If you are planning an overseas trip, a trip to the travel vaccine clinic may be in order, so you can get the jabs needed for wherever you are going, should they be required. But sometimes, you may need medications for other concerns – like altitude.
Of course, many destinations won’t require you to get a jab at all. After all, there won’t be any tropical diseases to contend with if your next holiday involves skiing in the Alps.
However, some adventurous people like to climb mountains on foot or even using ice axes and crampons, rather than chair lifts or cable cars. Sometimes, that and a trip to the tropics will be combined.
Climbing mountains brings its own health requirements, of course. You need to be fit and also know your first aid. But one thing you need to be particularly prepared for with some overseas mountains is high altitude. This is not a thing you can practice for on any British mountains, as even at 4,000 ft there will be no problem getting a good lungful of air.
However, at higher altitudes, the atmospheric pressure gets low enough that each breath draws in too little oxygen and you start to struggle. This is where altitude sickness becomes a risk. Your body can adjust to this by making more red blood cells, which helps process oxygen more efficiently, but most people struggle to adjust quickly.
Sometimes, the rate at which you are ascending is such that your body will struggle to keep up. The consequences can be more than shortness of breath; nausea, dizziness, fatigue, headaches and insomnia can all be a problem.
For elite climbers who take on the highest mountains in the world, the approach is to take much longer to acclimatise. But for a holidaymaker paying for guides to help them up a mountain, this is too costly and time-consuming. However, help is at hand through a drug that was never actually designed to help mountaineers – Diamox.
Diamox was actually invented to treat glaucoma, which it does by blocking the production of a protein called carbonic anhydrase. This stops the build-up of fluid, which is good news for glaucoma sufferers. But it also helps acidify the blood, speeding its flow through the veins and thus delivering oxygen faster.
Therefore, while your body may have to make do with less oxygen, it is delivered faster to your organs, helping you cope with breathing in less of it.
Consequently, it is often given to people who are going to take on mountain challenges, such as trekking to Everest Base Camp or Kilimanjaro, the highest mountain in Africa and also, at 19,540 ft, the tallest free-standing peak in the world, as well as the highest you can walk up.
Kilimanjaro is a popular climb, but with ascents taking over around a week, the adjustment time is short and Diamox is often necessary to get people to the top.
Being located in Tanzania, it is also a prime example of an adventure where you will also need some vaccinations, with yellow fever certification required upon entry. You should have some antimalarial tablets too.
It may seem odd that a drug designed to stop your eyes from suffering excess fluid should help you cry tears of joy on a lofty foreign summit, but Diamox really can make the difference.