Make sure you eat enough even if you don't feel like it. Be sure to treat or boil water before drinking it. Other measures to help prevent altitude sickness include keeping warm and drinking plenty of water because the body needs more water at higher altitudes. Gaining height slowly while taking time to adjust to new altitudes is the best way to avoid illness.Īt altitudes above 3000 metres your sleeping height should not rise above 300 metres a night, and every 1000 metres you should spend two nights at the same height. Although they cost thousands of dollars, they can also be rented, and can be life savers.
#ALTITUDE SICKNESS MEDICATION PORTABLE#
Portable hyperbaric chambers can also be taken on an expedition.
The use of an oxygen mask can also be helpful. However, it does have side effects includingnausea. The drug acetazolamide (Diamox), which is used to treat fluid retention and makes you urinate, can be used for the treatment of minor altitude sickness. Pain relief such as aspirin and paracetamol can be used to ease the headache, and drugs used for travel sickness such as prochlorperazine (Stemetil) can help relieve nausea and dizziness. Descend if you have not recovered in one day. Descending the mountain will also aid recovery.
The first rule with altitude sickness is not to ascend any further because this could lead to cerebral oedema or pulmonary oedema.Ī climber should stay at the same altitude until they have recovered and aclimatised to the new altitude. Patients with this condition need immediate evacuation and medical attention.Ĭertain normal bodily changes happen in most people who travel to high altitude. The symptoms of pulmonary oedema, which causes fluid in the lungs, include breathlessness while resting, a persistent cough and an unusual chesty sound. They should not return to a higher altitude until they have a medical examination. Patients need to be evacuated to a lower altitude immediately. Symptoms of cerebral oedema, which can be fatal due to fluid in the brain, include irrational behaviour, confusion and a staggering gait. Symptoms usually develop during the first 36 hours of being at high altitude. Symptoms of more serious altitude sickness include a headache which does not respond to pain relief medication, and shortness of breath that continues while resting. The main indication of altitude sickness during ascent is a painful headache with one or more of the following symptoms: In rare cases, altitude sickness can lead to two life threatening conditions such as pulmonary oedema (fluid on the lungs) and cerebral oedema (swelling of the brain) which need to be treated as an emergency. Patients with illnesses such as heart or lung disease or high blood pressure should obtain medical advice before travelling higher than 4000m.Īltitude sickness occurs because of the bodily changes in response to lower levels of oxygen at large heights. Anyone can get altitude sickness including those who are physically fit.
More than 50 percent of travellers develop some form of altitude sickness at heights above 3500m, and most people will suffer from it if they quickly ascend to 5000m or higher. People should not travel to heights much above 3500m directly from sea level. Healthy people can travel quickly to a height of 3500m (although some will get altitude sickness after arrival).
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