Altitude Sickness

[currie]

anyone ever get it and best way to not get it.

[Heartwood]

One of our crew has some trouble with altitude for the first few days at hunt altitude( 7000 to 11000 feet). He lives and trains at 500 feet and needs some time to acclimate to high altitude, then watch out, he can climb with the best in his age class and can out climb many younger dudes to. I think he experiences more labored breathing than normal and tends to feel off with headaches. I think just allowing time to acclimate is key as well as staying hydrated. Twinkieman may see this and chime in on other things he has tryed to more easily acclimate. Some people seem to be affected very little by quick changes in altitude until they get above say 10000 feet or so. I live and train at 4200 feet and train up to about 7000 feet near my house and don't seem to be affected by the increase to 8 to 10 k. Another crew member lives near sea level and seems uneffected but he is a very strong climber and may just have enough extra capacity that he just doesn't show it. The body does addapt by producing more red blood cells but needs time to do so.

[cohunter]

There are a lot of misconceptions about altitude sickness - Our body responds to the lower levels of atmospheric oxygen by dilating vessels in the kidneys and allowing liquids to leave more easily. This reduces the liquid volume of your blood leaving concentrated red blood cells meaning more oxygen can be carried per liter of blood. A pretty nifty adaptation, really. Unfortunately, most of us suffer cramping, headaches, reduced mental capacity, etc... because the body is essentially dehydrating itself to concentrate red blood cells. This can be minimized by drinking lots of water... frequently in order to replace the water eliminated by the kidneys. Drinking a quart and then hiking for an hour is not going to cut it as most of that quart will be eliminated early on - add the physical exertion of hiking and you've got a recipe for pretty severe dehydration even though you FEEL like you're getting plenty of water. This dehydration is what most people are taking about when they refer to altitude sickness. High Altitude Pumonary Edema or Cerebral Edema, on the other hand is basically a run-away example of the adaptation described above. In this case, capillaries begin leaking extra fluid into the kidneys as intended but also leak fluids into other parts of the body as well, especially the lungs and brain. This is a serious and life-threatening emergency that needs to be treated at the nearest hospital very quickly... You cannot and should not try to "treat" altitude sickness on your own. You can read more here: http://www.webmd.com/first-aid/mountain ... -treatment

[JKaboom]

I posted this on elk101.com and please note this is for minor altitude sickness (headaches and feeling crappy in general) not severe altitude sickness. I use this myself when hiking to fish etc:

One thing that I learned from an old timer in hunters education here in Colorado (I am originally from Michigan) is this:
Original formula rolaids not another brand and not any other kind of rolaids. http://www.rolaids.com/regular-tablets/ chew up 4 into a liquid in your mouth >> hold for 5 minutes >> swallow. It sounds crazy but it works well and others that have been with me camping above 10000 feet have had a positive result.
The other biggest tip I have is drink tons of water.

[sojurner 65]

Does having a portable O2 can on hand help with this?

[cohunter]

I'm not sure I'd put a whole lot of stock in a can of O2... The biggest thing is to drink a ton of water. Even when you're driving. Your body is shedding water at rest just to concentrate those red blood cells. The other piece worth mentioning is that some people are just more pre-disposed to these problems. I've lived my whole life above 5,000 feet. Even when I lived at 8000-9000 feet I have always had to force myself to drink way more water than I felt necessary when driving over mountain passes. If I don't I get brutal headaches because I'm dehydrated - not necessarily from physical exertion. Picture somebody hopping on a plane at sea level, flying at altitude for a few hours, hopping in a car and driving over multiple mountain passes and you've already put your body through several hours of high impact altitude change. Throw in a physically demanding hike, a couple of beers, and you've got a recipe for a day (or week!) flat on your back in the tent. The point is, drink water! If you're drinking a lot of water and your condition is worsening, get help before it becomes a disaster. No elk hunt is worth it.

[Lefty]

We use to leave our home in Vancover WA at 258 feet elevation. And I would be on the top of Sherman Peak before noon the next day at 9680. Always got a headache
I did the same think as when I got leg cramps,.. lots of water, calcium and potassium. I often added caffeine (Mt Dew) and aspirin
After moving to Utah living at 4500 We often drove/hikes to parts of Willard Peak pass 9200 ft in less than an hour and never had problems.

No scientific research on this one. But Going from very low elevations under 1000 than gong up 4000 feet I think is more difficult than starting at 4000 and going up to 8000

[poisonarrow]

Yes I have had it. I lived in Alabama at 150. I Drove out to Colorado and the next day we drove up to 10,000. From there we hiked up to 11,5000, with a 45# pack. That night I was sicker than a dog. Chills, vomiting , no sleep. The next morning we hiked out, back down to 8000'. I felt fine there. We went back up to around 10,000 and did fine for the rest of the season.

[CurlyTail]

Acute Mountain Sickness (AMS) is the technical term for what we call "altitude sickness". You get headache, loss of appetite, nausea, sometimes vomiting, and poor sleep with an abrupt change to higher altitude, where the partial pressure of oxygen is lower (PO2).

When we breathe air with less oxygen, we increase our respiratory rate to get more oxygen into the blood. As we increase respiratory rate, we blow off CO2 in the blood and this alters the blood pH upwards, or a Respiratory Alkalosis. Our kidneys compensate for this by increasing the amount of bicarbonate in the urine, causing a metabolic acidosis to counteract the Respiratory alkalosis. As the human body regulates blood pH very tightly. The kidneys are much slower generating the acidosis than the lungs can create the alkalosis, and it takes a couple of days for the body to reach a new steady state level and get the pH balanced properly at the new pO2. Obviously, the more physically active you are at altitude, that will increase your respiratory rate even further.

