symptoms of altitude sickness like headache, nausea, dizziness started to increase sharply. I vomited twice to see if it would relieve the nausea, but it didn't. The lack of oxygen became even more severe when my limbs started to feel weak, I had difficulty breathing, and had to breathe through my mouth. My friend immediately bought me a can of oxygen spray (white can with blue text, priced around 700-900 rupees). I felt better for about 5 seconds when I inhaled, but then I went back to normal. It was about 7:30pm and my friend couldn't leave me there any longer, so he asked the hotel staff to drive me straight to the hospital. During the trip, I started to feel a little faint. My friend insisted on keeping me awake to avoid the worst possible outcome (because when you sleep, your heart rate slows down and blood circulation also slows down, making it easier to lack oxygen and the worst case scenario is brain death 🥲)
At the Hospital:
The hospital I went to is called S.N.M Hospital. I feel so lucky that I had such a wonderful travel companion and that we chose a hotel with equally wonderful staff. I was very faint and tired at this point, so they took care of all the procedures for me (the people of Ladakh speak English, but it's best to bring a local). After filling out some basic information like name, age, address, I was taken to a room for a preliminary examination by a doctor. They asked about my current condition, took my heart rate and breathing rate, listened to my lungs, then the doctor took my medical history and sent me straight to the recovery room for foreigners. The entire registration, examination, and room direction process only took about 20 minutes without any tests.
I went to the recovery room and was immediately given an oxygen mask. Next, they inserted a catheter and connected an IV with 3 types of medication: one to help with breathing, one to help with nausea, and one to help with headaches, plus a painful injection in my hip to help balance the symptoms of altitude sickness. After lying down for about 20 minutes, my body started to calm down and I didn't have to breathe through my mouth anymore. The symptoms also decreased significantly, especially nausea and weak limbs. About 40 minutes to an hour later, I started to wake up and realized how scary and dangerous everything was! I really can't imagine what would have happened if I had stubbornly stayed in the hotel to treat myself 😰
The post is too long, so please visit my Facebook page to read more!
https://www.facebook.com/1680092546/posts/10218743224846636/?d=n ```