Unpressurised flying - a bad experience
Hello,
I have recently returned from completing some flying in an unpressurised aircraft.
I had a very bad experience, which i will detail, and hopefully someone could advise me further.
On Wednesday we were operating at 17,000ft for about 3hours, using oxygen (OxySaver).
During the flight, I began to feel sleepy and had a pain in my head (to the front and left side). My knee joints were feeling a bit sore also. I constantly checked that the flow of oxygen was optimal for our altitude, which it was, though my sleepiness didnt really subside.
We then started our decent which we had to expedite, (under 2000ft per minute) and suddenly the pain in my head extended to my nose, and the pain was that extreme I was in tears and had to hold/press my nose to try to ease the pain. It was the worst pain ive ever felt.
Once at 10,000ft, i removed the mask and was still in a lot of pain.
Soon we were on the ground, and i was starting to feel a bit better. We went for some lunch as I thought it was maybe just a hungar headache, but i still had my headache. After 1 hr or so, I began to feel sick, and then did actually start vomiting. I began to feel disorientated, and very weak and my headache got worse. I took some painkillers but then vomited these back up.
I returned to the apartment, and lay down for a while. I found it difficult to get over to sleep, and when i closed my eyes it felt like i was spinning upside down. My body kept jolting, when i felt like i was about to drift over to sleep.
I eventually did fall over to sleep and woke up 2hrs later feeling much better, but still a very sore nose/sinuses. I had something to eat/drink, then relaxed for a few hours.
The following morning I felt well recovered, though still tired. However, then had to make 6 sitdown trips to the toilet in the space of about 2.5hrs.
I have a lot of dry skin/ itchy areas around my body, which i dont know if have any significance.
Now, I feel fine, though wonder if I should arrange a visit to my GP or hospital to see if everything is okay.
I dont know what the problem was, if it was the bends etc.
I didnt actually call a doctor.
Does anyone know was this just a case of blocked sinuses, or something more serious?
Thanks
PS - I wasnt in command of the a/c incase anyone wonders!