The proposed study is a prospective, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled clinical
trial evaluating ibuprofen and placebo for the prevention of neurological forms of altitude
illness [including high altitude headache (HAH), acute mountain sickness (AMS), high altitude
cerebral edema (HACE), and an emerging concept of High Altitude Anxiety]. The study will take
place in the spring and summer of 2012 at the Marine Corps Mountain Warfare Training Center
in the Eastern Sierras near Bridgeport, California. US Marines from near sea level will
participate in battalion-level training exercises at between 8,500-11,500 Feet, where some
altitude illness is expected. Concurrent measures used to determine objective markers of
altitude illness, such that validated clinical scales, rapid cognitive screening tests, will
inform us of symptoms of altitude illness.