Diamox

In my pockets are Diamox, Dexamethasone and golf tees.

Tom Healy, 57, a poet living in Miami and Manhattan, who I know as an avid global climber and trekker, skipped Diamox on a 2013 trip to Nepal.

Now 78, Banks has given up high-altitude adventures, but he happily offers this advice: “Always acclimatize, and don’t wait until you’re sick to start taking Diamox. Just take it, because it can’t hurt you.”

Many high-altitude seekers rely on Diamox, a popular prescription drug that “stimulates breathing and raises your oxygen level,” says Peter Hackett of Telluride, Colo., an emergency medicine physician, altitude sickness expert and experienced mountaineer.

While the body usually needs two to four days to adjust to high altitudes, “Diamox does the same thing in about eight hours, speeding the natural process,” says Hackett, noting that the drug works for 85 to 90 percent of people.