Not sure I can find a reference for you - but both anecdotally and in some trekkier advice on AMS a mild form of activity is often preferred rather than being too sedentary. If someone like you who has a history of altered ventilation such as periodic breathing of high altitude, then it makes sense to stay awake and consciously breathe more when there are problems. The fact that you successfully raised the O2Sat means that is exactly what you did and did not have HAPE.
Headache can be a prominent part of AMS, or AMS complicated by either or both HAPE or HACE. Some say there is is a headache continuum from simple AMS all the way to HACE/Death.
Sorry to end on that note.
edit: one more thought.
We all take breathing for granted. But at high altitude, especially while acclimatizing, our oxygen receptors, carbon dioxide receptors, and brain's control of breathing is out of sync. That is the only thing going for us while we sleep (hence periodic breathing at night) and similarly at rest and awake. With exertion and VOLUNTARY hyperventilation, we consciously increase our ventilation, a very useful way to stay alive up high. We do it all the time even at sea level. Just think how many times we have run up steps. Do we wait for a minute or 2 and the O2 and CO2 to change in our blood and our brain to stimulate more breathing? No, any athlete knows to begin breathing now. Same thing on the mountain. For example, leaning over get dressed in the tent at 19,000 ft - you know to start consciously breathing harder just to tie your shoes. In your case, with the degree of O2 desaturation, fatigue ,and whatever else was going on, it took more than a few minutes to resolve. I can remember a time when I was coming down from 19,800 to 16.500 ft and the degree of work caused me to desaturate even though I had been at altitude for 2 weeks already. It took an hour for my O2sat to come up and my heart rate to settle down.
Last edited by Harvey Lankford; 02/02/12 01:40 PM.
