Before I starts my experience of the trek, I would like to tell my health conditions. 4 months ago I have been diagnosed with severe obstruction in lungs i.e. bronchial asthma. I took allopathic treatment for 2 months. Since, there is no effective treatment for the same. Two times I have nearly fainted due to shortness of breath( or say due to less oxygen supply to the brain) while climbing on hills in Rajasthan. Still I want to take risk and we have planned a trip to Triund Trek. I have to be more cautious for the trip, so 15 days before the trip I have joined gym. For the very first day of gym I again fainted due to exaggerated breath. Still I didn't loose hope and continue on trademill with medium pace and at inclined position. Gradually I increased my pace on trademill and 10 days before the trip I started taking inhalers and tablets as prescribed by doctor as a preventive measure and I also started ayurvedic Chawanprash ( Vasawleha) with milk at night. Vasawleha is known for ayurvedic remedy of obstructive lungs. Now the day of trip came. I was anxious about, how I will manage if I fainted during trek. The most important things for asthmatic person while trekking is :-
1. All types of medicine/ inhalers prescribed by doctor. ( Most Important)
2. Glucose ( Most Important)
3. 2 Jackets/ warm cap/ warm clothes ( Most Important)
I avoided taking the allergy creating foods 15 days before the trek ( For me they are curd and cold stored edibles).
We were 6 friends on the trip and reached pathankot by train from jaipur on 19th April. From pathankot we have hired taxi for mcleoadganj( it took around 2.30 to 3.00 hrs from pathankot to mcleoadganj). The hotel at mcleoadganj and camps at triund top were pre booked. On 19th april we took bikes and wandered at Dharmshala, Mcleoadganj and Bhagsu falls. Acclimatisation is really important for asthmatic person. We were supposed to trek from gallu devi temple, the gallu route have gradual steepness initially and at last 1 km the steepness increased and also there are many food stalls in between the route. But due to some conflict between trekking agency and forest department, we had to trek on bhagsu route. The steepness level on that route is much more than gallu devi and there are only 2 food stalls en routed. You have to carry your lunch and water with you if you are travelling from bhagsu route. So we have started at 10.45 a.m. from bhagsu falls route. I have already taken inhalers as preventive measure and a bottle full of electrol (glucose) solution. The route was so steep that we have to take rest of 10-15 sec at every 2-3 minutes climb. But as we are climbing up the weather became pleasant and favourable. We had Maggi and lunch in between the trek and clicked some amazing photographs. For asthmatic person it should be taken care that the pace should be slow and you cannot afford exhaustive breathing. Whenever I feel exhaustive , I took rest otherwise I might got fainted. As a preventive measure I again took inhaler in the mid point of the trek. Sipping electrol in regular interval was also beneficial. Finally we reached the top at 4.00 PM. The temperature at the top was 8-10 ℃ and the water was so cold to drink for me. So, I drink warm water and this was again very soothing for me. The evening scenario of the top was jaw dropping when you saw nothing everywhere due to dense cloud and suddenly the clouds disappers and snow mountain was next to you, it is like "Shiv Ji kailash parvat par darshan de rhe ho". That evening and night we have enjoyed a lot. The feeling of closeness with nature is out of the world. At night we had bonfire, the night was chilling at around 2-3 ℃ .Next day in morning we had trekked down from Galu devi route. The route was more scenic (enrouted snow also)and less steep than bhagsu route. We had trekked down at very slow pace due to strain in the leg of one of my friend. I know it's not very tedious trek and the level of trek is easy to moderate but for a asthmatic person it is really challenging. Don't forget that your asthma should be in control. That's the experience of my trip. Hopefully it will be helpful. Good bye