Seasickness Prevention

[a64pilot]

A whole lot of things work, a great many of them work because you believe they will, but that’s OK, whatever works, works.
Seasickness is to a great extent a visual issue, the inner ear and the eyes and what your body feels disagree, yes the seat of your pants is a real sense.
Anything to cause the brain to disregard one sense over the other may work, the one ear plug may work for some.

If putting you foot on the floor works, then certainly do that. I know it helped the bed spins when I was a kid drunk.

I still think getting on deck and watching the horizon, and having something to do works as well as anything.
The electric shock band works for my Wife, as does Stugeron, which if your in the US you cannot buy in a store, but you can on EBay.

But bottom line if putting their hand in a glass of cold water works for some, great. It matters not if it’s all in their head or not, if it works, it works

[JPA Cate]

if it works, it works

Yes, and if it's not medications, that's probably better. But, for me, having been seasick for 17 days of a 21 day passage, I never want to have to stand my watches seasick again. YMMV.

Ann

[GordMay]

Motion Sickness Treatments Make Waves (same article as billknny linked, earlier.)
NASA and the U.S. Navy are finding better ways to treat motion sickness, which could be good news for everyone
“... a combination of oral scopolamine, to suppress vomiting, and dextroamphetamine, to counteract scopolamine's potential to induce drowsiness, reduced the incidence of motion sickness from 70 percent to about 12 percent among passengers in the "Vomit Comet"—a DC-9 aircraft used to achieve brief periods of zero gravity as part of NASA's Reduced Gravity Program. Oral or injected scopolamine takes effect more quickly and can be administered in higher doses than the patches commonly used by the general public, but the drug is not as readily available to the public in those forms (NASA orders its own supply)...”
➥ https://www.scientificamerican.com/a...ess-treatment/

NASA Signs Agreement to Develop Nasal Spray for Motion Sickness
HOUSTON - NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston and Epiomed Therapeutics Inc. of Irvine, Calif., have signed an agreement to develop and commercialize a NASA-crafted, fast-acting nasal spray (intranasal scopolamine, or INSCOP) to fight motion sickness.
➥ https://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/201...sal_Spray.html

[SailFastTri]

Originally Posted by karenmccraw

I don't think I saw anyone mention Relief Band yet. I've used these for years and they really work for me. No chemicals - used for cancer patients with nausea from treatments.

Very slight electrical "shock" on your wrist. Works on the boat and in the airplane doing aerobatics for me.

Might be a bit pricey to have one for each member of the family though!

https://www.reliefband.com/products/reliefband-1-5?variant=8348278980651¤cy=USD&gclid=Cj0KCQjwi7DtB RCLARIsAGCJWBohHYtx0tEKnT_8JfgMKAMr1JHFUsqm0GnZXtv AombbyiePT5pzCHEaAu97EALw_wcB

I too have had good luck with that. I carried it aboard for years but never needed it, until I got caught out in 25-foot seas on the edge of a tropical storm. Everyone else aboard was sick, and I started to feel bad too but the bands helped soon after putting them on.

Also, noting the Scientific American article about NASA -- they noted:

"Studies of nondrug remedies such as consuming ginger and wearing wristbands that have pressure pads on them have not provided clear results. The trick is that you have to test properly under controlled conditions to find out what works," Locke says. And so far, in his opinion, these alternative treatments have not been rigorously tested."

SO - why have they done "rigorous" testing of pharmaceuticals but not alternatives? Maybe because ginger or acupressure points can't be patented and ginger is 1/10,000 the cost of pharmaceuticals.

[JPA Cate]

The OP also asked if he should change boats to a catamaran. My own bias is towards monohulls. If you are a person who gets seasick, you have to learn what kind of motion sets you off. For me, it took years. My body doesn't like jerky motion, but it is okay with rolling in swells. My body doesn't like twitchy motion, on either type of boat. It doesn't seem to be something over which I have any control....life long history of motion sickness. So my answer to the OP is that his family members who get seasick need to figure out exactly what bothers them, and what helps. I tried various tablets, and some worked okay, in that I didn't throw up, but I didn't feel good, either. I tried ginger. I tried wristbands. I modified how I use my body, and hand steering, standing at the wheel, where i can keep my head oriented towards the horizon, stomach muscles relaxed, and intellectually focused on driving the boat helps. If you sit there feeling awful, and thinking about it, you will make it worse.

The hazard with the scopalamine based anti-emetic is the tendency for blurred vision and for hallucination. I personally didn't like the dry mouth, either. Compared with Stugeron, for me, the difference is that with Stugeron, I rarely feel drowsy, my mouth tastes normal, and I feel "good", "normal", rather than drugged.

Different people's bodies respond differently, and it is a process of trial and error till you find something that works.

Ann

Wolfgal asked whether diving in the water would help. I really don't know. Never heard of that. The one for sure cure is to find some dry land and sit under a tree. It works. Sure cure, but then you can't be sailing..... Hence it got important for me once I found it, to keep a supply of Stugeron on board.

[SailFastTri]

Originally Posted by JPA Cate

snip

Wolfgal asked whether diving in the water would help snip.

Definitely not! Twice, I have become seasick while snorkeling.

