Acute Mountain Sickness (AMS)

The common symptoms for AMS are:

• Headache.
• Nausea (feeling sick).
• Vomiting (being sick).
• Fatigue (feeling tired).
• Poor appetite (not hungry).
• Dizziness.
• Sleep disturbance.

A simple scorecard is shown on the next page, and on Medex expeditions everyone keeps a check of their scores twice a day.

It’s good if everyone logs how they feel while travelling (copy the sheet in the back of this booklet) – and is honest with others in the group. Everyone can help make decisions – to go up, to have a rest day, or to go down. As a group, everyone’s health and happiness is equally important.

Hiding illness or pushing someone on could be fatal.

Some people just seem to acclimatise slowly, and need to take things more gently.

If you are unfit, it doesn’t mean you are more likely to suffer, but overdoing it might be risky. If you are unused to exercise, feeling tired while trekking is not surprising. Similarly if you are sleeping in a tent every night and are not used to it, your sleep may be poor. The food may also be very different.

The most important thing is: are the symptoms getting better or worse?

If you think you are getting worse – walk down (at least 500 to 1,000m lower for sleeping). Give your body extra time to acclimatise. Don’t leave this decision until it’s too late.

AMS Scorecard			Total
Headache	None Mild Moderate Severe / incapacitating	0 1 2 3
Guts / Stomach	Good appetite Poor appetite, nausea Moderate nausea or vomiting Severe / incapacitating	0 1 2 3
Fatigue / Weakness	Not tired or weak Mild fatigue / weakness Moderate Severe / incapacitating	0 1 2 3
Dizziness / Light-headedness	None Mild Moderate Severe / incapacitating	0 1 2 3
Difficulty sleeping	As well as usual Not as well as usual Woke many times, poor night Could not sleep at all	0 1 2 3