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

No, i'm in Buena Vista. Just down the road, but I play in all the mountains in the area.

Most people don't have serious problems but like me get headaches, pounding heart and insomnia. If you are really sick: DESCEND. But 99% of us can cope with a variety of techniques:

Drink water or sports drinks till you wiz like a race horse. Avoid caffeine and alcohol.

Rolaids (or similar antacids). Part of the problem is that your blood becomes acidodic. 2-3 rolaids every 4-6 hours helps

I used to take the drug Acetazolamide (diamox). But it makes you pee more and makes sodas taste NASTY, and my wife had tingling sensation on her arms and legs! Did help a lot/hated the side effects.

I usually take advil for sore muscles anyway and they help if you get headaches.

2 over the counter products that work for me (I no longer have to take Diamox) are:

1) Wilderness athlete's ALTITUDE ADVANTAGE.

2) Altitude adjustment by http://www.altitude-adjustment.com/products.html

I ususally use Altitude adjustment. Has never failed me.

--Drink water--Start several days or a week BEFORE you arrive at altitude. Most folks--especially those who work at more sedentary professions--don't drink enough water/liquids to begin with.

--Don't drink alcohol.

--Start taking 2-3 aspirin each day several days before you arrive at altitude.

--As mentioned, bring Rolaids. At the first sign of feeling just a tiny bit queasy, take some.

--Try to avoid heavy exertion for the first day or two at altitude.

--Folks with high blood pressure are more likely to get altitude sickness, so keep that in mind for you and your partners.

--Drink water.......


Casey

Roger that, Dad took em for years for cardiac so I'm well versed in side effects and 2 of us are Emergency Medical Responders so well versed in the issues.

That being said I"m glad you posted, not all folks understand what other issues can come with thinned blood. Pressure is your friend always. The blood clotting packs... have been shown to create strokes in the following days enough so that I won't use one unless there is no other option.

I can't take aspirin. They make my stomach bleed.

Happened to my dad after 20 some years of taking them.

I'd have to look up the viagra vs the diamox. No clue how each work, other than I"d never heard of using viagra.

Of course years ago when I researched I"d never heard of tums/rolaids either...

Is that spelled with a K or a D?

Never had a problem with altitudes as I spend most of my time in hunting territory and only live 4,000 feet or so below the highest area.

Acclimation is the answer,not foreign(to your body that your not used to taking) substances to your body that it isn't used to.They can do more damage than the altitude.

Jayco

My hunting buddy got it so bad a few years back he had to head home. He lives in Denver and we were never over 8500-9000 feet.

I take aspirin daily and drink a LOT of water. So much so that people give me grief about the amount I carry (2 liters).

Medicine done correctly cannot do more damage than the altitude.

Acclimation is by far the best. But some are not so lucky to either live at altitude or have lots of time off...
I live at 200 feet ASL. We hunt CO around 10,000 give or take. We drive straight through and start hunting around the 30 hour mark or so.

its really the only option we have due to limited free time. Using a few meds along the way makes life easier.

With that I've no problems.

Would love to live there or be like E... take off a few months to chase elk. That would be fun.

Two years ago we left 900' elevation at 3am, got to camp at 9,000' about 13 hours later. Set up camp, tent, tended the mules, and I was hurting something fierce. Just sat in the truck with head in my hands, drinking water, trying to get comfortable to make the pain in my head go away. Dad finally convinced me to go with him to town, about 6,000'. Drove the 20 miles to town, grabbed a sandwich, drove around town for an hour or so and I was fine. Went back to camp, slept, then messed around the next day before season started at elevation, no further issues including most of the hunting going on right at 10,000'.

Same routine last year, but no issues.

This year when we head out, if I even faintly start to get a headache, I'm going lower.

It's the best thing you can do for yourself is to get lower as fast as you can. Those are words right out of 2 very good Doctors just a week ago. The one especially knows his stuff.

Acording to the Survivalist expert at the Air Force Academy, you want to take Tums,not Rolaids. Something about the differnt ingredients. It is to counteract acidic PH levels in your blood. Nothing to do with altitude sickness

Here is a long story of my only experience with altitude sickness.

