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Old 18-07-2016, 10:31   #1
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Persistent SeaSickness - Discouraging

Hi all,

Looking for some more tips and tricks for seasickness - and perhaps some encouraging words to keep at it. I really want to be able to sail. My significant other really wants to go sailing around the world and I think it sounds like so much fun and I would like to be able to do it with him. But I've been pretty miserable each of the times I've tried it.

I've been out 4 times now - once on a cruise ship, and 3 times on a 32-35ft sail boat (monohull).

On the cruise ship I wore the patch and got sick on the day there were slightly rougher seas.

First time out on the sailboat I wore the wrist straps and drank ginger ale
Very sick, no vomiting though

Second time out I took the pure meclizine
There was very little wind, but I felt fine other than feeling like I was drunk and high at the same time. If someone had fallen in, probably would've waved and jumped in too.

3rd time out took Bonine 4 hrs prior to the start.
Did really well for the first hour, then got sick again. Closing my eyes and trying to sleep helped.

Does sleeping for a few hours on the boat help? My experience with the Bonine suggests it might but I'm not sure. Should I try taking a nap for the first 2 hours?

I've never actually thrown up - just felt like I would all the time. Should I just try and make myself throw up when that happens? (Syrup or another method?) Will it go away after this?

I've tried steering the boat - helps for a little bit. Ginger ale helps when my stomach is only feeling moderately bad - but there comes a point where it does not help.

I don't know what else to do. This is like a life goal and I would really love to accomplish it. I don't want to give up. There must be something out there that will work for me.

Also - does the seasickness really go away after the first day? I've never been out longer than a few hours.

Thanks for the advice.
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Old 18-07-2016, 10:38   #2
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Re: Persistent SeaSickness - Discouraging

You have to ease into it, My wife has problems right off, I bought through Ebay some seasickness Med that is not available in the US. It's seems to be the most effective with the fewest side effects.
This stuff
http://www.ebay.com/itm/131801881630...%3AMEBIDX%3AIT
The electric wrist band does seem to help her, but by day three or four she is fine, nothing needed, It is a matter of getting used to it, getting your "Sealegs".
If there is anyway you can spend a day and a night tied up at dock I think that helps, and being on the outside where you can see the horizon helps, do not go below.

Your not being violently ill where dehydration is an issue, some are, they get violently sick.
I think you can just get used to it, but it takes exposure, no way that I know of to hurry it up, just takes time on a boat, and here is the thing, once you get used to it and are off the boat for awhile, you start over, but the apprehension is gone, and being relaxed and not worrying is half the battle.

I would not try to make myself sick, it seems to go downhill once that happens, but the fact that your not actually getting violently ill, means to me that you have a rather mild case
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Old 18-07-2016, 10:43   #3
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Re: Persistent SeaSickness - Discouraging

Mal de mer is quite idiosyncratic. It affects different people differently. When I get sick I can usually get back on task quite quickly, others go down hard. I have only been incapacitated once, while spending about 4 hours below checking students manuals; there was a also a change in sea state.

On my first ocean passage I was seasick for about 4 days and sustained myself with with ginger ale (with real ginger) and ginger snaps.

I take one generic gravol before departure.

It is important to stay hydrated and well resting.. Avoid alcohol and grease food. Avoid cooking and navigating, if possible.

On deck, steering usually helps, watch the horizon.

Watch for early symptoms - yawning, drowsiness.
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Old 18-07-2016, 10:51   #4
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Re: Persistent SeaSickness - Discouraging

here are some slides on seasickness from one of my courses.

Seasickness causes
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Old 18-07-2016, 10:53   #5
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Re: Persistent SeaSickness - Discouraging

One more thing, I don't care who you are, you are not immune to it, you may just have not gotten sick, yet.
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Old 18-07-2016, 11:08   #6
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Re: Persistent SeaSickness - Discouraging

There's a product called Boarding Ring, that you wear like goggles. It has tubes with colored fluid around the edges, that act like a water-hose level, trying to keep your brain in touch with the horizon. The idea is that seasickness results when your body senses the motion but your brain is getting conflicting signals from your eyes. I have no experience with the goggles. They're available from Marinechandlery.com. Their website has more explanation.
Also, there is a good article in Latitude 38. Go to Latitude38.com and search for "seasickness."
Most people do get over it after a few days.
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Old 18-07-2016, 11:15   #7
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Re: Persistent SeaSickness - Discouraging

I used to get very seasick. Started dramamine the day before going out and took regular doses even if I wasnt sick....then one day I didnt plan and found I wasnt sick and the only time I have gotten sick since was in 50ft seas in a storm south of the horn.
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Old 18-07-2016, 11:19   #8
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Re: Persistent SeaSickness - Discouraging

Quote:
Originally Posted by conniecat View Post
Hi all,

Looking for some more tips and tricks for seasickness - and perhaps some encouraging words to keep at it. I really want to be able to sail. My significant other really wants to go sailing around the world and I think it sounds like so much fun and I would like to be able to do it with him. But I've been pretty miserable each of the times I've tried it.

I've been out 4 times now - once on a cruise ship, and 3 times on a 32-35ft sail boat (monohull).

On the cruise ship I wore the patch and got sick on the day there were slightly rougher seas.

