Seasickness

I have not been able to find a post *regarding *seasickness.


I would invite *comment professional or otherwise.


For all those who read this post *please be advised that i am not a doctor or pretend to be one.


Fortunately, we that is Mavis and I have never been seasick and unfortunately if you are one of those who suffer from " Mal de Mare" *you have my sympathy, *however i would recommend that you do have a choice to discuss the matter with your Physician as you may suffer from other under lying factors.


What works *for us may not be suitable for you or your family.


As you may well know there are several over the counter preparations which claim
to retard sea sickness , again you do have a choice.


For some, seasickness can be a gift from hell


Here is what works for us , i am thinking here that prevention is part of the cure.


1) *Before venturing on an ocean crossing we visit the doctor to have the wax build up in our ears removed ,excessive wax can have an adverse effect on the inner ear which is responsible for balance , which is compromised my the motion of the boat on the ocean.


2) *I would advise staying on deck *out in the fresh air, keep away from engine *and exhaust fumes.


3) *Some time ordinary boat smells can push you over the edge.


4) Focus your attention on the horizon, face forwards do not face backwards.


5) do not look at any one who has their head over the side.


6) Don't sit and read a book.


7 )* Find something to do, like steering the vessel helps.


8 ) Eat bland food, do not go on an empty stomach, fizzy ginger ale gets any gas up.
and antacid *aids *calm the stomach.


9) Avoid *greasy foods.


10) Do not stay below deck.



11) * Eat very burnt toast the carbon settles the tummy. BINGO !


carbon eliminates poison, as in WW11 Gas masks.


Donald *& Mavis























-- Edited by SOMERS on Friday 4th of March 2011 01:16:06 PM

"11) * Eat very burnt toast the carbon settles the tummy. BINGO !
carbon eliminates poison, as in WW11 Gas masks."

Well this is one thing I never tried and* will for sure.

Being a sufferer of mal de mer at times I have* found a few things that help me.

1) Ginger pills
2) Laying down. For some reason when I'm horizontal it doesn't bother me...if I even sit upright for 2 seconds, wham.
3) Running the boat
4) At a rocky*anchorage*I sit facing sideways as the fore/aft rocking does not bother me but side to side does.



-- Edited by jleonard on Friday 4th of March 2011 07:59:26 AM

I have so far never been seasick, if we are in rough conditions I do take a Bonine or dramamnine in advance. I have heard Ginger snaps or other ginger snacks, ginger tea, ale etc will help ward seasickness off.
Steve W

All excellent advice. Worst I have had it is on a sport fish in pretty big seas....I was fine until I used the head and it was foul and that pushed me over the edge although I never actually puked. I fight it with any soda(coke in this case) and crackers. You have to force yourself to eat and drink but you have to and you can get thru it. I do carry promethazine(phenergan) with me in tablet form.....nowhere near as heavenly as the IV stuff(which is probably a good thing if you still want to function) but it does take the edge off.

My hubby, the retired deputy sheriff, use to do alot of marijuana grow observance through binoculars on a helicopter and it would make him very sick. Doc gave him this patch he sticks on the skin behind his ear about 3 hours before going up, and it worked like a charm. Well....we tried it for seasickness and it works perfectly. I also noticed at our marina that the people running the whale watcher cruises put wrist bands on the folks going out whale-watching and was told it was for seasickness.

I have never been "truly" sea sick but have had some queasy moments out on the pacific ocean on the sailboat.* I heard about Zofran at a cruising seminar and a friend who is a pharmacist seconded the recommendation. It is a prescription drug, meant as an anti-nausea treatment for chemo therapy patients.* I started taking it three days before our long (2000 mile) ocean race to give me time to get* used to any side effects.* I felt fine the first few days while some others were sick.* I stopped taking it after maybe 5 or 6 days at sea.** Side effects were minimal.*

I think the patch is called scopalomine.* It can have unpleasant side effects in some.*

Beer and greasy tacos has always worked for me.BB

Ginger has been used for centuries for seasickness.

