So nauseated

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I get seasick on 2/3's of my dives and I have almost 2000 of them. My sea sickness can be really bad or really mild. It all depends to the stimulus. Sometimes I'm sick for 12 hrs, sometimes not at all. Things I do are to take 1/2 a meclizine the night before and the other half the morning of, if I am on a boat that I can sleep on. I do not drive under the influence. Otherwise I will try to tough it out. I try not to dive if the conditions have swells >2 ft. I don't normally eat breakfast. I don't mind tossing cookies as I usually feel better afterwards. My dive buddies are used to it.
 
Everybody has given great replies and I don't have anything real to add, but I went through that and it wasn't fun. My wife said the same thing, I looked green after the dive. I think it had something to do one ear equalizing while the other did not, cold water in the ear....who knows? No one can give you a 100% right answer. All I can say is it hasn't happened since.

What I can say is I've slowed down my descents making sure I've equalized correctly and often, and I've REALLY slowed down my accents. It seems when I'm coming up all the release of pressure can cause a wave of nausea (for me).

Good luck, the 1st few are always the most awkward...hang in there and move slow.
 
The vertigo, and maybe nausea, can be caused on ascent or descent by having each ear equalized at a different pressures. Slowing down is good advice. I don't know it to be true, but it would seem that the incidence of unequal equalization induced vertigo would be more prevalent on ascent than descent. As you descent your valsalva maneuver can work to more forcefully equalize the ears (Not advocating forcing and equalization that isn't working easily here). Whereas when you are ascending the air is escaping under it's own pressure created by ascent. If the orifices are restricted on one side of your head it may escape very slowly creating an imbalance. I would suggest slowing down on both your descent and ascent to see if that helps any.
 
I am not at all susceptible to motion sickness buy have talked to Ralph underwater in safety stops a couple times. If the safety stop is mid water, with no near by point of reference and seas are rough the motion without any point to fixate on does it for me pretty quickly.

Rough airplane rides, even in small planes, rough boat trips are not too much of a problem, although on a resent ferry crossing here in Philippines I was glad that we were coming into more sheltered waters just as it was getting dark and I lost the ability to focus on the horizon.
 
The obvious question is what did you have to eat? Did you stop at a gas station and get sushi? Did you deserve a break today? Fish and grits for breakfast? Thai food at a place with lots of cats hanging around?

You could have had a touch of food poisoning.
 
the trippy reflection of the light on the pool gave me vertigo and the nausea lasted a day or so then eventually cleared.

What would set my wife off was seeing a wreck that sat unevenly on the sea floor.

Meclizine did not help.

Before Meclizine, my wife used Dramamine, but the wreck sitting unevenly on the bottom still bothered her. Not knowing how early you took the Meclizine or how often prior to the dives, you might experiment with that. My wife takes it an hour before any activity with motion and as often as the instructions on the bottle allow, but only on the day of the activity. She doesn't get sick but still notices the slightest of motion - I often wonder if she took it the night before the activity if it would make a difference or not.

I won't be diving again until I've had proper training.

Fantastic! I didn't know anything but taking the full course when I became certified and would only suggest that to anyone just starting out. Much better to have a good instructor taking you through a progression over time than someone trying to get you below the surface for a one time vacation experience.
 
Definitely get your ears checked out if you haven't already. I'm not a medical professional but the repeated ascents and buoyancy issues, extreme nausea, and full feeling in the ear scream "ear problem" to me. If my WAG is correct, you'll want prompt medical attention before it gets worse.

I'm sorry you experienced something so unpleasant. I've heard it said about various conditions that cause prolonged nausea (seasickness, food poisoning, etc.) and can confirm from experience, "at first you're afraid you'll die. Then you're afraid you won't."
 
What would set my wife off was seeing a wreck that sat unevenly on the sea floor.
Before Meclizine, my wife used Dramamine, but the wreck sitting unevenly on the bottom still bothered her. Not knowing how early you took the Meclizine or how often prior to the dives, you might experiment with that. My wife takes it an hour before any activity with motion and as often as the instructions on the bottle allow, but only on the day of the activity. She doesn't get sick but still notices the slightest of motion - I often wonder if she took it the night before the activity if it would make a difference or not.

While motion sickness is very much a physical affliction, I believe there is a strong psychological component that accompanies it. For instance, as I previously mentioned, in 20 years active duty naval service I only got seasick once. A year ago I went sailing with friend of the coast of Dunkirk, France in some heavy but inconsistent wind and got hit with motions sickness...since that day I have been apprehensive about sailing despite it being something I really enjoy doing. Every time I go out on a boat I am afraid that I may get motion sick again to the point that it is a distraction and barrier to any pleasure I get from the activity. I have significantly reduced the frequency that I go sailing because of this. I hate feeling nauseous more than I hate vomiting, and while the apprehension may not be rational the psychological sense that I may get sick and have to tough things out until we return to the port/marina which could be hours depending on winds and currents, is just more than I want to bear and so I have become extremely selective about the conditions, boats, and people that I will go out sailing with.

Perhaps your wife noticing the slightest of motion even though she doesn't get sick is a similar psychological manifestation of what I attempted to describe above.

-Z
 
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