Thoughts on woman who died at Phoenix airport

by Jamie Rhein on

This morning, Jeffrey wrote a post about Carol Anne Gotbaum’s family suing the city of Phoenix for her death. Right after she accidentally strangled herself with her handcuffs while she was in police custody at the Phoenix Sky International Airport, I wrote about it. Her mental illness and desperation, plus the heightened security at airports, and the anxiety that goes with air travel made for a bad combo. Regardless of whether procedures were followed or not, I wonder what the procedures are exactly? If one goes off ones rocker, one hopes for a better result.

In the movie, “Meet the Savages,” there’s a brief scene when Laura Linney’s character is helping her father who has dementia make it to the bathroom of an airplane when flying with him back to New York from where he was living in Arizona. His pants fall down while he is standing in the aisle. No one reacts. What if someone had become irate? A small scene could have become a big one.

I was just in the Phoenix airport two weeks ago Friday dashing with a group of thirty to catch a plane since our Southwest flight was almost two hours delayed. The jaunt between the two gates was a goodly amount and I had the task of keeping track of the five people assigned to me. Everyone in my group was sane and not drinking and kept checking to make sure we were all accounted for. I can’t imagine navigating an airport of that size if under duress.

I feel bad for both sides and it’s unfortunate Gotbaum isn’t around to explain what was going on in her head that day. As a person who has worked with people with mental illness, when I watched the tape back when I wrote a previous post, I did think, “Oh boy. What an unfortunate mess.”

Getting High on Your Holiday

by Erik McLaughlin on

Sure, we’ve all thought about it and some of us do it often. Getting high on your holiday trip can be pretty fun, in fact. I mean really high, above 11,500 feet (3500 m). Not everything cool is on a beach at sea-level. Ruins in the Andes, trekking in the Himalayas and chasing back country powder are a few things you have to get high, to do. These trips are all “dream vacations,” so why risk a problem with altitude sickness?

High altitude is considered to be 1500 – 3500 m (4950 – 11,500 ft) while very high altitude covers 3500 to 5500 m (11,500-18,050 ft). Anything above 5500 m falls into the extreme altitude category. Altitude sickness is not related to physical fitness and can have some deadly consequences, if not recognized and treated promptly.

Accute Mountain Sickness generally includes symptoms of headache, worse at night or during straining, nausea/vomiting and dizziness. The symptoms are often described as a “bad hangover”.

Some conditions associated with more severe forms of altitude sickness or AMS (acute mountain sickness) include HACE (high altitude cerebral edema) and HAPE (high altitude pulmonary edema). These conditions involve swelling and fluid accumulation in the respective tissues. Swelling of the brain, as seen in HACE, can present as marked stupor and confusion. HAPE, with fluid collecting in the person’s lungs, often starts as a cough followed by progressive shortness of breath.

As with most things, prevention is better than treatment. Prevention of AMS and it’s associated conditions centers around a slow, gradual ascent to altitude. This gives the body a chance to acclimatize and adjust to the physiologic demands of life at the new altitude, even if only for a few hours or days. This can be a problem for people traveling by car or plane to an area of high altitude, simply because they ascend very rapidly.

Symptoms of AMS can begins quickly, in as little as 2-3 hours after arrival to altitude, which means you can get off your plane and begin to feel bad, even before you arrive at your hotel! In an ideal world, all travelers going to higher altitude will be able to have a slow and controlled ascent, gaining no more than 600-900 m (1,980 to 2,970 ft) per day. However, this is not always practical. Anytime there is suspicion of an altitude related illness, stop ascending, immediately. If symptoms do not improve, consider a descent to lower altitude, for a few days of further acclimatization. Some expedition physicians also believe that most all medial problems, at high altitude, are to be considered AMS until proven otherwise.

There are a few medications used to combat AMS and a few good arguments, both for and against their use. The medicine that is most commonly used is called Acetazolamide. This medicine causes an acidosis, designed to combat the alkalosis caused by hyperventilation at high altitudes. Designed to be taken a few days prior to ascent, during the time at altitude and for a few days after descent, Acetazolamide is both a prophylactic medicine as well as a treatment. There is some controversy over the ideal dose to be used and I consider this article a good source of information, along with an article that favors a higher dose.

Against Acetazolamide Use:

Everything in life is a trade off and medicine is a perfect example of this. Side effects of Acetazolamide include a metallic taste, especially with soda, and frequent urination. Acetazolamide is a sulfa-based drug and allergic reactions can occur. Some studies have show than judicious exercise, on the first few days of arrival to altitude, can be effective in AMS prevention and that only 25% of travelers to resort communities at 8,000 and 12,000 feet have altitude illnesses.

For Acetazolamide Use:

A dream vacation can be ruined by many things and with 25% of travelers in an high altitude zone experiencing AMS symptoms, why risk spending your trip with a headache, or worse. Most vacation trips to high altitude zones last 7-10 days and Acetazolamide is a cheap and very effective medication for control and prevention of AMS.

