High Altitude Sickness

Brief Introduction of High Altitude Sickness

High altitude sickness refers to a series of sickness in plateau for people who come to over 3000 meters plateau without adaption training, partial pressure of oxygen in air decrease and organism tolerance to hypoxia also decrease that people can't adapt to the environment and cause oxygen-poor. Of course, except the oxygen-poor on plateau, the bad weather, like wind, rain, snow, cold, strong ultraviolet irradiation and so on will intensify the high altitude sickness and cause different high altitude adaption deficiency disease.

Organism may appear a series of adaption changes after a time, for example, the increase of ventilation can make oxygen reach or near to the normal level; accelerating of heart rate and heart pumping ability can improve the oxygen-poor condition; increasing of red blood cells and hemoglobin to improve the oxygen carry ability to ensure the oxygen supply to organism. But, some people who are sensitive to the partial pressure of oxygen in air and with less adaption ability will appear a series of symptoms and high altitude sickness, which also named acute high altitude disease. In abroad, this disease is divided into acute high altitude disease, high altitude pulmonary edema, high altitude cerebral edema, high altitude retinal hemorrhage and chronic mountain sickness. In China, it is divided into acute plateau sickness and chronic plateau sickness. For a person, the sickness is very complex and hard to distinguish. In the all processes of the sickness, one kind of symptom will be very obvious in a stage.

Symptoms of High Altitude Sickness

Most of people who first come into plateau, when the altitude over 3000 meters, will appear the symptoms of headache, dizziness, tinnitus, feel weak, hard to walk and difficult to sleep in first 24 hours. The serious will appear abdominal distension, inappetency, nausea, vomit, dismay, breath hard, chest distress, face and lips become purple or facial edema and other symptoms. If appear these symptoms, one must stay in this altitude for three or five days; or quickly back to several hundreds meters high place, then will be ok.

According to reports, the incidence of high altitude sickness below 3500 meters is 37 percent to 51 percent; the incidence between 3600 meters and 5000 meters is 50 percent. We can conclude that the altitude is higher; the incidence of high altitude of sickness is higher.

Serious high altitude sickness is harmful for people. So, if you appear following symptoms, you may get high altitude sickness:

1.Acute headache, inappetency, nausea, vomit, dismay, breath hard, chest distress, face and lips become purple.

2.Awareness trance, sudden decrease of cognitive ability.

3.Appear hallucination, feel warm, and walk behind somebody without aim.