Aiming High, DARPA Wants Inhalable Drugs to Counter Effects of Extreme Altitudes

I wonder if there would be any prolonged effects of introducing high amounts of nitrous oxide to the body ...

maybe red blood cells that are no longer able to release the chemical effectively? maybe blood vessels that don't dilate as effectively even when nitrous oxide is released? I really have no idea what I'm talking about, I'm just speculating.

On another note, why does DARPA want our troops to be able to fight effectively in such high altitudes? Are we invading the Alps or something?

@Leelot: South America has a lot of cities at fairly high altitudes (up to 4000 m, while the highest mountain of the Alps, Mont Blanc, reaches 4810 m).

@Leelot
As simski said, there are several countries that have high altitutde, if not ones we are particularly interested in. Also, its possible, that we're defending the country, not attacking.

The main point is that it would give the troops a significant edge in fighting. If you've ever gone backpacking at 8000ft or more, you'll find yourself thoroughly exausted for 3-5 days. Then you'll put on your pack, start walking, and you'll feel like you can go forever. That sort of Acclimation is caused by your body producing extra red blood cells to carry the oxygen. Its the root of the *blood doping that articles have been written on.

Obviously that is not viable for a few minute fix. This is just supposed to tide them over until their bone marrow can kick in.

Speculation: When you return to your regular altitude, you'll have a lot of energy for the next two weeks or so as your red blood cells return to normal count. If they design a drug to take the place of acclimation, then (provided its non-dependant and non-adictive) it's conceivable that army troops will inhale the compound before going into any combat situation. Countering debilitation and pure augmentation are the same thing; One just has a net gain.

*Blood doping; excercising in high altitude for extended period of time, then drawing and storing your blood. When competing at a lower altitude, inject "superblood" to increase ability to deliver oxygen to muscles.

The first weeks after being deployed to Afghanistan marines train very hard to jump start the red blood cell problem. It was rough but this "medicine" could help, as if there isn't enough drugs and pills pumped into you prior to deployments and during them.

I can just picture running down to the store filling up my Nitrous oxide bottle in my car(no I don't actually run Nitrous) and picking up some Nitrous pills. Both will give me better horsepower, one for my car and one for me to out run the cops on foot after they pull me over for speeding. lol

The first weeks after being deployed to Afghanistan marines train very hard to jump start the red blood cell problem. It was rough but this "medicine" could help, as if there isn't enough drugs and pills pumped into you prior to deployments and during them.

I can just picture running down to the store filling up my Nitrous oxide bottle in my car(no I don't actually run Nitrous) and picking up some Nitrous pills. Both will give me better horsepower, one for my car and one for me to out run the cops on foot after they pull me over for speeding. lol

The first weeks after being deployed to Afghanistan marines train very hard to jump start the red blood cell problem. It was rough but this "medicine" could help, as if there isn't enough drugs and pills pumped into you prior to deployments and during them.

I can just picture running down to the store filling up my Nitrous oxide bottle in my car(no I don't actually run Nitrous) and picking up some Nitrous pills. Both will give me better horsepower, one for my car and one for me to out run the cops on foot after they pull me over for speeding. lol

The first weeks after being deployed to Afghanistan marines train very hard to jump start the red blood cell problem. It was rough but this "medicine" could help, as if there isn't enough drugs and pills pumped into you prior to deployments and during them.

I can just picture running down to the store filling up my Nitrous oxide bottle in my car(no I don't actually run Nitrous) and picking up some Nitrous pills. Both will give me better horsepower, one for my car and one for me to out run the cops on foot after they pull me over for speeding. lol

HOLLY QUADRUPLE POST BATMAN!

Wow this is very fascinating! Last time I was at any high altitudes was in Arizona, I believe the highest point was over 8k feet. And now that I think of it I was sick for a few days in our hotel. I wonder if this will be available for the public when and if they get this stuff to work?

"(think about how some players appear to lose a step when playing the Denver Broncos at home)"

... and they still choke every game.

I actually am on the team working on this at Case Western Reserve University. It is very exciting and I know that it will prove to help soldiers, it is a very exciting compound and will improve soldiers acclimation hugely! I look forward to further research on it.

