dramamine and diving?

[pjm460]

Hello,

My wife and I are recent certified divers and are "diving right in" by going to St. Lucia this April for a dive vacation. The Mrs. has never been on a boat and is concerned about motion sickness. Questions are .. Does dramamine and diving mix? Are there other known remedies for this?

This board rocks....

 

[Mo2vation]

I do a lot of boat diving. And I am WAY prone to sea sickness.

For years I took Bonine - but I got the Bonine sleepys.

For the last 2+ years I've been taking the Dram chewables. They're the larger orange flavored tabs. I take half when I go to sleep the night before, and half when I wake up. I'm good for a day of rough boat diving. It its SUPER rough, I'll take another half late morning.

Never been sick. No impact on my diving. 'sall good for me.

---
Ken

 

[TimK]

http://www.diversalertnetwork.org/medical/articles/article.asp?articleid=57

DAN seems to point to the drowsiness issue associated with most of the remedies for motion sickness as the single biggest safety issue -- might want to do some additional reading there. However, I too do boat dives after taking dramamine with no adverse effects (so far) and have never been drowsy after taking it! Way too excited about being in the water.

Also, since your going out of the country -- you might want to check out the DAN diving insurance. Pretty cheap and comes with a good list of benefits that cover more than diving.

 

[Ber Rabbit]

The following is from my personal experience as someone who easily get seasick:

I use generic Meclizine (the active ingredient in non-drowsy Dramamine). The only thing I've found is it does strange things to my mind if I take a Sudafed with it and dive. You definitely want to use the drug on the surface before you ever go underwater with it to see if it produces side effects in you because those can be heightened when diving. How is she on roller coasters? Riding in the back seat of a car? Reading in a moving vehicle? I found these activities would give me a bad headache or make me anxious or nauseous but not always all three--it was a long time before I discovered it was motion sickness causing those feelings.

I too start taking my pills the day before so the medication is in my system. I take one the morning before, one the night before and one the morning of the dive. I eat a light breakfast, no greasy or acidic foods and I carry saltines and plenty of water with me. I eat a few saltines before I get on the boat and as soon as I step on the boat. I eat a couple more when the boat starts moving away from the dock and when it stops. I get off the boat as quickly as possible and wait as long as possible to get back on and the first thing I do is eat more saltines. If my stomach even THINKS about feeling queasy I eat more saltines to give it something to do. Half way through the day I may take another Meclizine pill, I've found the single pill I usually take in the morning starts wearing off about half way through the recommended dosage time on the label. Ex: if it says 8 hours I'm starting to feel it wearing off after 4 hours. I have bought some candied ginger to take along on my next boat outing just to see how that works for me. Everyone is different and you may have a horrible experience this time but you just need to keep trying different remedies until you find the one that works for you.

I've taken a lot of time to refine my own seasickness prevention and now I can go fishing with my husband on Lake Erie all day in 3-4 foot waves and feel pretty good!

Good luck to you!
Ber :lilbunny:

 

[jaybombs25]

BTW the seas in st lucia aren't very rough at all so 95% of th time it is a smooth ride...however you will get somne rougher days.. but mostly all the diving is done on th e calm caribbean sea side anyway

 

[skynscuba]

I have to take something if the ride is long and the sea is anything but flat. Bonine and Dramamine Less Drowsy have the same active ingredient. Bonine is chewable, with a sorta raspberry flavor. I haven't tried the original Dramamine, which has the same ingredient as Dramamine Chewable.

Try it at home, ahead of time on a weekend, to see how it affects you. Take one the evening before, and another 1/2 tablet about 1 hour before you would be getting on a boat.

They make me slightly spacey, but nothing I see as a problem diving or driving.

 

[lishen]

I'd have to agree with Ber, make sure you try taking the drug on land before ever taking it when you go diving. If you get really tired/drowsy on land with Dramamine try some of the other meds on the market until you find one that you're comfortable with.

That said, I use half of a less-drowsy Dramamine when I wake up before going out in the morning when the seas are relatively calm, ex. st lucia, cozumel, curacao and a full tab when i'm going diving where the swells are larger. I've also tried using the scopolamine patches which work well if you're diving for multiple days or on a liveaboard and i've heard great things about the scopolamine pills too.

 

[river_sand_bar]

Ginger Pills.... YUP.... come to find out, they are the BEST for motion sickness, but you dont hear much about it, because its sooo cheap. Head to any health food store and pick up a bottle, start taking them a day before. If you get car sick, drink a ginger ale, it stops it in a second.

There are NO side affects from taking Ginger pills.

 

[KazooDiver]

I don't usually get sea sick...only once and that was at night in some good movement up and down ....hanging at 15feet for a safety stop and with the lights and the swaying up and down with the tide I got a very upset tummy...but that was the only time.

What every you decide to do PLEASE make sure that you try the medication/herb before your trip...you want to make sure that it does not cloud your mental abilities, make you sleepy/tired, and your not allergic. It sure would not be a good thing to have anyone of these things happen while your at depth.

Oh and even if the medication says that it is non drowsy- you may have a different reaction to the medication.

Skynscuba--I do think that it is a problem if the medication makes your a little "spacey" on the surface, the problem could intensify at depth, and even if it doesn't you want to have your full cognition available because you never know when an emergency can happen!

 

[mislav]

Hello,

My wife and I are recent certified divers and are "diving right in" by going to St. Lucia this April for a dive vacation. The Mrs. has never been on a boat and is concerned about motion sickness. Questions are .. Does dramamine and diving mix? Are there other known remedies for this?

This board rocks....

I take Dramamine almost every time I dive from a boat. Zero problems with them. They may for some cause sleepiness. Drinking some Coke or Pepsi while on the boat can help with that without reducing the primary effects of Dramamine.