Altitude Sickness Awareness
Altitude Sickness awareness a wide range of varied trips from leisure-moderate-adventurous to challenging and demanding treks and adventures on the high hills and mountain ridges of the world’s highest Himalayan region around Nepal-Tibet and Bhutan.
Most travelers and adventurers might have known awareness of trekking or climbing  high-altitude areas where people can catch the symptom of AMS (Acute Mountain Sickness)
Life Himalaya offers detailed information on High Altitude Sickness and related problems.
Symptoms of High Altitude Sickness:
Rather than one or two, usually a group of symptoms begins to appear as a person gains altitude. These symptoms vary in intensity and in the elevations at which they appear, depending on the individual experiencing them. The predominant characteristic associated with adaptation to altitude is a headache.
Usually, a headache appears in the evening after a long day of ascending. The headache should be relieved by aspirins and should go away by the following morning. The principal symptoms that accompany the onset of altitude sickness are headache and weakness, sleeplessness, often accompanied by irregular breathing, particularly at night, fluid retention [edema], particularly about the eyes or fingers, depending on the degree of altitude sickness, dry cough, mild nausea, loss of appetite, ataxia or loss of coordination and severe breathlessness at rest.
If the symptoms are a mild annoyance then you should rest until they subside. If the symptoms become more severe or do not disappear after a night’s sleep, then you should descend until you feel well.
Basic Altitude Sickness Awareness
The basic treatment for severe altitude sickness is immediate descent: altitude sickness can progress rapidly once it becomes serious. The person afflicted should be taken down between 1,000 to 3,000ft. [300 to 450m.], the distance increases with the extent of the symptoms.
The drug acetazolamide [Diamox] has been used for assisting with acclimatization when traveling to altitude. Some reports indicate that the drug might be useful in treating the early stages of altitude sickness in addition to its use in prevention. It has been shown that people who had headaches, nausea, and felt unwell improved considerably within 30 minutes of taking the tablets. The adult dosage is 250mg. tablet twice a day.
The most pronounced and irritating side effect is a tingling sensation which can occur at any site and without warning. The dose can be reduced to 250 mg. per day. It is recommended that the drug is started on the morning of ascent above 10000ft/3000m and to be continued until descent or the person feels acclimatized. If you decide to take acetazolamide, please inform your guide/group leader. It should not be taken by people who are allergic to sulfur drugs.
Severe altitude sickness affects few trekkers, most know when to stop and head back down. All of our treks are based on experience and are planned to gain height gradually, with days allowed for rest and acclimatization. The above brief notes on altitude sickness are to point out what it is and to note the symptoms. Prevention is simple; make a gradual ascent and allow sufficient rest at intermediate altitudes.
If you are planning to trek in the Himalayas with a local professional guide and porter. after 2500 meter trek only 300 to 400 meters per day, every day after reaching the lodge make an acclimatization hike up to 150 to 300 meters
Climb high and sleep low is the best principal not to get altitude sickness and drinking 3 to 4 liters of water and garlic soup, and ginger tea are the best for not to get altitude sickness.
Always eat local fresh foods such as Nepal Dalbath, veg Momo, and sherpa stew if you feel you have sickness symptoms trek back down.
