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Sea Sickness - Cure?

29K views 87 replies 49 participants last post by  artbyjody  
#1 ·
I've received many great pieces of advice here on Sailnet so I'm going to try my luck again. I have not gotten seasick yet but I do get car sick in a major way. In fact I ride a scooter because of carsick problems. I'm afraid sea sick is just around the corner. I've researched some remedies online but what do sailors recommend? I've been hearing about a product called Motioneaze. Does this really work? I did get just a bit queasy during my last race and really don't want to end up heaving over the high side, if you get my drift. Any help will be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

Tucks
 
#3 · (Edited)
I've never used Motionease but hear it works fairly well.

Other tried and true remedies are ginger, which comes in gum, candy, cookies, or in several different types of soda; the accupressure bands that press on the pressure point near your wrists; dramamine, although a lot of people complain it makes them sleepy...

Also, increasing your intake of B-vitamins can help prevent it.. so start taking vitamin supplements... Eating a protein rich meal can also help prevent it... avoid greasy foods too...

There are also prescription remedies, like scopolamine, phenergran, Zofran... etc.

Generally, you need to take the meds well in advance of getting on the boat... at least a few hours, so that it can take effect. It is harder to stop motion sickness once it has started, than it is to prevent it as a general rule. Avoiding strong smells will help reduce the problem.

Also, sitting upright in the cockpit and watching the horizon will help—don't let your head or eyes roll around... that makes it worse.

If you can do something a bit more active, like steering the boat, that will also often help reduce the severity or prevent it altogether. Staying warm will help too—so dress in layers and wear good foul weather gear, and a hat if necessary.

The worst possible thing to do is go down below and sit. If you're cold and need to go down below... lie down... it will be better than sitting belowdecks...

Finally, as rexy said... puke downwind...off the lee side... getting it on the boat and your fellow crew is not a good thing...
 
#4 ·
There are a lot of individual differences in reactions. Watch for your own warning signs. Usually its yawning, feeling suddenly hot or cold, feeling tired. You may have to experiment. Write down everything you eat and drink and try to correlate it with feeling sick afterwards. What you ate and drank before hand can make a big difference. Coffee, for me is just not on, I find hot-chocolate a stabilising substitute, for example.
If you can get on the helm, its great. Standing is better than sitting, the body is used to balancing on its feet more than on its backside. Looking off the boat towards the ever steady horizon really helps (standing helps see it too). Having you nose high in the wind avoids unfresh smells. Then the concentration of helming the boat takes the mind off the feelings.
Anyone feeling sick on my boat is straight on the helm.
After you have been sick, there is usually a short respite - take another pill with water - a little of it will stay in. (I got that tip off the packet).
If you are cold and/or wet, do go below and lie down, (like SD said, don't sit or stand), preferably on the boards right over the keel. Take a bucket with you.
Is there a cure? - If you find a real one, it would be worth millions.:)
 
#5 ·
LOL... idiens- Good advice about the bucket... makes cleanup a lot simpler.

Some foods to take with you to help deal with it... plain saltine type crackers, peppermint gum or candies, ginger snap cookies (the good ones that actually have ginger as an ingredient please), as these will help settle your stomach and can make the difference between keeping it together or hanging over the leeward rails...
 
#6 ·
MotionEase? Is that the herbal stuff you put behind your ear?

I ask because, pun intended, seasickness is all in your head. If I wanted a real cure I'd have to have my inner ears surgically removed. In the meantime, you need to try two things: Drugs, and getting used to it.

Cars, boats, planes, all the same, babies and puppies routinely puke the first few times until the get used to the motions. I still can't read in a car for any length of time and that's about true belowdecks on a boat as well.

But every time you go for a ride (in the car or boat) your system gets de- sensitized a bit and most folks quickly get used to it. It helps if you have had a good night's sleep, no booze no smoking (or smoke around you) for 24 hours, no real greasy foods onboard or right before, and if you keep your eyes on the horizon as a reference point. Fresh air, not being dehydrated, and not being excessively hot also help.

