Are there any medicines to alleviate shortness of Breath at high altitudes?I go to Colorado every year for 4 days to snowboard. When I get there I have a hard time "catching my breath" just doing nothing and especially when I sleep. I actually don't sleep for more than 20-30 minutes at a time before I wake myself up in a panic b/c I feel like I am suffocating. When I am actually snowboarding it gets much worse. I become fatigued very quickly and my legs start to cramp and feel heavy. I am not there long enough to acclimate so is there anything I can do medically to help me out? I have none of these problems on the East coast.
-Rockford
I just read that taking a calcium channel blocker like nifedipine can help with breathing and exercise tolerance at high altitudes. I'm taking it for raynaud's syndrome (cold hands and feet) and just read that in the information sheet. It's a high blood pressure medication that dilates your blood vessels.
-Barry M
You are being affected by the altitude. You probably live at or near sea level. If you are snowboarding in Colorado, the altitudes at the summits of most resorts are more than 10,000 feet. This means your body is getting a lot less oxygen than it is used to. The biggest cause of cramping is dehydration and a build up of lactic acid (causes muscle fatigue). In a perfect world you could acclimate yourself to the high altitude. Since you can't spend that much time there, you need to drink plenty of fluids (something with electrolytes) and if any of the lodges has an oxygen bar, spend a few minutes breathing oxygen. Other than that, short of acclimation, you should probably consider a ski area at lower altitudes - or just gut it out and enjoy the pain. Good luck.
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