Ken - thanks for the insight, that's a good point you bring up.
I'm curious, given your concern over how the product is being represented, what is your opinion on using a product like this as an alternative to Diamox?
I personally have a tough time at altitude, but have never taken Diamox. I've day hiked Whitney without any kind of drug or supplemental oxygen, but I did experience some bad nausea and toward the end I started getting light headed and a bad headache. I'm considering bringing one of these small canisters along on my trip on the High Sierra Trail this year - to serve as peace of mind in case I do experience bad symptoms, but try to avoid using if possible.
Thoughts?
I echo Harvey's concerns. When one is ascending and develops AMS syptoms, your body is telling you that you are not sufficiently acclimatized. Taking any kind of product that produces short term relief: Aspirin, Vicodin, Oxygen, Ginko, Dex......does not change the underlying situation in the body, it has masked it. So doing that, then proceeding to ascend would be basically ignorning the 4-alarm bells that your body has set off. As you obtain more altitude, you would be at risk of more severe consequences.
If one were in a stable scenario....at the summit, at trail camp for the night, for example...Using O's for symptom relieve would seem reasonable for mild symptoms. At the summit, it might even facilitate descent. If a person had bad symptoms, I might give O's, WHILE descending. But descent would be mandatory.
Diamox is somewhat unique in what it does: accelerate acclimatization. It is not a pain medicine, and has no magical on-the-spot properties. However, it's effects go to the underlying process--altitude incompatability--and given sufficient time to work, if you feel better, it is because you ARE better.