Then there's drugs. If MotionEase is that herbal stuff ot put behind your ear...good luck but I think you're wasting your money, I know I did. Their shipping charges guarantee them a profit regardless of the refund for the product itself--and yes I sent mine back. It only attracts bugs and bees, didn't help me at all.

Relief bands (that press the ne-kwan accupressure point) or the electric releif band (very good) work nicely. Also taking ginger (buy the supermarket spice and 100 empty capsules from your pharmacy, it's much cheaper than buying them pre-made) or food with lots of ginger in it helps. Ginger opens up the capillaries, that increases oxygenation in the body and brain, and that's a real help for as many people as ay other meds are.

Bonine, Meclazine, and other otc drugs all help some people, and don't help others. You may want to buy two or three and try them (on separate days<G>) on land, to see if any make you sleepy or fuzzy-headed. There's no one magic answer, you need to try several to see what works for you.

On stronger drugs, there's sturgeron (otc in the UK, not available in the US) and scopalamine (patches and pills) by Rx only in the US. And a number of other drugs, all by Rx. The good news is, even if you need somethign the first time out, after a couple of trips your body gets used to it and you can wean off the drugs. Or, find drugs that work for you.

And in the worst case...You can take up motorcross instead.<G> There's no one easy or complete answer, take charge, and do what works for you.
 
#7 ·
There is an old recipe against motion sickness:
Brace a big 200 years old oak tree with both hands :)))
In fact any tree will do, as long it is hard on the ground.

OK, to be more serious:
To me and my wife ginger works, but we are not usually sea sick.
Ginger does not work for all people.

Once I did have some problems. I was disassembling and reassembling the clogged toilett underway. Big swells, being down below, bad smell and being bent over in an uneasy possition almost had me "use" that tiolet before it was fixed. :)
A method I use when I am inside (and it helps me a lot) is to close my eyes for a few seconds. This brings short term relieve, so you can continue wour work below. But then I need to go out on fresh air.

What we usualy have on board is Dramina, but it knocks people down.
So we usually have half of the crew being "passangers", sleeping a lot.

I only sailed short distance sailing (up to 60 or 80 n. miles in one passage), just a few overnight - so I yet have to discover what it looks like when things are really bad - and for a long time...
Hope ginger will help then.

So things which worked for us (not to all and not always):
- Get behind the steering wheel and handstear the boat - rated number one remedy.
- Do not go down, stay on fresh breeze and look at the horizon. If you do not feel good and feel a bit cold: ask for more cloths to be brought to you, do not be a hero and go below to take it. Dress more immidiately when you feel cold, not when you are already blue and all stiff and sick. A real hero for me is the one who admit he is not feeling good, not the one suffering until it is too late.
In most cases I have seen: when it gets you there is no way out (except to the oak tree).
 
#8 ·
time on task

As a long time sailor, retired F-16 pilot (lots of motion), and physician I can tell you the only thing that works long term is time on board. For the occasional sailor for short cruises the Rx meds/patches can work pretty well. Spending time with the motion is the only way to get your brain to start over-ridding your inner ear. If (when) you do get sick if at all possible try to stay on the boat after you reach the dock, overnight if possible. Even those people very prone to sea sickness adjust with time. Sorry there is no easier way but all the meds are useful only short term and all have side affects (dry mouth, visual changes, etc.). Bottom line, sail, sail, sail
 
#9 ·
BTW, most people adjust to the motion of the boat in 24-72 hours of being on-board. If you're planning on going on a longer cruise, it may well be worth staying aboard, even at the dock or mooring, for a day or two prior to leaving, just to allow your body to adjust/acclimatize itself.

As a word of warning, if you've been on a boat for a significant period of time, returning to dry land can also result is something much like seasickness, as your body adjusts to being on a non-moving surface. Usually takes about two weeks of being on-board continuously before this happens, but it isn't all that unusual.
 
