Seasickness Questions

[Merriweather]

I used to get seasick often on a sailboat, but now I live aboard and sail often and hardly ever get sick. Lots of people definitely get used to the motion over time and have less and less episodes. One of my friends told me that if she takes a long break from sailing it comes back again and she has to get used to the motion again.
Believe it or not ginger cookies help with seasickness. I've never tried medication for it.

[MarkSF]

My belief is that everyone has a threshold, above which they will get sick. This threshold, however, is very adjustable upwards - by frequent exposure to the environment in question.

In this respect it's a lot like many phobias.

[johnn33]

Different names around the world for stugeron
https://www.drugs.com/international/cinnarizine.html
John

[dannc]

Sea sickness has many symptoms but most people just think of nausea and puking. Symptoms include, nausea, puking, dizziness, headaches, shallow breathing, pale skin, loss of appetite, cold sweats, and being tired.

I have never puked from sea sickness but I have had a bit of nausea that left within minutes. But being tired, heck yeah. So was being tired sea sickness or the fact we were not getting enough sleep. Hard to tell on that one but I have read that yawning can be a sign of sea sickness but is it sea sickness, just being tired or a bit of both?

I suspect what one eats might trigger sea sickness but not the foods you would expect...

My wife has puked at sea twice. She and we certainly were also tired and yawning a couple of times but was that because of lack of sleep or sea sickness? No way to know. But there is a common link between both puking events....

When we were taking our first ASA classes we living on the boat which was docked at night in a marina. The marina has a most excellent sea food restaurant. My wife loves shrimp and it is about the only sea food she will eat. She had a shrimp dish each evening for 3-4 days...

We woke up one morning for class and my wife looked like s...t. Face and lips where very puffy and she was talking funny. She was talking funny because her tongue was swollen. Anyone guessing what was going on yet?

I sure has heck had an idea and was glad there was a fire station a few hundred yards from the marina. The wife sure as heck knew too but we did not say anything to each other. It was obvious very quickly that the swelling was going down and not getting worse. By the time it was time for class she was in pretty good shape.

She was certainly having anaphylaxis attack from the shrimp. This has never happened before so it was even more shocking. Was it because she ate shrimp over multiple days? Was it that she got a particular type of shrimp? the shrimp was different each day. Or was it something the shrimp ate?

We will never know and she no longer eats shrimp.

What does this have to do with sea sickness? Well keep reading I am getting there. It took a series of events for us to connect some dots.

The day she woke up with the reaction to shrimp we went out sailing. She was fine before we left the dock. Conditions were a bit rough once we got outside.

We were doing our class, sailing upwind, and going like a bat out of hades. The boat was flying off the waves, pitching, rolling and the instructor and I were having a great time. Wifey was ok. At this point....

Then she had to go to the bathroom. This was a learning moment we realized later. So wifey went below to go to the head and we did not ease the boat to a reach, or better yet, heave too. As a result, the wifey came flying of the head at one point. Like I said, learning moment.

She came back to the cockpit and not long after, looked like heck. She was seasick. Imagine that. She puked and that was the end of the class day.

But it was not over. The next day she was still sick. She could not go back out on the boat for class. She was able to complete the written tests and the knot tests but going out to finish a handful of under sail tests was not possible.

But it was worse. She had Mal de Debarquement syndrome, which is land sickness, that lasted for MONTHS!

She tried a bit of this and that to rid herself of Mal de Debarquement syndrome but nothing was working. We were worried our sailing and cruising days were over.

What finally removed her land sickness was avoiding foods high in Histamines. Shrimp are high in Histamines. Did the shrimp cause the Mal de Debarquement and/or the sea sickness? We will never know because she won't eat shrimp anymore. But there is another linkage between her two puking at sea events.

On the sailing puke day mentioned earlier, wifey was eating dried mangoes. Mangoes are high in potassium which we needed to replace the minerals we were using up sailing. Dried mangoes are one of my favorite foods, along with nuts, to eat when one is exerting oneself.

However, dried Mangoes are also high in histamines. Hmmmm. Some nuts are also high in histamines.

The first time my wife puked from sea sickness, we were in a gale off Ireland. It was a long day, with little sleep, and we were snacking on nuts and dried Mangoes. Hmmmmm. What she puked, it was the dried mangoes that came up. Dried, puked mangoes are a PITA to clean up.

