Info Motion Sickness Underwater

[went_postal]

Short Version:

Bonine seems to work as a cure as well as a prevention for nausea and motion sickness (at least for my wife). If by chance you get a little sick watching certain video game motion and you get sick while diving... give Bonine a try. It over the counter and relatively easy to find.

Long Version:

I've seen a bunch of posts about motion sickness on boats and in surge and whatnot... but figured I would share my wife's experience in the hope that it would help someone else that may be experiencing similar issues.

My wife has been keen to do diving because she wants to see all that there is to see underwater. The problem is... she learned very early on that you can vomit through a regulator underwater.

Initially we thought maybe it was nerves or just the newness of breathing off of a bottle. Heck... maybe even the temperature of the water in the quarry.

On cruise ships she's had success with scopolamine patches so she tried that... No dice. She still got very ill every time she get under the water.

The local dive shop has a pool for training and equipment testing so we were trying to work it out there. She was still getting sick just being in the pool. When we were running out of thoughts on what the issue could be one of the instructors actually came over and was chatting us up. Turns out... his daughter has a similar problem and it's more or less just garden variety motion sickness. Seems weird that in a relatively stationary environment that someone could get motion sickness but I guess the distortion from the water just throws some people off.

Generally when she gets nausea from this it takes her out for a good day. The instructor had recommended Bonine to prevent the sickness. When we got home I looked it up and was surprised to find that it is not just a preventative it's labeled as a curative measure as well. So... picked some up at the local pharmacy and sure enough... she tried it and within about 30 minutes she was right as rain.

We made plans to go back to the pool to try out the bonine... so she took it the morning before and the morning of us getting in the pool and to our surprise she was able to stay under the water and do various tasks for over 30 minutes! May not seem like much to others... but this was a huge milestone for her.

So the Bonine helped A LOT... and now she is actually excited about diving again.

 

[Eric802]

That's very unusual - my experience with motion sickness was always that I felt like crap on the boat ride out and felt better as soon as I got underwater. Glad your wife has found something that works!

 

[went_postal]

That's very unusual - my experience with motion sickness was always that I felt like crap on the boat ride out and felt better as soon as I got underwater. Glad your wife has found something that works!

This has typically been my experience as well.

The first cruise we ever went on was in a February going to the Caribbean and the seas were absolutely bonkers. The only thing that helped me not feel like I wanted to die was just hanging out in the pool. Dramamine just makes me feel tired... doesn't fix the sick it just makes me sick AND tired. Scopolamine has been a goto for me for several years for boats.

She is fine in the pool without going underwater... but the minute she gets underwater I guess the signals her brain is getting from her eyes isn't jiving.

Bonine claims to help with Cyber Sickness as well... she actually wants to see if she can tolerate watching me play a FPS (or playing herself).

 

[bbaydiver2]

Similar experience to Eric802 - as soon as I get in the water, I'm fine. The worst was feeling sick on the surface, and as soon as I put the neck seal of my drysuit on, that set me over the edge.

There are a few versions of Dramamine, and I don't recall which version worked better for me, but one version of Dramamine is the Meclizine (the "Less Drowsy" version).

 

[AsherN]

Unusual. Motion sickness is triggered when your balance center in the ear send a different signal to the brain as your eyes are sending. That's why common cures are to close your eyes, or look at the horizon. Under water, it's likely a pressure issue in her ears.

 

[Altamira]

The main ingredient in Bonine is Meclizine, and while I rarely have motion sickness, it does work very well for me, and others that have followed my recommendation. I normally purchase the generic version and it works as well as the Bonine brand.

 

[thomschoon]

I also use the generic Meclizine, buy bottles of 100 and usually chewable on Amazon.

I can get motion sickness on a swing and have been using Meclizine for 25 years. I found that underwater I start getting signs when doing swim throughs or strong currents so I just take it as a preventative measure. Main thing is to stay well hydrated as I find any of the drugs will exasperate the issue.

 

[grumpycat]

Does the water feel particularly cold when it gets in your wife's ears? Some folks I've dived with get some invertigo when cold or warm water gets in their ears.

I'm particularly sensitive to motion sickness, but not to the level of your wife. Usually getting below the surface clears it up for me, but strong surge/current give me motion sickness as well as a lot of silt in the water. I think the silt can sometimes make me lose my orientation.

I've also noticed the same that Dramamine and the variations can help even if I'm already sick.

 

[went_postal]

Unusual. Motion sickness is triggered when your balance center in the ear send a different signal to the brain as your eyes are sending. That's why common cures are to close your eyes, or look at the horizon. Under water, it's likely a pressure issue in her ears.

We thought it was her ears at first as well. Doesn't seem to be as the pressure at depth has not changed and the only thing that we've changed several dives since is the Bonine. She's been absolutely fine since using the pills.

Does the water feel particularly cold when it gets in your wife's ears? Some folks I've dived with get some invertigo when cold or warm water gets in their ears.

I'm particularly sensitive to motion sickness, but not to the level of your wife. Usually getting below the surface clears it up for me, but strong surge/current give me motion sickness as well as a lot of silt in the water. I think the silt can sometimes make me lose my orientation.

I've also noticed the same that Dramamine and the variations can help even if I'm already sick.

We've been in waters between 60-80 degrees with and without the Bonine. The Bonine being the only difference/change and she is perfectly fine when taking it.

Could be 100% psychosomatic... don't care as long as it works and so far it's worked great.