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Altitude sickness is a common travel health problem. As the name suggests, people might get feelings of nausea, headaches, or intense tiredness in areas that are more than around 2500m above sea level. These symptoms can be very uncomfortable and can become serious. Luckily, if your condition does not improve on its own with rest, there are different options such as altitude sickness pills that can help prevent or ease your symptoms.
This happens because your body may be finding it hard to adjust to the high altitude. In places high above sea level, there is less oxygen in each breath you take.
You need to inhale more deeply and quickly to give your body more oxygen. Therefore, people can get symptoms like nausea and vomiting, headaches, and tiredness.
This is a fairly common travel health issue especially for people who are climbing mountains because they are reaching high altitudes more quickly. It is also more common in some parts of the world such as Nepal or Bolivia.
The common symptoms are:
If you get these milder common symptoms, and they do not improve with rest, you can try otc meds for altitude sickness.
Rarer and more serious symptoms include:
If you experience these rarer symptoms, please seek medical attention as soon as possible and try to move to an area with lower altitude.
You should get lots of rest and tell the people you are travelling with that you feel sick. You can take some non-prescription medication for altitude sickness like paracetamol or Ibuprofen to help relieve your symptoms. Do not travel to a higher altitude. Doing this should help resolve your symptoms in a few days.
If you often get sick at such heights, you could see a doctor who might give altitude sickness meds that can help prevent symptoms.
If your condition gets worse or does not improve after one day of rest, the NHS website advises to go to an area of around 300-1000m lower altitude.
Get checked out by a doctor quickly if you notice worrying symptoms such as your skin turning blue/grey, being out of breath at rest, confusion, and balance problems.
Knowing the risks and complications is important before you go on a climb or travel to somewhere high above sea level.
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Luckily, there are a few things you can do to prevent symptoms:
If you get feelings of nausea, dizziness, and tiredness but they start to get better over resting for a few days, then you may not need to see a doctor.
If you get mild symptoms and often go climbing for example, you can see a doctor who may recommend medications for altitude sickness such as Acetazolamide that can help make your climbs more comfortable.
On the other hand, if your symptoms get worse even with rest or you notice severe symptoms such as confusion, blue/grey skin, trouble breathing when you are not doing anything etc. you must see a doctor as soon as possible as at that point it can be a medical emergency with serious consequences.
Altitude sickness happens when your body finds it difficult to get used to high altitudes. This is because in areas so high above sea level, the air has lower pressure so less oxygen is going into your body every time you breathe. That is why you may experience feelings of dizziness, nausea, tiredness, and you may find it hard to breathe.
Altitude sickness is usually diagnosed as a ‘clinical diagnosis’. This means the diagnosis is given based on the pattern of symptoms and the background information that the patient gives. The medical professional may use a scoring system such as the Lake Louise score that looks at different symptoms to help make this diagnosis.
For example, a common presentation would be someone who climbed a mountain too quickly and is feeling a headache, dizzy, and off their food.
People usually get better with some rest and do not need medication. It can be helpful to go to an area of lower altitude. However, some people may benefit from otc medication for altitude sickness to make them feel better.
Sometimes, more serious cases may need different medication (e.g steroids, aspirin) and an oxygen mask or hospital admission.
If you are a frequent climber or often experience sickness at heights, you might benefit from prescription medication for altitude sickness.
There are quite a few things that can make symptoms worse, we have outlined some in the list below – try to avoid these if you have or commonly get altitude sickness:
You can take over the counter altitude sickness meds such as paracetamol, ibuprofen or aspirin.
There is also a prescription tablet called Acetazolamide that has shown to be effective at preventing and treating mild symptoms. Acetazolamide works by preventing an enzyme that is involved in causing the typical altitude sickness symptoms of dizziness, headaches, nausea, and tiredness.
For example, one or two days before you are set to go on a big hike, you can start taking Acetazolamide. If you do this and continue taking the tablets as per medical advice during the climb, you might be able to prevent or treat mild altitude sickness.
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