Symptoms and treatment of altitude sickness
Many people are very uncomfortable in the face of sudden altitude sickness, and a series of altitude sickness will appear in their bodies. Mild people will have headaches and dizziness, and severe people will even have difficulty inhaling, chest pain and abdominal pain. We must learn to deal with them in time.
Common symptoms: headache, insomnia, anorexia, dyspnea, visual impairment, dreaminess, tinnitus and dizziness.
symptom
The normal reaction is that you will have a headache, can't sleep, can't eat, and feel that there is not enough air, but everyone's altitude sickness is different, because everyone's adaptability is different, so the problems reflected are different.
Headache is the most common symptom, which is often forehead and temple pain, and the pain is aggravated when getting up at night or in the morning. Increasing lung ventilation, such as oral inhalation and mild activity, can relieve headaches.
When the headache is severe, there may be visual impairment, but the fundus examination is normal. In addition, there are often nervous system symptoms such as insomnia, dreaminess, tinnitus, dizziness, inattention, and decreased judgment.
The symptoms of gastrointestinal tract are indigestion, loss of appetite, abdominal distension, nausea, vomiting and even abdominal pain in severe cases. A scholar once reached an altitude of 51000 m quickly, and suddenly suffered from abdominal cramps, abdominal distension accompanied by oppression, nausea, defecation but no diarrhea; When you quickly withdraw to 4000m, the symptoms gradually disappear.
Deepening and accelerating inhalation, chest tightness, shortness of breath and dyspnea are usually related to childbirth. If you have difficulty breathing at rest, it is a precursor to high altitude pulmonary edema. Individuals smell periodically at night and often wake up.
Pathology/physical signs
Generally speaking, acute altitude sickness has no characteristics and no special signs, only slight cyanosis of the mouth and lips or toenail bed, and nothing special.
The heart rate can be fast or slow, but most authors report rapid heartbeat or paroxysmal tachycardia, and occasionally premature beats. Singh examined 1975 patients with acute mountain sickness and found that 2/3 of them were bradycardia.
Blood pressure can be normal, but short-term hypotension or hypertension may also occur. I-II systolic murmur can be heard in apical area, and the second sound in pulmonary valve area is enhanced or hyperactive. I occasionally smell a localized dry rale in the lung, which may be caused by pulmonary vasoconstriction, but the sound absorption is clear and there is no wet rale. Severe edema of face and lower limbs.
job operation
1. People who are new to the plateau should eat more carbohydrates, multivitamins and digestible food. The reason is that high-carbohydrate foods can increase glucose and enhance the diffusion ability of the lungs. High-carbohydrate foods generally include porridge and steamed bread. In this way, heavy physical labor can be carried out on the plateau.
2. People with altitude sickness should have a light diet, eat more fruits and vegetables, pay attention to a reasonable diet and fully supplement nutrition. It is necessary to exercise your mind and physique before entering the mountain. If possible, it is best to carry out intermittent hypoxia stimulation in the low-pressure cabin, which can adjust the physiological adjustment of the body to the high altitude hypoxia environment.
3. People who have just entered the mountain, such as those on the plateau above 4000m, had better stay at 2,500 ~ 3,000m for 2 ~ 3 days, and then the rising speed should not exceed 600 ~ 900 m every day ... If you don't drink alcohol and use sedatives and hypnotics for the first two days after arriving at the plateau, you can do some heavy physical activities when appropriate.
What about altitude sickness?
1. When you first arrive at the plateau, everyone will feel chest tightness, shortness of breath, difficulty breathing and other symptoms of hypoxia to varying degrees. In severe cases, you will also have headaches, muscle aches, insomnia and other symptoms.
But that doesn't mean you can't adapt to the plateau. This reaction is normal. If you can protect yourself correctly, the balance system in your body will naturally make you adapt to this new environment within 3 to 7 days. But after the reaction is relieved, you can't do whatever you want. Only by controlling your own behavior can you have a good self-protection effect.
