Motion sickness help on liveaboard

[Kevrumbo]

Most people don't get motion sickness while driving a car or piloting a boat/plane; the reason being because you're directly effecting the action of the vessel, you see what actions you have to take to steer a clear passage, you anticipate and react to the dynamic forces that result from such actions. Your mind/body kinesthetics are synchronized, your vestibular senses unconfounded, you don't get motion sickness. . .

Now short of going up to the wheelhouse and actually taking control of the boat, try sitting with the Captain at the Wheel, let him talk to you about how he's steering the boat and actually see/anticipate the resultant boat motion in response to his actions.

In other words . . .don't anticipate being seasick --anticipate being in control, knowing & feeling what the boat's motion is going to be. With practice of this simple visualization, you can even "quell the queasiness" in the roughest sea conditions --all without any medication of any kind.

Look at the horizon, see how it moves relative to the boat's motion and memorize that pattern, and then get a feeling for the rhythm of the swells and synchronize it with horizon's motion. Now when you go down belowdecks, just play it all back in your "mind's eye" as you begin to feel & anticipate the boat's apparent motion --or even imagine the boat belowdecks is transparent and you can actually see the horizon & swells in sync with the boat's apparent motion-- it's all just visualization without medication and it works!

 

[Eileentk]

In other words . . .don't anticipate being seasick --anticipate being in control, knowing & feeling what the boat's motion is going to be. With practice of this simple visualization, you can even "quell the queasiness" in the roughest sea conditions --all without any medication of any kind.

Look at the horizon, see how it moves relative to the boat's motion and memorize that pattern, and then get a feeling for the rhythm of the swells and synchronize it with horizon's motion. Now when you go down belowdecks, just play it all back in your "mind's eye" as you begin to feel & anticipate the boat's apparent motion --or even imagine the boat belowdecks is transparent and you can actually see the horizon & swells in sync with the boat's apparent motion-- it's all just visualization without medication and it works!

That's like saying that seasickness is all in your mind. With all due respect to your theory, your suggested approach does not work for everyone or even most. I often get seasick even when the seas are only 2-3 ft waves even after taking medication and/or wearing the patch. I still go out on the ocean to dive because I love it (once I'm under the water that is) and I just have to recognize that seasickness happens to me most trips. The visualization does not prevent the nausea nor does it do anything for the dry heaves which is what I get after I've emptied my stomach.

 

[ben@scorpiodivers.com]

well, your in for the best diving of your life, osprey reef and the coral sea are unbelievable, the cod hole, the shark feed, steves and nonki bommi, migrating humpbacks and even better if you get out to the ss yongala, has to be one of the top wreck dives in the world!
seasickness?? its well worth it!

 

[Eau_Girl]

Little Guppie,

SOF has seasickness meds you can get on board. They have ginger tabs which are free. They also sell TravelCalm which is also avaiable in pharmacies in Oz without a prescription -- tell the pharmacist you will be diving so they give you one you can mix with diving. I'm not sure the active ingredient off the top of my head.

For most there wasn't a problem except the crossing out to Osrpey when they advised people when to take meds to get ahead of the bumpy sea.

 

[Kevrumbo]

That's like saying that seasickness is all in your mind. With all due respect to your theory, your suggested approach does not work for everyone or even most. I often get seasick even when the seas are only 2-3 ft waves even after taking medication and/or wearing the patch. I still go out on the ocean to dive because I love it (once I'm under the water that is) and I just have to recognize that seasickness happens to me most trips. The visualization does not prevent the nausea nor does it do anything for the dry heaves which is what I get after I've emptied my stomach.

Look . . .even situational instances of stressful high blood pressure can be calmed through visualization, biofeedback etc. Motion sickness in my experience is the same exact psychosomatic phenomena, and you can beat it (or at least alleviate it) with sustained & disciplined practice of the "mantra" as described above.

It's all meditation . . .and not medication. Good luck and don't give up !

 

[ranger]

I use the patch, and had blurred vision once, but it was because I made the mistake of rubbing my eyes after handling the patch. My eyes were dilated because I put the med directly in my eyes after rubbing. Now I am careful that I throughly was my hands after handling the patch and I've had no more problems. Bottom line, if you touch the patch don't rub your eyes.

 

[scubadobadoo]

...in my experience... !

While I am big on visualization and breathing and the rest, the above words do come into play when it comes to sea sickness for some. Most things can be dealt with in the manner you suggest, I agree. I practice this myself. Nonetheless, take child birth for example...breathing, relaxing, visualizing and other methods will get you through the experience but you will still be in insane pain and have a slight limp the next morning. Oh, and you probably won't wanna go diving either.

Sea sickness hits me so badly that I wanna die and would probably shoot myself if I could walk and or see the gun through the madness.

 

[hydroknot]

Hi,

See my post "Scopace for Sea Sickness" in Basic Scuba forum.

 

[MasterFritts]

I used to get motion sickness bad. When I was learning to fly I thought I would have to quit. Flying a plane and driving a car or boat is way different. Driving car/boat I would not get sick but flying I did. Has to do with something in your inner ear not keeping up with the turns, etc. That is why pilots can get disoriented and cannot tell what is up or down. After 20 mins I would feel bad enough to have to land. Went home with bad headaches and was very discouraged.

I found in an aviation magazine a wrist/shock device that had 6 settings (I would not dive with it but being on a boat this works for me). When I first used it, I went flying and stayed up for 2 hours (setting 6) with NO ill effects at all.

The more I flew, the less I would set it to. Now I do not even need it and can even read in cars, ride in backseats, ride in boats, etc with no discomfort at all.

It did not hurt and the nausea goes away as soon as you turn it on. I know a bunch of pilots who swear by them. I know I do. It has been sitting in a drawer for over 4 years now and I have any motion sickness since.

 

[Damselfish]

I know a couple people that use the patch but only use 1/2 to 3/4 of a patch, a whole patch is too much for them. Maybe a partial patch would work for you without causing blurred vision. (I think the instructions say not to cut them but seems to be often ignored advice and not a problem.) And definitely don't touch your eyes after touching the patch until you wash you hands, that's definitely a way to cause blurred vision.

I heard about Kwells before we went to Australia (for my husband, I'm one of the lucky ones.) It looked like the chemical in Kwells (hyoscine) is the same or related to scopalomine.