The five stages of sea sickness

[Ishie]

I get horrendously seasick. Even having the patch and dramamine, that's only enough to make me miserable rather than "don't hold me back, I'll swim to shore!" I still love the ocean, so I keep going back. I'll have to try the Scopace.

I reach stage 5 nearly every time, but it won't keep me from diving. I have thrown up through my octo a few times (won't through my main reg). My main problem is by the time I get this seasick, I am nearly incapable of dealing with my own equipment, since not only am I weakened, which makes even lifting a tank hard, but I can't look down to concentrate on getting stuff together. Fortunately, people have been wonderful about helping me. The crew on the Monterey Express essentially dressed me and shoved me in the last time.

A few people sat out the dive because they were too seasick. I can't even fathom it. My instructor asked if I wanted to do the dive, and I indicated violence would follow if I weren't allowed to get OFF the boat. The way I see it; the boat moves; the bottom doesn't. When I get sick, the best cure for me is to get off the boat, descend as soon as possible, and sit quietly on the bottom for a few minutes. Works every time and I have an enjoyable dive, which is all the more appreciated for being time off the boat.

I love the ocean, I love cruises, I love boat diving. I HATE that I get seasick, and I would give so much to find something that either minimizes it or gets rid of it altogether.

Oh, and on a three day cruise (as in huge ship that no one gets sick on), by the time I got used to the rocking (though not nearly as sick as I get on dive/whale watching/fishing boats), when I got off the boat, bingo, landsick. Grrrr..

 

[pipedope]

I rarely get seasick.
I have been to sea on vessels of different sizes and types from 10' outboards to 500' Navy LSD (LSD-31, USS Point Defiance).

The first time I ever got seasick was on RV Hero, a 125' north sea trawler, diesel sail aux., built for working in Antarctica. We were doing a sea bottom survey off of Chiloe Island, Chile. The seas were big and I was working in the Radio room (I was the radio op/ET) typing and sitting so I was facing athwartships. The sea and sky would trade places in my window. Please don't forget that this little ship is pitching as she rolls in a major corkscrew motion.
Suddenly in the middle of typing reports I had to run. Out the door on deck to feed the fish. I had to make the run several times before I was able to finish my work and go out so I could watch the horizon and get clear again.

The next time sea sick was on the icebreaker during my medevac from Antarctica.

My bigger problem is that I adapt to sea far faster than I adapt back to land. After a ocean crossing I often need two or three days to get steady on land again.

 

[Rookie_J]

Have never been sea sick (although i know making that statement will certainly condemn me).

my friends and i spend every possible weekend cruising lake superior during the summer, usually in 1-4 foot rollers. the largest we've been in were 8-12 last spring.

only one of the four of us got sick and she was the one that chose to go below and refresh the drinks...

 

[SueMermaid]

Have never been sea sick

I hate you. And I mean that in the nicest possible sense.

 

[Diver0001]

BTW we usually spell it denial where I come from

Yeah, someone was bound to notice.... I guess you could say that my spelling does not rank among my most developed talents. I try to compensate by being funny and adorable but the older I get the more I think I should start working on my spelling....

R..

 

[wedivebc]

Yeah, someone was bound to notice.... I guess you could say that my spelling does not rank among my most developed talents. I try to compensate by being funny and adorable but the older I get the more I think I should start working on my spelling....

R..

Don't take it too hard, it's an interesting thread anyways.

 

[chode]

Ive only had 1 time I didnt get sick and that was because I started the bonine 2 days prior to going out on the boat.I envy all of you that dont get sick and now I dont feel so bad. It used to be that every time I got on the boat I was the only one chumming but now I know that there are others. maybe we should start a support group.
DSDO

 

[kidspot]

I almost always get to stage 3, once got to stage 4 and don't like either. The worst part was that that trip they had a bbq and it smelled wonderful, but I couldn't eat it because my stomach would not cooperate! It was 4-6ft swells that day and about a 3-4 hour trip. I do all right if it's a short trip (less than 30 min. before we get in the water) but if It's longer I can count on feeling really queezy.

Dramamine doesn't seem to help unless I take it the night before, and even then it's questionable. I've tried the seabands (accupressure bands) and while don't work for me, doing the accupressure with my hands does help some (Just press in the same spot with my middle fingers only using more pressure than the bands apply)

Even if seasickness is "in my head" I have not found a way to leave my head on shore yet...

Tim

 

[Diver0001]

Don't take it too hard, it's an interesting thread anyways.

Yeah, A lot of you have made me really laugh today. Thanks for that. I'll answer my own question for the curious. I've been to 3 (sick) several times but with drugs like Cyclizine or Meclozine I usually manage to stay in 1 or 2. I've been to 5 once. I was feeling ill when i went onboard but I thought I could shake it off..... We were gone for something like 18 hours diving some wrecks on the North sea. By the time the first dive was over I had a fever, the shakes, pain in joints and muscles I didn't even know I had and hanging onto the net across the stern of the boat puking a weeks worth of bodily fluids into the water and moaning like a wounded buffalo..... I really wanted to get off that boat and even got dressed. I told my buddy that he dive with another group and I would just hang around under the boat and see if I felt better. He got all kinds of alarm bells and made me get undressed and put me to bed before he went diving.....and I slept for about 8 or 9 hours. I think if I got seasick like that every time I went out that I would stop wreck diving altogether even though it's my biggest passion.

R..

 

[Aeolus]

I have only been seasick once, but your scale does not go nearly high enough: I think I would need at least a nine. While working on a seismic boat, we were riding out a storm in the Gulf of Alaska, hiding behind Kodiak Island. It was so rough that we could not go into port. It is the only time that everyone put on their life vests without being told to do so.

I was in such bad shape that I could not function at all. The only thing I could do was wrap my legs and arms around the commode (the water was sloshing out both sides) and hang on. I threw up so much that of course nothing was left, but that did not mean that I did not continue to try (unintentionally). After about and hour or so, I began throwing up blood. That was the point that I decided that if I lived through this, I would NEVER do it again.

I did leave the siesmic work, but I continue to go on dive boats, so far without incident. Dive Safe and Often.