2. After entering Tibet, you can drink buttered tea properly, which is conducive to alleviating altitude sickness.
People often advocate oxygen inhalation to relieve discomfort. Of course, oxygen inhalation can temporarily relieve chest tightness, shortness of breath, dyspnea and other symptoms, but after stopping oxygen inhalation, the symptoms will reappear, thus delaying the time to adapt to the plateau.
In our opinion, if the above symptoms are not very serious, you'd better not take oxygen, continue to take a few tablets of Gaoyuanan and pay attention to rest, so that you can adapt to the plateau environment quickly.
4. Just entering the plateau, don't overeat, so as not to increase the burden on the digestive organs and make them adapt to this environment well. It's best not to drink or smoke.
Eat more vitamin-rich substances such as vegetables and fruits, and drink more water, as long as you can bear it.
6. When you first arrive at the plateau, you can't walk fast, let alone run, let alone do manual labor. It is best to have a thorough rest for half a day, rest early on the first night and sleep more. This starts with getting off the plane. Many people get off the plane without altitude sickness, so they are self-righteous. As a result, the symptoms did not appear until the evening, and it was too late to regret.
7. When you first arrive at the plateau, you should prevent colds caused by catching cold. Cold is one of the main causes of acute high altitude pulmonary edema. The temperature difference at the plateau is particularly large, and it is easy to catch a cold. At this time, remember that it is better to be hot than cold, put on more clothes, and don't take a shower and wash your hair the next day after entering Tibet.
Once you catch a cold in the plateau, remember to take Gao Yuanan while taking cold medicine, and the effect will be better.
8. The travel itinerary after entering Lhasa is very particular. Don't be blind. We should go to the low altitude first, then to the high altitude.
9. In case of altitude sickness, there is no need to panic, and targeted treatment should be given according to the degree of reaction. If the reaction is low, you can take a rest, drink more water and exercise less, which will generally disappear or weaken after a period of time; If the reaction is serious and affects sleep, you can take some drugs for adjuvant treatment;
If the reaction is too intense, you can go to the hospital for treatment, infusion, medicine and oxygen inhalation. Lhasa has a good hospital and doctors who specialize in treating altitude sickness, and a good hotel also has a good infirmary in this regard, which can provide this service;
If you really can't stand the torture of altitude sickness, you have to take the earliest flight back to the mainland, and the general situation will be alleviated immediately.
Matters needing attention in altitude sickness
(1) To eliminate the fear of altitude sickness and avoid mental stress.
(2) Patients with upper respiratory tract infection should be cured before entering the plateau, otherwise they are not allowed to enter the plateau.
(3) Before entering the plateau 1-2 days, you can take health care products and medicines against altitude sickness, such as Gao Yuan 'an, Danshen tablets, Acanthopanax senticosus, etc.
(4) The plateau climate changes rapidly and the temperature difference between day and night is large, so it is necessary to prepare enough cold-proof clothes to avoid catching cold. When you enter Tibet on National Day, you should bring a sweater.
(5) Eat foods that are digestible, nutritious and contain multiple vitamins, eat less foods with high fat content, don't eat too much, don't smoke, and drink less.
(6) Pay attention to rest and don't take a bath.
(7) Appropriate oxygen inhalation.
(8) People with heart disease, lung disease, liver disease, kidney disease, hypertension and other diseases should not go to the plateau to avoid accidents.
Altitude sickness is preventable. To reduce the occurrence of altitude sickness, we should pay attention to the following points:
(1) Reduce the oxygen consumption of the body: Heavy physical activity and heavy mental work can increase the oxygen consumption of the body. In the altitude hypoxia environment, the body consumes too much oxygen, which leads to the aggravation of hypoxia in various organs and tissues and can induce altitude sickness.
(2) Protection from injury and infection: The plateau climate is cold, and the daily temperature difference is large. People are prone to respiratory tract infection after catching cold, and catching cold and infection can induce some acute altitude sickness.
Conclusion: It may be normal for each of us to feel healthy when we live on the plain, but when we get to the plateau, you will know that physical fitness is still very important. People with good physical fitness may have a little less reaction, and people with poor physical fitness may not be able to bear it, so you must learn to deal with altitude sickness in an emergency.