Saw a program once on a ship wreck. They found small viles of ground ginger in the ships surgeons bag.

SD

I have only gotten seasick twice, once changing fuel filters in a tight, hot engine room in rough water and once clearing a jam from a toilet joker valve in perfectly calm waters with no wind and an easy motion, go figure.

We keep a half dozen sets of those wrist bands with the buttons for guests who get seasick or are prone to. I don't know how these things work, but they do.

"We keep a half dozen sets of those wrist bands with the buttons for guests who get seasick or are prone to. I don't know how these things work, but they do."

They don't work for me *Wish they did it would be an easy fix.

Story time.

Mavis and i are on a 600 mile sailboat delivery to the US with the owner ,his wife and two very young girls.
The owner came up on deck and told me that his wife wanted him to throw her into the sea just off Montauk *because she was that seasick and beyond wanting to stay a live.


I went below lit the alcohol stove got a fork stuck it in to a slice of bread and really burnt the bread over the flames *( I did not cremated it ) i buttered each slice of bread *then cut it into fingers.


I hand fed the burnt bread fingers to her, *with in a short time she came up on deck with a children story book which *she read to her girls.


It was the black carbon which did the trick. BINGO !

Pineapple Girl wrote:



I think the patch is called scopalomine.* It can have unpleasant side effects in some.

Click to expand...

Yes, I've heard it referred to as a "truth drug". It could be very unpleasant to be out on the high seas and start telling your closely guarded secrets!

*

Burnt bread Opera.

Mavis and i had a fantastic navigator on a major sailboat ocean race who, i new ahead of time that he got very seasick , we took him any way,knowing that he would" turn green ".


I was determined that he was not going to get sick on my boat.


A day before we started the race I purchased two loaves of bread and burnt the lot.


I started him on the burnt bread *before he got on the boat, he was just fine for the whole voyage .


We did not win but we had a great time and that is all that matters.


I had always wondered why they had charcoal in WW11 gas masks *and now in water filters, then the charcoal idea hit me . Bingo !


For those who have contributed to the post thank you.

interesting thread, thanks for posting it.

seasickness is similar to motion sickness.
it is basically your brain receiving conflicting information from different sensors.
there is fluid in your inner/middle ears, these fluids tells you brain that you are "level" or tilted etc.
this fluid passes through some sort of diaphragm to report "motion" to your brain, it does not move fast so when in seas this fluid can lag a little and the reporting to the brain is then off center, usually compared to the visual sense.

i have experienced small periods of nauseousness while in a small room during an earthquake of aftershock.
i can get motion sick by going round and round in horizontal direction (think tea cups at disney).

Very rarely do i get seasick, however last time i went offshore on a overnight fishing trip I did experience some seasickness.
I think my problem was that it started out at night, and since i had no fear of seasickness i participated heavily in the pre-departure tailgate party and even had some beers and cigars during the first couple hours leaving the port. (it was a party boat, not me driving).
around midnight out of nowhere it hit me, i managed to sleep ok but in the morning it was still with me, not really bad but bad enough that i skipped free breakfast and only had a coke.

my kids like to go down below when we are enroute, i always tell them not to and often enough they get seasick.
my wife was never seasick initially but lately it seems she is having real problems, she takes Dramamine and says it works.

thanks for the burnt bread advise, will try that on wifey next time.

If you ever get the flue and your tummy turns into a figure 888
Try the burnt toast.


Some times kids don't feel well and get tummy ache.


Burnt toast works for them


At a restaurant i get them to partially burn my steak ......... Bingo !


Having said all that , as with all medical please consult with you *Family Doctor

Only known cure for sea sickness................Sit under an apple tree!

Never really had full blown Seasickness, but on an empty stomach it sometimes feels possible.* So I down some crackers or a sandwich, or something to take off the edge.


Next time I don't feel right at home I am going to try the burnt toast routine to test it out.

Thanks Don.

