This is why I’ve cancelled this year’s holiday
At the beginning of 2026, I finally planned the perfect holiday with my boyfriend—a trip to a hiking mecca I’ve been dreaming about for years. By February, the excitement was real; we had everything locked in, from the flights and hotels to the guided tours.
The plan was to head to Peru this October to tackle the Cordillera Huayhuash trek: a breathtaking, 10-day, 120-kilometre journey through the Andes, reaching elevations of 5,100 metres.
I was just about to start my physical preparation when everything changed. Right at that pivotal moment, my health issues began.
HOW IT STARTED..
In May, I travelled to South Tyrol to visit my family and fit in my usual spring hikes through the Dolomites. But after the very first day on the trails, everything went downhill. That night, I experienced a terrifying new symptom: just as I was drifting off to sleep, it felt like my brain completely stopped sending signals to my body to breathe. I would jerk awake in a sudden spasm, gasping for air. It began taking me three to four hours just to fall asleep. The only other time I had ever felt this was a year prior, right after a hiking trip in Argentina.
Unfortunately, the symptoms didn't disappear when I returned home to Norway. I spent a horrible summer essentially just trying to survive—deprived of sleep and forced to give up all my favourite hobbies.
Desperate for answers, I saw a doctor in Norway in June. She diagnosed me with asthma, but I knew in my gut it was a misdiagnosis. I had seen people with asthma before, and my symptoms looked nothing like theirs. Still, she was a medical professional, so I felt I had to trust her. I was put on strong corticosteroid medications from June through mid-August, but things only went from bad to worse. Every month, I went back to complain about the sleepless nights and worsening symptoms. Yet, she insisted on the same diagnosis, refusing to explore other possibilities. I was trapped taking heavy asthma medication that wasn’t doing a single thing to help me.
THE DECLINE
By August, I hit an absolute breaking point. I went an entire week without sleeping a single minute. That’s when the daytime symptoms also started, causing severe dizziness and tremors.
I nearly fainted three times at work and once while grocery shopping. Eventually, I was admitted to the hospital for three days—a facility three hours away from home. While there, they diagnosed me with supraventricular tachycardia, which they thought might explain the near-fainting episodes. However, they assured me the condition was harmless and completely unrelated to my nighttime symptoms. In the end, I was discharged without a proper diagnosis, without a cure, and without any real answers. They essentially told me I wasn't dying of anything life-threatening and sent me on my way. The only silver lining was that they finally agreed I didn't have asthma, suggesting instead that my nighttime episodes were likely a sleep disorder.
With the symptoms showing no signs of stopping, I had to take sick leave from work for nearly three weeks. It felt like just another piece of my life being stripped away, right alongside hiking, sleeping, and going to the gym.
Driven by pure desperation, I kept returning to the local emergency room. It was there that I finally crossed paths with a good doctor—the first and only medical professional out of the five I had seen who actually listened to me and took me seriously.
THE LIGHT AT THE END OF THE TUNNEL
At my request, this new doctor ordered a repeat spirometry test to completely rule out asthma. This time, the results came back negative. I was finally able to stop taking the asthma medications that had felt like poison to my body, allowing me to focus entirely on the real issue.
To help my body recover and restore my sleep cycle, she prescribed a two-week course of sleeping medication.
I’ve lived with hypothyroidism since 2023, and upon looking closer at my records, the doctor noticed that my TSH (thyroid-stimulating hormone) levels had been steadily worsening. She immediately increased the dosage of my thyroid medication, explaining that an unmanaged thyroid could actually be the root cause of all my health issues.
While I always knew the thyroid was important for regulating energy, metabolism, body temperature, and weight, I had no idea it could cause such a massive domino effect, throwing my entire body into chaos.
BACK TO SOUTH TYROL
In September, despite having some lingering doubts, I decided to take a chance and travel back to the Dolomites to visit my family.
That was when I finally started to see real improvement. Thanks to the increased thyroid medication, I no longer need sleeping pills to get through the night. I still experience the nighttime symptoms for an hour or two before falling asleep, but they are incredibly mild compared to before. Sometimes I still get a bit of tachycardia and chest pain while out hiking, but I am ultimately able to fall asleep—which, to me, feels like an absolute miracle. My daytime dizziness has mostly cleared up too; I only notice it now after drinking coffee, so I might need to give up caffeine for a little while until my nervous system fully settles.
To be certain about my health, I decided to see a private cardiologist in my region in Northern Italy.
The doctor gave me a clean bill of health, confirming my heart is perfectly fine. He suspected that the misdiagnosed asthma medications—which I never truly needed—likely put a massive strain on my system, triggering the heart palpitations, daytime dizziness, and fainting episodes.
When I return home to Norway in October, I have an appointment scheduled with the good doctor. We will recheck my symptoms and run fresh blood work to see how my thyroid levels are adjusting.
LONG STORY SHORT..
I am finally starting to see real progress, and the hopelessness I felt for so long is finally lifting. Honestly, just being able to do some hiking here in the Dolomites has made me so happy—something I didn’t think would even be possible a few weeks ago.
I’m starting to feel genuinely positive that this horrible chapter will be over soon, and that I’ll be able to live a normal life again.
As for our holiday to Peru, we decided it was best to skip it this year. Since I’m still not feeling 100%, it wouldn’t be wise to tackle a trek at 5,000 meters in a remote area without helicopter rescue options. Peru will have to wait—maybe next year!
To anyone out there currently struggling with unexplained health issues: all I can say is that everything comes to an end eventually, one way or another. Even when you feel completely stuck and convince yourself things will never change, a turning point will come that gives you the answers you need.
Finally, I want to say a huge thank you to everyone who had to deal with me over the past three months. Most of all, thank you to my boyfriend, who supported me through all of my whining and complaining, and gently helped me see the silver linings during this incredibly difficult time.
Thank you all for reading my story!