 Poster: A snowHead
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I am not a medic however I have now completed five treks in the Himalayas spending days on end continuously at altitudes higher than those at which we normally ski.
The simple test is that when you pee it should be "clear and copious". The copious is as important as the clear although the two usually go together. If it's not clear it is unlikely to be copious.
Some people take too much salt to help them retain fluid. That is wrong. It is something to do with the electrolyte balance which needs fluid passing through the body not just being retained within it.
On Himalayan treks you will often hear it said that you must drink three litres or more a day. That is often unachievable because on the guided trips I have been on, they simply cannot boil enough water to sterilise enough for a large group. As someone previously mentioned you get some water as part of the food you eat hence the reason it is important to eat well.
When trekking at the evening meal, they will keep bringing tea and coffe for as long as they can and encourage you to drink as much as you can, which I find interesting because as we all know tea and coffe are reckoned to be diuretic.
(A bit of veteran trekkers advice for blokes - carry a large plastic bottle because getting out of the tent in the middle of the night when it's minus ten is not much fun!).
To sum up from a layman's perspective it is very simple. Clear and copious at all times.
Last edited by Poster: A snowHead on Mon 28-04-08 16:59; edited 1 time in total
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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richjp,
I agree with all this but I got past the boiling thing by getting used to the taste of iodine (hmm - wonder what sustained use of this does to your thyroid). Also anti altitude sickness drugs such as Diamox are themselves diuretic meaning that you get to pee all the time when taking them.
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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This is all interesting to me a I have had two holidays where I have felt quite fatigued. As I use a bottle I think I don't take as much water on that I'd like..and I do feel quite dry in the mouth sometimes which doesn't sound good to me.
I always have stuff to eat in the bag...
But then I have skied 12 days on the trot and survived quite well and I don't think there is a huge difference in the type of skiing that we do between the two trips...so maybe I don't refuel/recover well enough between trips or .....????
A bit preplexing and concerning problem so far...
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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JT, maybe beg/borrow one for a day and see how you get on?
Personally as an underfit fat bloke who likes to ski all day and drink all night I find that I get through 1.5 - 3 litres a day (most of it washing straight through my skin it seems at times) but then I rarely stop for a drinks break nor a pee break (so the fluid must be needed for rehydration).
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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| JT wrote: |
This is all interesting to me a I have had two holidays where I have felt quite fatigued. As I use a bottle I think I don't take as much water on that I'd like..and I do feel quite dry in the mouth sometimes which doesn't sound good to me.
I always have stuff to eat in the bag...
But then I have skied 12 days on the trot and survived quite well and I don't think there is a huge difference in the type of skiing that we do between the two trips...so maybe I don't refuel/recover well enough between trips or .....????
A bit preplexing and concerning problem so far... |
Height? 2nd trip was a fair bit higher?? I sip water little and often through the day when skiing using a Platypus. I have heard said if you are thirsty (or dry in the mouth JT??) then you are dehydrated???
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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| FenlandSkier wrote: |
JT, maybe beg/borrow one for a day and see how you get on?
Personally as an underfit fat bloke who likes to ski all day and drink all night I find that I get through 1.5 - 3 litres a day (most of it washing straight through my skin it seems at times) but then I rarely stop for a drinks break nor a pee break (so the fluid must be needed for rehydration). |
That suggests you are skiing dehydrated, if we take richjp's advice, which I agree with.
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| The simple test is that when you pee it should be "clear and copious". The copious is as important as the clear although the two usually go together. If it's not clear it is unlikely to be copious. |
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The drink you want for rehydration is milk.
Though it's always a beer or two for me after a day on the slopes 
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Grimsby Ranger, Or even chocolate milk.
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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| fatbob wrote: |
richjp,
I agree with all this but I got past the boiling thing by getting used to the taste of iodine (hmm - wonder what sustained use of this does to your thyroid). Also anti altitude sickness drugs such as Diamox are themselves diuretic meaning that you get to pee all the time when taking them. |
I know about the iodine option (uggh!) but I have always managed when trekking to be OK with the boiled water provided, including the two longest and hardest treks I did, which both involved over two weeks at high altitude. I was able to pass the clear and copious test throughout.
On the subject of Diamox, on one trek we visited one of the high altitude field hospitals established by Sir Edmund Hillary. It was the hospital featured in a TV documentary which was repeated quite recently. At the time it was manned by an English doctor and her Canadian husband and they are always happy to give a talk to trekkers, in return for which of course you make a small donation to the hospital. She said that she would not recommend taking Diamox as a preventive as it is a very strong drug with possible side effects and could also mask the early symptoms of altitude problems. Those are views which I have heard before, but to hear them from someone dealing with the effects of altitude problems throughout the season, made them far more meaningful for me.
She did say that if you have sleeping problems at altitude, which I do from about 8,000 feet upward, then half a Diamox per night was OK. One of the possible side effects is a tingling in the extremities (no no not that extremity) and I did find that after half a Diamox at night, usually about an hour after waking up each morning I would get a tingling in my fingertips. Actually it was a quite strong burning sensation and although it only lasted a couple of minutes, I was always glad when it went away.
Diamox is as you say a diuretic but I doubt if you would be clear and copious after using it, therefore you should still take on sufficient fluid as well.
Finally alcohol is not recommended at high altitude although I remember one bloke getting away with it which surprised me somewhat. The five treks I mentioned earlier are the only times in the last eighteen years that I have gone a week or more at a time without alcohol! I suppose it's one way of drying out.
As for skiing and alcohol, well for me a few beers and some vino at the end of the day are part of the experience.
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kitenski,
Accept that but just don't know how debilitating it would be...
I drank quite a lot at night tho..and not all alcohol, and besides, I generally stopped by about 22:00 and never over-did it..and arrived worse for wear..!! Again accept that alcohol isn't the very best thing to drink, but at least the fluid with it can't be entirely detrimental..???
Slightly higher and more challenging maybe...in terms of there being no respite in between the hard bits...i.e no pistes, but I think I didn't recover and get into preparing the same way as the previous trip. So I maybe didn't manage the 4 week down-time very well between holidays, and at least with that theory, I know what to try and do next time. This has been a problem two years on the trot now....
And I will think about a bladder
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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JT,
I think that the fluid in beer may not be too detrimental as long as you don't overdo it of course! I do not tend to knock it back like I used to, but as you know I am getting on a bit and I tend to turn in myself no later than 23:00.
I think drinking water through the night if you wake is always a good idea and that is something I always try and do as well as drinking water the last thing before going to bed. Remember also that hotel heating can also be very hot and dry so like many people I usually leave the window ajar if possible at night.
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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richjp,
Yes..agree with all of that and I drank water during the night and like to air the room as well. I was particularly thirsty that holiday as well.
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