I’m making a guess here, Julian. Just a guess. I have no knowledge that is specific to altitude and TED. I did some hiking at 9000 feet last summer, and since I live at sea level that was a big change. I do remember having a few more problems with SEEING correctly, at that time. I had to be a bit more cautious, because my vision doubled up more than normal. The problems that people have with the higher altitudes has to do with relative lack of oxygen. Our bodies adjust over time by increasing the amount of red blood cells. But until that adjustment is made there can be problems, depending upon the levels of exertion, with getting adequate oxygen to the cells to do their jobs. And this would include muscle cells in the eyes. I have intermittent double vision: a large part of the time I see fine, but occasionally during the day, especially late afternoon or evening, things double, and this is usually associated with fatigue. It strikes me that the extra doubling I experienced last summer could either have had to do with fatigue, or perhaps could have been aggravated by the fact that I was exercising with less oxygen in the environment, TOO. Anyway, it’s just a guess, as I said. But you might want to be on your guard at first for temporary problems with your vision. It would be a safety issue more than anything. You might not experience any difficulties whatsoever. But if you are on your guard, especially until you are acclimated, you might save yourself some grief by being aware that your vision could be slightly less reliable than you are used to.
Bobbi–NGDF Asst. Online Facilitator