I have had good luck taking Diamox (Acetazolamide 250mg twice daily) starting one day prior to my trip to high elevation, and continuing another 2 days at high altitude (total use 3 days).

I live at 2800 ft., and go on yearly cross country ski trips to the 10th Mountain Division Huts in Colorado usually about 10,500ft, and very strenuous exertion, and most of the guys in our group get some degree of AMS. The Diamox helps quite a bit, just ask your primary care doctor for a prescription. It is not very risky or very expensive.

I Elk Hunt at 8,000 to 9600ft., and do not need it at those elevations

[twinkieman]

Heartwood is correct, Hi, my name is Twinkieman, and I get altitude sickness. I have tried lots of different things, except for drinking more water. This year I will definitely make a conscious effort to do so. It doesn't affect me, until I pass that 10,000 ft level, most of the time. This year I also am working out with an altitude training mask, but I will have to wait for the results. To date, the best I thing to combat this is to do as Heartwood stated, take it easy for the first three days, and not overdo it. I have been doing this the past three years, and then I don't have the nasty, migraine type headaches. Going easy the first three days, doesn't stop me from hunting. We do have a couple in our crew that aren't able to climb at the pace Heartwood and I are able to do. I just go with them, and call for them instead, and each year I have done this, they have had shot opportunities at bulls.

[Gypsumreaper]

I've noticed one of the best remedies for altitude sickness that I suggest to clients when they come out past and present is get urself on the gallon of water a day regime. We used to do a horseback ride where the first day we went from 7000ft to 10,000 then dropped back down to 6500 the next day, up to 11,000 the next and back to 7500 on the last. We dealt with altitude sickness. I suggested to clients who came from low elevations to begin drinking lots of water a month before and if they could get themselves to drinking a gallon a day it seemed to help a ton. As well as continuing as much water a day through their trip. Most clients would show up the day before others a couple days before. It's a tough game to play with the sickness but we tried to prevent it and water seemed to be the best thing we found other than a couple days to adjust. Some people still got it even with 3 or so days at 7000 ft, then they would get to feeling better and start drinking beer around the campfire and it would flare up again.


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[Osprey]

I don't generally push products but wilderness athlete altitude advantage flat out works for me. This past season I drove from Indiana and within 1 1/2 days I was at my hunting area and was hiking hard and hunting hard for 7 days from 9-12,800 ft before I shot my bull. Most of that was above 10k since that is where the Elk were most days and through knee deep snow for at least half the days. I stayed hydrated and also worked cardio much harder than the prev Elk hunt since this seemed to be a weakness. My first Elk hunt in 2013 I didnt take the WA and hunted at 9k and felt more of side effects from Alitude than I did taking it at 12k ft this past season. Its like $30 for a bottle you start taking something around 5 days before trip and on bottle will last about a 9 day trip for so. To me its worth it I was skeptical at first but it elimated any need to really acclimate for me and I will continue to use it on future hunts out west.

[bald9eagle]

Had a local in Colorado tell me to start taking baby aspirin a week before the trip.

[oldnovice]

Air density does not change linearly with gains in altitude. At 10,000ft, half of all the air in the atmosphere is below you! People who live at higher elevations (I live at 6200ft) are already acclimatized for that and will have a lot less trouble, in general, going up above 10,000ft than someone who lives near sea level. Drink plenty of water and take electrolytes (potassium, calcium, etc). That illness you feel can also be a symptom of low potassium.

[RP]

I have been out to Co twice now and we are hunting at 10,000. I live at 500, used Wilderness Athlete's High Alltitude Kit both times and had no problems or issues.

[lilshootergirl]

I get pressure in my ears, sinus and end up with a bad headache and throwing up! So the day or two before I head up in higher elevations I take severe sinus. There's different brands. That's the only way I can tolerate the higher elevations. I have to do this flying, driving anything over 4,000 ft. I'm a water hound so that's never a problem for me. I always go 2 days before open season to get acclimated to the elevations.

[oldnovice]

I get pressure in my ears, sinus and end up with a bad headache and throwing up! So the day or two before I head up in higher elevations I take severe sinus. There's different brands. That's the only way I can tolerate the higher elevations. I have to do this flying, driving anything over 4,000 ft. I'm a water hound so that's never a problem for me. I always go 2 days before open season to get acclimated to the elevations.

You may want to be checked out by an ENT specialist. I had the same issues and he found a problem with my Eustachian tubes. I had tubes put in both eardrums for a year or so to let everything settle down and haven't had many problems since.

[Muskeez]

This;
"I have had good luck taking Diamox (Acetazolamide 250mg twice daily) starting one day prior to my trip to high elevation, and continuing another 2 days at high altitude (total use 3 days). "

The only thing I can add is that it does make some foods taste weird, especially a cold pepsi when I get back to the truck after 7 days. The other most important thing is to follow the Rx directions and take it for the 2 days after! I quit taking it last year once I got back down to Denver and headed home the following day, the 3rd day, back in Iowa I was VERY sick. Leaving Friday for a scouting mission above 10k, I will follow the directions this time!

[Backyard]

I'm no expert, but I've found that if I hydrate very well starting a couple days prior to leaving for hunting, and continue to drink lots of water all during the hunt, I don't have hardly any ill effects of altitude (10k+). One thing I do that helps to keep drinking lots of water is I use a hydration bladder instead of a bottle. I have the hose in my mouth almost constantly and keep on sipping little sips all day long. That way I don't really have to think about stopping to take a drink, its automatic I guess.