Both times my wife has been sea sick, she had been eating dried mangoes that are high in histamines and she might have been eating nuts that have high histamine levels.

Wifey does not eat dried Mangoes anymore. She does not eat shrimp. She only eats nuts that have low or no histamine levels.

Many of the sea sickness medications are anti histamines. Hmmmm....

Sooooo, if you, or someone you know, suffer from sea sickness, it might be good to avoid foods that are high in histamines. Can't hurt.

We have been back sailing numerous times since the wifey got sick. She has not puked but she stays in the cockpit most of the time and helms the boat. I am not getting much helming time. If we have to use the head, we heave too the boat. She might have had early stages of sea sickness, meaning being tired, but that could be she was just tired. Hard to tell. As she gets more boat time, she seems to be getting more immune to sea sickness.

She uses a list of foods that rank histamine levels from this website, https://www.alisonvickery.com/low-histamine-food-list. You have to subscribe to get the list but the wife has not been spammed. One might get a list from other sites but this is what the wife uses.

Hope this helps,
Dan

[dannc]

If one cannot read my previous Uber Long Post on our discovering a link between foods with high levels of histamines and seasickness here is the quick version.

We think sea sickness can be caused by eating foods with high histamine levels so if you, or someone you know, suffers from sea sickness, it might be worth the effort to avoid foods high in histamine before going to seas.

The wife uses this website to get a PDF of histamine levels in the food, https://www.alisonvickery.com/low-histamine-food-list. You have to subscribe but my wife has not been spammed from the site.

Remember, many of the sea sickness medicines are anti histamines....

Hope this helps,
Dan

[Wilyum]

Originally Posted by dannc

If one cannot read my previous Uber Long Post on our discovering a link between foods with high levels of histamines and seasickness here is the quick version.

We think sea sickness can be caused by eating foods with high histamine levels so if you, or someone you know, suffers from sea sickness, it might be worth the effort to avoid foods high in histamine before going to seas.

The wife uses this website to get a PDF of histamine levels in the food, https://www.alisonvickery.com/low-histamine-food-list. You have to subscribe but my wife has not been spammed from the site.

Remember, many of the sea sickness medicines are anti histamines....

Hope this helps,
Dan

Excellent post, thanks for the link, its reassuring that it sounds like the body can be conditioned to reduce seasickness, will have to look up that list.

[stulk75]

I just found this great article. https://www.cntraveler.com/stories/2...ur-seasickness

Goes into the why and various types of treatments. Ties in with the antihistine info above. I had no idea there was a correlation.

For week+ cruises we have always done the scopamine patch (requires prescription). Put it on a day before until it falls off.

[GreenWave]

I use hard ginger candies to combat the problem. If you are already feeling sea sick then you may have a harder time recovering with this approach and medication may be necessary. They are able to be bought online (Amazon etc) or in Asian food markets.

[Perfect Ride]

We do the following with pretty good success with visiting guests:

- first night at dock
- second day very short day sail, if all goes well anchor that night. other wise return to dock.

- third day at quiet anchor with another short day sail.

all fine after that.

[ChrisJHC]

Originally Posted by samanta

Personally for me, CBD and terpenes turned out to be an instant cure for sea sickness. I've observed it's effective use and it's amazing how quickly people go from blowing over the side to total bliss. If I got sea sick it would be the first thing that I would do.

Personally, I’d have an issue with people consuming cannabis on board (leaving aside the fact that it’s mostly illegal here in Aus). Note that I also don’t allow drinking until the anchor is down.

I also thought I’d look at terpenes. From the Safety Data Sheet:

Adverse Human Health Effects and Symptoms:
Causes damage to organs {eyes}.
Material may be irritating to the mucous membranes and upper respiratory tract.
May be fatal or cause blindness if swallowed.
May cause an allergic skin reaction.
May cause eye, skin, or respiratory system irritation.
Toxic if inhaled, swallowed, or in contact with skin.
To the best of our knowledge, the toxicological properties have not been thoroughly investigated.

I’d think long and hard before giving that to someone to cure their seasickness.

[StuM]

Originally Posted by ChrisJHC

I also thought I’d look at terpenes. From the Safety Data Sheet:

Adverse Human Health Effects and Symptoms:
Causes damage to organs {eyes}.
Material may be irritating to the mucous membranes and upper respiratory tract.
May be fatal or cause blindness if swallowed.
May cause an allergic skin reaction.
May cause eye, skin, or respiratory system irritation.
Toxic if inhaled, swallowed, or in contact with skin.
To the best of our knowledge, the toxicological properties have not been thoroughly investigated.

