Does anyone know any remedies for altitude sickness? When in Maui, my son got sick at about 6000 feet when driving up the mountain there. We have plans to visit the Grand Canyon, Sedona, and other areas in Arizona and would like to avoid my son not feeling well. Any ideas? Thanks, Jane

Adapting slowly helps best. Also, see your physician for any medical advice in terms of advance preparation for high altitude climbs.

I think the only solution, as Cherie said below, is slow adaptation. And it's my understanding that it can be very dangerous if you don't return to a lower altitude, and just keep pushing it! I'm not sure there's anything you can do to prevent it if you're susceptible, and want to make a quick trip up & back to a high altitude area. I know it's supposed to be especially bad for pregnant women, heart patients and asthmatics. Luckily, none of my family has experienced it. Good luck, Jane!

I get severe altitude sickness right about 6000 feet is the beginning. By 8000 it's intolerable. Went to Sedona, the GC last year. While he won't feel good when actively climbing etc., taking things easy helps. You might want to plan to stay at a lower altitude so he can rest at night. Yosemite is another place as well as Wyoming and Colorado and most of New Mexico. And, yes, it can get dicey if you ignore it and press on so don't let him do that!. Good luck.

According to my AAA book, if your altitude sickness is severe, you should stop ascending and give yourself several days to recover. An immediate descent should provide immediate relief from symptoms.

The book also suggests eating very lightly, drinking as much water as you possibly can, and of course, avoid drugs, alcohol and tobacco, as they intensify symptoms.

Having visited mountains all of my life, experiencing true altitude sickness at 6,000 feet is most unusual. I have climbed 14,000 foot peaks in the Rockies, but the only experience we have had with altitude sickness was on our first trip to the Rockies when we went overnight from about 3,500 feet in Eastern Colorado to about 8,500 feet in the Rockies.

Last summer, on the Jungfrau trip in Switzerland, we went from about 3,000 feet to nearly 12,000 in less than 1.5 hours. A few people felt a little light headed, but that was all. I would try to find a physician who knew about altitude sickness, such as a flight surgeon, or one with small plane flying experience. The sickeness could be coincidental. Did the symptoms totally disappear when returning to lower altitude?? And just what were they?
Headache, nausea, blurred vision, shortness of breath, racing heart, dizziness or light headedness??
Is it possible that your son was actually motion sick rather than altitude sick??

I mostly with Bob.
I was raised in the mountains of New Mexico (Appox 7500') and have spoent a lot of time in the Mtns. The sickness experienced at lower altitudes than he mentions is not as rare as it might seem.
The most important thing is to improve plain water intake. In the desert you will lose more water than you anticipate, so this becomes doubly important. Failing this, you may find yourself dropping to a lower altitude. However, I doubt he would experience any of the cerebral or pulmonary edema associated with super high altitude sickess.
There is a prescription drug called Diamox, but it has some serious side effects to be considered.
My approach would be to present your son with a Camelback style water pack and make sure that he fills it and drains it at least once each day of your trip.

Thanks, everyone. I'll definitely keep my son hydrated. By the way, the only symptom my son showed in Hawaii was extreme nausea. We turned around at 6000 feet and drove back down the mountain. By the time we were at the bottom, he was fine which was why we thought it was altitude sickness and not motion sickness.

Bob, you are a very lucky person (many are including my dear husband who has a hard time understanding my incapacity),and yes, if you are raised in a high altitude you obviously don't get altitude sickness. I am an R.N. and was able to tell my husband when the altitude was above 6000 feet on a recent trip to Yosemite---it keeps going up and down from 4000 to 6500 there. He couldn't believe it. But at the GC, how would you explain my pulse rate of 130, nausea, dizziness and panting respirations? Perhaps I had jogged up the canyon? It is this type of advice that makes people sick. We had Mexican friends who returned from Chicago to M.C. and their child ignored the symptoms only to wind up in the hospital with pulmonary edema. Not nice for a young kid who wanted to play soccer with his friends. If you would like to consult a physician, do so, but please don't give medical advice without expertise.

Some of the responses on this really bothered me so I went back and checked my medical book. It's actually called Mountain Sickness and Acute High-Altitude Pulmonary Edema if it becomes severe. It is a result of hypoxia (lack of oxygen) at altitudes greater than 2000 meters. (1000 meters roughly 3000 feet, right?) That would fit with the discomfort many of us feel at 6000 feet.Above 3000 meters (9000 feet) there is a danger of pulmonary edema within 6-36 hours after arrival. In most people symptoms clear within 24-48 hours but in severe cases some require a return to a lower altitude. Preventitive measures include everything the AAA suggests as well as Diamox begining the day before ascent (think this would be for serious climbers.) If anyone else would like more info, let me know, but please let's not make light of this and dismiss it. Nobody knows why some are affected and others are not, but there are "marked individual differences in tolerance to hypoxia." So, once again, those who haven't experienced it, you're lucky people!!

