DISORDERS CAUSED BY ALTITUDE - Medicine for Mountaineering and Other Wilderness Activities - page 357

Removing bloodandreplacing itwithfluidtoreduce viscosity mayextend staysathigh
altitude, but such extreme measures are not justified when simple descent can solve the
problem safely.

Table 24-5 Less Common Disorders at Altitude

ALTITUDE DETERIORATION
• Slowly develops after ten to fifteen days above 20,000 ft (6100 m)
• Loss of appetite and weight loss
• Exhaustion
• Impairment of memory and judgment
CHRONIC MOUNTAIN SICKNESS
• Develops only in long term residents above 15,000 ft (4500 m)
• Bluish, ruddy coloration
• Excessive red blood cells
• Various aches and pains
• Gradual heart failure
THROMBOPHLEBITIS AND PULMONARY EMBOLISM
• Caused by dehydration and inactivity
• Painful swelling of leg or arm
• Sharp pain in chest and bloody sputum
TRANSIENT ISCHEMIC ATTACK (TIA)
• Brief weakness, paralysis, numbness or vision change
• Clears within an hour or less
• May be migraine equivalent
CEREBRAL VASCULAR ACCIDENT (STROKE)
• Numbness or paralysis, including one-sided facial droop
• Difficulty with speech (slurred speech, nonsense speech or unable to speak)
• May progress to severe paralysis or unconsciousness
• Slow, if any, improvement

Pulmonary Embolism
After a period of immobility, such as being confined in a tent by a storm, associated
with dehydration and exhaustion, blood clots may form in the leg or pelvic veins or, rarely,
in arm veins. Occasionally such clots break free and are carried to the lungs where they