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Nepal
- Trekking in Nepal
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 ALTITUDE
SICKNESS
Altitude
sickness or Acute Mountain Sickness (AMS)
in another word is one of the deadly serious
problems many trekkers are facing often
in their trekking span. The very important
medical consideration while trekking in
Nepal is "Prevention is better than
cure is applied to avoid AMS." The
commonly appearing symptoms of AMS are
as following.
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Nausea,
vomiting
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Loss
of appetite
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Insomnia/sleeplessness
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Persistent
headache
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Dizziness
and confusion
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Disorientation
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Weakness,
fatigue, lassitude, heavy legs
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Slight
swelling of hands and face
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Breathlessness
or irregular breathing.
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Less
urine output
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Acclimatization-After
a 1000m ascent, stay one more night
for acclimatization.
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Do
not make rapid ascent.
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No
alcohol, no sleeping pills, no smoking,
no oily food, no hard hot drinks that
contains more coffins, no sex
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Drink
more fluid 3-4 liters day-clean water,
boiled and filtered or medicated, tea,
soup, and juice
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No
heavy backpacks. 10 –12 kilograms
OK.
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Climb
higher, always sleep lower
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Ascend
less than 300m a day above 3000m of
altitude.
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Never
trek alone
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Descent
is the best remedy do not wait for the
helicopters or medical help.
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Three
medications have been proven useful.
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Diamox-125
mg can prevent mild symptoms of AMS.
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Nifedipine
ordinarily used to treat heart problems
and high blood pressure.
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Descomethasone,
an important drug to carry for emergency
use.
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