#10 ·
As a word of warning, if you've been on a boat for a significant period of time, returning to dry land can also result is something much like seasickness, as your body adjusts to being on a non-moving surface. Usually takes about two weeks of being on-board continuously before this happens, but it isn't all that unusual.

Never have been seasick, some seem to be immune to it..but I have missed many a step or curb upon returning from time at sea:)..No officer I am not drunk...LOL
 
#11 ·
I would second the comment on time on the boat, usually a couple of days at sea is sufficient. Orthomartin is spot on the money.
What you eat is very important. The messman, who recommended a large glass of grapefruit juice to me, on my first trip to sea, is lucky to be alive! It will, if desired, accelerate the process of emptying your stomach.<g> I recommend soup and saltine crackers. Chicken noodle or other low fat soup is good, even for breakfast. Avoid coffee, unfortunately. Tea doesn't seem to have a totally adverse effect as a substitute. Do not, repeat do not, drink milk or other dairy products. These become capable of auto ignition in your stomach and the stench, when they come back up, is horrendous. Try to hurl to leeward and take a bottle of Listerene along as well. You will want to wash your mouth out, don't swallow, as the odor of your vomit will make you feel much worse and will provoke symptoms in others. Not exactly desirable you can imagine. Keep a pocket full of saltines to munch on, keeps the waves moving downward. Stop at the coffee shop on the way and bribe the waitress to give you a bunch of the individually wrapped packets.
 
#12 ·
Doug, Ginger Capsules

from the vitamin store worked for us. I don't like Ginger snap cookies or anything similar with Ginger so we have been using the capsules for sometime now. In fact a few years ago a TV program called Myth Busters on the Discovery Ch did a test of most motion sickness drugs/herb remedies, etc. and the person being tested found that Ginger worked over all the other things he tried. Being an old Navy Medic (circa Korea), I used Ginger on a number of sailors/troops prone to 'Mal-de-Mar" and it worked on the better part of those subjects.

Mel E
S/V LEHIGH
San Francisco Bay and SJ Delta
 
#13 ·
My son, who used to race with me or crew on other boats, always got sea-sick at the beginning of the season which, like sailors everywhere, the crew showed no mercy (knowing it was almost ritual), tempered with the fact that he was a hot-dog racer.

He tried everything, ginger, eating a lot, not eating, greasy food, non-greasy, beer, cola, carbonated water, accu-pressure wrist bands, saltines, bread, dramamine, get the point? Nothing worked, whatever he tried just changed the color of the technicolor yawn.

Moral: If you're gonna get sick, get sick. Stay above decks and concentrate on something other than your misery.
 
#14 ·
Ian-

Your son should race iceboats... :D
 
#15 ·
I can tell you what has worked for me and what I do not care for. I have used ginger tablets and they can take the edge off. I take it daily in the morning while at anchor and we are bouncing around. I did get sick last year focusing on my chartplotter and trying to help my dog who was overheating in 8-10 footers. Too much detail focus did me in. I now have the Transderm Scop that I use for extended passages. I had a little dry mouth but it was excellent. I had no sense of motion sickness or anything unpleasent at all. Dramamine and Bonine put me to sleep, catatonic sleep.
 
#16 ·
Sturgeron is supposed to be a bit better in terms of side effects than Scop or Dramamine or Bonine, but it isn't available in the US for some reason.
 
