You said that taking diamox early was a "deprecated" approach. Is that because it lessens the effectiveness of the drug, unnecessarily prolongs side effects, or for some other reason?
My understanding is taking Diamox days early and taking many hundreds of mg daily increases side effects without conferring any additional benefit. I'm not a doctor but the relative I posted about is, actually. My understanding from him and from reading a lot about acclimatization and drugs for prevention of various forms of altitude-related illness is that recommended practice with Diamox has changed over the last decade or two from taking relatively large dosages beginning several days in advance to taking much smaller dosages just prior to and during ascent. If I were you I would continue to use Diamox on any future attempt, but the main thing is to FORGET ABOUT 3 days and commit to something more like 5, with more nights at lower elevations. Another approach would be sleep in Lone Pine, then sleep at the Portal, then sleep at Lone Pine lake, then Outpost, then Trail camp. Way overkill for most folks posting on this board, but for anyone who has suffered the way you have, it would make sense. Eventually you might find you could do it with less nights on the mountain. The Nifedipine I mentioned was only indicated because my relative had pulmonary edema, but it sounds like you didn't have any pulmonary issues so you wouldn't need that. On the other hand, you reported severe headache, and some other symptoms that could possibly be indicative of the beginnings of cerebral edema, so that might warrant a different drug such as dexamethasone which helps prevent cerebral edema. Obviously consult a physician re any drugs, although you may find that your general practitioner is not really up on the latest best practices re off-label use of drugs for preventing altitude-related illnesses. You might have to refer him/her to material you found on the web at reputable sites like the one mentioned above by Harvey Lankford (who if I recall correctly is a doctor). I would avoid a western approach to Whitney because those are more remote and farther from help/other people etc. And I would take a SPOT or similar device.