I'm wondering how much and how often it will be okay to use - hopefully just a low dose of nitric oxide (2ppm or less) will be effective enough. Isn't nitric oxide used for treating pulmonary hypertension? Dangers of inhaling nitric oxide aren't very well-known still, especially long-term effects, but there are a number of studies that show inhalation of the stuff can bring about damage to specific structural components of the lungs. These were all higher-dose scenarios though. It's also been shown to activate the coagulation system. I'm thinking of the long-term effects here. It will be interesting to see how they are going to go about doing this, and I want to know more but I'll have to wait to see the publication.

Oh heck yes there are side effects. As a cardiac patient since 2000 I have used nitroglycerin intermittently. Just as with methedrine (speed) given to pilots at times for alertness and other reasons, all these enhancement drugs work well, but when they wear off, its very dangerous. There is documentation for people (healthly people) having heart attacks the Monday after a weekend when they worked with nitroglycerin, absorbed thru the skin while working with dynamite. Once you have used this type of drug you MUST come off of it very very gradually indeed to avoid the opposite effect. Not so much addiction, but accomodation where the effect will go in the opposite direction when you stop - ask any older person who uses nitro.

To expand on this, any such effect can be brought about by sufficient meditation and breath control, but its a discipline that takes patience, effort, time. This is the one way that is safe, otherwise you are "trying to steal your way to heaven, ie: higher perception or ability". It works, even including lucid or clear astral projection (oh its real allright) The thing is, anyone in military inducing this in troops will bear the karma (the quantum universe knows what you are up to), on an individual and group level, same as using young men and women for cannon fodder - and the price will be paid to them, every jot and tittle, every nuance and quark. The Russians, Germans, and US have done a lot of this, "pioneering" but the cost is high. To take a "special advantage" requires to consider the question : what is it for ? Careful with that axe, Eugene !

Amyl Nitrate given in the proper dose and route can do everything that would cause a person to be lightheaded or nauseous or get a headache from the altitude. I believe a time released capsule would be the best route. It could release different colored beads of dosages at a certain time after the special ops soldier had ingested it. I am sure the Dr.'s and pharmacist will come up with something appropriate given the amount of drugs out there to do just exactly what they want it to do all ready. They just need to find it and tweak it to suit their particular set of parameters.

Doesn't Viagra work by increasing nitric oxide levels in the bloodstream? There may be certain side effects...

This is the wrong tack. Drugs are NOT the way to go here. DARPA should know better than to drug up American soldiers anyway.
Inject BPG and insert or attach a temporary pacemaker/defibrillator to shock the blood more. BPG increases with acclimation to altitude. Here is why: BPG likes hemoglobin more than O2 does. Shocking the blood (EKG's QRS) releases BPG from hemoglobin, allowing oxygenation of the denuded hemoglobin. A transient electric field aligns dipoles with the field, the T wave is the damped driven oscillation of the QRS, that's why there's no electrical activity in the heart with the T waves. This also explains Osborne waves (J waves), U, and V waves. Keep the 'helping shock' (in phase with the natural QRS, hence insertion) below bubble formation, 100 J?

This is the wrong tack. Drugs are NOT the way to go here. DARPA should know better than to drug up American soldiers anyway.
Inject BPG and insert or attach a temporary pacemaker/defibrillator to shock the blood more. BPG increases with acclimation to altitude. Here is why: BPG likes hemoglobin more than O2 does. Shocking the blood (EKG's QRS) releases BPG from hemoglobin, allowing oxygenation of the denuded hemoglobin. A transient electric field aligns dipoles with the field, the T wave is the damped driven oscillation of the QRS, that's why there's no electrical activity in the heart with the T waves. This also explains Osborne waves (J waves), U, and V waves. Keep the 'helping shock' (in phase with the natural QRS, hence insertion) below bubble formation, 100 J?

I wish, I could get 4.7 millions to tell them to drink "Mate de Coca" tea. It's available in tea bags everywhere in Peru or Bolivia.

Unfortunately, North Americans learn to drink it (Coca Cola), then snort it... in concentrated extract form. So, I imagine, inhaling something would be half way to drinking it as Incas were doing it for millenniums.