To begin I would like to talk about Altitude sickness, or Acute Mountain Sickness. I will define altitude sickness, talk about the symptoms, how to prevent altitude sickness, and how to treat it. I will then talk about what untreated altitude sickness can lead to.
Altitude sickness is an illness you can get from ascending too high above sea level too quickly without acclimatizing to the decrease in oxygen levels. Altitude sickness, also called acute mountain sickness, is caused by exposure to low partial pressure of oxygen at high altitude. At high altitude atmospheric pressure is lower than at sea level. Because of the lower pressure the air expands as it rises which causes it to cool, thus high altitude air is cold. Normally the human body can adapt to high altitude by breathing faster, having a higher heart rate, and adjusting blood chemistry. However above 8,000 meters (26,000 feet) altitude acclimatization becomes almost impossible.
There are two categories of Altitude Sickness; Mild to Moderate, and Severe.
Some of the Symptoms of mild to moderate altitude sickness may include:
• Difficulty sleeping
• Dizziness or light-headedness
• Fatigue
• Headache
• Loss of appetite
• Nausea or vomiting
• Rapid pulse (heart rate)
• Shortness of breath with exertion
Symptoms that may occur with more severe acute mountain sickness include:
• Blue color to the skin (cyanosis)
• Chest tightness or congestion
• Confusion
• Cough
• Coughing up blood
• Decreased consciousness or withdrawal from social interaction
• Gray or pale complexion
• Cannot walk in a straight line, or walk at all
• Shortness of breath at rest
There are also some risk factors that make you more susceptible to altitude sickness. Some of these risk factors are:
• If y...
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... as the heart, major blood vessels, and airways) toward the other side of the chest. The shift can cause the other lung to become compressed, and can affect the flow of blood returning to the heart. This situation can lead to low blood pressure, shock, and death.
Symptoms of a tension pneumothorax
• Sudden chest pain
• Shortness of breath
• Chest tightness
• Easy fatigue
• Bluish color of the skin due to lack of oxygen
• Rapid heart rate
• Low blood pressure
• Decreased mental alertness
• Decreased consciousness
• Rapid breathing
• Bulging (distended) veins in the neck
Tension Pneumothorax requires immediate attention. A needle or chest tube needs to be inserted into the chest cavity to release the pressure as soon as possible. If an evacuation is going to take a long period of time you may have to do this procedure yourself. That is not recommended though.
One of the long-term breathlessness is usually caused by obesity or being unfit. Other is asthma that is not controlled properly. Moreover, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), which is not temporarily damage to the lungs usually caused by prolonged of smoking.
Pulmonary stenosis (PS) - Pulmonary Stenosis causes an obstruction of blood flow from the right ventricle into the pulmonary arteries. This obstruction causes the right ventricle to have more difficulty pumping the oxygen-poor blood received from the vena cava to the lungs in order to pick up the oxygen needed. Therefore causing a decrease in exchange of oxygen in the lungs, as well as a decrease of blood volume to the lungs.
Chapter 1: This book starts in the chronological middle of the story. It has Krakauer atop everest with a storm brewing. Then it starts to explain physical ailments like coughing, separated ribs, trouble breathing, and a varied mental state because of a lack of oxygen. Two other guides are up with him Anatoli Boukreev and Andy Harris.
A tension pneumothorax can be caused by a blunt or penetrating trauma, in the case study provided it would be a blunt trauma. The trauma to the chest area causes damage to the plural cavity; either the visceral (lines either lung) or parietal plura (lines the thoracic wall), or can be caused by trauma to the traceobronchial tree (Daley, 2014). The trauma to the chest area causes the formation of a one-way-valve, this allows for the air to flow into the plural space on inhalation, but on exhalation cannot be expelled (Curtis, Ramsden, & Lord, 2011). As the trapped air in the lungs build up within the affected side it can cause serious complications. In the case study it is the left lung that is in distress, and as the pressure increases within the left lung it can cause an impaired venus return to the right atrium (Daley, 2014). The increased pressure can eventually affect the right lung as the pressure builds in the left side and causes mediastinal shift which increases pressure on the right lung, which decreases the patients ability to breath, and diffuse the bodies tissues appropriately. The increase in pressure on the left side where the original traum...
From this case study, the author has learned that tension pneumothorax is a medical emergency that requires interventions immediately. The author has also realised that malfunctioned drainage system and chest tubes could lead to developing of tension pneumothorax. Therefore, staff education about how to assess and maintain closed drainage system is important.
