I recently spent 3 days at a location with an altitude of 578 meters which is 382 meters less than home. While there, my PD symptoms were reduced by about 80%. I slept better, had almost no tremors, walked better. When I returned home, everything returned back to previous levels. I found this on the web about altitude and brain functions.
Altitude can have various effects on the nervous system. The body’s first reaction to oxygen deprivation is to increase cerebral perfusion, enabling more blood to reach the brain. This is normal, but under certain conditions it can cause problems. According to a research team from Eurac Research, the Universities of Trento and Padua and the Hospital of Aosta, those who travel to altitude without the necessary acclimatization risk developing varying degrees of serious high-altitude disorders – from acute mountain sickness to cerebral oedema. Those who do so with overt or latent neurological disorders should be even more cautious, and in some cases should avoid going to higher altitudes all together 1. High altitude produces substantial impairments in a number of cognitive performances. Changes in psychomotor performance, mental skills, reaction time, vigilance, memory, and logical reasoning have all been measured at altitudes above 3,000 m (9,843 ft) 2. There are also studies that show even relatively mild levels of hypoxia (deficiency in oxygen) can alter our ability to think clearly. At oxygen levels equivalent to altitudes above 12,000ft (3.6km), healthy adults can start to show measurable changes in their memory, their ability to perform calculations and make decisions 3.
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Excuse my cynicism, but you may have experienced a change in attitude more than altitude. “Happy” vacations increase intrinsic dopamine/endorphin levels. Keep smiling. Psychological well—bing is healthy.
Last time I was on a plane, when I got off I was so confused, I got lost in the airport I have been flying out of for decades. My husband actually had to come in to this huge airport and find me. At the time, I was appalled and blamed it on having to wear a mask, but now I'm certain it was PD caused. And it was so awful, that I will now not be traveling anywhere I can't drive.
Thanks for that insight. But I guess that doesn't change my reluctance to have that occur again. And really, going where you can drive or take a train isn't bad.
I was not the driver but we drove 6 hours rather than fly. I have not flown since I was diagnosed. It was a business trip and I thought I would be stressed and have worsened condition. I was pleasantly surprised when it turned out so well. Thanks
I live at > 2000 M and have spent nights and time at >3000 M and at sea level. I have thought a lot about elevation, particularly early if it had a causal effect on my PD. My research was that it is understudied, but perhaps. Sleep apnea which I also have is probably linked and hypoxia of any cause certainly affects brain function. However, as my internist has said, if the general medical consensus was correct about altitude we would all be dead up here where 92% o2 saturation is normal.
I don't notice a lot of difference in my PD with elevation change. As other have indicated it has a lot more to do with stress, or vacation. If I go down to 1600 meters to see my neuro I am still more Parky than if I am going to see Taylor Swift.
One Dr that I went to said that some of his patients did see improvement by moving to lower altitude but again, hard to tease out what is just easier than PD.
The large PD increase of 30% over the last 10 years in the Netherlands is comparable to elsewhere in the world, despite more than 6 million people living below sea level. Largely, of course, the increase is due to an ageing population, but even then the increase is significant with remarkably many younger people with PD. Air pollution, pesticides and changed lifestyles are probably the main causes. The research mainly focuses on this and Bas Bloem succeeds in bringing national attention to the PD pandemic. This helped change the Dutch position on glyphosate approval and even caused a re-vote in the EU.
His team also did the research “How Vacations Affect Parkinson's Disease” as already discussed in the post “summertime”, movementdisorders.onlinelib...
One part of this research was the relationship with a high-altitude stay. Of all participants, only 21 people went on holiday above 2000 metres altitude. Of these people, about 60% noticed that their parkinson's symptoms decreased. For the group that stayed below 2000 metres, this was about 40%. High-altitude stay was associated with less stiffness, whereas stress reduction was not significantly associated with improvement in specific symptoms. The study group was too small. Therefore, the researchers cannot yet say for sure what the influence of altitude is and are now working on a height study in which the conditions are the same for all participants. To mimic the influence of height, an oxygen mask is used. In this way, the influence of altitude can be better investigated. In other words: to be continued!
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