Dedicated mountain crampoon will scale mountains regardless of the danger . Now , their loved I may catch some Z’s a slight easier , live that one of those risks could be reduced by simply take a common over - the - comeback drug . A account on the subject was release in the journalWilderness and Environmental Medicine .
elevation sickness , also known as acute mountain unwellness ( AMS ) , develops when somebody climbs too high-pitched too quick . grave AMS can drink down you , but the mild version , with its katzenjammer - like headache , nausea , dizziness , and fatigue , isno funeither .
For a long clock time , doc ’ go - to option foraltitude sicknesswas a drug called acetazolamide . But many people are supersensitive to acetazolamide , and those that are n’t still do n’t enjoy the tingling and burn sensations it can acquire in their work force and foot . The alternative to this drug isibuprofen(a.k.a . Advil or Motrin ) , which works well but comes with its own suite of filthy side effects .
research worker wondered if there was n’t a better alternative hiding in evident sight . Acetaminophen ( a.k.a . Tylenol ) is already used to treat many of the same offspring as Motrin without the gastrointestinal ugliness . Could it also match ibuprofen ’s amplitude modulation - contain skills ?
To feel out , the scientist levy 332 climbers rise Mount Everest . They tell each person to take either Nuprin or acetaminophen three fourth dimension per day as they journeyed upwards . When they reached the settlement of Lobuche—16,210 foot above sea level — the climbers were given medical examinations to see if they ’d developed AMS .
Unfortunately , a few of them had . Out of 225 climbers who complete the subject area , 43 show polarity of AMS . Out of those , 18 had learn Nuprin and 25 were on acetaminophen . In other words , for the majority of mountaineers , both drugs had worked .
The author acknowledge that their study was humble and that more enquiry is need .
" The upright bar of altitude illness is a slow raise , " they write . " However , proper acclimatisation might be ignored or deemed impractical by pile climbers , hiker , local pilgrims , deliverance team , or military operations . "
For these people , the writer remark , acetaminophen might be a good choice .