#18 ·
SD-
Tried sturgeron twice. For me, it didn't do squat. Didn't give me the dry mouth and photo-sensitive eyes that Scop usually does but heck, how else would I know it was working?
"Wow, lunch smells wonderful, what did you make. Hey, why is everyone running away to the rail?!" (The other way to tell the Scop is working.<G>)
 
#20 ·
Okay, I have had serious motion sickness my whole life. I get deadly sick in cars, planes, boats and even playing video games! The best thing for me is dramamine, you can get it everywhere, every gas station carries it, even. The other thing is these little patches that look like the wart pads, that go behind the ear. dramamine used to make me sleepy, but it hasn't in a few years.

the key is to know what makes it worse or even occur. It's a confusion thing for me... so if I view motion through something stationary, it confuses my inner ear and makes me sick. So if I ride in the back seat, I see the world moving but the car is holding still, soI get very ill. If I ride up front or drive, I never get sick. Becuse I can't see the pillars, I get tunnel vision watching the road. If I read on boat or car I will get very i'll. Going in the bottom of the boat in rough water does too. Staying up top and looking out away from the boat, helps. With motion sickness FRESH AIR is the key to not tossing your lunch monkey. Don't go below or cover your face, you want cold fresh air.

But like I said, you can take a dramamine and do what ever you want and never get sick, just don't sit still too long or yo will get tired.
 
#21 ·
For those who have tried it all and found other remedies wanting: you may want to inform yourself about the so-called "Paihia bombs", sold by the Paihia Pharmacy, Bay of Islands, New Zealand. (Just Google the many testimonies and the current commercial source if you're interested)

I am dead-serious! My mate and co-skipper of many years used to get too seasick to function properly on our ocean passages. She had tried pretty much everything, including Scopolamine and Stugeron (believe me; there is no such thing as Sturgeron) but to no avail. The she heard from some other boatgals in the S Pacific that they ordered their secret anti-seasickness weapon in Paihia and she got a few to try herself.
Bingo....!! Now she often insists on going below and getting busy in the galley when Rivendel II is bucking so badly that I can only tell her that she must be out of her bloody mind to even think about it.......
Does this mean that it works for everyone? Almost certainly not! For quite a few people, however, it has simply made the difference between being able to become an allweather cruiser or perhaps giving up on the dream.

Have fun!

Flying Dutchman

[Disclaimers: (1) although I happen to be an MD the true proprietary composition of the so-called "Paihia bombs" is unknown to me and I can therefore neither recommend nor discourage its use by anyone on the basis of reliable pharmacological information; (2) I have no financial interest of any kind in this product.]
 
#22 ·
I've got a cure for you. You may not like it, but a cure it is. This is what you do:

This upcoming 4th of July, sail up to some marina and meet up with a bunch of your sailing friends. Celebrate liberally, and make sure to indulge copiously in the local women and wine (or alcoholic beverage of your choice). Do it all-- sing, dance, and generally have a really good time. Wake up the next day, hung over and dehydrated, kick the landlubbers ashore, and cast off for your home port. Try to plan the whole thing so you have a marginal weather window, too. The seas will start to kick up just a little bit, but nothing you haven't been in before. You can handle it. Once your out of sight of land, it really starts to kick up (if you're lucky the seas will be 12-14 ft every 7 seconds), and you find yourself puking up internal organs you didn't know you had. Oh, and by the way, make sure and singlehand so you don't have help. Once you get back to your home port you'll recover. After that, I'd doubt that you'll ever be seasick again.

Worked for me!
 
#24 ·
Mythbusters.<G>

Much as I love to watch, NASA did that reseach in the 60's and published the same results, including the effectiveness of ginger. Well, perhaps I shouldn't say "the same" results since NASA found some effective meds that don't always put everyone to sleep.<G>

Was listening to a "talking book" yesterday, and I have to ask, does anybody else get really PO'd when people say "Nassau" when the agency calls itself "Nassah" ?
 
#26 ·
From an OTC standpoint, in the US, you can try Dramamine (dimenhydrinate). It can make one drowsy. It is also associated with dry mouth and some flushing. It can interact with other depressants, including alcohol.

Scopolamine, adminstered from a patch behind the ear, is available by perscription. It has a similar side effect profile; it shouldn't be used by people with prostate problems.

If those don't work, there are much stronger medicines available. Talk to your doctor.