Well, I am sorry you pulled your question and discussion.
There is quite a bit of knowledge in the forums (or is it "fora") regarding Diamox, and it is reassuring to hear people's like or dislike of it, and the discussion of the side effects, even the varying dosage levels. One cannot get that from a ten-minute discussion with a time-pressed doctor. And good luck finding a doctor who knows much about mountaineering illnesses, besides.
There are several doctors who participate in the forums, and I'll bet they both know lots more than the average doctor about the topic, since they are involved in mountaineering.
A few minutes of their time here reaches a good number of hikers. And then the discussion can be found by the search engines, too. More discussion is better.
And everyone knows that information you get on the Internet can be false. (If you don't know it, read
the Disclaimer!) But in a forum, when lots of people say nearly the same thing, it makes that information more believable.
