I am travelling to south america and am booked to do the Inca trail, however i have heard that everyone gets altitude sickness. I have been prescribed Diamox from the doctors and just wondered if anyone used this when the did the trip and whether it helped? We are actually travelling from chile to bolivia by bus so hopefully will climatize slowly, so i am not sure if i still need to take medication?
Reply to this i don't think everyone gets altitude sickness, where did you hear that. we hiked the salkantay trek (which goes higher than the inca trail) and not one of our group had altitude sickness.
spending time in bolivia and cusco prior to doing the trek should be more than enough acclimatization.
Reply to this Thanks very much, i am going to bolivia first so hopefully i should be ok.
Reply to this when we moved up in altitude the most important thing drummed into us was fluids, drink plenty of water, altitude sickness can be (not the only reason) for some altitude sickness, around 2L/day should be your target. Obviously if you move up past 4500m you need to consider other things but as the highest point on the trail is 4200m you should be fine, and crossing bolivia should mean you have no problems at all, La Paz is 3700m!!
Reply to this When I did the Inca Trail I took Diamox the first day in Cusco, but don't think I took any after that. I did have about 4 days in Cusco before the start of the trek though, which probably helped.
Reply to this Yes soroche can be awful, the headache and nauseas bad. There is very good pill I takewhen I travel to any place over the sea level, it's called Dramamine you can buy it at any drugstore in Lima, you take one before taking the plane to Cuzco an one when you get to Cuzco.
Also driking coca mate helps you to get used to the weather and the altitude.
Reply to this I found aspirin good for the first day at altitude. I I recently did the Inca trail and didn't suffer at all. I had spent near a month at high altitude beforehand though. I think very little people are badly affected by it. Doesn't Diamox have funny side affects?!
Reply to this It's true that not everybody get altitude sickness and it really doesn't matter if you are in good shape. For example my sister went last year with her friends, she barely works out and she didn't have any problem, but her friend who pretty much exercises 3 times per week, had a bad time with the altitude sickness.
The used Sorojchi Pills and they helped her but the best thing to do is to acclimatize yourself wait for a day or two without doing any hard exercise and drink a lot of water.
If you feel really bad you can go to the clinic Pardo they specialize on tourists, here are some clinics and hospital just in case
peru travel information Reply to this Coca tea and a herb called muna (pronounced mun-ya) is definitely the way forward for altitude sickness.
I had a few stomach issues when I got up to Cusco for the first couple of days. I just drank a coca tea with each meal, kept my meals light (as your body uses a lot of oxygen to digest your food), and before trekking wait about 3 days to adjust to the altitude.
If you go and visit the sacred valley, in Pisac you can pick up a Muna essence oil (Aceite essencial de muna, about 10 soles). We "sniffed" this from the bottle, sounds weird yes, but the locals said it was also very good for the symptoms of altitude sickness by expanding your airways.
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