Altitude and Smokers

Everyone reacts differently to high altitude, smoker or not.  I smoked roughly a pack a day for 10 years, quit 3 years before moving to Quito, and I handle high altitude without any problems.

One study I found looked at 200 non-smokers and 200 smokers who traveled to 4500+ meters above sea level to work for 6 months.  They found that the smokers had slightly less trouble with Acute Mountain Sickness than non-smokers in the beginning but didn't adapt as well as the non-smokers in the long term.  The study did not look at ex-smokers. http://thorax.bmj.com/content/early/201 … 00623.full 


Unfortunately, you really won't know how it will affect you personally until you get here.  I suppose you could try testing your short-term reaction to altitude by traveling to a higher altitude location in Colorado and spending some time there.

that sounds encouraging.. thanks for the help.  Maybe I am just worrying about nothing.

Action,

There are ALOT of smokers here in Quito.  I am a social smoker (that means I like my smokes with my whiskey).  I found the first week to be pretty tough altitude wise if I had to walk up a few flights of stairs.  I am also in good physical condition with no known medical conditions so the smoking may or may not be related.

Mike
themiddleoftheworld@gmail.com