serambin
Guest
SCUBAJENNIFER:
You can reduce the drowsiness by using 1/2 doses of the tablet. This usually enough to do the trick. The important thing is to start taking them several days prior to the trip.
Stan
How to prevent seasickness...
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You can reduce the drowsiness by using 1/2 doses of the tablet. This usually enough to do the trick. The important thing is to start taking them several days prior to the trip.
Stan
serambin
Guest
Yes, several days (you can take it at bedtime). This helps in two ways, first, it takes at least 24 hours for the durg to reach maximum effectiveness, and second, your body will adjust to the drug somewhat and reduce the sleepiness side effects.
Stan
Stan
Dive1Dennis
Guest
Ironcat:
Wow, I don't think I would set foot on a boat if it were that bad.:jpshakehe Just reading your post I have a new-found appretiation for my sea legs.... and your dedication to diving!
Kevrumbo:Visualization and Kinesthetics. You have to convince your Mind and Body that you are in dynamic motion, and that you can actively compensate for it. Otherwise you get the Brain/Inner-Ear conflict leading to Motion Sickness.
Feel the rhythm of the swell and its effects on the boat's motion, see how it changes your visual perspective on the Horizon. Memorize and playback that Kinesthesia in your "Mind's Eye", especially when that first pang of Queasiness hits your gut. When you get good at it, you can hold off debilitating Sea Sickness even while lying below in your bunk, or at night when you can't see the Horizon, and in all conditions short of The Perfect Storm . . .
That's what I do. Lay on the bunk with my eyes closed, but in my 'minds eye" I am looking at the horizon, and my visual is changing to match the motions I am feeling. Once I have gotten rid of the mismatch between my inner ears and my (inner) eye, there is no sickness.
Of course, then I eventually have to get up to go to the bathroom, and I have to open my eyes. Then it's all over.
I've watched that episode, and made my prone-to-spewing wife watch it, too. They were actually testing non-medicinal alternatives to traditional sea sickness medications. Ginger pills were indeed the only things to have a positive effect... other than the regular drugs. Those worked like a champ. The things that DIDN'T work were the accupressure bands, the new high-tech watch that zaps you periodically, and one or two other homeopathic remedies. Ginger was the only non-drug that did the trick.heligeek:
I have some friends who use this technique. They refer to it as "dramamine loading" and basically start taking the pills a full day before getting on a boat. The instructions on the box saying 1.5 hrs beforehand, or whatever, don't do squat for them, but starting ahead to time to saturate their body long before boarding does the trick every time.serambin:
erparamedic
Vampire Girl......er Dork
OMG!!! That fetal position, wish I were dead seasickness.... YUP... that's similar to what I get. OH, but for me, it's "wish I could quit hanging over the back of the boat long enough to get in the fetal position", and I'm praying for a quick death!! LOLTheRedHead:
Hence, I've earned my nick-name... Chumbate!!
I've never seen anyone either... but if I would have brought a signal mirror along, I could have. I didn't think it was even possible, but I had been *royally* seasick topside, and while I was fine on the first dive, about 25 minutes into the second dive, I ended up dry heaving through my regulator around 42 feet down (and for pretty much all of my extra-conservative ascent). Poseidon was in a bad mood, I suppose.Ironcat:
(Being seasick underwater gave a whole new irony to the term "dry heave".)
Surf & Sky
Registered
Wow, I wouldn't have guessed that so many people dive with seasickness meds that make them drowsy.
From the non-medical perspective, the Navy has actually done a fair amount of research into ginger. A few people already mentioned ginger, but I think there is more to be said. The Navy found that ginger, (and peppermint to a lesser degree) has a numbing effect in the GI tract. In sufficient quantity his effect is complete, but it only works for 65-70% of the test cases. Also, the studies found no ill effects to ginger in any reasonable quantity. So the good news is it DOES work, but the bad news is it doesn't work for everyone. It is possible to be immune to the effects of ginger.
I have never had any seasickness issues, nor had I ever been airsick before flight training, but aerobatic flight (especially inverted) followed by moderate turbulence never failed to make me puke. Since Navy pilots are absolutely forbidden to take meds that are not prescribed by a flight surgeon, and there are zero Navy approved motion-sickness meds, all that is left are naturalistic methods. Here's what worked for me.