I had a buddy experience it really bad and I didn't appreciate the risk. In 2003 I made my second try at Granite peak here in Montana. The peak is 12,8 with the froze to death plateau about 11,7. My buddy grew up in Detroit and Seattle but we went to grad school in MT. We met at the lake below at about 6500 feet and headed out early the next morning.It is about 20 miles round trip. When we hit the top of the switchbacks he started feeling out of breath and was really slow. Part way across the plateau he was getting ill so I took his pack and headed for the rock windbreak in the plateau. We were both carrying 40 pound packs so I was not moving fast across the plateau but I soon left him behind.
After hiking the 6-8 miles ahead I went back to look for him- I found him dangerously close to the edge-(think 1000 foot drop off) he was wandering, disoriented he kept saying leave him and he would sleep with his tarp- his movements were drunken and his speech was pretty incoherent.
I got him to the shelter and he had some hot soup/stew and he seemed to get better but was still out of it.
The next day we attempted the summit and he had forgotten something at camp after we had started across the face of Tempest mountain. Pretty easy trail so I went back for the camera or it might have been an ice ax, I don't remember.
When I got back I couldn't find him. He had wandered over the edge off the side and was scrambling rock climbing below the trail.
Once I found him we ended up coming back out. He doesn't remember much of the trip. The hot food and hydration seemed to really help. Either he didn't complain or more likely I didn't really listen or understand how bad off he was. I just figured he was a pussy.

We did successfully summit the next year but I took along a third person that carried some weight and helped.

Cool. I chase elk just across the highway. The best thing my hunting partner I did for altitude issues after our first trip hunting there was to arrive at least a couple of days early and "gently" scout the areas we hunt allowing our bodies to aclimate. We drink zero alcohol, poor down water, eat light but healthy meals and just go easy. The first trip was a killer.

never had the problem but carried Dexamethason 4mg just in case.

Krakmt.That sound like hypethermia,not altitude sickness

July 4th 2003- 65 to 70 degrees. The guy at that time did the whole volley ball tournament scene and was very healthy. With the headaches and his growing up down low I figured it was altitude sickness but could have been scurvy or some other malady for all I know.

I'm no doctor, but it almost sounds like hypoxia to me. I've had some hypoxia training, and a common symptom is to feel like you've just pounded several beers. Ive had some buddies go into an altitude training chamber and they said they got pretty goofy when hypoxic. Time to go lower when that happens I imagine.

Not had it myself - yet anyway - but several people I have been with at high elevation have had various mainfestations. Mostly at about 12-13,000 is when I notice a sudden lack of performance, at least for the first day or so, so I know altitude sure makes a difference, but have not been sick.

Like everyone else says drink lots of water. Hydration is really important, and at elevation you pump out a lot more water than normal due to the lower atmospheric pressure. If you start to vomit, you are losing way too much fluid, compounding the problem. Alcohol can make it worse because alcohol helps dehydrate you.

Really important is if you come from low elevation, take a couple days to gain your final elevation. It will go better and you will have a better time. Flying from 90 feet above sea level to Denver at a mile high then immediately going up to 10,000 feet is asking for problems regardless of who you are and what kind of shape you are in. Your body can't catch up that fast to the change in pressure and lack of oxygen. Physics and physiology.

Headaches are common and are an early warning. Dizziness or lightheadedness is from lack of oxygen. It is when nausea kicks in that it is time to get worried. If there is coughing, get the person the heck out of there and down to lower elevation RIGHT NOW without delay. Altitude caused pulmonary edema will drown a person in their own fluids. It is very very serious. If it gets to that point, they need medical attention.

One of the things seldom mentioned is the experience that KRAKMT had with his friend. You can easily get a person acting hypothermic (and hypoxic) where they get goofy, or crabby, or downright belligerent. Their brain is not functioning right, and they can become a danger to you as well as themselves. They shouold absolutely not be left alone, as KRAKMT found. You may need to force someone to go down to save their life. They will usually argue against their being altitude sick because many people mistake it as weakness, or for being percieved as being out of shape. (Nah, I just picked up the flu on the way down, Ill be OK. Reeeetch! It'll go away..." It didn't until he had spent the next night at much lower elevation. Next morning, was bouncing around and starving for breakfast.) You can be in great shape or poor shape and get altitude sickness one trip and not on another trip under the same conditions. Some super athletes get it on one accasion and not another. Research has not nailed down what really causes it to happen to one person and not another, nor why it happens to a person sometimes, but not every time.

When you get someone acting loopy or combative at altitude, suspect the worse and abort your trip. Any drastic change in behavior or apparent condition when you are above 8-9000 feet
with someone from low elevation should be approached with caution. Even people from higher elevation can get altitude sickness.