How to avoid High altitude sickness in Tibet

How to avoid High altitude sickness in Tibet is the second biggest hindrance and most underestimated topic when it comes to many travellers whom we have either met or tours we have organized.

Please remember, high altitude sickness serious, no matter the level of your fitness is. Even the fittest person might get the effect by it if it’s not considered serious and didn’t follow the recommendation of Tibet travel and tours experts or the advice from the medical community.

We do have many visitors, who are very excited and makes lots of activity in Tibet, without having any knowledge or little knowledge about the high altitude. Many of them end up accomplishing nothing as they plan. So it is a must for every traveller to understand it and then learn to overcome it.

If you listen to the advice of your doctor and your travel agency, you will have a great tour of Tibet without worrying anything about it. So we always tell our prospective clients to listen to us and follow the first three days as we would plan for them. Many wouldn’t listen to us, and we lose many prospective clients on this matter.

Since we look for quality over quantity we don’t make tours for such clients. But trust us, We were born in Lhasa and even we too feel the altitude sickness when we do move the higher altitude. Whenever we are driving across the high mountain pass we could dare to move out of the car in this fear.

So it is must forever travellers to understand what is it? and how can you overcome it?

High altitude sickness maladjustment of the body to the higher alleviation of mountains. The body of many travellers is customs to the air pressure of low altitude. This means your body gets an abundance of air in the low area. When you move to a higher altitude, these changes would make your body not adjust the amount to Air due to lack of air density at High Altitudes. This makes you feel uncomfortable and even sick. Please understand this. High Altitude sickness is serious and could even lead to death.

Our sincere advice is as soon as check in your hotel on the first day in Tibet. Drink plenty of waters and take a nap or rest in your hotel room. Do not go out for the first five hours and you can even ask your tour operator to bring you an oxygen cylinder if you think you would need it. Please avoid direct sun for the first two days, due to the high altitude the sun in Tibet is super strong.

Most good travel agencies would already assign an oxygen cylinder in your car as we do. If there is one in your car, ask the guide if you can take it to your room. Many hotels do provide oxygen but at an extra cost. The travel agency provides free, and some good travel agency even refill the tank for the entire tour. The cost of refilling the medium size tank would be less than five dollars but the hotel could charge you 50 dollars.

Take your first day in slow. Do not take a long bath on the first day. Taking bath to dehydrate your body. Please drink plenty of waters before hopping into the bathroom.

If you are feeling uneasy and uncomfortable, please try to sit back in the nearest shadow and talk to your guide. A good guide will communicate with you and will try to make the best solution out of the situation. This is why the guide plays a very crucial role.

Read more on What is the prevention for High altitude sickness?

The first thing we would recommend you to do is, make sure you are fit, go to a doctor tell them about your plan and ask for the recommendation. Eat lots of healthy food and do lots of exercise. On the eve of your arrival, eat salty food. We don’t know the scientific reason behind it. But we think, there is some reason, why all Tibetan foods are salty, sometimes super salty. We even feed our animals with salt to keep them healthy. Eat wheat, energy from wheat says in your muscle for a longer period. In the nutshell ask your tour provider what we eat, there is some unknown reason behind why we do it.

Please consider the time of visit, Winter, late Autumn, and the early Spring are very dry in Tibet. Summer in the month of June, July and August are the best time to visit.

You may also need to consider the alleviation and the weather of the place of visit. There is a great diversity of alleviation for different attractions you will visit. Especially when you are visiting the Everest north base camp and Kailash region. Please check the alleviation of Different attractions in Tibet at the end of this post.

You may also need to consider the distance you might cover per day Sometimes your tour might have lots of coverage per day. We don’t suggest every traveller cover many distances for first some days.

There are lots of beautiful high altitude mountain passes. We Tibetan believes one should not get out of the car as we would lose the air pressure inside the car. This belief comes with experiences and I think you should consider that too. So try to avoid getting out of the car at the high mountain passes if you do not acclimatize properly.

• The number one route to avoid the sudden shock of Tibetan high altitude is taking the train from other parts of China. We know the train is across from even higher altitude, but the trains are pressurized and a gradual one-day train journey might give you a great opportunity to acclimatize to the high altitude. Train to Tibet is also staffed with doctors and also equipped with the facility like oxygen supply for every traveller.
• If you are coming into Tibet from Nepal. Please stay a night in Kyirong for a night and then proceed gradually to the altitude.
• When you are in Everest base camp, and if you are feeling unwell please do go back to the lower altitude of Tingri. You will need to tell your guide that you have to go back. Tent hostels in Everest Base Camp are not booked in advance so there is no need of worrying about losing money.
• If you are travelling to the Kailash region, the best option would be travelling from China to Lhasa and then gradually proceeding to the Kailash region. This route gives you the best opportunity to get well acclimatization before travelling to the higher altitude in the Kailash region. but please let me warn you, it would be super expensive.

Lhasa: 3650 Meters
Shigatse: 4000 Meters
Tsedang: 3580 meters
Everest Base Camp: 5200 meters
Yamdrok Lake: 4700 meters
Gyantse: 3.977 meters
Average high of Kailash region: 4700 with highest at Drolma La Pass at more than 6000 Meters
Namtso: 4718 Meters

If you are looking for medication for High Altitude Sickness (AMS) please consult your doctor. We don’t have any authority in the medical field. And We would not suggest any medication. But please stay calm and do not worry about anything. Just follow the advice given by your guide and your doctor.

Read More about Acclimatisation on High Altitude Sickness here and We are extremely concerned about High Altitude sickness?

For more information please do write to us at info@itibettravel.com

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