JohnP

Rocky wrote:

My hubby, the retired deputy sheriff, use to do alot of marijuana grow observance through binoculars on a helicopter and it would make him very sick. Doc gave him this patch he sticks on the skin behind his ear about 3 hours before going up, and it worked like a charm. Well....we tried it for seasickness and it works perfectly. I also noticed at our marina that the people running the whale watcher cruises put wrist bands on the folks going out whale-watching and was told it was for seasickness.

Click to expand...

Coincidently, marijuana is prescribed for chemo patients to control their nausea. *I would think it would be a wonderful antidote to seasickness....and the side effects are most excellent!!!!...

*

Flyin High EH,* Like you would know. * *

Hahaha...hey, I can dream!!!....lol

SOMERS wrote:

Burnt bread Opera.

Click to expand...

That's brilliant, Don.* Who would have thunk?* My wife was seasick for 3 weeks on the way to Hawaii - not violently, but just constantly uncomfortable, and this would have been a good trick to know.

*

I usually am a little 'out of sorts" at the start of an offshore passage from Astoria to Neah Bay, particularly the stretch from the Columbia River Bar to the Grays Harbor light. Never sick, but just not "with it". In my sailboat days, it was a 30+ hour run and we stood watches, and I was always good after my first off watch - 2 hours in the rack worked for me. In the power boat, it is 12-14 hours run in daylight, so no off watch period in the rack. My routine now is a ginger dinner, stir fried chicken asian dinner the night before for example, and some bonine (non prescription meclazine) just before we head out. That first run, on an "easy" day is 4,2,10 - 4" swells, 2' wind waves, 10 sec period - a 6' wave every 10 sec off the forward beam (the Col river washing machine effect), although more like 6,4,10.

I don't have a toaster on board, ya think chewing on a charcoal briquet work?
Steve W

Steve wrote:

I don't have a toaster on board, ya think chewing on a charcoal briquet work?
Steve W

Click to expand...

That should work.* Just stay away from barbeque lighter fluid.* Although if you caught fire, I guess it would take your mind off seasickness.

*

Back in the 90's when we did our pacific cruise I had blown out a ear drum and started having trouble with getting seasick, I had to do the dramamine thing to function. I ran out of dramo on the trip down Baja and was trying everything. I eventually took sudafed and the seasickness went away. After the ear healed the majority of the seasickness issues went away, but every now and then it still happens and I use generic sudafed ( diphenhydramine ) It doesn't make me drowsy and I function just fine.
HOLLYWOOD

Hollywood
I haven't heard of sudafed before, sounds interesting, I might give it a try on the next trip.

As far as other meds go, I tried the scopalomine patch once and had a horrible reaction to it - started the day with double vision, which then progressed into grotesque images appearing to me out of the clouds; very disturbing and the effects lasted for about a week with me. A friend of mine tried it on a solo sailboat offshore trip and had a bad reaction in which he said he had himself convinced he could get off his boat and walk to shore. I know it works for lots of people, but not for everyone.

Burnt toast and sudafed - its what's for breakfast!

Dick

I know people that swear by Stugeron (Cinnarizine).* It's not available in the US or Canada but it seems to be the sea sickness drug of choice around here.

Larry/Lena
Hobo KK42
Bahia de Sol, El Salvador

Thank goodness I have never been seasick (yet) but the wife uses a cocktail of Bonine (Dramamine) and Sudafed. The Sudafed takes care of the ear liquid (it's an antihistamine) and the Bonine helps with the vertigo or motion illness.

I find sleep is the best cure for me for mal de mar. I take a xanax or drink enough whiskey to sleep the dead. When I wake up I'm no more sick and cured for the rest of the trip. For obvious reasons this cure should be used on longer trips or you'll never remember you've been boating.

Steve*I got, what is left of a half a bag of two year old briquets in the garage over near the work bench.
They are all yours after Rex has finishes playing with them , Mustard or Ketchup?


BINGO !



-- Edited by SOMERS on Sunday 6th of March 2011 09:54:26 AM