First time out on the sailboat I wore the wrist straps and drank ginger ale
Very sick, no vomiting though

Second time out I took the pure meclizine
There was very little wind, but I felt fine other than feeling like I was drunk and high at the same time. If someone had fallen in, probably would've waved and jumped in too.

3rd time out took Bonine 4 hrs prior to the start.
Did really well for the first hour, then got sick again. Closing my eyes and trying to sleep helped.

Does sleeping for a few hours on the boat help? My experience with the Bonine suggests it might but I'm not sure. Should I try taking a nap for the first 2 hours?

I've never actually thrown up - just felt like I would all the time. Should I just try and make myself throw up when that happens? (Syrup or another method?) Will it go away after this?

I've tried steering the boat - helps for a little bit. Ginger ale helps when my stomach is only feeling moderately bad - but there comes a point where it does not help.

I don't know what else to do. This is like a life goal and I would really love to accomplish it. I don't want to give up. There must be something out there that will work for me.

Also - does the seasickness really go away after the first day? I've never been out longer than a few hours.

Thanks for the advice.
Stugeron works like a charm. My wife has to have it.
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Old 18-07-2016, 11:20   #9
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Re: Persistent SeaSickness - Discouraging

As mentioned, very idiosyncratic. Effects different people different ways and often effects the same people different ways at different times.

For me I can be very susceptible the first day out, especially if I haven't been sailing for a while. Was flying once, hit some thermals and got very air sick. Was barfing all the way back the airport right up to the final approach.

After the first day or so I'm immune, or at least have been so far. Can stand on my head, read a book, drink beer and fry garlic all at the same time and doesn't bother me. Obviously taking a bit of poetic license with my dexterity here but I think you get the point.

I've hired green crew (as in never been sailing before) for deliveries a number of times with some totally immune from the first day and one who got queasy at the dock, stayed sick on the whole 5 day passage and bailed as soon as we hit the next stop. I have to say he was the only one I've ever seen that was that bad.

So sleeping on the boat helps me and also most people I've met. 99% of the people I've sailed with are fine after the first day or so but there is that 1%. Odds are you are in the 99% group. Good luck.
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Old 18-07-2016, 11:24   #10
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Re: Persistent SeaSickness - Discouraging

I have not been off shore often, but I have not been sick any time I have been (so far).

I have a different problem - "land sick" after being on the boat for a few days. Its the only time I have ever come close to feeling any kind of motion related illness. I imagine its the same mechanism that causes seasickness. In this case, expecting everything to be moving but nothing is. No one ever tells you abut that...but I cant be the only one!
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Old 18-07-2016, 11:25   #11
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Re: Persistent SeaSickness - Discouraging

This worked for me on a heavy wind day. (Dramamine chewables)

I was about to blow chunks but simply had to drive the boat.

I remembered I had these onboard after a couple hours and tried one...................it made me feel better instantly.

As luck would have it, the wind soon began to subside about that time also and it was soon time for a beer or 3.

Dramamine® Chewable Motion Sickness Medicine
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Old 18-07-2016, 11:26   #12
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Re: Persistent SeaSickness - Discouraging

Quote:
Originally Posted by conniecat View Post

Also - does the seasickness really go away after the first day? I've never been out longer than a few hours.

Thanks for the advice.
It does usually go away after a day or 2.

It is half physiological and half psychosomatic, but no one knows which half!!

I have used a cure that everyone else shakes their head at. I don't think you need it yet as you have only be on a boat a few hours at a time. You need to go to sea lots, and for longer passages. Get on board and go to sleep. No chores, duties etc. That will usually get you over it in a day or two. (TAKE NO DRUGS!!!)

My method: Get drunk whilst on board, before you get sea sick. Sea Sickness is a middle ear thing and a loss of the gyros in your ear to keep you balanced. Its the same when you are drunk - you think you are walking straight but the rest of the world knows better!
After a while your brain tells your body that you are not sea sick, just drunk again. Voila! Cured!!



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Old 18-07-2016, 11:33   #13
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Re: Persistent SeaSickness - Discouraging

Keep trying different things - seasickness is weird because different things help different people
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Old 18-07-2016, 11:42   #14
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Re: Persistent SeaSickness - Discouraging

Quote:
Originally Posted by Sea Dreaming View Post
I have not been off shore often, but I have not been sick any time I have been (so far).

I have a different problem - "land sick" after being on the boat for a few days. Its the only time I have ever come close to feeling any kind of motion related illness. I imagine its the same mechanism that causes seasickness. In this case, expecting everything to be moving but nothing is. No one ever tells you abut that...but I cant be the only one!

Most do , I tell people you can tell when you have your sea legs when you have to hold onto the wall when you shower on land and have your eyes closed, that and you waddle a little walking down the dock, like your drunk a little, but your not.
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Old 18-07-2016, 12:13   #15
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Re: Persistent SeaSickness - Discouraging

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Originally Posted by a64pilot View Post
Most do , I tell people you can tell when you have your sea legs when you have to hold onto the wall when you shower on land and have your eyes closed, that and you waddle a little walking down the dock, like your drunk a little, but your not.
Thats good to know. At least I wont be the only one who is green
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