Hey. I was out in Lover's Leap and got altitude sickness, complete with throwing up on the approach, dizziness and panting. I'm back in NYC after two weeks and still don't feel well. Was up at the 'gunks (aka cirque de soleil) over the weekend and felt incredibly nauseous. Seemed to get better throughout the course of the day. Any one have experience with recovering from altitude sickness or have any suggestions?

The Gunks is not High Altitude, so I really don't think it is related to altitude. I had a similar thing happen to me years ago when I went to Tahoe, and happened to catch a virus on the way. When I arrived in Tahoe I got sick overnight which just happened to be coincidence. After returning to lower altitude I realized it's a virus. (probably the Norwalk virus)

High Altitude symptoms rapidly alleviate themselves on descent.

According to a physicians guide on AMS descent should result in "rapid recovery: patients generally improve during descent, recover totally within several hours."

From your vague discription. I would say that you do not have AMS.

While it is possible to show/feel signs of AMS at lower altitudes it is improbable that that would be your condition since altitude related injuries are just that, related to altitude. If by descent you didn't get better then you do not have an altitude condition. The only thing that you may have noticed pertaining to the altitude at the leap is a decrease in physical performance.

Still, two weeks later you don't feel better (At sea level)... YOU DON'T HAVE AMS. Go see a doctor. Sounds like pregnancy.

I have plenty of experience with AMS for what it's worth.

Any one have experience with recovering from altitude sickness or have any suggestions?

serious question guys. stay on topic or get out of here.

ptc, my post was in reference to feelgood's post about sex and others regarding backcountry pregnancy! Consider this a warning guys.........be a smartass and you're no longer welcome in here

point taken

Heh Ma, the OP is complaining of specific symptoms. It doesn't appear that AMS, HAPE or HACE are possible (thus the viagra comment is irrelevant, especially since viagra is supposed to be preventitive and not for the treatment of AMS). Giardiasis or another backcountry bacterial or viral infection is possible though that usually includes severe diarhea. Since the OP didn't complain of that particular condition, it's possible to rule out all of those. The OP posted a question about AMS in the ladies forum even though there is nothing gender specific about AMS (though some studies have shown that high altitude headaches are more common in women, but the link isn't very clear). Dizziness, equalibrium problems and vomiting are also indicitive of everything from a severe ear infection to brain cancer but that starts to get pretty bleak. I fail to see how suggesting that pregnancy is the cause is inappropriate. If she got a standard blood work up from a doctor that would invariably check for that given the symptoms she is complaining of.

thanks for standing up and putting a stop to the ridiculous responses (sexually based) to my query. it just confirms my sense that this site is full of guys who don't really climb rocks or care about other climbers but surf the women's room to get they're rocks off.
If you guys were really climbers you'd have ethics and a deep sense of integrity.

By contrast the symptoms of high-altitude pulmonary edema, or HAPE, include shortness of breath, fatigue and cough, sometimes with frothy, pink sputum. Schoene says the condition has been recorded at 8,000 feet but is much more common at 9,000 to 12,000 feet, and the onset is usually two to four days after arrival.

"In our emergency room, we probably see a dozen cases of HAPE a year," says Dr. Chris Hummel, director of the emergency department at Mammoth Hospital in Mammoth Lakes.

Confirmed diagnoses of acute mountain sickness occur at about the same rate, Hummel says, "but we suspect the number is actually … higher. Many with acute mountain sickness don't come to the ER."

Treatment typically involves supplemental oxygen and the drug nifedipine (Adalat, Procardia), which lowers pulmonary artery pressure.

"It's the same concept as sildenafil, but sildenafil is more potent than nifedipine," Schoene says. In the lungs, sildenafil keeps the blood vessels dilated, he says. Pressure doesn't build, and the vessels don't leak fluid into the lungs' tiny air sacs.

For mountain climbers, a typical dose of sildenafil is 50 milligrams every eight hours, Hackett says. To treat erectile dysfunction, the usual dose is 50 milligrams before sex, he says.

On the topic of treatment for Altitude Sickness.

This is really interesting. Apparently it can be used to treat the disorder. The human body really is a facinating thing with so many different facets.

If you guys were really climbers you'd have ethics and a deep sense of integrity.

You've GOT to be kidding!