Enter a drug called Diamox. No, Diamox wasn’t invented for mountaineers. It was concocted to treat glaucoma, a condition in which the pressure inside one’s eyeballs is too high (Marty Feldman Syndrome). It’s also a stimulant, which means that it peps you up. And it’s a mild diuretic, which means that it makes you pee. Despite all that, its main use by far these days is to prevent and treat altitude sickness, even though it says right there on the label that doing so is an unlicensed use of the medicine.
Common side effects of Diamox include tingling hands and feet, dizziness, lightheadedness, and, of course, frequent urges to wiz. Less common (but still not uncommon) side effects include blurred vision, nausea, loss of appetite, headache, and fatigue. See the problem? Those are all symptoms of AMS, the very malady Diamox is intended to prevent.
And if that doesn’t peg your irony meter, consider this: Diamox also causes photo-toxicity – extreme sensitivity to sunlight. That’s the catchiest of Catch-22s when you recall that we’ll be climbing into the upper troposphere on a mountain situated just 200 miles south of the Equator – up where the sun is so intense that we might as well be hugging a nuclear reactor core.
Ah, but there’s more! Diamox users are urged to contact a doctor if they experience increased body hair (Not making that up!) or an ascension lasting longer than four hours. (Okay, made that one up.)
Just in case Deirdre, our trip leader, is listening in on this, let me be precise: Mo’ and I are not deliberating over whether or not to bring Diamox with us; we’re debating whether or not to take the drug prophylactically. Deirdre, whom we are loathe to disappoint, has recommended that we start taking Diamox as soon as we begin trekking. But we are not yet convinced.
At this point, we're both still undecided, but Mo' is leaning toward taking Diamox proactively, and I’m leaning toward not taking it unless and until I begin to feel bothersome symptoms of AMS – and by bothersome I mean that they start rivaling the anticipated side effects of the drug itself. I guess that makes me the kind of guy who would wait the full four hours before calling his doctor.