How to deal with altitude sickness?

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Acclimate, drink water.

Things get worse? Go down fast. HAPE/HACE is not something to fuck with.

Try to spend a night at the trailhead
While backpacking, try to sleep at lower elevations

>>769668
chew coca leaves
it really helps a lot
also helps you to stay active much longer and be less hungry

>>769683
first post best post, this is the medically correct answer

t. Wilderness EMT

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>be me, doing a photo shoot for an insurance company innamountains years ago
>camera crew of 6 from illinois, flew into denver from another gig in georgia
>yup, all set, meet in the morning and up the mountain we go
>Here's a radio, we won't have phone service once we leave the highway
>look of confusion, like they've never seen "No Service" on their phones before
>they wanted to stop on a pass, fine, whatever, I can't unload there but we've got time and it's kind of on the way to where I can ride and where there is snow
>just shy of 12k ft
>park the rigs for a while
>One guy and one of the gals not looking too hot
>Road/parking lot is at the bottom, stairs up from either side of the road
>"Wow, I thought I was in better shape than this" ... yeah buddy, it's called elevation!
>Two that aren't looking so good want to look around and play, but are obviously struggling
>Hey, I need you two to chill here and drink some water. You need to let me know if you start feeling worse and we'll head down the hill, okay?
>Photog and rest of the crew wander around for a bit, look at the scenery
>play in the snow
>mind you this is mid-july
>Two at the cars look like they're doing a little better, but i'm still a little worried about them
>Take more pictures
>Finally round everyone up, head down in elevation but further into the mountains
cont'd

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>>769796
>Down the hill from the pass, over to another pass I ride somewhat regularly, about 9k ft
>Confident enough in my knowledge of the area to find some snow and get good photos
>Off the highway and onto some dirt forest-service roads
>Radio back to the two cars to wait up while I went ahead a little ways, make sure the road was clear and the Crown Vic could get through
>nope.jpg, back out and find another place
>Hey, we're near the old cabin, let's stop there
>Couple on rented ATV's comes down the trail, they stop and chat for a while, fill out model-releases, they get some photos
>They go on their way, we load up and go another half-mile to where I had scoped out a snow drift
>Radio back to the Crown Vic to stay on the main road, that the drift was about 500ft off the road, the Escalade and my truck can make it on the side-road to there
>Crew in the car hikes up, crew in the escalade drives up and unloads, everyone's a lot more acclimated and looking a LOT better
>Remind them to keep drinking water
>I unload, we get some awesome shots
>tfw having a pro photog taking pics of me on my sled
>tfw having those pics go on billboards and print ads nationwide
>mfw that company doesn't even cover me
>Chimp out over the shots we got, I get loaded up and change out of riding gear, crew gets loaded up
>Head back towards town, stop at a restaurant for lunch
>Thunderstorm rolls through, lightning strike maybe 1/4mi from the restaurant
>so that happened
>Great lunch, good company, good stories, to the group of city-folk i'm with i'm this "badass mountain dude" >kek'd
>Before we left I got a fat wad-o-cash
>few months later, uncle across the country texts me a photo of a billboard
>iknowthatguy.jpg
>driving around town one evening, digital billboard changes slides
>fuck, that's me
>weird feeling
>pic extremely related

>also got with work to bring in a first aid instructor, taking my recert class next week
>tfw work paying for certs i need for my /out/door adventuring

>>769800
neat story.
I really want at least First Aid training, wish I had the money to get EMT training even though I have 0 plans to be an emt.

>>769668

Fresh coca leaves.

Avoid the dried shit.

>>769723
Seconded.

>>769668
Sea level dweller here. If I feel anything, check my resting heart rate. If it's elevated I just rest and load up on water and food. After an hour or two my resting heart rate calms down again and I'm feeling better. Gotta know what your baseline resting rate is beforehand though.
I've heard people say that things like ginseng, ashwaganda, ginger, etc help a lot.

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>>769668
The short: Long periods of acclimatization

The in-depth:
Altitude sickness is a result of hypoxic hypoxia, which is the lack of oxygen available to the body. In the case of high altitude climbing, this is due to the lack of partial pressure required for the diffusion of oxygen into the blood.

Now, up to 10,000ft you shouldn't experience any significant effects besides shortness of breath, increased heart rate and blood pressure. From 10,000-15,000 is where hypoxia begins to be an issue. If you do not properly acclimatize, symptoms such as dizziness, fatigue, nausea, confusion, and mild cyanosis can appear. Above 15,000ft, the onset of the symptoms and effects of hypoxia can be more rapid and severe.

People very rarely recognize when they are becoming hypoxic. One of the symptoms of hypoxia in general is euphoria, and a general sense of well-being. The individual will become confused and brain function/motor response will decrease quickly. If not remedied, it is deadly. Time of Useful Consciousness (TUC) is another factor; if not properly acclimatized, after a certain amount of time an individual will not be able to perform complex (or even basic) tasks, which can result in impairment/loss of consciousness.

Hypoxia will always be an issue, but proper acclimatization will cause your body to compensate by producing more red blood cells which can carry more oxygen per stroke. Continuous-flow or diluter-demand oxygen masks are great, but only work up to a certain altitude. Beyond that, you will need positive pressure masks, but chances are you won't be climbing that high. Point being, keep your blood oxygen saturation above 87% or else you'll begin to feel the effects of hypoxia.

t. Pilot

>>769715
also if you snort cocaine

>>769668
go back down, dummy

>>769796
>>769800
Mule?


I heard that Viagra helps. Any truth to this?

>>772951
Yeah, it helps.

I live at 10,500 feet above sea level and I happen to take Viagra for ED caused by my blood pressure meds.

Personally I'd rather have altitude sickness than the side-effects of Viagra.

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Bring Acetazolamide but use it sparingly so if you get in trouble, you can take it while descending. When I did Kilimanjaro, I took half a dose each day on the mountain and a full dose on summit night. Other than a few hallucinations, the altitude didn't bother me. The next year I drove up to 14000 feet and then climbed up to 15000 and felt like death. Acclimation is your friend.

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>>769796
Is that Loveland pass?

>>774161
I drove over Loveland pass with a sinus infection. It was not a fun trip.

>>774180
I've never been there during the summer that place looks weird without snow