A Pill a Day Keeps Altitude Sickness Away

Medicine heals doubts as well as diseases.  ~Karl Marx

I thought that after I got my general Tanzania vaccinations I would be good to go for hiking Kilimanjaro. Wrong! There were still a few things I needed to do to prepare myself medically.

Attitude sickness can be a hiker’s worst nightmare. Altitude sickness is a major contributor to preventing 50% of hikers from reaching Gilman’s Point (18,600 feet) which is less than an hour from the summit. It’s also a reason why only roughly 40% of hikers make it to Uhuru Peak (19,334 feet). Because altitude sickness can prevent you from reaching your ultimate goal of the summit it needs to be taken seriously and prepared for.

Symptoms of AMS (acute mountain sickness) include headache, nausea, dizziness, fatigue, shortness of breath, loss of appetite, disturbed sleep, and general discomfort. Altitude sickness especially affects those who are pregnant, have cardiac or lung disease, or ocular or neurological conditions. Be extra careful if you qualify for one of these characteristics! Learn more about causes, symptoms, and treatments at U.S. National Library of Medicine's page on AMS.

Looking for a recommendation on a type of medication to lessen the symptoms of AMS? I wouldn’t be caught on Mount Kilimanjaro without Diamox (pharmacological name: Acetazolamide). Diamox is a diuretic, sulfa drug that accelerates acclimatization. While most people don’t start to experience symptoms of altitude sickness until they reach 10,000 feet, I took my doctor’s recommendation and started taking Diamox the first day of the hike so I could get it into my system and let my body could adjust to it.

To learn more about Diamox, visit U.S. National Library of Medicine and WebMD.

If you want to stay safe, one other medical necessity is ensuring that you’re drinking clean water. Because the water you drink on Kilimanjaro is mainly collected for the freshwater sources on the mountain, it’s absolutely necessary to purify the water. Hand powered purification pumps are on the expensive side, so I opted to use Katadyn Micropur Purification Tablets which I purchased at REI. These tablets will destroy bacteria, viruses, as well as other impurities. 

Do you cringe when you accidentally swallow pool water? Because chlorine is the active ingredient in the purification tablets, the taste of the water is less than desirable. One of the best tricks I can offer you to covering up the chlorine taste is by adding Crystal Lite On-the-Go packets to give the water a delicious flavor. Fruit punch and lemonade were my flavors of choice, but Cranberry Apple and Strawberry Orange Banana sound tasty as well!

Want to know if I experienced symptoms of altitude sickness on my Kilimanjaro adventure? Read future posts to find out!

Diamox Tablets to treat symptoms of altitude sickness

Yummy Crystal Life On-the-Go Packets

My favorite water bottle that I carried all the way up Kili! It's cute & eco-friendly!