How to Get Diamox for Altitude Sickness

Diamox, also known as Acetazolamide, is a prescription for altitude sickness, making it easier to keep climbing the mountain. In order to get Diamox, call your doctor, tell them where they are going, what altitude you will be at, and how long you will be on the mountain. Ask for enough tablets to cover another trip later, if you should go again. Are you only going to assent on this trip? In other words, you want enough so you don’t have to call back in 6 months.

Select a pharmacy close to your home and get their phone number and fax number. Give this to the office staff if they don’t already have it. Ask them to call you back when the doctor make a decision about whether he will fill for you. Ask them to call/fax the pharmacy you have selected. Then in the next day or so, call the pharmacy to see if they received the fax. Most pharmacies now days just fax back and forth between physicians because calling takes too much time. If the pharmacy received the prescription, and they have all your info and are able to process the prescription. Ask when it will be ready and when you can pick it up and how much it will be.

Could it be more simple?

According to Pharmacist Terry O’Callaghan, contrary to popular belief, the drug does not “thin the blood” but they hypothysis that the drug produces systemic metabolic acidosis resulting in increased respitory drive and arterial oxygen tension and/or causing diuresis. People climbing, who are taking the drug, breath more thereby increasing the oxygen and apparently sleep better at altitude.