How to Help Prevent Altitude Illness

Any time you rapidly increase altitude above 8,000 feet, whether in a car, on a trail or while mountain climbing, you run the risk of getting altitude sickness. The key to prevention is proper acclimatization, the process in which your body undergoes physiological changes to adapt to the decreasing oxygen supply at higher altitudes.

Difficulty: Moderate

Instructions

1. Ascend slowly to give your body time to adjust gradually to the lower oxygen concentration in the air. A good rule of thumb when hiking is to ascend no more than 1,500 ft. per day, with plenty of rest in between.

2. Drink water as you climb, to maintain proper hydration.

3. Fill up on carbohydrates, with only enough proteins and fats to meet essential nutritional needs.

4. Take it easy when first reaching higher altitudes. Overexertion can make you more susceptible to acute mountain sickness.

5. Avoid alcohol and caffeine, which cause dehydration, and smoking and sedatives.

6. Ask your doctor about medication such as acetazolamide which can help your body acclimatize. Some research suggests that ginkgo biloba can help protect the body against altitude sickness.

Tips & Warnings

• Assume that anyone sick at altitude will improve if he or she descends to a lower altitude, regardless of whether you suspect their signs and symptoms are due to altitude illness.
• You'll know that you're drinking enough water if your urine is clear (not yellow) and copious.
• If someone is showing signs of altitude illness'dizziness, apathy, loss of appetite, headache, confusion, lethargy, nausea, vomiting, or difficulties with breathing, walking or sleeping'descend until the symptoms subside. Seek medical attention if the symptoms fail to subside. Severe altitude ill-ness can be fatal if left untreated.

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on 10/27/2008 Step 3 is flat out wrong, and potentially dangerous. Furosemide (not "frusemide") is never used prophylactically, so there is no reason to ask your doctor about it. It is used by some doctors to treat HAPE (high altitude pulmonary edema), but this is controversial for reasons beyond the scope of this website, and not recommended by most experts. If you do develop HAPE, you should never self-treat with furosemide, but should get down from altitude as fast as possible and seek immediate medical attention, as HAPE is a potentially fatal condition. The only medications the average person should ask their doctor about are Acetazolamide, possibly Dexamethasone, possibly Compazine, and possibly Nifedipine if they have developed HAPE in the past. -Chris H, M.D.