looking4answers
07-02-10, 23:05
Hi,
I know this is kind of weird to be discussing but I woke this morning worried.
Five years ago we were living at 200 feet below sea level and both seemed to
healthy and ok in most every way We were both in good shape and were
physically active and seemed pretty healthy. Then Katrina came and after
the storm we decided to repair our homes and move here to a place that
is 8500 ft or actually 8700 ft above where we were living.. The first few
months im sure we suffered the usual temporary effects but then they
subsided somewhat although never totally left us . I woke this morning
and was thinking about a dream I had about traveling to a knew place
and couldn't remember where I was from. I have had bouts of short term
memory loss ,nothing serious but can seem to remember things that
happened to me so many years ago earlier. I sometimes forget things
that happened earlier in the day but If I think about them I usually
remember later. Names I forget and have to think about it for awhile
and then they come to me later. .Time doesn't mean much here its easy
to forget the day of the week ,month or year ,well not the year so much
but the month and date.. Every day seems pretty much like the day
before. Over the past five years , it might be my imagination but I don't
think I feel as good as i did when we lived at sea level and my wife doesn't
have one day that she feels good. As for pinpointing what exactly is
wrong neither of us seem to be able to and have a range of symptoms
that can change at anytime or stay the same.. When we first came
here we both lost about 30 or 40 pounds each but over a year we gained
it back and then we went on diets and lost it again .For health. While
we have lived here I started feeling old and limited to what I can or cannot
do..Thats a first for me since I never felt there was anything I could not
do . Some days I feel breathless just walking out to feed the dog and the
horses and other days I can get out and move bails of hay around 60
pound bales with little or no breathing issues.. I noticed the last time
I used the snow blower I got really out of breath just doing our drive
and then the next time out I wasn't so out of breath. Some days
i can wash a load of clothes and just bringing them to the laundry room I
get really out of breath and then other days I can move around freely and
lift things and move around no breathlessness. For the life of me I was
thinking if this is serious wouldn't it be consistent ? Also most days now
we seem to be able to go to the grocery and come back and unpack
everything and then put it up and we are fine but other days we get so
out of breath its almost as if we are going to pass out. Some days my
wife says she feels dizzy for no reason at all and other days I feel that
way as well. We get sweaty when its cold like a moisture on our bodies but
when you feel that part of the body there is no moisture. We both
experience this at one time so it has to be something that is really
happening. The light after five years still plays tricks on our eyes and we
are both having issues with seeing .."as in eyes are blurry" a lot. We used
to stay up till 3am and sometimes 4am with no problems but now we
seem to get sleepy at 8pm and then usually are asleep at midnight.
Im very scared as to what may have happened to our bodies here. I have
read that even after living at high altitude over the years that you can
get AMS which is acute mountain sickness.. but it says normally its over
10000 ft which that puts us below that mark, so im not sure that is it..
I have had acute anxiety off and on for almost five years and I have had
anxiety all my life but it leaves for a number of years and never comes
back unless there is a trauma in my life of some kind. But I have had it
off and on for five years pretty regular and even my wife is pretty anxiety
free tends to get it some days ..I have read so much about high altitude
sickness and it seems if there was really some damage it would be evident.
I did have an issue with the doctor telling me I had high blood pressure
but she found out later it was white coat symdrome as my wife monitored
it at home, but I still worry did we hurt our bodies are our brains by
moving here. They say if you already have an existing condition then
sometimes it becomes worse by moving to a higher altitude.. Would we
have done better by living at a lower altitude?
Where we were living stays hotter most of the year ,the winters are not
severe like they are here. There is 25 percent more oxygen but the air
is moist there and tends to create mold and mildew and also there are
more bugs and things due to the tropical nature. Here there is 25 percent
less oxygen but the air here is suppose to be the cleanest in the world.
We breathe ok for the most part and when we go to the doctors they
always say we seem to be ok, The doctor knows im anxious and when I
tell her I get dizzy and stuff sometimes she tells me its hyperventilating
and sometimes just says its anxiety . I get worried many times that
if we would have just stayed at a lower altitude we would have been
better off and not felt the way we do here. Since we have been here
we have both felt older than we did at a lower altitude and mentally we
have suffered because of the seclusion and worry. That is why I say "Did I kill us?"
Would we have had a better life and extended our years by living at the
altitude that we were born at? I have ask the doctors and some nurses
we know about how I feel and they all say its most anxiety .Is it the place
then causing the anxiety. The unfamiliar surroundings ? the strange people?
the seclusion? Its taken many years just to be able to look out the window
and know im at home but then there are times I feel as though I just want
to get on a plane or drive and go home? There is no home where we were
or at least the one we knew.The people are different the surroundings
different and our children all over the states.. scattered to the wind..