I would eat jasmine rice (I doubt the type matters) with about a teaspoon of grated fresh ginger in it every morning that I would be flying. The effect lasted about 4 to 6 hours.
I personally think fresh ginger is the way to go because it is cheap, you can buy it at your local supermarket, and (I think) it tastes good. It is a bit spicy, so I imagine that not everyone will like it. Using ginger ale as an alternative doesn't really work because there is actually very little ginger in it, it is used only for flavoring and most of the ginger is processed out. Ginger pills definitely work, but I would be extra careful to read what else is in them. Many ginger pills have caffeine, which is counter-productive when trying to avoid motion-sickness.
A few other techniques that were taught to me are cool fresh air blowing on your face, staying away from spicy foods (ginger doesn't count, ironically), and accustomation . At the risk of dragging this post on, I'm going to say something about accustomation. The Navy uses an evil spinning barstool device. It can make anybody puke guaranteed. However, it has to be combined with positive visualization techniques to actually train your brain to accept the stimuli coming in from your vestibular and somatosensory systems. Without these, it is possible to train a person to be sick just by sitting on the *&%# device. I suppose this is like Pavlov's dog stuff, and I'm sure a boat would be no different. You can use it to accomtomize yourself, but only if you can stop it when you need to (maybe by going for a swim), and only if your brain learns the right lessons. Otherwise, you can train yourself to be sick just by stepping on the boat.
Who knew the Navy was in to such mamby-pamby new age crap?
By the way, I am just parroting some information given to me by a flight physiologist, who is a specialist in hypobaric (not hyper) physiology. If anyone here can add to this or provide some citations for any of this, I would be grateful.
From the non-medical perspective, the Navy has actually done a fair amount of research into ginger. A few people already mentioned ginger, but I think there is more to be said. The Navy found that ginger, (and peppermint to a lesser degree) has a numbing effect in the GI tract. In sufficient quantity his effect is complete, but it only works for 65-70% of the test cases. Also, the studies found no ill effects to ginger in any reasonable quantity. So the good news is it DOES work, but the bad news is it doesn't work for everyone. It is possible to be immune to the effects of ginger.
I have never had any seasickness issues, nor had I ever been airsick before flight training, but aerobatic flight (especially inverted) followed by moderate turbulence never failed to make me puke. Since Navy pilots are absolutely forbidden to take meds that are not prescribed by a flight surgeon, and there are zero Navy approved motion-sickness meds, all that is left are naturalistic methods. Here's what worked for me.
I would eat jasmine rice (I doubt the type matters) with about a teaspoon of grated fresh ginger in it every morning that I would be flying. The effect lasted about 4 to 6 hours.
I personally think fresh ginger is the way to go because it is cheap, you can buy it at your local supermarket, and (I think) it tastes good. It is a bit spicy, so I imagine that not everyone will like it. Using ginger ale as an alternative doesn't really work because there is actually very little ginger in it, it is used only for flavoring and most of the ginger is processed out. Ginger pills definitely work, but I would be extra careful to read what else is in them. Many ginger pills have caffeine, which is counter-productive when trying to avoid motion-sickness.
A few other techniques that were taught to me are cool fresh air blowing on your face, staying away from spicy foods (ginger doesn't count, ironically), and accustomation . At the risk of dragging this post on, I'm going to say something about accustomation. The Navy uses an evil spinning barstool device. It can make anybody puke guaranteed. However, it has to be combined with positive visualization techniques to actually train your brain to accept the stimuli coming in from your vestibular and somatosensory systems. Without these, it is possible to train a person to be sick just by sitting on the *&%# device. I suppose this is like Pavlov's dog stuff, and I'm sure a boat would be no different. You can use it to accomtomize yourself, but only if you can stop it when you need to (maybe by going for a swim), and only if your brain learns the right lessons. Otherwise, you can train yourself to be sick just by stepping on the boat.
Who knew the Navy was in to such mamby-pamby new age crap?
By the way, I am just parroting some information given to me by a flight physiologist, who is a specialist in hypobaric (not hyper) physiology. If anyone here can add to this or provide some citations for any of this, I would be grateful.
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