Can anyone tell me what was that sickness the trapped people got in Vertical Limit and what were they injecting?
Thanks…
I haven’t seen the movie, so forgive me if I’m way off.
I suspect that it’s almost certainly a severe form of Acute Mountain Sickness - either a High Altitude Pulmonary Edema (HAPE) or High Altitude Cerebral Edema (HACE). Read about 'em here (it’s a PDF file).
HAPE essentially causes fluid buildup in the lungs, which prevents adequate oxygen exchange with the blood - a Bad Thing at 25,000 feet. HACE is swelling of the brain due to fluid leakage. Either of these can easily be fatal, and descent (NOW, not in the morning!) to lower altitude is the most fundamental initial treatment. The most common cause, simply put, is going up too high, too quickly.
As for the drug they’re injecting, I’m not sure. The site I linked above mentions Diamox and Dexamethasone as preventive medications. This site specifically mentions intramuscular administration of dexamethasone as a treatment of HACE, but not really prominently.
I saw the movie, and it was HAPE they were reffering to, although, IIRC, they refered to it just as an edema. Acording to the above pages, they were mistaken in treating it with “dexy” (presumably dexamethasone). The above pages list nifedipine as the drug of treatment for HAPE and dexamethasone for prevention and treatment of HACE.
I just saw the movie last night, and I agree with Osakadave. I work as a rock climbing (as in rock formations) guide NOT an alpine (high altitude) guide, but Osakadave’s analysis is correct, and it corresponds with the medical training that I’m required to have as a climbing guide. Still, I wish I had my medical texts handy, since this is an issue I never have to deal with here in the US (people very rarely suffer from HAPE at any altitudes encountered in the coninental US).
BTW, I thought the movie was very exciting, and a good thriller/suspense film, but it didn’t portray climbing very realistically. But, that’s to be expected, since watching people climbing tends to be rather boring unless you’re VERY interested in what they’re doing.
errr…continental US
I pine for an edit feature…
youre ALL wrong. i am a hardcore bill paxton fan. The meds in vertical limit for the treatment of pulmonary adema (,also called “altitude sickness by climbers” was refered to as DEX. Which is short for Dextramathorafan. A med that helps reduce the fluid that can develope in the lungs arter days of breathing quick, short breaths in extremly cold air. Much like condensate from an A/c unit. Anyone ever run really fast on a cold day and your lungs hurt? (beginning stages) its not unlike an VERY acute form of pnemonia. any questions? Dr. David Bradly cheif medical exmainer, branford con.
kow dog
I have a couple of questions?
a) Does it also cure zombieism?
b) There were more misspellings in that post originally?
c) Condensate in an A/C unit comes from hot air cooling down. There’s no way breathing cold air causes anything similar within the lungs. (That’s not to say there’s no way cold air can damage lungs and cause fluid build-up IANAD, it’s just nonsense to make the comparison to A/Cs. IDTP (I do teach physics.))
d) I’ve heard of doctors having bad handwriting, but how many doctors are such horrid spellers that they can’t even spell Chief Medical Examiner?
Or “Bradley.” Or “dextromethorphan,” which is the wrong drug anyway, “doctor.” It’s a cough suppressant, and while I don’t know much about high altitude pulmonary edema, I can’t see how it would help. And why would you inject it?
Anyway, this thread was started in the dark days before Wikipedia. The authors of the entry on Vertical Limit agree the drug was dexamethasone.
Or “you’re”, or “after”, or “edema”, or “develop”, or “extremely”, or “it’s”, or “a”, or “pneumonia” …
To A it does not. but it will help YOU
To B Uh, was that a question, or an incomplete sentence. P.S. keep tryin
to C- bull hockey! Hot air cooling down OR!!! warm air cooling off(i.e. the steam in your breath. The comparison to A/c was for simple minded physics teachers and physical education teachersl which did you say you were again. oh well, whats the dif? P.S. physics is not medicine
To D To answer your question, Fourty two thousand, nine hundred, sixty two. Kudos to you. you were the only one to actually ask a question.i asked at the end of my paragraph, any questions. you win!!!
snow dog
wrong again. oh wow, you know the authors. try again, it was not based on a novel, therefore there are no authors. they are called writers, and it is called a script. do your home work at home , homeboy. and they have an injectable version of the drug. just like they have demoral pills. and i would not expect you to see how it could help. you are not a md
big boy
<minor hijack> is UNH unusual in requiring pre-med and pre-vet students to take 3 writing-based English classes to graduate? </minor hijack>
incomplete sentence more errors than ken kampanetti
keep trying yall, i can do this all night k
uh, huh. my mistakes happen on the keyboard, not in the O.R.
what is a unh
yall are easy, give me something hard