I fear the worse even now we have three feet of snow on the ground with
the promise of about two feet tonight.. So strange I did not grow up in
this . I grew up and a populated your neighbor lived next door not a mile
away place.. and the snow was a rare thing and you only got maybe a few
inches.. My world seems so strange at times,I also wondered this morning
if maybe my mind is slipping away.. or maybe its depression from not
being away from a place like this for five years. The lowest elevation we
have been to from here in five years is almost 5000 ft.. and we started
feeling very weird then.. They say there is a reverse altitude sickness
where your body has to readjust again to lower altitude. See I worry
about so many weird things. I also had something on my scalp a little
like pimple and scratched it off a few times .I kept messing with it and it
would grow back and then finally I scratched it off one last time and
when It came back it was very tiny and doesn't look like any kind of cancer
just maybe a little mole or something ,but then again I worry if it was
a type of tumor that grows in the brain , I get worried that perhaps it
was a tumor or cancer and its in my brain and has caused damage to
my brain and that is why I feel weird at times.. All this has been on my
mind today. I have gone through some physical changes from being strong
with plenty of muscle to loss of muscle tissue due to weight loss and then
building up of muscle tissue and strengthening by exercise and gaining
weight again,.
My wife hurts alot and neither of us sleep well at night . We both toss
and turn and the dreams are bizarre and disturbing.. Another product of
high altitude. I think of moving away from this place but wonder if our
living here the past five years has damaged us beyond repair and if we
were to leave here would it matter now? or would it possibly make things
worse on us since we are now accustomed to high altitude..
Sometimes Im just stuck im scared to leave and scared to stay .. Either
way I don't know what to do. Here four years ago I started hearing my
pulse in my ears and have been to several doctors that don't know what it
is but say its benign. I never had that till I came here ,its annoying and
frightful and hard to live with but I have managed but it gets to me
sometimes, I wake and hear my pulse pounding in my ears and it hardly
ever goes away .. This and so much more is the reason I wrote this post
Did I Kill Us because we moved here instead of staying where we
belonged? Please forgive me for such a long post but this has weighed
heavily on my mind for quite a while and today especially since I woke..
Thanks for reading and your patience.. Michael
I know this is kind of weird to be discussing but I woke this morning worried.
Five years ago we were living at 200 feet below sea level and both seemed to
healthy and ok in most every way We were both in good shape and were
physically active and seemed pretty healthy. Then Katrina came and after
the storm we decided to repair our homes and move here to a place that
is 8500 ft or actually 8700 ft above where we were living.. The first few
months im sure we suffered the usual temporary effects but then they
subsided somewhat although never totally left us . I woke this morning
and was thinking about a dream I had about traveling to a knew place
and couldn't remember where I was from. I have had bouts of short term
memory loss ,nothing serious but can seem to remember things that
happened to me so many years ago earlier. I sometimes forget things
that happened earlier in the day but If I think about them I usually
remember later. Names I forget and have to think about it for awhile
and then they come to me later. .Time doesn't mean much here its easy
to forget the day of the week ,month or year ,well not the year so much
but the month and date.. Every day seems pretty much like the day
before. Over the past five years , it might be my imagination but I don't
think I feel as good as i did when we lived at sea level and my wife doesn't
have one day that she feels good. As for pinpointing what exactly is
wrong neither of us seem to be able to and have a range of symptoms
that can change at anytime or stay the same.. When we first came
here we both lost about 30 or 40 pounds each but over a year we gained
it back and then we went on diets and lost it again .For health. While
we have lived here I started feeling old and limited to what I can or cannot
do..Thats a first for me since I never felt there was anything I could not
do . Some days I feel breathless just walking out to feed the dog and the
horses and other days I can get out and move bails of hay around 60
pound bales with little or no breathing issues.. I noticed the last time
I used the snow blower I got really out of breath just doing our drive
and then the next time out I wasn't so out of breath. Some days
i can wash a load of clothes and just bringing them to the laundry room I
get really out of breath and then other days I can move around freely and
lift things and move around no breathlessness. For the life of me I was
thinking if this is serious wouldn't it be consistent ? Also most days now
we seem to be able to go to the grocery and come back and unpack
everything and then put it up and we are fine but other days we get so
out of breath its almost as if we are going to pass out. Some days my
wife says she feels dizzy for no reason at all and other days I feel that
way as well. We get sweaty when its cold like a moisture on our bodies but
when you feel that part of the body there is no moisture. We both
experience this at one time so it has to be something that is really
happening. The light after five years still plays tricks on our eyes and we
are both having issues with seeing .."as in eyes are blurry" a lot. We used
to stay up till 3am and sometimes 4am with no problems but now we
seem to get sleepy at 8pm and then usually are asleep at midnight.
