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The use of medication to facilitate acclimatization
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Diamox, Nifedipine and Dexamethasone
Personal ambition and the obsession to get to the summit lead, regrettably, nature-loving mountaineers to use doping with increasing frequency. Preparations like Diamox, for instance, are taken as prophylactics without any consideration for the side effects that could eventually arise (dehydration). Mountain climbing in South America, with summits of almost 7 000 m, doesn’t justify the use of acclimatization drugs, neither from the preventive point of view nor from the therapeutic one, therefore, serious mountaineers should not use them. Their use should be limited solely and exclusively to those cases of serious AMS and combined with a simultaneous descent.
Sleeping-pills or soporifics
Almost all soporific drugs reduce respiratory frequency during sleep, and therefore decrease the saturation of oxygen in the blood. For this reason they should not be taken at high altitudes. With adequate altitude acclimatization they shouldn’t be necessary. |
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