Altitude sickness?

Challenged

Challenged

Pattern Altitude
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Challenged
I went to AZ recently and did a day trip from Scottsdale up to The Grand Canyon. I noticed about halfway into the 4 hour drive that I started to get a very mild headache. After making it up to the canyon and spending several hours at 7000 feet at various viewpoints, I had to ask my family to leave early so I could get some Advil, my head was pounding so bad.

I'm not prone to headaches at all, but I would probably say this was the worst headache pain I've ever experienced. I had been driving and had to ask my wife to take over on the way out, as I couldn't focus on the road because the pain was so intense. I slept for about an hour on the way down to Sedona, where we stayed for the night, and after waking up from my nap at about 4,000 feet in altitude, I felt fine and had no further issues on the trip.

As I have been flying for several years and have never come across any problems, I was surprised by what I experienced and was curious if anyone else has ever had any altitude related issues.
 
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I believe I was properly hydrated. I steadily drank water during the drive up and while there.
 
Challenged said:
I believe I was properly hydrated. I steadily drank water during the drive up and while there.
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Did you walk around or otherwise exert yourself? When you are flying you are sitting still.
 
I was definitely more active than I am inside the airplane, but I didn't go hiking either; mainly just walking around on mild inclines or climbing a few stairs.
 
Mixing dehydration and altitude is a one-way ticket to a headache. Different people react differently, but we tell visiting friends to drink drink drink when we drive them up into the mountains.

I'm acclimatized to at least some altitude, but one of only two migraines I've ever experienced was when hiking at Capitol Reef National Monument and becoming dehydrated.

I didn't know what a migraine even was at the time.

Described the experience to a Doc later, and he said, "You had a migraine. Stinks, huh?"

All I could do was lie in the tent trailer and wish the sun wasn't made of light. :(

Suuuuucked.

Capitol Reef is nice, by the way. No crowds, like the parks were in the 50s out West.
 
I use my pulse oximeter all the time for non-aviation things. In Taos we sometimes take new comers up to a restaurant on top of the ski mountain. Several times people have gotten headaches, passed out, etc. The oximeter helps tell the tale, but as mentioned dehydration is also a huge problem (especially in winter).
 
A minor lung infection coupled with an otherwise tolerable altitude can cause unexpected problems. You might not even notice the infection when at lower altitude. I saw this happen to a friend - he got an ambulance ride out of the deal...
 
I've climbed to almost 20,000 feet (Mt. Kilimanjaro). On that hike we (all flat landers) started feeling the altitude with a headache around 8000 feet. Exertion definitely makes it worse. Hydration is absolutely of critical importance and I drank more water and soups on that trip than I ever thought I could. At higher altitudes it is generally drier and the sun can be less tempered by atmospheric moisture/particles and that dehydrates you too.

The feeling above 15,000 was truly shocking. Breath, breath, step... Breath breath step... At the summit O2 is only 45% of sea level. No supplemental O2, just going slow - 5 days to go up, 2 down.
 
I got a mild headache once after climbing Grey's Peak which is fourteener. I got a worse one after flying a mapping job at about 15,000'-16,000' without O2 for about and hour and a half. I was wearing the mask but the hose became disconnected and I didn't notice until we landed. I live at 6,400' so it was probably a better situation than it could have been.
 
The other thing it could be is a sinus blockage or infection. This can cause a headache at a relatively low altitude before hypoxia kicks in.
 
Basically if you have anything physiologically wrong, going to altitude will usually just make it worse. :(
 
I have to admit, the very first thought I had was not hypoxia, but dehydration, as others have pointed out.

Most of Arizona is scary-dry. If you were hanging out at Grand Canyon, you'll need to be drinking almost constantly, especially if the temperature is warm.

For hypoxia, pay attention to the density altitude. It was likely well above 7000 feet.

Sinus infections can cause headaches, but they feel distinctly different from altitude or dehydration headaches. A giveaway is that if you shake your head, you can feel it "slosh." It's not pleasant, but it will give you an answer. And if it's positive, a little pseudoephedrine HCl (Sudafed) will help out.
 
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