Re: Ginkgo biloba for the prevention of severe acute mountain sickness

I tryed this years ago at Mt. Whitney.Still got sick.I always get sick, for about 5 hrs. on the 2nd day.What i do is take 2 asprin and take a nap.Does the trick every time

"Ginkgo use did not reach statistical significance for lowering incidence of AMS compared with placebo (ginkgo 7/12, 58.3% vs. placebo 13/14, 92.9%, p = 0.07). Twenty-one of 26 (81%) subjects developed AMS overall. This is the first study to demonstrate that 1 day of pretreatment with ginkgo 60 mg TID may significantly reduce the severity of AMS prior to rapid ascent from sea level to 4205 m."

Not statistically significant reduction in incidence by may reduce severity? Incredibly small sample. Probably better to try dexamethazone, sumatriptan, or acetazolamide (prescripton medications) if you have a tendancy toward AMS.

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The cure for a fallacious argument is a better argument, not the suppression of ideas.
-- Carl Sagan

More studies:

http://altmed.creighton.edu/ginkgo/AMSStudies.htm

Do these people who want to hike up high ever give any thought to acclimatizing? It appears the studies point to that as the best "remedy" (NOT sure how you remedy something that hasn't happened yet).

I've been living at 4,000 plus ft. for almost 20 years and going up to the high country without AMS is just a matter of being in somewhat hiking shape. For those at sea level, is taking drugs always the answer? Don't those who live at sea level live on drugs anyway?

Can't wait for the discussion to deteriorate into to diamox or not to diamox (which only works with acclimatizing anyway)

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Vince
Do these people who want to hike up high ever give any thought to acclimatizing?

That isn't always possible, Vince, and doesn't work about 18,000 feet.

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Can't wait for the discussion to deteriorate into to diamox or not to diamox (which only works with acclimatizing anyway)

You are welcome to ignore the thread.

Wouldn't you want to take one or two simple medications?

http://www.rxlist.com/ginkgo-biloba-drug.htm

Ginkgo extract:


Biochemical Constituents - Detailed - Acacetin, acenapthene, acetic-acid, afzelin, alanine, amentoflavone, g-aminobutyric-acid, anacardic-acid, apigenin, arabinose, arginine, ascorbic-acid, ash, asparagine, aspartic-acid, betulaprenols, bilobalide, bilobanone, bilobetin, bilobol, butyric-acid, calcium, calcium-oxalate, caproic-acid, caprylic-acid, carbohydrates, cardanol, cardol, beta-carotene, d-catechin, ceryl-alcohol tw, citric-acid, copper, p-coumaric-acid, p-cymene, cysteine, cystine, -(e)-dihydroatlantone jsg, -(z)-dihydroatlantone jsg, -dimethyl--diiso-propylbenzene, dna - fl(male), docosanol, elemol, l-epicatechin, l-epigallocatechin, alpha-ethyllathosterol, beta-eudesmol, gamma-eudesmol, fat, fiber, formic-acid, fructose, gadoleic-acid, galactose, d-gallocatechin, ginkgetin, ginkgol, ginkgolic-acid, ginkgolide-a, ginkgolide-acid, ginkgolide-b, ginkgolide-c, ginkgolide-m, ginnol, ginnon, d-glucaric-acid, glucomannan, glucose, glutamic-acid, glycine, -heptacosanol, hexacosanol, alpha-hexenal, histidine, homoserine, hydroginkgolic-acid, -hydroxyanacardic-acid, -hydroxyginkgolic-acid, -hydroxykynurenic-acid, alpha-ionone, beta-ionone, ipuranol, iron, isoginkgetin, isoleucine, -isopropylphenol, isorhamnetin, kaempferol, kaempferol--o-alpha('-p-coumaroyl-glucosyl-beta--rhamnoside), kaempferol--rhamno-glucoside, kaempferol-rutinoside, leucine, trans-linalool-oxide, linoleic-acid, alpha-linolenic-acid, luteolin, lysine, magnesium, manganese, mannan, mannose, methionine, ''-methoxybilobetin ''-methoxypyridoxine, ''-o-methylmyricetin-rutinoside, myristic-acid, niacin, nonacosane, -nonacosanol, nonacosanol, octacosanol, oleic-acid, -(e)--oxo-dihydroatlantone, palmitic-acid, palmitoleic-acid, pantothenic-acid -(pentadec--enyl)--di-hydroxybenzoic-acid, zz''-(-pentadien--diyl)diphenol, pentosans, pentosans, phenylalanine, phosphorus, pinitol, pulnin, tassium, procyanidin, prodelphinidin, proline, propionic-acid, protein, quercetin, quercetin--o-alpha('-p-coumaroyl-glucosyl-beta--rhamnoside), quercetin-rhamnoglucoside, quercetin--rutinoside quinic-acid, raffinose, riboflavin, sciadopitysin, sequoyitol, serine, alpha-sesamin, shikimic-acid, sitosterol, sodium, spinasterol, starch, stearic-acid, stigmasterol, succinic-acid, sucrose, tannin, thiamin, threonine, thymol, p-tolyl-propylene, tricetin, -trimethyl-dihydronaphthalene, tryptophan, tyrosine, uroshiols valerianic-acid, valine, wax, xylose, zinc 3/ 4

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The cure for a fallacious argument is a better argument, not the suppression of ideas.
-- Carl Sagan

Yep, it's a plant.

don't need no stinking drugs

(I'm waiting for the poll to show up)

The issue with drugs vs herbals is that the herbal remedy either does not work or if it works, it is hard to standardize a dose for a response. In both cases, I believe that most herbal medications are a waste of time and money. Digitalis leaf, for example, was a formulation used for treating heart failure, but the amount to give and the response were very hard to predict. Digoxin was found to be the active substance, standardized and purified to produce a much safer product.

The other issue is that when substances contains many potentially active compounds it becomes difficult to determine what is mostly beneficial and what may be mostly toxic. Sometimes that complexity of substances is argued as the "benefit" of herbals imbuing them with some special properties greater than the sum of the parts. There is no real argument to that assertion because it enters the realm of belief rather than science. We do not eat the entire potato plant to obtain maximum benefit from potatoes (the leafy portion is actually toxic).

Mostly we do better medically by simple solutions to medical problems.

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The cure for a fallacious argument is a better argument, not the suppression of ideas.
-- Carl Sagan

Oh my goodness

I believe I will take your money from you.

Nuff said there.

The Ginko Biloba studies did not sound very convincing.

Since I'm coming from close to sea level and will have no opportunity to acclimate myself I also looked into Dexamethazone, Sumatriptan, and Acetazolamide prescriptions. While the last one seems the least unappealing it should not be taken more than 3 days in a row. I decided "screw it" as far as all this stuff goes due to too many undesirable side effects. They can cause as many problems as they mask. I even ran across a reference to avoiding the use of sleeping pills or most anything else that unduly aggravates the breathing irregularities commonly experienced while sleeping at high altitude. Overuse of pain killers and/or anti-inflamatory medicines can also be dangerous at high altitude.

Guess I will just stay very well hydrated and attempt to camp in lower elevations when possible.

Jim