Have you ever wanted to prove to everyone that you are a hard worker that is willing to give up everything to go on an adventure? If this is you than Everest is the perfect place for you. A great deal of Everest’s dangers are expressed in his book which should either inspire you to try this journey or sway you away from the treacherous mountain. In the story, “ Into Thin Air,” by Jon Krakauer a true story is told of a dangerous voyage up and down Everest. The climb up was arduous and long according to Jon, but the climbers sacrificed everything to get to the top, which most of the climbers achieved. However, emotions shifted when a storm swooped in and killed many of the climbers that were stuck on the summit, around 12-19 in total. The devices
. On March 1996, Outside magazine hired journalist and seasoned climber Jon Krakauer to write an about the commercialism on Mount Everest. Krakauer decides he would climb the mountain and get a firsthand experience, he set out on an expedition led by celebrated Everest guide Rob Hall. Despite the expertise of Hall and the other leaders, by the end of summit day eight people were dead. This proves that this is not an easy expedition, it is one that people risk their lives to do. With a lot of hard work and dedication Jon Krakauer successfully finished the climb and decided he wanted to write more than the article that he was assigned to. This is where Into Thin Air became. It is a book telling the story of the ill-fated adventure and a breakdown of the factors leading up to its tragic end. Written within months of the various events that occurred. As the journey up the mountain progresses, Krakauer puts it in context by recalling the triumphs and perils of other Everest trips throughout history. The author's own anguish over what happened on the mountain is intense and also points out how extremely sorry he was for the ones that los...
The right side of the heart moves deoxygenated blood. Once heart failure occurs this causes an accumulation or damming back flow of blood into the systemic venous system. Congestive heart failure results to blood back up and drains into the inferior vena cava, and the liver become swelled. The amount of edema fluid is an indication by a gain in weight. Therefore, daily measurements of weight gained can be used to calculating fluid accumulation in congestive heart failure. The left side of the heart moves oxygenated blood. When heart failures occurs the heart shifts blood from a low-pressure pulmonary circulation into a high-pressure side of the systemic circulation. Proximate is a decrease in cardiac output that increases in the left atrial and left ventricle diastolic pressures, and congestion in the pulmonary circulation. This increase in pulmonary pressure leads to pulmonary edema. In severe pulmonary edema, capillary fluid moves into the alveoli, which impairs the respiratory passages for adequate gas
Beck Weathers, A survivor of the 1996 Mt Everest disaster, is one tough doctor. He was from Texas and was wanting to complete “The Seven Summits”.That dream was cut short by the disaster. I'm going to talk about his time on Everest.
Imagine yourself strapped to a mountain, chained up with two other people, struggling to take another move up, it's starting to get steep and the more you move up the harder it is to breathe. Mountaineers face a numerous amount of issues when attempting to climb Mt. Everest. They put their own lives at risk by climbing the mountain. So why do they do it? Just thinking about being on a steep cliff, accidentally making the wrong move, and next thing you know you’re tumbling down the mountain struggling to get a grip of anything. These are the things that make me think of the risks of climbing this mountain.
2. Decompression illness affects people who change altitudes frequently, such as aviators, astronauts and scuba divers. Nitrogen makes up 70% of the air around us but at lower levels, the air pressure is higher so our body tissues absorb larger amount of hydrogen at these levels. While ascending, the pressure decreases and the nitrogen is breathed out of our bodies but if the ascend happens too quickly for the hydrogen to be breathed out, if forms bubbles (like opening a soda fast) that can attach to blood and tissues. The main factor affecting it is the reduction in ambient pressure for example having rapid ascents or deep/long dives. Age is closely related to this as older people tend to have a higher risk of sickness because older people tend to have less efficient circulatory and respiratory systems. Another risk factor is the amount of body fat a person has as body fat tends to absorb nitrogen e...
When people go diving they make sure that they have enough oxygen in the tank so that way the won't run out and die. This goes for when people climb on everest, because the oxygen levels get so low that you eventually start to run out of air and die because of lack of oxygen. When or if they run out and aren't able to call anyone for help they will die on the
Decompression sickness or “The Bends” is when there is a build up of nitrogen bubbles in the body. The pressure that builds around the body allows the nitrogen bubbles to form in the tissues and the rest of the body or into the blood stream and clot the blood, however it is not so harmful to our body or to human health, moreover, consequently if excess amount of nitrogen builds up to the bodies maximum intake saturation will occur, applying pressure on the tissue and blood stream, which is equal to the pressure around the body. Divers, miners and astronauts are among the most common people to suffer from this illness, this is due to the pressure build up when they travel deeper towards the centre of earth or further away into space. There is also another type of decompression sickness type 2, which is more lethal, then type 1. Type 2 is more concentrated on the nervous system it is most commonly found in the spine area. It can cause pain in the lower back and then the upper body but there is a chance that you may not feel the pain until some time has passed and in serious cases there is even paralysis and also the expansion of gas in the lungs can rupture it.
This disease can also be caused by the air born drops to enter the body through respiration.
of the air spaces and drops the air pressure in the lungs so that air