Ciguatera and high altitude

Ciguatera has the same effect on the lungs as high altitude! In the 29th May 2004 issue of New Scientist, there is a story called "Why your lungs might not cope with high altitudes", which describes High Altitude Pulmonary Oedema (HAPE), where the lungs fill with fluid at high altitudes in susceptible people. Researchers at the Centre Hospitalier Universitaire Vaudois in Lausanne have shown that the illness is connected with the efficiency of the sodium pumps in the cells lining lung alveoli air sacs. These rid the lungs of excess fluid by pumping sodium ions out, which draws water outside the lungs by osmosis. The Swiss team showed that the asthma drug salmeterol boosts the sodium pumps activity and halves the risk of HAPE. Ciguatera blocks sodium channels receptors and forces open calcium channels. This looks like the mechanism of pulmonary problems with Ciguatera poisoning and the failure of asthma drugs to help with breathing are tied to the way they act on the ion channel pumps. Chronic Fatigue Group - University of Glasgow Neurology of Ciguatera - Professor Pearn, University of Queensland So my lungs are filling with fluid when I have trouble breathing, but the asthma drugs can't get the sodium pumps to clear them, because the sodium ion receptor is blocked by the ciguatera toxin. Against my gastroenterologists' wishes, my GP has me back on antibiotics to fight the chest infection and fevers, after a month of non-treatment. The fact that I feel able to make a blog entry after two months of having trouble even reading the screen for more than ten minutes shows what a good move that was! The reading has slowed way down while I deal with the fevers. However I'm still working my way through Tuning The Brain , and my pile of New Scientist as they arrive each week.