asthma and high altitude
Peter G. Green
>The scoutmaster of the troop I work with and I have both been diagnosed
>as having asthma. As we are both outdoor hiking camping nuts we were
>discussing the question, "is an asthmatic who is well controlled with
>medication at any additional risk at high altitude than one who does not
>have asthma"? Since the problem relates to bronchiol constriction rather
>thanoxygen adsorption, I thought not but I am hoping someone out there
>will have the real scoop.
Pardon a merely anecdotal follow-up. My brother has had asthma all his life
(easily controlled with an inhaler) and seems to thrive at the highest
altitudes, perhaps due to lack of dust, pollen, etc... Last fall he
climbed Dhaulagiri (26,795' or 8167m) in Nepal, the sixth highest in
the world. (And our trip did not employ high altitude porters or use
bottled oxygen.)
-Peter Green
Larry Hyslop
: >The scoutmaster of the troop I work with and I have both been diagnosed
: >as having asthma. As we are both outdoor hiking camping nuts we were
I have asthma under control through medication, and routinely go up to
11,000 ft. in the Ruby mtns. of Nevada, with no problems. I always have
an inhalor, but wonder if the damn thing works, since i never get to use it.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
+ Larry Hyslop +
+ Northern Nevada Community College +
+ Elko, NV +
+ +
+ hys...@fs.nevada.edu +
+ 702-753-2305 +
+ +
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Donald Morley (Berkshire S)
: I have asthma under control through medication, and routinely go up to
: 11,000 ft. in the Ruby mtns. of Nevada, with no problems. I always have
: an inhalor, but wonder if the damn thing works, since i never get to use it.
I have pretty much the same condition, except in November and March, or
whenever I return home to New England after a long trip. I have trouble
then, otherwise my inhaler sits around. My question is this?
What happens at much higher elevations that 11,000 ft.? I hope to climb
Cotopaxi (19,??? ft.) in Ecuador this summer.
--
Don Morley dmo...@k12.oit.umass.edu
Berkshire School voice mail 413 229 8511 ext. 649
Sheffield, MA 01257
********************************************************************
Jason O'Rourke
level. I seem to suffer from bouts of exercise induced asthma when
hiking fairly hard above 12000. But that has more to do with keeping up
with a faster crowd than merely the lack of oxygen.
Perhaps it would be best to acclimitize slowly or stay at a level
elevation on the first trip. Then you'll know more about how you respond.
Jason
Robert Broeking
Larry Hyslop <hys...@scs.unr.edu> wrote:
>Peter G. Green (pgg...@cco.caltech.edu) wrote:
>
>: >The scoutmaster of the troop I work with and I have both been diagnosed
>: >as having asthma. As we are both outdoor hiking camping nuts we were
>
>11,000 ft. in the Ruby mtns. of Nevada, with no problems. I always have
>an inhalor, but wonder if the damn thing works, since i never get to use it.
>
--
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Bob Broeking in Colorado Springs // "rbro...@borneo.spacecom.af.mil"
"I'll get the rope..." Anderl Hinterstoisser, North Face of the Eiger
July 19th, 1936....
Slieve M'Daid
>From: pgg...@cco.caltech.edu (Peter G. Green)
>Subject: Re: asthma and high altitude
>Date: Fri, 28 Apr 95 15:30:41 GMT
>>The scoutmaster of the troop I work with and I have both been diagnosed
>>as having asthma. As we are both outdoor hiking camping nuts we were
>>discussing the question, "is an asthmatic who is well controlled with
>>medication at any additional risk at high altitude than one who does not
>>have asthma"? Since the problem relates to bronchiol constriction rather
>>thanoxygen adsorption, I thought not but I am hoping someone out there
>>will have the real scoop.
>Pardon a merely anecdotal follow-up. My brother has had asthma all his life
>(easily controlled with an inhaler) and seems to thrive at the highest
>altitudes, perhaps due to lack of dust, pollen, etc... Last fall he
>climbed Dhaulagiri (26,795' or 8167m) in Nepal, the sixth highest in
>the world. (And our trip did not employ high altitude porters or use
>bottled oxygen.)
>-Peter Green
I live at about 8,000 feet, bicycle all over the place, and have had
asthmatic bouts occasionally since birth. I take SP-3 by Solar-Ray and it
goes right away. I've never noticed any effect of altitude.
Jack
Andy Woodward
>>(easily controlled with an inhaler) and seems to thrive at the highest
>>altitudes, perhaps due to lack of dust, pollen, etc... Last fall he
I am asthmatic (tho not nearly so now as when I was a kid), and I concur. I am
hopeless at aerobic excercise in teh UK (sealevel and 80%+ humidity)
I visited my brother in Utah and we were up at about 10k when my mother began
showing signs of heatstroke. So a ran full pelt back to the truck to get a
bottle of water - a round trip of 1 mile - with continuous stares from all
teh locals (Who is this idiot running round half naked and hatless in the
middle of teh day.....). It was easy(ish). I cant
imagine being able to go quarter of teh distance at the speed in the UK.
I put it down to the fact the, for teh first time I could remember, I had 2
nostrils working simultaneously, adn I guess my alveolar passages were more
open in teh dryness too. So despite the fact that there was less oxygen there,
I could get lots more of it into my lungs. Similarly I had no trouble
adjusting to the altitude difference between sealevel at home and the Utah
high country. Just didnt notice it at all, whereas my mother, who is not
asthmatic, did.
