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Natalia Nikova
Beware of Mountains
My name is Natalia Nikova. I was born in Russia in St. Petersburg. I
have AIP.
I went through horrible surgeries and sufferings in Russia before I
was properly diagnosed. That happened when I was between 25 and 30 years
old.
After that I was receiving capsules of Adenil through the Red Cross for
about four years and injecting myself two times a day. My recovery
was very slow but at the age of 39 I started to feel better and I was able
to immigrate to the USA with my daughter and my mother.
I managed to change
my profession from Choral conductor to a computer programmer to support
my family and my porphyria's symptoms almost disappeared. Now I am 63 years
old and in August 2004 all of a sudden I had a reminder. I and my husband
went to Peru. I got immediately sick in Cusco from the high
altitude but the altitude sickness was greatly aggravated by porphyria. In
addition to a headache and shortness of breath I had nausea, high fever, high
blood pressure and grazing pain in my stomach. In fact I became so sick
that we had to change our entire itinerary and move to lower regions in Peru. That
was not too much fun because I am a bird watcher I was looking forward to go
to Colca Canyon to see Andean Condor. Even after we returned from Peru
I was sick for two weeks with general weakness.
I hope that sharing this story
will help some people in planning their vacation.
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