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Environmental · Chapter 28 Not started
Altitude-Related Emergencies
AMS, HAPE, and HACE — recognizing when the mountain itself is the pathogen.
Key points
- Acute mountain sickness (AMS): headache plus nausea, fatigue, dizziness, or poor sleep after ascent — treat with rest, hydration, no further ascent.
- High-altitude pulmonary edema (HAPE): breathlessness at rest, cough, crackles, declining exercise tolerance — the big altitude killer.
- High-altitude cerebral edema (HACE): ataxia (can't walk a straight line), confusion, severe headache — a brain emergency.
- The definitive treatment for HAPE and HACE is DESCENT; oxygen helps, but going down saves lives.
- Visitors who flew from sea level and sleep high are the classic AMS patients in destination resorts.
- Never send someone with worsening altitude symptoms up the mountain 'to see how it goes.'
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