People with altitude sickness often feel hangover. Common symptoms include headache, fatigue, dizziness, nausea, vomiting and poor appetite. Researcher Grant Lipman now claims that ibuprofen help against these symptoms. Ibuprofen is a widely used anti-inflammatory and painkiller .
Serious
Lipman studied in 86 men and women in a double blind placebo study, the effect of ibuprofen on altitude sickness. "This disease is not only annoying because it can ruin the holidays, untreated it can also lead to cerebral edema or swelling of the brains, "explains the researcher. "In many cases than even someone dies from altitude sickness."
Research
The study involved a hike in the White Mountains. The participants spent the first night at 1250 meters and swallow 400 milligrams of ibuprofen . The next morning they climbed through to 3500 meters, took a second dose and ended at 3800 meters. In the evening the hikers swallowed a third dose of ibuprofen before they spent the night on the mountain. Of the participants who swallowed ibuprofen had 43 percent suffer from altitude sickness. In the placebo group was 69 percent. Although the effect was not significant, the placebo group also showed slightly more severe symptoms.
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