![]() ![]() Since acetazolamide is a mild diuretic, frequent micturition may occur leading to interruption of daytime activities as well as broken sleep. ![]() Side effects include tingling of the fingers and toes and perioral numbness which may be erroneously interpreted as stroke symptoms. As a result, acetazolamide hastens acclimatization and helps prevent high altitude disorders.Ĭurrent recommended dosing is 125 mg, orally twice daily, started 24 hours prior to ascending in elevation. It facilitates the excretion of bicarbonate in the urine. Its mechanism is via inhibition of the carbonic anhydrase enzyme which counteracts the respiratory alkalosis which occurs during ascent to altitude. The medication is effective in preventing acute mountain sickness (AMS), high altitude pulmonary edema (HAPE), and high altitude cerebral edema (HACE). Why Should I Register and Submit Results?Īcetazolamide, or Diamox, is the standard medical prophylaxis agent for high altitude illness.But especially at elevations over 10,000 feet, symptoms can worsen and lead to more severe health conditions: High altitude cerebral edema (HACE) or high altitude pulmonary edema (HAPE). Most of the time, these symptoms are not life-threatening and only require acclimatization to abate. “We cannot hydrate away altitude sickness, but we can at least not be dehydrated on top of it,” Prather offers. Drinking a lot of water is crucial, especially in the first few days of acclimatization. And the dry conditions that come with higher elevations don’t help: the lack of humidity makes moisture evaporate quickly, which can trick you into thinking you’re not sweating as much as you are and don’t need to rehydrate. That’s in part because every time you breathe out you expel moisture, so an increased respiration rate results in your body losing more water than usual. In addition to this, great elevations also make you more susceptible to dehydration, which can exacerbate the symptoms of altitude sickness. This condition is called hypoxia, and it’s what causes altitude sickness symptoms to set in. ![]() But despite this effort, there’s still less oxygen making it into your blood and muscles, which is why physical activities feel so much harder at higher elevations. In response, your body tries to get the oxygen it needs, so you start breathing more rapidly. For example, at 10,000 feet, you only get 69 percent of the oxygen you’d get at sea level.Įssentially, the higher you go, the less efficient your breathing becomes, resulting in less and less oxygen every time you inhale. At high altitudes, there’s less atmospheric pressure, which reduces the number of oxygen molecules in a given volume of air compared to the same volume at a lower elevation. ![]() It’s not a matter of composition, but concentration. “You’re still breathing 21 percent oxygen, it’s just more spread out,” explains Graham Prather, education manager at National Outdoors Leadership School (NOLS) and in charge of wilderness medicine courses. Contrary to popular belief, altitude sickness doesn’t happen because there’s less oxygen the higher you go. ![]()
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