Tuesday, May 17, 2011

High Altitude Medicine

Dr. W., my husband, sent me this pdf about High Altitude Medicine, which I am grateful for. I'm going to be living at over 1 mile high, with some locations almost 2 miles high. Whew...


High Altitude (1500 to 3500m*)
The onset of physiologic effects of diminished inspiratory
oxygen pressure (Pio2) includes decreased exercise performance
and increased ventilation (lower arterial Pco2) (Box 1-2). Minor
impairment exists in arterial oxygen transport (arterial oxygen
saturation [Sao2] at least 90%), but arterial Po2 is significantlydiminished. Because of the large number of people who ascend
rapidly to 2500 to 3500 m, high-altitude illness is common in
this range... 

Some things to watch out for...

LOWLANDERS ON ASCENT TO HIGH ALTITUDE
Acute hypoxia
High-altitude headache
Acute mountain sickness
High-altitude cerebral edema
Cerebrovascular syndromes
High-altitude pulmonary edema
High-altitude deterioration
Organic brain syndrome
Peripheral edema
Retinopathy
Disordered sleep
Sleep periodic breathing
High-altitude pharyngitis and bronchitis
Ultraviolet keratitis (snowblindness)
Exacerbation of preexisting condition
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3 comments:

  1. Friendly CurmudgeonMay 17, 2011 at 6:11 AM

    At least you won't have to worry about snow blindness during the summer.....

    ReplyDelete
  2. IHSSNBMay 17, 2011 at 6:19 AM

    I will on top of some mountains where it hasn't melted. But you're right, not much chance of that. And I already have a swollen head. LOL

    ReplyDelete
  3. Friendly CurmudgeonMay 17, 2011 at 7:46 AM

    just to put this in perspective, 1 mile =
    1,609.344 meters

    ReplyDelete

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