Today my hubby and I hiked up a hill that was pretty steep in parts. It took about 35 minutes to get to the top. About 2/3 of the way up I had to stop and catch my breath because I was finding it VERY hard to breathe because we were already at a higher elevation, 3300 feet, and hiked to an elevation of around 4000 feet.
Anyway, once I got to the top I was finally able to catch my breath, and had to do some coughing to clear my lungs.
Well, it's almost 11:00 at night now and my lungs still hurt a little if I take a deep breath. Also, I'm still coughing up a little phlegm every now and then. Is this normal? I don't usually have the cough for this long. Also, when I was hiking, my mouth tasted a little metallic, so I looked at a bit of my spit because I was afraid there might be blood in it, but there wasn't. Also, it was a little chilly; probably around 50 degrees or so. Any thoughts would be appreciated.
Thanks! :)
2006-10-21 15:47:07 · 4 answers · asked by Somebody 1 in Health ➔ General Health Care ➔ Other - General Health Care
Sounds to me like you picked up an air borne allergy from the higher elevations. Do you hike this high often? Sometimes smoke and smog can settle in the trees higher up on the mountains than originally thought. Depending on where you are in the world recent fires and smoke are causing more allergies on the West coast than normal. The phlem is your body responding to the "alien" inside your system. Drink plenty of cool water to help the mucus membraines calm down. Try to carry with you halls lemon cough drops, they come in a nice square size to slip into your pockets.You might use a little saline nose spray too, like Ocean (Orange lid) works the best out of all the store bought ones. Good Luck
2006-10-21 16:03:57 · answer #1 · answered by ebay_convert 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
The oxygen saturation is lower in higher elevations and can cause your body to be deprived of oxygen and can cause this sort of thing, you can be short of breath because your body is not used to that elevation and it actually will produce more blood in an effort to make more hemoglobin to provide your calls with more oxygen.You should be feeling better soon.
2006-10-21 16:37:20 · answer #2 · answered by Natasha S 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Sounds like asthma to me. Both my children have asthma. I have it. My sister had it. And my nephew. And each one includes a cough. And each cough happens when its cold or change in weather or stress or exercise. My kids have inhalers for recess and PE. So that could be it. And adults develop asthma too. Not just kids.
2006-10-21 16:02:40 · answer #3 · answered by lucy p 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Take a day off from work and drink an entire bottle of Vick's DayQuil! Make sure you get the kind with DXM in it, you'll trip your butt off, but you'll feel so much better the next day and your cough will be gone! No kiddin, it always works for me!
2006-10-21 15:50:26 · answer #4 · answered by ThinkinDifferently 2 · 0⤊ 1⤋