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Over the long term, living at high altitude can cause secondary Polycythemia

My understanding is that the production of additional red blood cells is a normal part of acclimatization. Is this considered polycythemia, or does it only become polycythemia when one produces more than one needs? uFu 04:14, 28 June 2006 (UTC)

Technically, it appears so. Being at high altitude causes physiologic polycythemia. See the polycythemia article for more. --Mdwyer 05:50, 2 February 2007 (UTC)

why not write 2500 m?

When you reach about 3000 m the air gets thin holding less percentige of are oxygen making the body breath faster once this has happened, a body not used to the thin air would start to shut down causing altitude sickness —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 210.8.213.138 (talk • contribs). 01:33, 31 July 2006

This article should probably not point from acclimitization... Open water swimmers acclimitize to progressively cooler tempereratures as part of their training. 192.75.95.127 02:02, 6 February 2007 (UTC)

"acclimitization" is a typo, now points at acclimatization hike395 03:51, 6 February 2007 (UTC)

AMS vs. Dehydration

Someone had {{fact}} tagged the statement that drinking plenty of water could reduce the occurrence of AMS on the grounds that the extra water simply treated dehydration and not actually AMS. As one who has a background in emergency medicine including high altitude medicine, I can tell you that, although that is true to a point and many of the effects of AMS are caused by decreased levels of hydration, it is just not that simple. When a person travels to any environment where the atmospheric partial pressure of oxygen is less than that present at sea level, the body compensates in various ways including an increase in respiratory rate and depth creating an overall increase in minute volume. This has the consequence of increasing the rate of moisture loss through the lungs as that rate is directly linked to minute volume. This, of course, requires an increase in water consumption in order to compensate and maintain homeostasis. The total situation is, however, more complex that that. As a further result of the incresed minute volume, more CO₂ is expelled from the body. CO₂ is mildly acidic and serves to balance the pH level of the blood. With more CO₂ being expelled, the blood pH rises causing a mild alkalosis. To compensate for this increase in pH, the kidneys respond by removing bicarbonate ions (moderately alkaline) from the blood and excreting them with the urine. This, in turn, increases urine output further reducing the body's overall level of hydration. As a result, a dramatic increase in water consumption is essential at high altitudes to maintain health. Though, admittedly, it is technically correct to simply call this whole process dehydration, it is dehydration secondary to AMS and is considered as such in medical studies of the effects of altitude. Thus, increased water consumption should be viewed as a means of prevention/treatment of AMS as the two are inextricably linked. Normally, I could back all that up with references to medical books, however, I am on the road at the moment and away from my medical library. For now, I have grabbed one of several references I found on Google books and added it as a stop-gap measure. I can add a better reference in a couple of weeks when I'm back home. At that point I will also add some of the information I stated above to the article once I can source it properly. I hope that clears up the confusion. OlenWhitaker • ^{talk to me} or _don't • ♣ ♥ ♠ ♦ 21:10, 2 May 2008 (UTC)

While very helpful, I noticed this article suggests that aircraft travel does not cause Altitude Sickness because of the pressurisation of modern aircraft. My understanding is that most jets pressurise aircraft cabins to an air pressure equivalent to being at about 7,500 feet above sea level. This is a height at which Altitude Sickness can occur, according to this article. I suspect that the key point is possibly the period of exposure to this lower effective air pressure - that air travel is too quick to cause Alt. Sickness. cheers, John, brisbane Australia 60.240.254.133 (talk) 12:44, 17 June 2008 (UTC)

– The full explanation for aircraft travel and AMS should involve both air pressure and position : lung function always decreases as you lie down.Thus the importance of sleeping altitudes.· Vistet (talk) 21:53, 27 July 2008 (UTC)

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