If you are heading overseas on holiday, you should always check well beforehand what sort of travel health services you may need from our pharmacy. In some cases, such as a city break in Europe, you shouldn’t need any special precautions or vaccinations. But in other cases, there is much you should do.
Many travellers will be aware of the need to get their jabs if they are going somewhere in the tropics where diseases like yellow fever or Hepatitis A are a significant threat, or get antimalarial tablets. However, there are some other kinds of peril that may face overseas travellers.
Mountain areas are a prime case in point. The mountains in the UK are not without their dangers, with plenty of high ridges, hypothermia risks in winter and avalanches in some Scottish locations. However, these risks are multiplied overseas where mountain environments can be much colder and higher overseas.
Some trips may simply involve skiing, which has its own known risks but is not a matter of medication – just for the right travel insurance. This is also something you may need to take out if you are going to high altitude, as a lot of standard travel insurance policies may not cover you above a certain height.
Altitude is a consideration that you may need medication to tackle. Lower air pressure means less oxygen ingested with each breath, so you can suffer hypoxia (altitude sickness), which can make you feel sick and dizzy and at worst be life-threatening, forcing you to come down off the mountain.
This is not a problem when skiing as you don’t stay high for long, but it is a risk for long treks, such as climbing Kilimanjaro in Africa or trekking to Everest Base Camp. It can occasionally be an issue in some of the world’s highest cities, like La Paz in Bolivia or the Nepalese capital Kathmandu.
A drug commonly used is Diamox, which was originally designed to deal with glaucoma but acidifies the blood, which speeds up the flow of oxygen.
This can be especially useful for those who cannot produce enough extra red blood cells to process oxygen more efficiently at a quick enough pace. Given enough time, your body will acclimatise in this way, but often the limited time in your trip means this will not happen. For example, ascents of Kilimanjaro typically take 6-7 days.
Of course, there are cases where a mountain expedition will also take you through areas with other threats. To climb Kilimanjaro means visiting Tanzania, where you will need to have been vaccinated against yellow fever and should also take precautions against malaria.
As ever, you need to get whatever medication you need well before you go, especially if vaccinations are involved as they do not start to work right away, but when they have had enough contact with your immune system.
By preparing for your overseas trip, you will give yourself the very best opportunity to avoid the kinds of sickness that could turn a dream trip into a nightmare, whether you are high up the mountain or back down in the valleys below.