I put it down to the lower water acrrying capacity of teh air, rather than teh
actual height. High places have drier air than low (even at 100% humidity) cos
the air is colder and wont hold so much water compared to body tissue (hence
the common dehydration problems at altitude). Similarly I felt great at very
low altitudes in the Mojave desert 3 years earlier - no height but dry.
(knocked a two year bout of ME on teh head too - got better at a hell of a
rate of knots afterwards - I *love* the desert)
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Thomas O. Hahn
I also had similar questions before a trip to hike in the high country
of Mew Mexico. Asking my doctor here lead to inquiries to
a place in Colorado. The place specialized in high altitude medicine.
The answer was that there was no corelation with asthma and high
altitude sickness. I did find this somewhat difficult to believe, but
trusted them and had no difficulties of any kind, and I was up around
13000 ft, although I did take along an inhaler for the first time.
Thomas
Gert Smets
>> The scoutmaster of the troop I work with and I have both been diagnosed
>> as having asthma. As we are both outdoor hiking camping nuts we were
>> discussing the question, "is an asthmatic who is well controlled with
>> medication at any additional risk at high altitude than one who does not
>> have asthma"? Since the problem relates to bronchiol constriction rather
>> thanoxygen adsorption, I thought not but I am hoping someone out there
>> will have the real scoop.
PGG> Pardon a merely anecdotal follow-up. My brother has had asthma all
PGG> his life (easily controlled with an inhaler) and seems to thrive at the
PGG> highest altitudes, perhaps due to lack of dust, pollen, etc... Last
PGG> fall he climbed Dhaulagiri (26,795' or 8167m) in Nepal, the sixth
PGG> highest in the world. (And our trip did not employ high altitude
PGG> porters or use bottled oxygen.)
That's wright. Astma does not affect the risk for altitude sickness (nor does
your condition). I'll explain:
When we go to higher altitudes, the partial pressure of oxygen drops and so we
have to breathe faster and deeper to get the same amount of oxygen. In the air
the partial pressure of CO2 also drops and to maintain the same level in our
blood we have to breathe SLOWER. This is because we have to keep the ph of our
blood constant (and this is in equilibrium with the CO2 level in our lungs,
CO2<-->bicarbonate ). The body first reacts on the ph and thus the CO2 level.
Our body tells us to take it slow because there isn't enough CO2 and gives us
less oxigen (by breathing relatively slow). The human body is a marveless
machine and so our kidneys go into action producing bicarbonate to keep the ph
constant altough we need to breath faster to get more oxigen. So when you can
adjust fast to altitude, you have good kidneys (and produce lots of urine,
standing up at night-->good sign). Altitude sickness is the problem you get
when this delicate equilibrium can't follow. There's also another problem that
evolves: the vessels are also sensitive to CO2 in the blood. People with
altitude sickness have problems in adjusting there vessels to changing levels
of CO2. When that happens your vessels leak fluid and you get oedema, first in
your brain and lungs. The brain is captured in the scull and oedema compresses
the brain (see symptoms). In the lung the fluid disturbs the gas exchange and
lungoedema give you problems breathing
The symptoms of altitude sickness are:
-first you get a headache, sleep bad, are irritable
-the the headache gets more severe and you become dizzy, you can't sleep
anymore---->WARNING!
-the you become euforic, you don't see the risk of things anymore, you act
strange
-then you get problems breathing (lungoedema), not the one when you make an
effort in a short time (that is condition-dependent), here you can't breath
anymore, you cuff pink foam, it's like you have water in your lungs (what is in
fact true)
-...and you become stupurous
-coma and death are the final steps...
So when you see that you produce just a little urine, have a headache that
becomes worse, and certainly when you feel dizzy, GO DOWN! Descent about 600 to
1000 meters and stay there, DON'T GO HIGHER! It will be much more difficult to
get you down when you can't stand annymore (and I've seen people beeing carried
down on a jak in Nepal).
What do you do to not get altitude sickness:
-above 3500m take it slow on ascending, take a day off and stay on a high
altitude, above 4000 m try not to ascent more as 300m a day
-drink a lot!: up to 3-4 liters a day
-keep in good shape (food, sleep,don't exhaust yourself)
-see and feel the signs!
When you get altitude sickness or symptoms
-take an aspirin for the headache and stay on the same altitude, when you feel
better the next day you can proceed, but don't take another aspirin to suppress
your headache---> it masks one symptom
-you can take diamox to help your kidneys to produce bicarbonate, it is a
diureticum which means that it forces you to go to toilet so drink a lot!
-When you get in problems and you can't decent immediately (but you've arranged
a descent!) you can take a dosis prednisone (ore another corticoid) to suppress
the cerebral oedema (ask your doctor for this).
-There are special pressure suits for this but not everywhere available or easy
to bring to you.
-GO DOWN ANNYHOW!
So you see that astma affects your susceptibility to altitude sickness not.
What is can do is lower your condition (when you don't control your asma enough
with your medicins) and so you can become more exhausted (and if you don't take
enough rest you become more susceptible to altitude sickness). So ask your
doctor to check your medication (take a lungtest to check it very sensitive),
ask for puffs that can withstand the pressure drop! Take it slow and take care
for the symptoms and you'll be safe. Enjoy the mountains!
Smets Gert, student in medicine, mountainfreak
Wijkstraat 9, B-3590 Diepenbeek, Belgium
Ge...@ixo.be