SummitPost.org

Try Vitamin E. Suggest 800 IU per day for two weeks before ascent.

My source says a study done by Canadians in the 1960s showed it increased the ability of the blood to carry and provide oxygen. Or something like that. Study not related to altitude.

My personal tests, and tests with a few others, shows this may enhance ability to go to altitude without suffering symptoms.

Don't worry Wouter, just my way of apologising for my part in putting the topic onto the wrong tangent! I know you've got a serious goal here and I wouldn't want this thread to be filed away with pictures of boobs and beer either. And I'd still love to climb Aconcagua too!!

Just spent a paltry few minutes looking at vitamin E - I've found numerous resources stating it is known to slow down/help with the effects of a high altitude environment but I can't find any references to where the facts comes from. More research needed perhaps?
e.g. http://www.exrx.net/Nutrition/Antioxida ... aminE.html
http://www.scottishsport.co.uk/running/altitude5.htm

In any case, while I haven't had to use it so far, I fully intend on needing such aid on standby as many times as I possibly can in the future and something that doesn't make me wanna pee all the time would be much appreciated. I'm far from being qualified to talk about anything apart from an asthma study but I still think something with a commercial/corporate angel will be most likely to bring in funding. I'd rather be wrong about that.

fatdad wrote:The effects on vision of people who have had radial keratotomy. I heard of instance of people on Everest having vision problems. Supposedly the lack of air pressure at higher altitudes permits the eyes to bulge out more, but I don't know if this theory has ever been tested or at what altitude the effects become noticeable.

The very well known case of this was Beck Wethers on Everest in 1996. His vision difficulties were only the beginning of much bigger problems that followed.

The effect of high altitude on hot teachers. Hopefully they could fund me.

xDoogiex wrote:The effect of high altitude on hot teachers. Hopefully they could fund me.

I'm guessing they'll have to "fund" the teachers for that one.

I've also been thinking about studies that don't heavily rely on funding. One I came up with is altitudes influence on taste. I guess most of us have been in the situation that your favorite food at sea level is totally unbearable at altitude.

I must admit that the idea of testing the effects of supplements at altitude/on acclimatisation is starting to grow more and more on me. I've consistently had acclimatisation difficulties in the past, so finding a solution (or something that eases the pain) does sound good to me.

sjarelkwint wrote:

peladoboton wrote:

squishy wrote:Alcohol consumption...

i hear a lot of people get sauced at base camp after the climb, Squish, so we could individualize a "study" for you

Last year I've been drinking a bottle of wine with 2 persons at iceberg lake (Mt Whitney - 3900m???) And I was giggling like a 12 year old girl who drank alcohol for the first time in het life ...

It was great

Sounds like saturday

Borut Kantušer wrote:Sjarelkwint,are you suggesting to smoke in the valley so as to get used to being out of breath when you're up higher?

Christine,

Good to hear from you again and thanks a lot for the rather lenghty contribution. I'm still very much interested in this, as I'm still set on a) climbing Aconcagua in 2012 and b) helping out summit post user Peladoboton, who is the one that will actually be conducting the research. I'll forward your contribution to him, as I read that he won't be online for a while because of his exams.

Thanks again!

Here's a research project. Like many women out there my daughter suffers from constant headaches varying in degrees of pain. She felt it was linked to changes in weather and her symptoms sounded very similar to AMS. Out of curiousity, I'm in research, I decided to chart here daily pain level versus the local barometric pressure. Over three months there was definitely a correlation. Whenever the local barometric pressure dropped her pain level increased. The faster the drop the larger the jump in pain level. I then checked how quickly the barometric pressure changed when low pressure zones entered the area and to my disbelief it was much faster than climbers when they ascend a mountain. Many women around the world suffer from headaches (migraines) and believe they are triggered by weather patterns. Could it be that something in their genetic makeup is allowing them to be affected by changes in barometric pressure below 10,000 feet when most of us are not?

If this was the case and you could find out why think of all the people around the world that could be helped!