Jane, you did not say where you live, but I will assume that it is at a low altitude. My wife and I recently were in Peru, at about 11,000 ft. Some in our group reported headaches, shortness of breath, poor sleep, no appetite. This passed quickly. All but us had come from homes at near sea-level. For us -- who live at 4,500 ft. -- there were no symptoms. No respecter of age, the altitude sickness affected persons ranging from 30s to 70s. It is, as one poster said, very personal, quite random, and should be treated with care. Our best advice would be to take it slow and easy, avoid exertion, eat lightly, and get plenty of rest if symptoms prove difficult. We found in Peru that those who took prescription drugs for the problem developed some peculiar side-effects that were almost as bad as the sickness -- blurred vision, nausea, dizziness.

KAM, when you visited the Grand Canyon and had problems with the altitude, what did you do? Did you stay and the symptoms got better over some time or did you leave and get down to a lower altitude? We're only supposed to be at the GC for one night, then we're heading over to Monument Valley (I don't know the altitude there) and then to Sedona. Maybe Sedona will feel great to my son at "only" 4500 feet.

Hmm. This could spiral out of control, given some of the misinterpretations. I don't think I was giving medical advice! Is telling someone to see a physician who has had experience with altitude problems equal to giving medical advice??

For the record, I was born and raised at altitudes of less than 500 feet, and have lived for 32 years at 800 feet. So my trips to higher elevations come with only minor adjustments.
I have been motion sick on mountain roads because they curve a lot, and it is an awful feeling. That is why I suggested establishing whether or not the symptoms were caused by motion sickness. And I have less than total confidence in most MD's to deal with the problem. I don't think I would ask my dermatologist if I had suffered altitude sickness!! But I would ask a friend of mine who is a gynecologist because he flew B-17's and P-51's in WW II.

Jane, we did the GC as a daytrip from Sedona because I knew about the altitude. Yes, I felt terrific in Sedona as I do in Denver both of which are under 6000 feet. At the GC, I walked slowly, let my husband climb things and had a lovely lunch at El Tovar. It was the best I could do and we knew that in advance. You might look into the altitude at Flagstaff which is a bit closer to the GC than Sedona. Anything under 6000 feet should be OK. Please know that this altitude thing really is real and your son is telling you the truth. The physician I rely on for advice is a Bolivian born (about 11,000 feet in La Paz) endocrinologist friend of ours. It is from him that I got my knowledge and I have utmost faith in him. And, Bob, I didn't mean to criticize you; I was only concerned because I have had experience with this that has not been too good. I know you don't want to hear my list of ugly incidents.There is so often advice on this forum that is not based on solid medical opinion. Once again, you are a very lucky person as is my husband.

Having been motion sick more than once, I can sympathize with any ailment that impairs enjoyment of life. This whole issue of altitude problems is one I decided to find our more about. Perhaps that explains some of the family disputes I could not help but hearing when we visited such parks as Rocky Mountain, Yosemite, and the Grand Canyon. Even Yellowstone has elevations over 8,000 feet. The people were out of oxygen and ill-tempered as a result.
So I got an opinion from a friend of mine who is a physician with a subspecialty in wilderness medicine. He said that severe altitude symptoms at less than 8,000 feet in a well hydrated person (one who has been drinking a lot of water) should be reviewed with an experienced physician. Naturally breathing hard with exertion is just part of it, but symptoms like fainting, loss of equilibrium, sustained high pulse rates after walking up hill, a continually pounding heart when at rest, sustained bad headaches, loss of appetite, vomiting, etc. may be symptomatic of the body's inability to absorb oxygen. Anyone who suffers from these symptoms should be evaluated. Also, any person with any type of physical problem that would interfere with oxygen absorption should be very careful about quick changes in altitude. Problems can also set in if you stay too long, like overnight, at altitudes above 8,000 with out a period of adjustment.
Sir Edmond Hillary said once that sleeping over 1,500 feet higher than your previous night when above 8,000 was ill-advised. You could go higher during the day, but return to sleep at an altitude about 1,500 feet higher than the previous night. Above 17,000 feet, human life cannot be sustained over the long haul without supplental oxygen.
But Sir Edmund was in tip top condition.
Now that I think about it, I am surprised that more people did not have obvious problems last summer when we made the trip to the Jungfraujoch. That is a very popular trip and many people of all shapes and sizes go up daily. The change in elevation between Lauterbrunnen and the Jungfraujoch is from 800 meters to 3454 meters. That is an ascent of about 8700 feet in about 2 hours. Those passengers who came up from Interlaken gained about 600 feet more, pushing the total climb to over 9,000 feet in about 2.5 hours.
That is a lot of altitude change in a short period of time. Anyhow, I will be more sensitive to the issue in the future.

I just saw something interesting about this subject in a medical forum. The person posting said that he thought (but wasn't positive)that when a plane is pressurized, the cabin pressure is the equivalent of being at 8500 feet. Anyone ever heard of this?

I suffer from altitude sickness evertime I go skiing. It gets so bad at times I don't feel like hitting the slopes. I spoke with my doctor and he prescribed a medication that would lessen the effects of the altitude. I don't recall the name of the medication, but it is used to treat Gloucoma. IT WORKED and no side effects.

Pleeeeeze....check with a physician. The net is ok for suggestions but do you go to a car dealer for a hamburger?