Altitude sickness

In article <[email hidden]>, Mark Cavendish
<[email hidden]> writes

Quoted message said:

I'm off to Everest Basecamp in Jan and wondered if anyone had any thoughts on prevention or
medication for potential sltitude sickness. I realise its one of those luck-of-the-draw events and
also that GPs are loathe to prescribe anything.

The BMC / UIAA Mountain Medicine Centre Information Sheets are very informative.

thebmc.co.ukmm0.htmOpen ↗

Specifically for drugs.

thebmc.co.ukmm3.htmOpen ↗

Your GP should be happy to give you a private prescription if you print that out and take it along.
That will of course mean that you have to pay the full cost of the drugs but that is only fair.

--

dscs.demon.co.ukdscs.demon.co.ukOpen ↗

There's a truck load of stuff at
directory.google.comAltitude SicknessOpen ↗
including pardoes.comacclima.htmOpen ↗

Matt

Mark Cavendish said:

I'm off to Everest Basecamp in Jan and wondered if anyone had any thoughts on prevention or
medication for potential sltitude sickness. I realise its one of those luck-of-the-draw events and
also that GPs are loathe to prescribe anything.

Mark

In article <[email hidden]>, Mark Cavendish

url=''URL:/url said:

I'm off to Everest Basecamp in Jan and wondered if anyone had any thoughts on prevention or
medication for potential sltitude sickness. I realise its one of those luck-of-the-draw events and
also that GPs are loathe to prescribe anything.

I've got links to several online resources available on our CCCC website see

<URL:http://www-immuno.path.cam.ac.uk/~mrc7/cccc/links.html#medicine>

Its worth reading several alternative reports and familiarising yourself with symptoms and
side effects.

There is a significant morbidity and mortality, even amongst trekkers, and not just climbers who
venture higher, attributable to altitude sickness in destinations such as Everest Basecamp.

Mike <URL:http://www.path.cam.ac.uk/~mrc7/>
--
o/ \\ // |\ ,_ o Mike Clark <\__,\\ // __o | \ / /\, "A mountain climbing, cycling, skiing, "> ||
_`\<,_ |__\ \> | immunology lecturer, antibody engineer and ` || (_)/ (_) | \corn computer user"

Quoted message said:

I'm off to Everest Basecamp in Jan and wondered if anyone had any thoughts on prevention or
medication for potential sltitude sickness. I realise its one of those luck-of-the-draw events and
also that GPs are loathe to prescribe anything.

Not much medication can be taken for prevention, it is generally the capability of the body to cope
with the sickness. Some cope fine, others never acclimatise. I was trekking to Mera Peak (21,000ft)
last year, 16 mile south of Everest, and didn't have too much problem adjusting other than the odd
headache. I took paracetamol, as directed by our guide, which helped to ease it. The most important
thing is proper - and slow - acclimatisation. We took about 14 days to trek in from Lukla (9,000ft)
to our lower base camp at Khare (18,000ft), with a couple of easy days thrown in. Another important
thing is to drink plenty of water, about 4 litres a day.

The normal medication given is diamox, which my doctor prescribed for me before flying out, although
I didn't require to take it. Our western guide suggested taking it as a last resort, one downside
being many visits to the toilet for a pee. One Aussie guy took it, and he was up 8 times during the
night! Not good, as sleep is another important part of coping with altitude ... plus sharing a tent
can have its upsets with the other trekker.

We had one Aussie who had to be helicpotered out from Tagnac as he was having problems
acclimatising, even after three sessions in the altitude chamber. His problems was blood thickening
behind the retina, severe headaches that wouldn't clear. Complete recovery once back in Kathmandu at
low altitude. Other than that, everyone was OK ... again, apart from headaches.

One thing Mark, you should enjoy the trip ... fantastic country and region to trek.

--
Sandy Saunders @ www.thewalkzone.co.uk

'Mountains or Mole Hills ... summiting still brings
the same excitement'

Matt Schofield said:

There's a truck load of stuff at directory.google.comWoOpen ↗
unds_and_Injuries/Altitude_Sickness/ including pardoes.comacclima.htmOpen ↗

Thanks Matt/Dominic - useful. Tho' I guess I was also after opinion & anecdotal info

Mark

Mike Clark said:

Its worth reading several alternative reports and familiarising yourself with symptoms and
side effects.

Thanks, Mike, tho' its my understanding that its sufficiently disorientating to need someone else
to diagnose. i.e. not reliably self-diagnosable. But I guess I need to know what to look out for
in others!

Quoted message said:

There is a significant morbidity and mortality, even amongst trekkers, and not just climbers who
venture higher, attributable to altitude sickness in destinations such as Everest Basecamp.

Ummm, thanks a bunch! So now I'm gonna die! What started off as a little wander down a Nepalese
path, with a request for a little background info.......

Mark

In article <[email hidden]>, Mark Cavendish

url=''URL:/url said:

Mike Clark said:

Its worth reading several alternative reports and familiarising yourself with symptoms and side
effects.

