Mt. Whitney Portal Store & Hostel Forums General Mt. Whitney Portal Store Message Board Diamox Lessens Brain Damage

Akichow, when I presented a talk to the Virginia State Pulmonary and Thoracic Society (none of whom knew much about high altitude), I showed a graph of someone elses' work: a sleep study ( polysomnogram) of high altitude climbers looked like a traditional sleep apnea patient with periodic breathing pattern. After Diamox, the repeat study looked normalized , exactly what one would hope for the respiratory stimulation effect of Diamox. I don't know if your prompt response was outside the normal curve or not, but the stuff does help, although of course not in all people, and some go on to more significant problems like HAPE and HACE.

At the end of the lecture , a retired pulmonary MD with a pilots license gave me grief about my comment that night color vision begins to deteriorate at only 5,000 ft. The FAA recommends that unpressurized general aviation pilots use O2 at night above 5,000. Most do not, as the effect is subtle, but the beginning of physical factors that might lead him and his plane to be on the mountain! I finally had to shut him up with saying that the FAA saw to it that it knew more about than he did. By the way, commercial planes are pressurized to 8,000 ft.

Again, I'd love to keep going on this post, but I am in and out of the wilderness. Just finished my Rae Lakes/Sixty Lakes loop, connecting the two with an off-trail chute. Leave Kearsarge later this week for Arctic Lake and Whitney.

Harvey

Like all prescription drugs, Diamox has a expiration date on the bottle. Most experts feel that for solid pills not exposed to extreme heat, they are fully potent for at least a year beyond that date. Of course, I'm not recommending that you use medication that has expired, although I often do so myself.

Last time I checked, though, the generic drug is pretty cheap.
http://www.77canadapharmacy.com/buy/Diamox.php
$24 for a lifetime supply.

This is from the The Institute For Altitude Medicine:

"Acetazolamide (Diamox®) taken 24 hours prior to arrival to altitude and the first 2 days at altitude is 75% effective in preventing AMS. It speeds up the acclimatization process in the body, stimulates breathing, raises blood oxygen and increases urination."

"Periodic breathing, difficulty sleeping at altitude, cheyne stokes breathing, high altitude peripheral edema, high altitude flatus expulsion, high altitude syncope, chronic mountain sickness, sleeping at high altitude, camping at high altitude, Himalayan climbing. This condition, which can cause trouble sleeping, happens quite frequently but is not associated with altitude illness. It results from a battle within the body over control of breathing during sleep. Oxygen sensors in the body command the brain to increase breathing, which causes the lungs to blow off CO2. But CO2 sensors in the body then tell the brain to stop breathing, because CO2 is getting too low. So breathing then stops for about 12 seconds, until the oxygen sensors take over again. The result is an irregular pattern of breathing, with 4 or so large breaths followed by no breaths. The first large breath will sometime wake up a person, with a sensation of feeling breathless or suffocated. This pattern may continue throughout the day as well, but typically is most disturbing at night as it frequently wakes a person multiple times. Although uncomfortable it is not dangerous. It is easily treated with a small dose of Diamox® (62.5 or 125 mg) taken before bedtime; this smooths out the breathing and improves sleep and raises blood oxygen."