I ve had a problem that I ve noticed just about all my adult life. This is not something that happens sporadically or that only just recently started - it predictably happens following the same trigger. Whenever I m in a situation of ascending altitude, my head begins to feel like it s expanding. Resulting in dizziness, headaches and nausea (I believe the nausea to be a reaction to the dizziness and headache, not a result of the original stimulus). It can get debilitating. To be clear, I don t mean airplane travel from sea level to the pressurized equivalent of 8000 feet. I mean just driving up to a mountain top (I live in VA, so I m talking about hilly mountains, not rocky mountains). Example: unknown to me (deliberately, so to eliminate power of suggestion), my husband once brought along an altimeter on a drive up to a local mountain resort. When he saw that my symptoms started (lightheadedness) he checked the altimeter: about 1000 feet above sea level, a difference of only 800 feet (I work and live between 150 and 250 feet ASL). It begins with mild dizziness and a bit of feeling high (no pun intended), which gradually increases to mild headache pain, which can get quite bad but is not a shooting or stabbing pain, just an all over, close your eyes and concentrate real hard and it might go away kind of pain (except it doesn t go away). The intensity increases as the altitude increases. Once at a fixed location, the symptoms remain until I awake from a night s sleep. Meaning that by morning after arrival, I m fine. If it s a day trip to a high (+800 feet) altitude location (meaning that I cannot sleep away the symptoms), I feel the effects until we descend, at which point all symptoms disappear. Even if I m acclimated to the high (+800 feet) altitude location, there are no ill effects upon descending - it s as if there was no change in altitude (coming down). I have found that constantly nibbling on snacks helps the situation. I do not know if it s the chewing motion that alleviates an inner ear issue or if it s the fact of having something in my stomach that alleviates the nausea, but that is the only solution I ve found (and it s not always a healthy, convenient or appropriate solution). I ve Googled and found sinonasal barotrauma and inner ear decompression sickness but I don t think either really applies. The definition of garden-variety altitude sickness also seems to be off the mark. According to Google (hardly a reliable source of information), there is no reason for me to be feeling problems at altitudes under 8,000 feet. It is not merely an inconvenient triviality. Twice I ve been bedridden upon arriving at a vacation spot (and fine the next morning). I no longer fly commercially. Driving routes and vacation locations have to be carefully planned (or totally avoided) to account for my reactions. Any ideas? I apologize for the length of my question but I wanted to be thorough.