Thanks, Mike, tho' its my understanding that its sufficiently disorientating to need someone else
to diagnose. i.e. not reliably self-diagnosable. But I guess I need to know what to look out for
in others!

Quoted message said:

There is a significant morbidity and mortality, even amongst trekkers, and not just climbers who
venture higher, attributable to altitude sickness in destinations such as Everest Basecamp.

Ummm, thanks a bunch! So now I'm gonna die! What started off as a little wander down a Nepalese
path, with a request for a little background info.......

Mark

It's important to realise that there may be serious complications and the ultimate complication is
death. But minor complications might include loss or partial loss of sight. You can't say that you
are going to get these problems, but it would be wrong to mislead you into believing that it isn't a
possibility, and the higher you go and the faster you go, the higher the probability of
complications. There used to be luxury hotel relatively near to everest with regular helicopter
flights for guests to arrive and stay in sight of the mountain. But several deaths of clients who
failed to acclimatise properly kind of gave the place a bad reputation.

Mike <URL:http://www.path.cam.ac.uk/~mrc7/>
--
o/ \\ // |\ ,_ o Mike Clark <\__,\\ // __o | \ / /\, "A mountain climbing, cycling, skiing, "> ||
_`\<,_ |__\ \> | immunology lecturer, antibody engineer and ` || (_)/ (_) | \corn computer user"

"Mark Cavendish" <[email hidden]> wrote

Quoted message said:

Ummm, thanks a bunch! So now I'm gonna die! What started off as a little wander down a Nepalese
path, with a request for a little background info.......

We took twenty four kids trekking on a D of E expedition to the Langtang area of Nepal, and over a
period of about a week we got up to 14000 ft. There were no real altitude sickness problems,
although when we attempted to go up to 18000 ft, half the group had problems at camp 1 (17000ft) and
had to return to basecamp. I took diamox, but to be honest it didn't help and I puked as soon as I
took it - read the background info well before touching any drug! All the group returned safely.
Acclimatise slowly and dont be afraid to retreat is the sensible advice - I feel we pushed too hard
to get to our high point, but we knew that some people wouldn't make it so we planned accordingly
and still enjoyed the adventure.

Enjoy your trip.

Graham

In article <[email hidden]>, Graham Seed

url=''URL:/url said:

"Mark Cavendish" <[email hidden]> wrote

Quoted message said:

Ummm, thanks a bunch! So now I'm gonna die! What started off as a little wander down a Nepalese
path, with a request for a little background info.......

We took twenty four kids trekking on a D of E expedition to the Langtang area of Nepal, and over a
period of about a week we got up to 14000 ft. There were no real altitude sickness problems,
although when we attempted to go up to 18000 ft, half the group had problems at camp 1 (17000ft)
and had to return to basecamp. I took diamox, but to be honest it didn't help and I puked as soon
as I took it - read the background info well before touching any drug! All the group returned
safely. Acclimatise slowly and dont be afraid to retreat is the sensible advice - I feel we pushed
too hard to get to our high point, but we knew that some people wouldn't make it so we planned
accordingly and still enjoyed the adventure.

Enjoy your trip.

It is generally accepted that a small percentage of people will develop altitude sickness as low as
2000m. As you progress higher, the percentage of individuals who suffer steadily increases, such
that most people would experience some symptoms at altitudes above 4000m. It is not known exactly
what triggers the AS and there are no definite treatments that work for all individuals.

Interestingly genetics does seem to play a role in adaption to altitude (and other stressful
situations) and one of the most publicised associations is with the ACE gene. One particular allele
of the gene is over-represented amongst those who have successfully completed 8000m summits or who
pass physical entrance qualifications into elite military units. Unfortunately it's difficult to
change your genetics for a vacation!

Mike <URL:http://www.path.cam.ac.uk/~mrc7/>
--
o/ \\ // |\ ,_ o Mike Clark <\__,\\ // __o | \ / /\, "A mountain climbing, cycling, skiing, "> ||
_`\<,_ |__\ \> | immunology lecturer, antibody engineer and ` || (_)/ (_) | \corn computer user"

Graham Seed said:

We took twenty four kids trekking on a D of E expedition to the Langtang area of Nepal,

Bloody 'ell. DofE expedition? I thought these days they'd be confined to the back lanes of the
Yorkshire Dales. Good gig if you can get it. I wish I'd had the chance go there for DofE.

Matt

In article <[email hidden]>, sandy.

(sandy saunders) said:

The most important thing is proper - and slow - acclimatisation.

I would say the most important thing is slow walking ... I find the trick is to never 'lose your
aerobic balance', i.e., never get out of breath, even for a second or two! the pole, pole
(slowly, slowly) approach in africa is the right approach. Move at a pace where you are breathing
some, but not such that you go into oxygen deficient. (sp?) I've seen plenty of examples of
someone trying to be the macho man and go fast and get sick. While the oxygen balance approach
has always left us healthy.

Quoted message said:

... Another important thing is to drink plenty of water, about 4 litres a day.

agreed as a top tip. be sure the body has all the water it can possibly use for the
adaptation process.

have fun, Rob