60. Mountain Sickness (Altitude Sickness)
Altitude Sickness"The first acute stage is called, naturally enough, acute mountain sickness. It can cause headache, insomnia, dizziness, fatigue, nausea and vomiting. The next, more serious stage is high-altitude cerebral edema, also known as HACE, brain swelling that is potentially fatal."
"A climber with HACE may experience amnesia, confusion, delusions, emotional disturbance, personality changes and loss of consciousness."
- Scientific America, April2008
This topic of Altitude Sickness in some ways is related to Allergy symptoms.
Altitude sickness or mountain sickness is generally an indication of blood vessel in a brain swells and restricts the blood flow in the brain, there is less oxygen being supplied to the brain, as a result the following symptoms may happen.
Symptoms of Altitude Sickness. It varies from minor to severe case. Note that this symptom list is not in severity order):
Loss of muscle strength
Fatigue
Vomiting ( it can be due to over eating not a cause of ams )
Numbness of hands
Headache (at the back location is more serious than frontal loaction)
Face swelling
Insomnia at night
Disturbed sleep
Nightmare and bad dream
Dizziness
Nosebleed
Shortness of breath during exertion ( It may not be a mountain sickness or more
serious issue)
Nausea
Mental abnormality
Irritability
Decreased appetite
Swelling of extremities
Social withdrawal
Swollen Eyes
Shortness of breath at rest
Gurgling respirations
Wet cough with frothy sputum (severed case)
Consistent coughing
Tightness in chest
Possible fever
Seeing pulsating objects or feeling more people on the mountain
Color blind (severed case)
Nightmare and vivid dream
Hallucination of some of the senses ie visual disturbance,someone presence
Triggering by Anemia (ie.one of the more common blood disorders, occurs when the
number of healthy red blood cells decreases)
The following actions can trigger altitude sickness:
Ascending too rapidly
Overexertion within 24 hours of ascend
Inadequate fluid intake
Hypothermia ( loss of body heat)
Acute Sunburn or Snow bite
Getting cold
Waking up too fast
Ways to overcome mountain sickness:
1)Take Immediate Action on mountain sickness:
- Use oxygen canister with tube/mask if available
- Descent to a lower altitude as quickly as possible
- Use medication as prescribe by a doctor ie Diamox (acetazolamide), metoclopramide
- Drink plenty of water and fluid
- Rest well
2)Take Preventing Action on mountain sickness
- Practice and prepare well in advance physically & mentally
- Take time for acclimatizing (very useful for climbing mountain less than 6000m)
- Ascend no more than 900m per day
- Take ginkgo Biloba
- Take garlic soup (Alyl methyl sulphide is a key component in garlic)
3)Take Proactive Action to reduce mountain sickness
- Climb a mountain within your physical capability, know your physical limits. Back off if necessary.
- Preacclimatisation prior to the final ascend
- Access to brainwave training to stabilize your brain in advance
- Access to hyperbaric training
- Access to intermittent hypoxic training
- Have a balanced life style
- Interval training regime
- If AMS keeps persistence, descent to a level to heal the pains..
- Above all, eat well and rest well, bring enough warm clothing.
