Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Elk Hunting What do you do for altitude sickness?

Is there any particular drug or regimen that you prefer, in order to deal with altitude sickness when elk hunting at high elevations?

Depends how bad it is.If uncontrollable coughing starts.The treatment is get down lower quickly. Even severe headaches should do the same. If not too bad,drink a lot of water. Camp low to get enough oxygen refurbisment at night

Descend.

It is very difficult to overcome if you remain at altitude - and dangerous. Altitude sickness is a general term for several more specific things but all of them are best resolved by getting to lower ground.

Water definitly helps.

Your body should begin to adjust fairly quickly. Within 4 to 48 hours you should be able to climb up again.

Diamox does work and has helped me on much higher mountains. If you are very prone to altitude effects I would not hesitate to use it.

Drink lots of water, take some advil or apirin, avoid caffiene and booze, and if it last's much over a half day or the headache gets worse get down in altitude asap and see a dr.

A lot of people don't seem to be able to grasp that you can die from it and relatively quick.

Wilderness athlete has a product...I'm sure it's on their website. Hy altitude is what its called if memory serves right. Its an oxygen enhancer??? Ive taken it, but i have no idea if it helped. I've never felt sick, other than some mild headaches, but one of my hunting buddies gets dizzy. He can hunt through it, and he feels better after about a day. Like I said, I've never had it, but I would imagine that your body would definitely let you know when it was time to descend.

I like to arrive at my hunting camp about two weeks early and do alot of scouting. Even showing up a few days in advance of the season seems to help. As long as I camp at at least 6000 ft. E

Getting up to elevations a few days ahead is probably the best way to not have any problems to begin with.
Coming from the low elevation you're at in Penn, to even the lower elk country at 5-7K feet will present a bit of a shock to your circulatory system.The higher you go the harder time your lungs are going to have finding enough oxygen.
Might want to visit with your regular dr about maybe something he could give you to take just in case, and while you're at it might ask for some antibiotics to bring along.

I get sick as can be with bad mygrain style headaches from altitude sickness the first or second or sometimes both days, of each hunt, it helps to take several aspirin and ibuprofen and drink hot tea,(not beer or coffee)and not do much thats stressful for the first 24-36 hours ,talk to your physician about other prescription medications (nifedipine, frusemide and acetazolamide) that can combat the onset and symptoms of altitude sickness, and have those with you.
that 24-36 hours acclimation time requires you get to where youll hunt a few days prior to opening day,obviously,and spend a couple days at a medium altitude like 5K-6K before going higher,If your in a hotel/motel, hot showers help as they tend to reduce blood pressure slightly, which is a minor help, youll generally feel ok after 36-48 hours if you don,t push hard and try to sleep several thousand feet lower than you hunt, it helps

https://www.altituderx.com/

http://www.bing.com/health/article/...tude+sickness&qpvt=altitude+sickness

Acclimate...

Dober

acclimate is best. If you have the time. And you should probably make time regardless. We carry diamox just in case.

But we also run an aspirin regimen a few weeks out. 1 full a day, then 2 a day, and the week we leave its 4 a day. Keep that up. Drink twice as much WATER as you think you need and it has always worked ok for us.

That being said as I age, it takes more time to get used to and more time to recover

I have only had it once and it wasn't from hunting.

I was only about 11 and our family went to Switzerland. We went to this tourist place where they take you to the top of a mountain (The Jungfrau I think which is almost 12,000 ft)in an elevator. I remember getting a horrible headache. At the time I didn't realize it was altitude sickness, but I'm pretty sure that's what it was.

Luckily for my the "descend" medicine was easy in the elevator.

Best be careful with that much aspirin.Aspirin is a very good blood thinner.Having that much in your system can lead to heavy bleeding if there is an accident

A good read:

http://www.travmed.com/health_guide/ch15.htm

Cowboy up!

I use the old sheep hunter's remedy- Rolaids.. Works like a charm.

Dober is right.

I'm fortunate I have a physiology that's about as altitude-proof as it gets... but many don't.

Take your time going high. Several days from low to high.

I plan to hunt elk in Colorado this fall at higher elevations. I don't know how my body will respond when hiking with a pack...I was just looking for some advice to mitigate it, if it occurs. I appreciate all the advice. I never noticed it before on shorter jaunts but this one will be more of a test.
One in the party I will hunt with gets sick for the first two days each year and another never gets sick.

I lived the first 20 plus years of my life at 4,000 feet and despite that, I got it once from a long hike with back pack at 8,000 or so. At the time, I was young and running 50 plus miles a week, including a long "easy" run each week of 12-15 miles at a about a 7.5 pace, so was in great physical condition and thought I was bullet proof.

With too much caffeine, strenous hike and not enough water, I thought I was about to die. After a couple of aspirin, lots of water and laying in the tent for about 4 hours, I felt great and ready to go again.

I used to have issues with altitude sickness for the first day or so when in the high country, but now I found something that works for me. I have already started taking Ginkgo Bilobo and have not had any problems for the last ten years. I usually start in July and take it until I get back from my last trip.

For any of you that has never experienced a bad bout, it is truly disabilitating (not sure if thats a word, but you get my point). Once I had severe sickness at 10K ft on the first day of an Elk hunt in Utah. We drove all night and at first light I headed down over the hill chasing elk. I was about a mile from the truck when it struck. I couldn't take a step or two before I started heaving again. I was completely dehydrated, my head felt like it was splitting in two. I ended up having my partner come down and meet me in the woods to help me get back to the road. My throat hurt for two days. Sure acclimate is the best way but how many times have you gone straight from work to a hunt? If thats the only way you can do it are you going to sit around opening day while everyone else is out in the woods? So do something about it if you suffer, if it doesn't bother you of course acclimate is the answer.

Try the Ginkgo Biloba, it has worked for me and since I started using it I have not had any problems whatever.