Don't know if there is a way to know if what I was experiencing was altitude sickness or something else but I felt better as I was hiking down. I think part of that was just the fact I was heading back.
I like to use classic mountaineering literature quotations to back up what people observe today. This one fits perfectly:
It is wonderful how soon that strange malady, so often described as “mountain sickness,” seems to disappear not only with the descent, but when the decision to descend has been made. NE Odell, Chapter VI in
EF Norton,
The Fight for Everest 1924, page 127
It is impossible to say if your symptoms of likely AMS would have gone away overnight, but you followed your instinct. Others might not have. You can always come back and I imagine you will. Harvey
