ABSTRACT
Acute mountain sickness (AMS) commonly afflicts otherwise healthy men and woman who go rapidly to altitude. Symptoms, which come on a few hours after arrival, include headache, anorexia, nausea, vomiting, lack of energy, malaise and disturbed sleep. Symptoms can occur as early as 8-24 h upon acute ascent to a new high altitude location but are usually worst on the second and third days at altitude and usually disappear by the fifth day. Symptoms may reappear on ascent to a higher altitude. This common self-limiting condition is termed AMS. Two other forms of AMS are high altitude pulmonary edema (HAPE) and high altitude cerebral edema (HACE) which are the subject of Chapters 19 and 20. These are potentially lethal.
