Seasickness

[Janice]

I saw a post a while back about a bracelett that was digital and a bit pricey but very effective at reducing seasickness. I would like more info if anyone can remember the details.

thanks
Janice

[GordMay]

Could it be the ReliefBand®, which claims to use a mild electrical stimulation of the median nerve, located on the underside of your wrist, to send a message through the brain that can make the stomach rhythm return to normal?
➥ ReliefBand® -

See also MedLine’s Motion Sickness pages
➥ MedlinePlus: Motion Sickness

And some earlier CF discussions at:

➥ Sea Sick and Stugeron

➥ Motion Sickness Bracelets - Do they work?

➥ Motion Sickness

➥ Motion Induced Fatigue (MIF)

Good luck!!!

[whatever]

Eating things with the spice, ginger or taking ginger capsules is also a good preventive for motion sickness. Have a friend that opened a capsule from health food store and put it in her cat's water as directed by her vet and bingo it worked great!

[Sailabel]

Hi Janice-
first, what a fantastic choice for a cruising boat!!

Hopefully the bands will work for you. Everything I've read and heard about seasickness, is that everyone needs to find the remedy that works for them. For, me- I tried bands, ginger, OTC drugs, etc. No matter what I did, I was ill for about the first 24 hours in open seas. Then I found stugeron... woo hoo!! So far the only remedy for me, and just for the first 12 to 24-hours. Our source was canadadrugsonline: www.candadadrugsonline.com

Best of luck.... hopefully we'll see you out there.

Steve

[David M]

Even if the cure is purely psychological and not physiological, then use it. I tend to think wrist bands fall into the former category...but if they work then great!

My preference is Bonine for the first 24-48 hours, depending on the sea state.

I had a woman onboard last week who was wearing a Scopolamine patch. She absolutely could not stay awake for very long. It made doing her job extremely difficult. She was also a bit of a safety hazard to herself, being that tired.

[Talbot]

Dave's point about finding the correct one for you, is the most important point.

There is no doubt that some of the effectiveness lies in the belief in the cure, thus the need to find the one that does work, and does not turn you into a zombie.

The relief bands work for a lot of people, but so does ginger!

Personally I prefer Kwells, these have the same drug that was invented for use by the troops for D Day, and is also in a lot of the liferaft prescriptions. Works for me!

[Maggie-K]

As a former Med Officer on a tall ship I got to try them all , Stugeron tops the list. Bands , Ginger , various forms of gravol , scoplomine parches. All have their place too.

[watson1990]

Having 4 show dogs out around the U.S.A.and Canada,we made sure that each got one or two ginger snap cookies 1/2 hour before they left.They adjusted to the various vehichles [handlers].no more problems.
I have never been sea sick but my father ,who was in the navy during the war on an icebreaker,told me that when you get it ,you want to die.
So every time I go sailing for any length of time on the ocean ,I always use a scop patch. good for 3 days and then I throw it away [always have more on hand just in case]
I think the lady that was mentioned may have been a bit on the small side[they run that way,doncha know? ] Perhaps the scop patch was too much for her. I know that when I have used a second one [days 4,5 &6 ] that i get a dull head ache that will not go away . So i never use one for more than the first 3 days and they work like a charm for me ..
your mileage may vary !
W

[motion30]

I am 180lbs and not sensitive to drugs but the scop patch really messed me up. I was single handed up the ICW and the chesapeake and I really don't know how I made it for the two days I used the patch Go figure

[watson1990]

Hi Motion,
I am only a bit bigger than you : 5' 11" and 192 + -
Now take the AVERAGE woman. By that I mean the AVERAGE woman !
I am talking a woman who is 5' 4" or 5' 5" and 130 lbs.

The scop patch knocked you on your butt. We all react differently to different things...Lets take that average woman ...not quite but almost half my size and give her the same dose that I get with that little round band aid ...Very well could knock her out ... you are about 7 percent smaller than me ...that could be all it takes .we all are different and I think that mass must play an important part in this ...As i said , after 3 days ,I get a dull head ache and it gets worse as time goes on ,so I don't use one except for the first 2-3 days if I have been away from the ocean for a while

your mileage may vary
W

[captain58sailin]

Scopolamine; when used for an extended period can also act as a hallucinogenic which could play hell with your navigation skills. The active ingredient in Bonine is Meclazine hydrochloride can be obtained from your local health care provider at a lower cost, with out the drowsy tendencies for me.

[RikHall]

Originally Posted by Talbot

Dave's point about finding the correct one for you, is the most important point.

...

Personally I prefer Kwells,

The past - I never got seasick
- I was sure I never would

Reality - In 1999 I was on a trip to Cairns AU and was on my way out to dive the Reef. 12 foot swells for two hours and I got sea sick for the first time in my life. Three days later - before going out again, my dive buddy handed me a glass of OJ and a Kwell. Ripper! No seasickness again. I bought a bunch and brought them home to Canada. Each trip downunder I bought more.

When I totally ran out I took the Kwells box to a pharmacist and she read the box and told me that the ingredients were the same as Bonine and in fact was the same as their "house brand".

Now - we don't leave home without them -they are always on the boat and are always taken be either of us if the weather for the day looks ugly.

Works for both the admiral and myself.

Cheers

Rik

[luepetri]

now those names........Stugeron and Bonnie?? are they brand names? need to get some here in BC Canada...............need the correct name to ask for. LOL

[AndyB]

Great thread. I did get seasick both times I tried salt-water sailing, once mildly and once really bad - to the point of hallucinating. But we were going through a real storm, 8 or 9, so of the about 15 ppl on board only 2 didn't get sick, but I think no one as bad as me... well... at least no one on deck, I don't know about those below. But in both cases that was just a couple of hours - like a day or so.

Experienced sailors told me it usually goes away after up to 3 days - but I never had a chance to try. Interestingly, I still want to come back to the sea, despite this... so this thread is most valuable, must research those bracelets.

Re. ginger - could I just chew fresh ginger?

[RikHall]

Originally Posted by luepetri

now those names........Stugeron and Bonnie?? are they brand names? need to get some here in BC Canada...............need the correct name to ask for. LOL

I have the drugstore brand here beside me (bought in the USA at a CVS Drug store). They call it "Motion Sickness II". Front says "Meclizine Hydrochloride Tablets, Compare to the active ingredient in "Dramamine Less Drowsy" 25 mg each

I cannot see the "active ingredient as that is where I tore the box open - sorry.

We also just watched this week an interesting episode of Myth Busters - they were looking for a non-chemical solution to motion sickness - the only thing they found that worked was ginger tablets - they found in their experiments that the wrist bands did nothing for them.

Rik