Mt Whitney Zone Forums General Discussion Diamox PED?

As a cyclist I have been dealing with Performance enhancing drug (PED) issue long before the current news.

I have read a lot of the threads and Diamox seems to be encouraged.

Does anyone consider this drug to be performance enhancing? Just send Joe/Jane couch potato up the hill, take drug before, during and after. No problem. And don't say well "I have a RX." Also, I did not buy the making $$ thing. I am a Master who races for T-shirts and cliff bar. It just seem to me we live in a society that jumps on athletes not to do drugs and then it is not even talked about here where every other newbie is popping Diamox like it is Halloween candy.

Flame away if you want. I am interested in the views. And I am leaving today to go to Nepal. Same thing is said take Diamox and go to EBC...

Others on this forum might have expert medical advice on this topic, but I can only speak from personal experience.

No, Diamox does not seem to enhance any kind (!) of performance. Since it is a mild diuretic, one needs to drink more water in order to offset fluid lose through urination. Frequent stops for "input and output" might tend to slow down one's hiking pace. Before taking that drug, which is by perscription only, a hiker ought to consult with a physician who knows something about high-altitude sickness (not every doctor might be conversant with that problem). Any drug can have side-effects; it pays to be careful and seek expert advice.

The only time I took Diamox was just prior to being taken up in helicopters to higher altitude on SAR missions, or when we had to do a rapid hike to high altitude in order to reach a victim as soon as possible. For recreational hiking I avoid Diamox, but am careful to hydrate, pace myself, and monitor myself for any symptoms of altitude sickness, and then take the appropriate action. I avoid Diamox completely now that I am not on a SAR team and have no pressing need for it.

I am not in favor of "Diamox popping" just in case one might get altitude sickness, as some Whitney day-hikers seem to do. Drug popping seems to be some kind of ego-boosting activity. Drugs should never be used as replacements for good physical conditioning and smart hiking.

Performance enhancing? No way. Diamox just holds off the nausea and other symptoms that many people experience when they ascend to high altitude more quickly than their system can take. (I suppose if you call taking acetaminophen for a headache "performance-enhancing", then you might put Diamox in the same category.)

I've used Diamox on a number of occasions, but it has never enabled me to hike any faster or hike longer. Those attributes come from prior conditioning, NOT from Diamox.

Diamox also brings along with it several annoying side-effects. One being the off-taste of carbonated drinks (soft drinks and beer), and the other is an annoying tingling in the finger tips. These side-effects are more prevalent with people taking too-high a dosage for AMS symptoms.

The dosage for its original use, glaucoma, is about 1000 mg per day, while for altitude, it can be 125 to 250 mg per day.

velocycling wrote:
> Same thing is said take Diamox and go to EBC...
Taking Diamox before going to Everest Base Camp is a good idea. It just might enable you to walk around and enjoy your trip. If you don't take it, and suffer the debilitating effects of AMS, you might need to get out of there quickly to save your life. I'll let you decide if that qualifies as "performance-enhancing."

superb article editorial on this topic in recent Wilderness and Environmental Medicine 23, 207-211 (2012)

here is what they say

"Both acetazolamide and dexamethasone are currently classified as performance-enhancing drugs (PED) by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA)"

Diamox (acetazolamide) facilitates or speeds up acclimatization. While it does not make you run up the hill any faster when you are well-acclimatized, it does help you feel better enough to go faster (or at all) when you are not yet acclimatized. Of course, that is when you use it, early on. So for some of the time, yes, it improves performance relative to a non-treated person ill with AMS .

Dex is different. It too helps you feel better by covering up the symptoms of AMS, but does not actually speed up acclimatization. Either drug can help you go faster than the next guy who may be on the trail with a splitting headache or puking.

Other drugs are more clearcut beneficial for sports, say taking not a normal dose but a "supraphysiological " dose of testosterone, say 1,000% daily for months. What about taking adrenaline, it can make you go for sure, but what about a small dose for treating your asthma? is that cheating? What about taking a small dose of Dex (or prednisone or cortisone) for tendonitis? Is that a medical treatment alone, or is a also a PED? Yes.

Even the Lance Armstrong thing is unclear. If all he was taking was EPO (erythropoetin) to build more blood (blood doping) it is not even clear if that helped. Despite popular opinion, more red blood cells can be counterproductive to performance. That has of course been studied in high altitude medicine. At the Ex Ped Med conference recently , world high altitude expert Peter Hackett reminded us that it was not the amount of blood that mattered as much as how it picked up, delivered, and then releases the oxygen - these are factors that go beyond simply the amount of hemoglobin alone.

as for me, yes, I cheat and take Diamox. When I go with Richard P next week and spend the first night driving up to the Toluca hut at 14,000 the first night, you better believe I will take Diamox. And since my 11-month old total knee still has swelling, I will be talking some steroids. Cheater, yes. Feel guilty about it? No

If your trip to Nepal includes a day or two in Kathmandhu, then a flight to Lukla at 9,300ft then you will be a bit slow wandering around the first day. If you are taking 2-3 days to get to Namche 11,200 ft, then you should acclimatize on your own without Diamox ,although a little extra "edge" is reasonable. If you are heading east out of Lukla then you will be climbing faster . Where are you going?

Harvey

No but I highly recommend yohimbe