High altitude cerebral edema
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Search complete. 10 mentions across 4 episodes found for "High altitude cerebral edema".
Oct 2, 2026
Ben PappasHOST
They can have these altitude sicknesses.
Ben PappasHOST
HAPE and HACE can happen to you, high altitude sicknesses.
Ben PappasHOST
So you're fighting in snow.
Ben PappasHOST
You're fighting in terrain.
Dania KojaHOST
So it's usually a variety of disorders that we're referring to.
Dania KojaHOST
They vary from acute mountain sickness, high-altitude cerebral edema, or HACE, and high-altitude pulmonary edema, or HAPE.
Wendy ChangHOST
I see.
Wendy ChangHOST
Are there any particular individuals who are more predisposed to developing these illnesses? Absolutely.
Dania KojaHOST
This occurs within minutes.
Dania KojaHOST
And then over time, what happens is that the kidneys increase their excretion of bicarb to balance everything out.
Dania KojaHOST
One thing to remember, though, is that when you are exposed to the low oxygen pressure and you develop hypoxemia, that results in diffuse constriction of the vasculature, whether pulmonary or cerebral, and that's how you get your HAPE and your HACE.
Wendy ChangHOST
Aha, that makes sense.
Kelsey ProbstGUEST
It's basically like swelling of the brain.
Kelsey ProbstGUEST
So definition of the diagnosis of HACE is severe AMS plus either altered mental status or ataxia.
Kelsey ProbstGUEST
So ataxia is like stumbling, kind of like when you're drunk, or altered mental status, like being confused.
Ashley SaupeHOST
But you had both of those.
Kelsey ProbstGUEST
Yeah.
Kelsey ProbstGUEST
So, and it's like, I think the percentage of like the, cause I read through so much after this, of course, like the percentage of people at that kind of elevation, like below 14,000, it's like documented like 1% chance.
Kelsey ProbstGUEST
So it's really low chances, but there's a lot of different risk factors that can kind of predispose you to experiencing AMS and or HACE.
Kelsey ProbstGUEST
And I definitely think I fit more of those than I had, like I didn't know the risk factors at the time.
AlexGUEST
You start having like altered mental status, especially because then you can have
speaker_0HOST
HACE, which is high
AlexGUEST
altitude cerebral edema, which is the worst that you can get, which is obviously swelling in your brain from excess fluid.
AlexGUEST
That is the most dangerous because that will kill you.