What You Need to Know About Climbing Kilimanjaro and Altitude Sickness...From an Emergency Doctor!

When you search for anything related to Mount Kilimanjaro, you will find that many questions, comments and concerns are surrounding acclimatizing to the extreme altitude at the summit, nearly 6000 metres! It is a relevant concern for many who have never experienced altitude before - myself included! I decided to chat with a friend of mine, Dr. Chris Samuel, who is an Emergency Physician, who told us:
-How to deal with the extreme altitude while hiking Kili
-What the symptoms are of mild and severe altitude sickness
-How to prevent/treat altitude sickness
Watch and learn, hikers!

[@michaelbogges5024]

I am wondering why no mention of heat/thermal adaption during training/prep for preventing altitude sickness. By exercising in hot environment or simply using a hot tub or sauna one can gain a very useful adaptation to high elevation. It may seem like an odd but several scientific studies have shown that thermal exercise adaption also brings with them an equal amount of altitude adaptation The scientists refer to this adaptation as "thermal cross-tolerance". and the US Armed forces have used thermal/exercise training to help them to prepare for the high altitudes found in Afghanistan. Here is a link to one article:
www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/05/160503130348.htm

[@glenwilliams5996]

EXCELLENT!

[@yugaprabha]

Thanks for the advice.

[@RobinHartJones]

It is a little confusing to state that you still get the same percentage of oxygen at the peak when the important point is that each lungful of air only contains 50% of the oxygen it would hold at sea level. Technically accurate but not helpful :-)