Adapting to altitude in the local mountains

Gunnison doctor develops a new way to cope and recuperate

Crested Butte can take your breath away, but it might be more than the setting. At sea level, about 20 percent of the air you breathe is oxygen. According to Crested Butte EMS coordinator Ross Orton, there’s a third less oxygen at 9,000 feet, or less than 14 percent, and that can wreak havoc on the human body.

Of course, everybody responds to Crested Butte’s mountain altitude differently. For some there are no symptoms of Acute Mountain Sickness (AMS) at all. Other people might have a shortness of breath or a slight headache, and those signs can escalate with time spent at altitude.
Every so often, and as recently as last year, there are reports of people who complain about the symptoms of AMS but refuse to seek medical treatment before falling asleep for the last time. In 2004, it was a 31-year-old man from Texas who died from severe pulmonary edema, and last ski season it was a man from Oklahoma who passed away on his last night in Mt. Crested Butte.
Orton says there is an altitude component in just about every EMS medical patient who has come from lower elevations. Around 40 of those calls every year are for patients who specifically complain about a shortness of breath.
“High altitude pulmonary edema is commonly known as acute mountain sickness and just like a bag of popcorn expands when you come up here, everything expands. A person can come up to elevation a hundred times and have no problems, but then it affects them,” Orton says. “They’re not exactly sure why that happens, but things swell; your brain swells and you get a headache and you can develop cognitive problems.”
Other signs that AMS might be setting in are difficulty sleeping, becoming nauseated or a loss of appetite.
The key to avoiding AMS is preparation. Being in good physical condition might help, but even fit individuals can experience symptoms. And not everyone has the opportunity to acclimate by moving up in elevation slowly. It can take up to a month before the body produces enough red blood cells for your body to adapt to the lower oxygen levels.
Diet is important; there is no room for Atkins at altitude. Dr. Roger Sherman, the physician advisor to Crested Butte EMS, says, “A diet high in complex carbohydrates (with decreased fat intake) is thought to be preferable [at altitude].”
Hydration is also important in stopping a case of AMS from getting worse, he says, along with taking it easy for the first couple of days at altitude to allow for some adjustment.
There are also some natural herbs, known as adaptogens, that can help the body cope with stress, trauma or fatigue. High altitude cultures in India, Nepal and China have been using herbal remedies, like garlic soup and ginkgo biloba, to treat patients with high altitude sickness for centuries.
Roanne Rouse Houck, N.D., who practices naturopathic medicine in Gunnison, says ginkgo biloba is said to improve circulation, which means more blood and oxygen is reaching the brain and lungs. Rhodiola is a high alpine plant and another adaptogen that grows around the world and has been used by mountain inhabitants for energy and acclimatization, she says.
In 2000, Dr. Rouse Houck first had the idea of combining many of those naturopathic remedies for AMS into a supplement that could be taken with water by anyone who needed a little help adapting to the stress of being higher in elevation than what their body was used to.
Over the next three years, Acli-Mate was born as a powder with gingko, rhodiola, and more than a dozen other adaptogens, minerals and vitamins, including B vitamins that are said to increase energy, as well as immune boosting vitamin C and A.
“When I was about half-way through the naturopathic medicine program, I read about the financial losses in Colorado due to altitude sickness, because people couldn’t ski or bike,” Dr. Rouse Houck says. “I thought it would be cool to create something natural that would be both good for altitude sickness and other kinds of stress.”
Dr. Rouse Houck developed a “wish list” of ingredients for relieving the symptoms of AMS from different directions. She initially worked with a Colorado Springs company that manufactures sport products to produce a marketable and effective mix.
Now in its fifth formulation, Acli-Mate is also being used as a way to recuperate from being at high altitude by mountain athletes and recreationalists. It’s also good at relieving other kinds of stress, like a New Year’s Eve hangover, says Dr. Rouse Houck.
“There is definitely research showing that hydration along with adaptogens and some herbs, as well as B vitamins and other nutrients help the body adapt to stress,” she says. “Altitude is a major stressor.”
Research into the condition is still in the stage of focusing on the physical effects of high altitude and less on the success of different AMS remedies.
To change that, Dr. Rouse Houck will team up with Western State College exercise physiologist Dr. Scott Drum as soon as this month to begin testing Acli-Mate and its components with the college’s High Altitude Performance (HAP) Laboratory.
“With the HAP Lab we’ll be able to do a study on Acli-Mate to give us the clinical research and data that can be studied and compared to the clinical reports right now,” she says.
For people who want to take the naturopathic route to combating AMS, Acli-Mate is available at the Alpineer and Mountain Earth in Crested Butte, and at some retailers in Mt. Crested Butte.
Dr. Sherman says getting plenty of rest and knowing your limitations is also a good way to make the most of time spent in the mountains.
And still, all of the adaptogens and water might not work for some people coming to Crested Butte from lower elevations. For those people, Orton says, descending to lower elevations is the only way to cure AMS once it sets in. So if you are feeling the impacts of altitude, call a doctor or the EMS and then find a way to get down-valley.