Seasickness?

[av8tr]

Fellow bubble blowers,
I have an unusual problem that I am hoping someone else might have experienced. I get severe sea sickness during the spring and summer but have no problems during the fall and winter. I am not a novice diver (20 years or so, I am getting ready to take the dive master certification course. I occasionally crew on a large sail boat and during the fall and winter I can ride the waves with the best of them but come spring and summer I am puking my guts out. I do have seasonal allergies and take Zertek for it starting in Feb and ending in May. When I go out on the boat I take Dramamine tabs the night before. Yet still I get sick and often it ruins the dive experience for me. I am debating whether to go ahead with dive master unless I get this resolved. I have tried all the over the counter meds and 50 or so homeopathic remedies (from pickled ginger to that stuff you sniff). I haven’t yet gone for prescription meds but I am close to doing so. Does anyone have any suggestions or experienced similar issues?
Jack

 

[StreetDoctor]

Good question, sorry I can't be of help... I'm a paramedic and my EMS system just started to allow us to give Zofran (ondansetron). I wonder if it could be prescribed for seasickness and how it would effect you with diving?

 

[DocVikingo]

Hi av8tr and StreetDoctor,

While Zofran (ondansetron) can be effective in controlling post-surgical and chemotherapy-related nausea and vomiting, it is not a motion sickness medication. This clearly would be an off-label use and the handful of studies which have been done to date suggest that it does little to prevent the development of nausea and other symptoms of mal de mer. Given the efficacy and cost considerations, one would appear better off to obtain a prescription for scopolamine.

Couple of articles you may wish to read:

Tame the Technicolor Yodel: Managing Mal de Mer
Doc Vikingo's Sea Sickness Remedies

Scopolamine--Patch v Pill
Doc Vikingo's Scopace Patch

Helpful?

Regards,

DocVikingo

This is educational only and does not constitute or imply a doctor-patient relationship. It is not medical advice to you or any other individual, and should not be construed as such.

 

[RICHinNC]

Don't care what I take, one good whiff of diesel fumes....and I am the chum champion.

 

[Anti-Hero]

Don't care what I take, one good whiff of diesel fumes....and I am the chum champion.

EXACTLY! I don't get motion sick at all, but I catch a few good whiffs of diesel exhaust and it's a pukin' I go.

 

[Matt83]

Not sure why you only get sick in different seasons. Maybe the heat contributes. Stay hydrated and out of the sun. I wouldnt shy away from the divemaster program though. If you have to just time it for the winter

 

[TSandM]

Well, if you only get seasick during those seasons, you have to start by asking what is different during those seasons. The two culprits that immediately jump out are that you are congested due to your allergies, and it's affecting your inner ear, or that the Zyrtec you are taking for your symptoms is doing something to potentiate motion sickness. You could test those hypotheses by trying to do without the Zyrtec for a few days, and if necessary, treat the allergic congestion with Sudafed or a topical preparation (Afrin) and go out on a boat -- not even necessarily to dive, if you're worried about the congestion, but just to ride out and see how your motion sickness goes. If doing without the Zyrtec solves the problem, you may want to look into something like a nasal steroid to treat the allergy symptoms instead.

Another possibility is that the water conditions are different -- the period of the swells, or the direction is different, and that's affecting your inner ear. It's worth thinking about, although there is nothing you can do to change it.

 

[DocVikingo]

Well, if you only get seasick during those seasons, you have to start by asking what is different during those seasons. The two culprits that immediately jump out are that you are congested due to your allergies, and it's affecting your inner ear, or that the Zyrtec you are taking for your symptoms is doing something to potentiate motion sickness.

Hi TSandM,

The OP states, "I get severe sea sickness during the spring and summer but have no problems during the fall and winter. I do have seasonal allergies and take Zertek for it starting in Feb and ending in May."

If Zyrtec is taken only Feb-May, and the bouts of mal de mer occur only in the spring and summer, then it does not appear that this drug is potentiating motion sickness.

Perhaps I'm missing something?

It does seem possible that during the spring and summer, when Zyrtec is not being taken, ongoing allergy-related congestion is adversely impacting the inner ear.

Regards,

DocVikingo

 

[OceansBlue]

Not sure what is causing your particular condition of getting sea sick during a certain part of the year, but the best recomendation for sea sickness that I know of is Scopace (pill form) or TransDerm Scop (scopolamine patch).

The nice thing about Scopace is that you take as much as you need. With the patch, it's an all or nothing dose of the medication.

 

[Couv]

Could it be that by Autumn and Winter the OP is getting his sea legs? av8tr, is there a long span of time preceding your Spring dives?

Cheers,

Couv