Motion sickness question

[Darnold9999]

Not really a difference between the two (RIB or solid hull) in my experience. I have managed to be seasick in both.

Find once I pass a certain point the only way to cure it is to get under water - out of any swell.

Eyes on horizon or other fixed point standing in the centre of mass of the boat. I prefer to stand up outside if possible, keep my head still, focused on a fixed point on the horizon - if you have to sit move with the boat as much as possible. Set up gear before the boat leaves the dock. I find if I focus on something inside the boat as opposed to outside the boat that will bring on symptoms very quickly. In really rough water I can set up my gear by touch - looking down even for a just a few seconds in heavy water will start a cascade of symptoms that is all but impossible to reverse.

 

[lowviz]

It is only partially a mental thing. ...//...

Yes, "partially" is what I am saying. Have seen many dives "lost at the dock" and many miraculous recoveries on the trip home.

For me, nothing mental about side-to-side roll at some un-nerving frequency. Just shoot me, I want out...

 

[windapp]

Being LOA is the worst feeling for me when I know the surface is choppy and I have to get back on the darned boat.

The worst is when you have to resist throwing up over the side of a zodiac because other divers are in the water trying to get in.

 

[graham_s]

As they say, there are two stages with sea sickness,
the first stage is when you think you're going to die.
The second is when you hope you're going to die.

Personally I find the wrist bands work fairly well, If it's bad, I use pills too.

 

[spectrum]

I am very susceptible and have good results with the OTC medication like non drowsy Dramamine. You must take them absolutely well before any stimulus and preferably the night before and day of the outing.

We have been having very positive results with ginger pills / ginger root but they have not had the full test with us.

it all happens for fairly predictable reasons as outlined. Behavior can manage some of it but if you are susceptible there's nothing mental about it.

We have tried the wrist bands under wetsuits for skin diving on swells and waves and those were promising too.

Pete

 

[vladimir]

if you are susceptible there's nothing mental about it

We have tried the wrist bands under wetsuits for skin diving on swells and waves and those were promising too.

These two statements are incongruous. If the sea-bands worked it would be due to the placebo effect, which is decidedly mental. There is no other plausible mechanism. The good news is that some studies have seen a placebo effect even in test subjects who were aware they were getting a placebo.

 

[Kevrumbo]

Here again is the method and the logic behind using the cognitive visualization technique which I've posted about in few boards including several threads in the past here on Scubaboard:

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, and you don't develop the nausea associated with motion sickness.

Here's how to achieve that state as a passenger on a diveboat:

Look not only at the Horizon, but also at the railing of the boat in the foreground --and see how it all moves relative to each other as the boat makes way through the swells. Memorize that movement and close your eyes, feel the boat's rhythm moving through the swells, and "see" that railing/horizon movement in your mind's eye. Anticipate where that railing/horizon orientation will be when you open your eyes . . .and finally open your eyes to see it and confirm it. Convince your mind and inner ear that you are in dynamic motion based on your sense of balance, tactile/kinesthetic feedback, and coordinating-synchronizing it all with the movement pattern of the railing/horizon which you just memorized. . .

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.

Again --All you gotta do is 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 the visualization technique you gotta practice, and unfortunately it's difficult to do if you're concentrating on something else like setting up your gear, reading a book, watching a video, worrying about running out of ginger pills/dramamine/bonine etc. But once you get good at it, you can hold the malaise to a reasonable level even in stormy seas --a "four" for instance on a scale from 1 to 10, with "ten" being projectile vomiting, extreme nausea, hugging the rail and begging for someone to shoot you . . . (In my thirty hour passage from mainland Costa Rica to Cocos Island, I was cognitively exhausted performing the technique over an extended period, and just simply fell asleep naturally). . .

 

[lowviz]

best known cure:
[Clinical and experimenta... [Zhongguo Zhong Xi Yi Jie He Za Zhi. 1992] - PubMed - NCBI

good if you can get it:
"Scopolamine-dextroamphetamine (a combination of 0.4 milligrams oral scopolamine and 5.0 milligrams oral dextroamphetamine) has been studied for use in the space program. These are very potent medications and are useful in situations for individuals performing complex tasks while being closely monitored. A recreational diver will have some difficulty in obtaining these drugs, as dextroamphetamine is a Schedule II controlled substance prescription drug and the combination has not been approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) as indicated for motion sickness. A physician prescribing this combination for motion sickness will be outside the FDA indications."
Scuba Dive Medical Articles

---> not an intended hijack, just hard-to-find background info for the OP...

 

[Kevrumbo]

There's nothing wrong with quick & easy somatic remedies/medications for sea sickness, but you can break the dependency on them over time with self-hypnosis/visualization only, building up in the process your own "psychosomatic tolerance".

The motivation is to do all means cognitively to help yourself without any over-the-counter drugs (and the side-effects they can produce), but only seek professional help with prescribed medication as necessary when those avenues, methods of self-help are not viable.

 

[spectrum]

These two statements are incongruous. If the sea-bands worked it would be due to the placebo effect, which is decidedly mental. There is no other plausible mechanism. The good news is that some studies have seen a placebo effect even in test subjects who were aware they were getting a placebo.

I didn't realize that was the case. Are you saying the the sea band product is only a placebo? I'm not a medical person but I associated with them with pressure points and that made them at least plausible.

What reference can you cite that they are solely of placebo value?

Pete