Acute mountain sickness/altitude sickness

Discussion in 'Wilderness and Tactical Healthcare Management' started by Strigidae, Mar 16, 2019.

  1. Strigidae

    Strigidae Administrator Staff Member

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    Anyone else seen this while out and about? Ive been in a couple classes where weve had some folks with nausea and headaches but never anything more than that. A little rest and fluids and they were ok.
     
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  2. DYSPHORIC JOY

    DYSPHORIC JOY Administrator Staff Member

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    My wife but responded well to conservative measures.
     
  3. Strigidae

    Strigidae Administrator Staff Member

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    Ive read some folks get cerebral swelling and pulmonary edema in severe cases. Ive not seen it but then again maybe thats at everest levels.
     
  4. olderguy

    olderguy Member

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    I've had a few folks visit me here in Colorado from the east coast and get pretty sick when I took them on mountain sightseeing tours. I think it was due to the rapid change and not acclimating and actually most were okay before they left.
     
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  5. Caleb O

    Caleb O Member

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    I saw the general headaches and nausea while hiking Mt. Whitney (and the same while hiking some 14ers in Colorado.) My group did good while hiking Whitney thought as we took it in two days. Stopping to camp and acclimate above treeline.
     
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  6. Hammer

    Hammer Member

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    Yup. I've dealt with some pretty serious cases of it. And in those cases that person needed to descend, asap. When it's bad, descending (with help from others) is really the first priority and is going to lead to the quickest recovery.

    For milder cases, rest and hydration and then taking it slow on the rest of the ascent can help.

    But different people can react quite differently to altitude. I've seen people have bad reactions at not much more than 10,000 feet and others not affected at all. Being well hydrated prior to climbing - starting several days before a climb, can help a lot.
     
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  7. Hammer

    Hammer Member

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  8. Strigidae

    Strigidae Administrator Staff Member

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    Nols has some good stuff sometimes.
     
  9. Hammer

    Hammer Member

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    Their wilderness medicine curriculum is some of the best out there, imo. With the number of students that NOLS puts in the field every year, they get lots of opportunities for real-world examples to draw from.

    And the folks who run their wilderness med dept (formerly the Wilderness Medicine Institute before being acquired by NOLS) are solid.
     
    Last edited: Mar 18, 2019
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  10. Strigidae

    Strigidae Administrator Staff Member

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    Im a fan of their bear safety video. The speaker at least is in line with how i feel about it. Right or wrong.
     
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  11. Jeff Randall

    Jeff Randall ESEE Knives / Randall's Adventure & Training Staff Member

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    Just about every time I go to Ouray I get altitude sickness for the first day. After that I can go up to 13 or 14k without any problems.
     
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  12. Black5

    Black5 Member

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    Second wife had a bad altitude sickness reaction in Colorado once above 10k feet. The worst part was she panicked and wouldn't listen to anyone about acclimating. Had to cut the trip short. Not a good time.
     

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