Medical Check up on Mount Kilimanjaro

Kilimanjaro daily Medical Check, On the mountain every day before you start your trek guides will monitor your lungs accomplish by using a stethoscope, and in the evening – our guides perform a thorough health check, using their specialized High Altitude Medical Paper and conjunction with pulse-ox meters. Regular medical checks help keep your Karibu Adventure guides informed about your condition. This data is crucial in understanding how your body is handling the effects of altitude change.
Medical Paper Records
Fingertip Pulse Oximeters 
Karibu Adventure carry the fingertip pulse oximeter or blood oxygen (SpO2) monitor, sometimes simply called a pulse ox, has become so affordable and easy to use that its popularity has grown exponentially.
- The oximeter is placed on a climber’s fingertip. The oximeter uses two beams of light that shine into small blood vessels and capillaries in your finger. The sensor reflects the amount of oxygen in the blood.
- Oxygen saturation is a measurement of how much oxygen your blood is carrying as a percentage of the maximum it could carry. Normal blood oxygen levels at sea level are 95-100%.
- As altitude increases, oxygen saturations decrease. Proper acclimatization generally brings oxygen saturations higher, which is why these figures typically rise when oxygen saturations are tested after resting overnight. On Kilimanjaro, oxygen saturations percentages are regularly in the 80’s. However, if oxygen saturation is ever less than 80%, we monitor that climber very closely.
Oxygen Cylinder : Kilimanjaro daily Medical Check
Kilimanjaro climb Karibu Adventure carry oxygen cylinder to avoid suffocation. As we go higher and higher, at high altitudes, amount of oxygen present in the atmosphere is determined by atmospheric pressure. Though the concentration of oxygen is 21% and is constant throughout the air, the layer of air at heights above than 12000 feet becomes thinner and thinner. This decreases the number of oxygen molecules per breath making the person suffocated at high altitudes.
- As we go higher and higher the pressure and the oxygen decrease so as due to less oxygen content they carry oxygen cylinders
- 91% of the companies on Kilimanjaro do NOT offer supplementary oxygen – because it is potentially dangerous, wholly unnecessary and against the spirit of climbing Kilimanjaro. The challenge of the mountain lies within the fact that the summit is at a high elevation, where climbers must adapt to lower oxygen levels at altitude
Stethoscope
A medical instrument for detecting sounds produced in the body that are conveyed to the ears of the listener through rubber tubing connected with a piece placed upon the area to be examined on the mountain we using stethoscope for hearing fluid, noise in your lungs.
Thermometer:
On the Mount Kilimanjaro the only problem our guides can not able to fix is fever, we carry an instrument for measuring and indicating temperature, typically one consisting of a narrow, hermetically sealed glass tube marked with graduations and having at one end a bulb containing mercury or alcohol that expands and contracts in the tube with heating and cooling.
Medical check prior to attempting the mountain
- Ask your doctor if high altitude trekking is permissible for your age, fitness level and health condition.
- Ask if you have any preexisting medical conditions that can cause problems on the climb.
- Ask if any of your medications can affect altitude acclimatization.
- Ask whether Diamox can be taken with your existing prescription medicines.
If you have any medical issues that can be make climbing Kilimanjaro more dangerous for you than the average person, we need to be informed of this before you book.
Such medical issues include but are not limited to:
- Spine problems
- Circulation problems
- Internal problems such as diabetes, hypoglycemia, intestinal or kidney problems
- Respiratory issues such as asthma, high or low blood pressure, head trauma or injury, heart conditions
- Blood disease, hearing or vision impairment
- Cancer, seizure disorders
- Joint dislocations
- Sprains
- Hernia
The minimum age for climbing Mount Kilimanjaro is 10 years old. There is no maximum age. However, the climb is strenuous and presents health risks, especially to people in high risk categories. Serious consideration should be given to anyone under the age of 18 and over the age of 60. The climbers on the extreme ends of the age spectrum should definitely consult their doctor.