[Snore]

I carry potassium gluconate. I have seen it stop “active” seasickness. It is a. OTC, so relatively safe to administer. Also my crew for advises that I use it, and asks for any sensitivity to the supplement.

Generally over crewperson of +/-150lbs- 2 pills, if they “eject” the pills, they get one more. This usually knocks people out for 3-4 hours. They come back as normal as they were at the dock. Maintenance dose is usually 1/2-1 pill every 8 hours.

So far this has not failed. Also a single pill helps folks coming off watch get their first sea sleep.

[olaf hart]

We were put on to these by a friend who is a rally car navigator..

https://www.buderimginger.com/ginger-bears-175g/

It’s not nice throwing up inside a full face helmet...

Used them for the first time on a recent trip down the Queensland coast, mostly motoring into a decent southeast swell for 500 nm.

Not a hint of nausea for me or my wife, it’s a first for us...

May be particularly useful for children.

[olaf hart]

Just a warning, a lot of seasickness meds can cause urinary retention, a particular hazard in older men ...

[Snore]

Originally Posted by olaf hart

We were put on to these by a friend who is a rally car navigator..

https://www.buderimginger.com/ginger-bears-175g/

It’s not nice throwing up inside a full face helmet...

Used them for the first time on a recent trip down the Queensland coast, mostly motoring into a decent southeast swell for 500 nm.

Not a hint of nausea for me or my wife, it’s a first for us...

May be particularly useful for children.

I carry hard candy made from ginger. It seems to have little impact. Once they start “chumming” only thing I found so far was the PG mentioned above.

[olaf hart]

Originally Posted by Snore

I carry hard candy made from ginger. It seems to have little impact. Once they start “chumming” only thing I found so far was the PG mentioned above.

We were using them to prevent nausea, not to treat it.

[a64pilot]

A lot of divers get seasick on the boat, to be almost instantly cured when they get into the water.
Not my oldest Daughter though, she proved you can throw up through a regulator, on her check out dive.

I’m sure this has been mentioned, but almost all seasickness treatments are far more successful as preventatives, than cures. You really, really need of take them when your feeling fine,and stay on them for a day or two until you acclimate.
Once your sick, often your going to stay sick.

My Wife takes the Stugeron for a day or so when we first set out and then she seems fine for months, but I don’t let her go below when the weather is sporty either if at all possible.

[Paul L]

Originally Posted by a64pilot

A lot of divers get seasick on the boat, to be almost instantly cured when they get into the water.
Not my oldest Daughter though, she proved you can throw up through a regulator, on her check out dive.

I’m sure this has been mentioned, but almost all seasickness treatments are far more successful as preventatives, than cures. You really, really need of take them when your feeling fine,and stay on them for a day or two until you acclimate.
Once your sick, often your going to stay sick.

My Wife takes the Stugeron for a day or so when we first set out and then she seems fine for months, but I don’t let her go below when the weather is sporty either if at all possible.

My experience for myself and others on the boat, unlike other drugs Sturgeron can be taken after symptoms occur and still be successful. It is better to take in advance, say the morning of a passage start.

[Don C L]

Originally Posted by JPA Cate

The OP also asked if he should change boats to a catamaran. My own bias is towards monohulls. If you are a person who gets seasick, you have to learn what kind of motion sets you off. For me, it took years. My body doesn't like jerky motion, but it is okay with rolling in swells. My body doesn't like twitchy motion, on either type of boat. It doesn't seem to be something over which I have any control....life long history of motion sickness. So my answer to the OP is that his family members who get seasick need to figure out exactly what bothers them, and what helps. I tried various tablets, and some worked okay, in that I didn't throw up, but I didn't feel good, either. I tried ginger. I tried wristbands. I modified how I use my body, and hand steering, standing at the wheel, where i can keep my head oriented towards the horizon, stomach muscles relaxed, and intellectually focused on driving the boat helps. If you sit there feeling awful, and thinking about it, you will make it worse.

The hazard with the scopalamine based anti-emetic is the tendency for blurred vision and for hallucination. I personally didn't like the dry mouth, either. Compared with Stugeron, for me, the difference is that with Stugeron, I rarely feel drowsy, my mouth tastes normal, and I feel "good", "normal", rather than drugged.

Different people's bodies respond differently, and it is a process of trial and error till you find something that works.

Ann

Wolfgal asked whether diving in the water would help. I really don't know. Never heard of that. The one for sure cure is to find some dry land and sit under a tree. It works. Sure cure, but then you can't be sailing..... Hence it got important for me once I found it, to keep a supply of Stugeron on board.

Yep! I agree with that! There are particular hull responses that set me off too; the jerky, lighter hulled boats' motions tend to do it for me. It helps me too to be outside, standing, and focusing on letting the boat roll and pitch underneath me, if that makes sense. Something about not fighting it helps me.

[JPA Cate]

Originally Posted by Don C L

Yep! I agree with that! There are particular hull responses that set me off too; the jerky, lighter hulled boats' motions tend to do it for me. It helps me too to be outside, standing, and focusing on letting the boat roll and pitch underneath me, if that makes sense. Something about not fighting it helps me.

Don, I do that a lot, it is part of keeping the eyes on the horizon and the ears more or less level, so the lower part of your mass may sway around, but from the shoulders up, you're pretty steady.

Ann