5 Signs You May NOT Recognise As Acute Mountain Sickness (AMS)

Acute Mountain Sickness is very common when you’re trekking in the Himalayas.

How common is it? Well, in a team of 20, we see at least 3-4 people showing symptoms of AMS. Most of them recover within a few hours.

We’ve also noticed that all of them don’t show symptoms at the same time. Some of them might show symptoms at a lower camp, some at a middle camp and some at a higher one.

Some show symptoms even while descending!

Now that might surprise you.

But it’s something you should keep in mind. AMS doesn’t always affect you while ascending. It might have hit you at your previous campsite or at the highest point on your trek, and the symptoms might show up the next day when you’re descending.

So you have to be vigilant at all times.

Getting to the symptoms of Acute Mountain Sickness, here's what we see most often.

Most trekkers affected by AMS display gastrointestinal symptoms. They either go to the loo very often, or they feel nauseous. They sometimes vomit. Especially late in the evening or after bedtime.

In our experience, GI symptoms (gastrointestinal) are a lot more frequent than the notorious headache that all manuals will tell you about.

Having said that, we have seen trekkers suffering from persistent headaches too. It builds up while trekking. It persists through the afternoon and evening. Most confuse it with dehydration. Or they assume it’s the heat. Most often they are right, but they could be very wrong too.

Moving on…

They find it hard to sleep at night.

You’ll often hear them saying “I’m feeling uneasy.” They won’t be able to explain that uneasiness.

These are all classic symptoms of AMS.

There are more symptoms — fatigue, loss of appetite, dizziness.

Of the three, look out for trekkers who are supercharged on day one and suddenly lagging behind on day two. (They’ll most likely tell you that they’re slow because they are taking in the scenery. Most of them don’t like to admit to any symptoms.)

Watch, especially, for not wanting to eat.

What I’ve learnt is that when you’re at high altitude, any symptom you have must first be attributed to AMS and then to anything else.

If these symptoms are treated immediately, AMS can be cured and the trekker can proceed further. Most of our trekkers who have mild AMS go on to complete the trek after medication.

If left untreated and ignored, mild AMS could transform into its more sinister cousins – HAPE or HACE.

To understand how to treat Acute Mountain Sickness, click here -    • How to treat and prevent Acute Mounta...  

To learn how to prevent Acute Mountain Sickness, with Diamox and without Diamox, click here - https://indiahikes.com/prevent-altitu...

To know more about High Altitude Pulmonary Edema (HAPE) and High Altitude Cerebral Edema (HACE), click here - https://indiahikes.com/altitude-sickn...

To read case studies about Acute Mountain Sickness, HAPE and HACE, click here - http://indiahikes.com/category/altitu...

To download a manual on Acute Mountain Sickness, click here - https://indiahikes.com/treat-altitude...

A special thanks to Ashwini Kenkre for helping us with footage from the mountains, and Yash Raj, who shot them.

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