Some other treatments for AMS, HACE and HAPE include dexamethasone and inhaled asthma medications like salmeterol. For the hard-core out there, Gamow bags can be used, especially on mountaineering expeditions. Ginko Biloba is also currently showing promise in AMS treatment/prevention.

As with most travel-related illnesses, prior proper preparation prevents poor performance. Understanding altitude illness and being aware of it’s symptoms can help with early recognition and treatment, thus preventing a ruined trip and health risk. To learn more about AMS check out these sites:

The International Society for Mountain Medicine

The High Altitude Medicine Guide

CDC Traveler’s Health Yellow Book: Altitude Illness

Cincinnati, one of the worst cities for women?!!!

by Jamie Rhein on

Iva’s post about the best cities for women caught my attention since Cincinnati was listed as one of the three worst. I wonder if Self magazine gathered the statistics that led to this list before Ohio’s smoking ban? The reason Cincinnati ended up at the bottom is because of the high number of women who smoke here. Since smoking is not allowed in restaurants or bars in Ohio I wonder where women are doing all the smoking? Next time I go, I’m going to have to pay more attention to see if they are gathered on sidewalks and huddled in doorways puffing away.

Since I don’t smoke, I find Cincinnati one of the better cities to visit. I think it’s Ohio’s prettiest. Winston Churchill even sang Cincinnati praises once. If you feel inclined to smoke and need a distraction, here are three places I’d go to spur you on to a healthier life.

#1. Krohn Conservatory in Eden Park. The flowers and plants here will keep your senses occupied. As it happens, today is the conservatory’s 75th birthday. You can’t smoke, but you can eat cake.

#2. Union Terminal. This art deco train station is fabulous and now mostly a museum center. This year is also its 75th. Head to Bodies, The Exhibition to see what smoking does to you. This is a version of the exhibit where specially preserved real bodies and cross-sections of real bodies are on display. I saw a version of this in Cleveland. Sort of unnerving, but great.

#3 Pendleton Pilates at the Over-the-Rhine location. This studio is not in its 75th year, BUT it has a following of performers. Cirque du Soleil, Chicago and Rent cast members come here when they are in town. Pendleton Pilates owner Stacy Sims credits Pilates with her own kick the smoking habit. You can drop in for some of the classes.

Rattlesnake in luggage bites man

by Iva Skoch on

We all know that snakes on planes can generally provide endless entertainment. Andy Bacas, a high school crew coach, could testify that snakes can be entertaining even after getting off the plane.

Bacas was bitten by a rattlesnake that had apparently been stowed away in his luggage, USA Today reports. He apparently reached into his luggage Monday morning after returning from a team trip to South Carolina when he felt a sharp pain and saw the nearly foot-long snake.

Rescue workers arrived, took the luggage outside, opened it and blasted with with carbon dioxide fire extinguisher, freezing it and killing it. Bacas apparently got a slightly better treatment.

Nobody knows how the snake got inside his luggage in the first place.

What David Letterman wants to know about Anthony Bourdain and weird food

by Jamie Rhein on

As soon as Anthony Bourdain of “No Reservations” sat down on David Letterman’s TV show couch, I perked up wondering what Letterman would dish out about the food Bourdain eats on his travels since Justin asked Bourdain some questions last June in a Talking Travel interview. Here are highlights of Letterman’s banter.

“Do you get sick? Get hepatitis? Throw up?” asked Letterman.

“Only twice,” said Bourdain. “I got sick in France from too much of a good thing. . . and from the business end of a warthog.” The warthog was a food he chewed on in the Kalahari. He said any other sickness that led to an up close and personal experience with a bathroom’s cold tile floor has come from imbibing on too much alcohol.

“Humans can eat about anything?” Letterman leaned in for a response.

“I don’t recommend chicken nuggets,” quipped Bourdain and went on to say that when traveling, he’s found that whenever someone says, “We have something very special for you,” be wary. Such was the case when he downed the still beating heart of a cobra, an event Letterman asked him about. A delicacy in Vietnam, the cobra’s heart is supposed to be a real libido boost.

“It’s like eating an angry athletic oyster,” said Bourdain after describing how it’s removed from the cobra right in front of the person who will be dining on it. In this case, him. Hint: swallow it whole.

As for how to avoid raising a picky eater, Bourdain said that there will be no grilled cheese sandwich with the crusts cut off for his daughter. She’s already eating prosciutto flavored baby food and from what he said, she’ll be on a first name basis with the best sushi chefs. Bourdain, at age 51, is a fairly recent first time father. I wonder if this means the cobra thing works? Actually, Bourdain is a very charming, funny guy so I’d say that has something to do with it.

“No Reservations” is on the Travel Channel and Gadling is going to be there watching Boudain in his travels and taking notes.