Im very scared as to what may have happened to our bodies here. I have
read that even after living at high altitude over the years that you can
get AMS which is acute mountain sickness.. but it says normally its over
10000 ft which that puts us below that mark, so im not sure that is it..
I have had acute anxiety off and on for almost five years and I have had
anxiety all my life but it leaves for a number of years and never comes
back unless there is a trauma in my life of some kind. But I have had it
off and on for five years pretty regular and even my wife is pretty anxiety
free tends to get it some days ..I have read so much about high altitude
sickness and it seems if there was really some damage it would be evident.
I did have an issue with the doctor telling me I had high blood pressure
but she found out later it was white coat symdrome as my wife monitored
it at home, but I still worry did we hurt our bodies are our brains by
moving here. They say if you already have an existing condition then
sometimes it becomes worse by moving to a higher altitude.. Would we
have done better by living at a lower altitude?
Where we were living stays hotter most of the year ,the winters are not
severe like they are here. There is 25 percent more oxygen but the air
is moist there and tends to create mold and mildew and also there are
more bugs and things due to the tropical nature. Here there is 25 percent
less oxygen but the air here is suppose to be the cleanest in the world.
We breathe ok for the most part and when we go to the doctors they
always say we seem to be ok, The doctor knows im anxious and when I
tell her I get dizzy and stuff sometimes she tells me its hyperventilating
and sometimes just says its anxiety . I get worried many times that
if we would have just stayed at a lower altitude we would have been
better off and not felt the way we do here. Since we have been here
we have both felt older than we did at a lower altitude and mentally we
have suffered because of the seclusion and worry. That is why I say "Did I kill us?"
Would we have had a better life and extended our years by living at the
altitude that we were born at? I have ask the doctors and some nurses
we know about how I feel and they all say its most anxiety .Is it the place
then causing the anxiety. The unfamiliar surroundings ? the strange people?
the seclusion? Its taken many years just to be able to look out the window
and know im at home but then there are times I feel as though I just want
to get on a plane or drive and go home? There is no home where we were
or at least the one we knew.The people are different the surroundings
different and our children all over the states.. scattered to the wind..
I fear the worse even now we have three feet of snow on the ground with
the promise of about two feet tonight.. So strange I did not grow up in
this . I grew up and a populated your neighbor lived next door not a mile
away place.. and the snow was a rare thing and you only got maybe a few
inches.. My world seems so strange at times,I also wondered this morning
if maybe my mind is slipping away.. or maybe its depression from not
being away from a place like this for five years. The lowest elevation we
have been to from here in five years is almost 5000 ft.. and we started
feeling very weird then.. They say there is a reverse altitude sickness
where your body has to readjust again to lower altitude. See I worry
about so many weird things. I also had something on my scalp a little
like pimple and scratched it off a few times .I kept messing with it and it
would grow back and then finally I scratched it off one last time and
when It came back it was very tiny and doesn't look like any kind of cancer
just maybe a little mole or something ,but then again I worry if it was
a type of tumor that grows in the brain , I get worried that perhaps it
was a tumor or cancer and its in my brain and has caused damage to
my brain and that is why I feel weird at times.. All this has been on my
mind today. I have gone through some physical changes from being strong
with plenty of muscle to loss of muscle tissue due to weight loss and then
building up of muscle tissue and strengthening by exercise and gaining
weight again,.
My wife hurts alot and neither of us sleep well at night . We both toss
and turn and the dreams are bizarre and disturbing.. Another product of
high altitude. I think of moving away from this place but wonder if our
living here the past five years has damaged us beyond repair and if we
were to leave here would it matter now? or would it possibly make things
worse on us since we are now accustomed to high altitude..
Sometimes Im just stuck im scared to leave and scared to stay .. Either
way I don't know what to do. Here four years ago I started hearing my
pulse in my ears and have been to several doctors that don't know what it
is but say its benign. I never had that till I came here ,its annoying and
frightful and hard to live with but I have managed but it gets to me
sometimes, I wake and hear my pulse pounding in my ears and it hardly
ever goes away .. This and so much more is the reason I wrote this post
Did I Kill Us because we moved here instead of staying where we
belonged? Please forgive me for such a long post but this has weighed
heavily on my mind for quite a while and today especially since I woke..
Thanks for reading and your patience.. Michael