First, while I found plenty of Diamox discussion in my searches of previous threads I didn't find answers to my specific questions. If this is a rehash of old discussion I am truly sorry.
I hiked to the summit of Mt. Whitney 20 years ago as a 20 year old. We went from San Diego to Lone Pine, picked up our permits and headed up to Trail Camp all in the same day. The night at Trail Camp was a bit uncomfortable and I recall having a pretty good altitude headache. The next day we hiked to the summit and back down to the Portal with no problems.
Fast forward to this coming Oct. 2-4 when a friend and I are coming back to revisit the summit. We plan to sleep at one of the camps up the trail the first night and then Trail Camp or somewhere just below it the second night. This should be good acclimatization, something we didn't bother with before.
But still, being older and wiser than before, I got a prescription for Diamox. My pills are 250mg so I cut one into fourths and took 62.5mg. I experienced a little touch of the listed side effects: light headedness and lethargy. The directions that came with the prescrip said that these side effects lesson after a day or so on Diamox. Is this your experience? Also, if I had these slight side effects at sea level here in Orange County would those side effects be worse up the hill? I don't want to feel tired on summit day. Lastly, would you recommend I just avoid taking it unless I get another bad headache? Or, perhaps just start taking it a day or two before we begin our hike so the side effects are minimized or completely eliminated?
I don't expect the headache this time around given a couple days of acclimatization but I want to be prepared.
Thanks for the insight.
