It could be that East Coast doctors don't deal as much with altitude. It is funny. I went yesterday to pick up my prescription for Diamox, Dexamethasone (sp?) and Zofan, a prescription recommended to me by Peter Hacket at Telluride. When I picked up my prescription the pharmacist asked if I was going hiking because he recognized the combination.
Brent, you are so right. Diamox hasn't been very hard to get for my wife and daughter, but the two times I've tried to get a tab or two of dex I ran into a brick wall. I explained that it was just precautionary, only to be used in the event of severe AMS at high elevation in a potential life and death situation, and was told absolutely not. Someone else I know who tried the same thing was told by the doc that if a person needed dex to pursue their hobby, they needed to find a new hobby.
No one ever gets a Diamox scrip to climb the molehills here in the east and south, so the doctors don't see much demand. I'm sure it's much more prevalent out west near higher elevations.
By the way, is your son going up with you this time? I felt so bad for him last year when we ran across you on Whitney - so close! There were a lot of kids on the mountain that week with AMS symptoms.
