Climbing A Mountain Soon? YOU NEED TO READ THIS. 🏔

AMS (Acute Mountain Sickness) can happen to anyone as long as you’re about 3,300m above sea level – this is especially if you ascended within a very short period of time (which is basically anyone on a trek 😅).

most trekking/hiking itineraries will factor in a couple of days solely for acclimatization, but the human body is a human body; and if you’re not used to it (especially if we live in territories close to sea levels), then you’re just simply, not used to it.

[𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘳𝘦𝘧𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘦, 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘨𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩 𝘢 𝘵𝘰𝘵𝘢𝘭 𝘰𝘧 5 𝘣𝘢𝘴𝘦 𝘤𝘢𝘮𝘱𝘴 𝘪𝘧 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘯𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘰 𝘱𝘦𝘢𝘬 𝘌𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘵. 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘵𝘳𝘦𝘬 𝘣𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘴 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘧𝘪𝘳𝘴𝘵, 𝘸𝘩𝘪𝘤𝘩 𝘴𝘪𝘵𝘴 5,300𝘮 𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘷𝘦 𝘴𝘦𝘢 𝘭𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘭.]

almost everyone in my trek group was on Diamox (a medication that prevents / alleviates AMS); but because i felt completely fine all the way right up till the end, i really didn’t think i needed to be on it. things only went south literally on the day before we reached the base camp; when it started snowing as we left Lobuche for Gorak Shep. there was a huge weather shift because of Cyclone Viyaru doing its thing in New Delhi – and even our guide and sherpas remarked that the region typically wouldn’t snow at this time of the year.

despite everything, i think i got the better end of the stick because i got hit in as chill a way as one can possibly hope. i.e. it started off as a mild headache that wouldn’t go away the whole 2 hours that we were trekking; it continued for a couple hours more even after we’d settled in our lodge. at some point, my fellow trekker attempted to coax me with soup but i’d lost my appetite by then and was feeling nauseous so i excused myself to head to the washroom.

and then this was when the shit hit the fan EXPONENTIALLY, because i distinctly remember getting so dizzy in the bathroom stall that I had to spread my arms out and press both palms to opposite ends of the walls just to steady myself… and within a second of stumbling out of the toilet, i knocked out cold, promptly, on the floor.

i woke up hours later, back in my own bed and surrounded by a bunch of people, with a mug of hot chocolate on the table and snow falling in full force on the outside.

long story short, my guide was super worried and thought i was being sus the entire time hiding my AMS symptoms or whatever so that i wouldn’t be kicked out (responsible trek leaders will make you descend immediately once you show signs of AMS – even if you’re trekking as part of a group.)- but i really wasn’t. i was literally ok right up till the snow started falling like freaking Christmas in the middle of May. and it shows, because even without ascending or descending, i got better by the next day.

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just in case you’re really scaling something soon (or have it on your bucket list), nope, don’t even think about it. if you have AMS and you are not getting better and you do not descend immediately, YOU WILL DIE. it is not even a question of ‘may’ / ‘may not’.

if you are lucky and attentive enough to catch your own symptoms early, you can try alleviating them with drugs (Diamox, or Dexamethasone), and then recalibrate to see if you feel fit enough to continue.

but if not, DESCEND. don’t give yourself extra pain by thinking about the waste of $$ and loss of time and whatnot. the fact that you’re on this trek already sets you apart from the average traveller. you are an adventurer, and you have grit. and strength. and courage. and you’re usually in things for the long haul. but a true show of perseverance under these circumstances would be to know that you can put things on hold and pick it all up again another day.

not to mention the obvious reality that it is literally better to descend and be alive to attempt this one more time – than to be dead and not have the opportunity to do anything ever again. #MyLemon8Diary #horrorstory #lemon8travel #Lemon8SG #CanShareMeh #SavourTheMoment