I’d think long and hard before giving that to someone to cure their seasickness.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terpene


Terpenes (/ˈtɜːrpiːn/) are a class of natural products consisting of compounds with the formula (C5H8)n. Comprising more than 30,000 compounds, these unsaturated hydrocarbons are produced predominantly by plants, particularly conifers.[1][2] Terpenes are further classified by the number of carbons: monoterpenes (C10), sesquiterpenes (C15), diterpenes (C20), etc. A well known monoterpene is alpha-pinene, a major component of turpentine.


Here - drink some of this pinetarsol or would you prefer a swig from this bottle of turps.

[nautical62]

I get sea sick, and while I adapt some, I can still get sick even after a month of cruising. I’m typically okay outside in moderate conditions. Going below for even 2 minutes can do it however.

I’ve thrown up wearing the wrist bands. They seem to have no benefit what so ever to me. I’ve known several people who’ve tried them with the same result but I have read some people swear by them.

I’ve typically used meclizine. It causes drowsiness when I first start taking it, but that goes away after a day or two. I find it best to start taking it prior to a cruise so that I’m not drowsy the first day, and so I’m building it up in my system. If you are flying to a charter destination, being a bit sleepy on the plane isn’t so bad.

I think adaptation to motion varies from one individual to another as does reaction to meds. I’ve had crew that experiences little drowsiness and crew that were tired all the the time when taking meclizine.

[DMF Sailing]

Wilyum: Welcome to this age-old problem.

I get carsick, so I get seasick. But nowadays mine is such that I can "power through."

With my own occasional cruising partner, though, nothing worked until we discovered somewhat of an update on the old Churchill bromide about the traditions of the Royal Navy:

Ginger, CBD, and the helm

For port-hopping coastal cruises, anyway, these things—especially giving her control of the boat—help.

My advice is limit yourselves to a few shorter journeys—within fair weather windows—before you attempt to cross large bodies of water offshore.

I have a cousin whose first experience was a charter across the Gulf Stream, during which they got pounded. Her response was "never again."

As you can see, I've got nothing on the two-three-day sea legs equation mentioned by the saltier cruisers here, but you may not get to that point if your wife never appreciates even the part when you get out of the sheltered harbor.

I wish you the best,

[bobnlesley]

I'm also one of those lucky enough not to suffer, though on occasion I do get hiccoughs, which I've been told might be a symptom?
Sadly my wife, like the OP's has a tendency towards delicacy, but as a result enjoyed the livaboard lifestyle far more than when we weekend/holiday sailed; once aboard she was queasy for the first couple of days irrespective of the weather, so found it was easier to get beyond that stage once in a blue moon rather than once every couple of weeks.
The other advantage of long/full time sailing, as noted by others earlier, is that you've more time to wait for the weather/start easily our approach after having been ashore or marina-bound for while was to try head to the nearest reasonable (but not too sheltered) anchorage for a night or even two, then get in a couple of light weather/sheltered water day sails before commencing any long distance/offshore passages. The Pacific crossing was by far the worst for Lesley when after more than two months in Ecuador and Peru living either ashore or sat on a mooring in an enclosed river anchorage, it was out over the river bar into the full force of the ocean swell, head winds and a cold water current with no opportunity to regain her sea legs.

[Rohan]

A little late, but I'll chime in here. To answer your questions. Yes, you adapt to it in time. How much time no one can say. And the opposite is true too, you can lose your tolerance if you haven't sailed in a long time. Ginger and Dramamine help, but only if you take them before you are sick. Once you feel sick it's too late. I definitely think it's wise to try a couple charter outings and see how it goes.

Seasickness is 100% mental, not physical. It's not the motion itself. Ever here of someone getting motion sickness while they are jogging? I doesn't happen. Motion sickness occurs when your eyes and body send conflicting signals to your brain. To your eyes, it looks like you are not moving because you are in an enclosed space, but your body feels like it is moving. So obviously it's worse if you are below decks.

So now that you know that, what about the remedy? The only failsafe immediate remedy is to return to dry land. But there are other things to try. Get topside and keep your eyes off the boat and on the water. Feel the wind in your face - that helps a hell of a lot more than people realize.

There's also a mental exercise that helps me. Just imagine yourself in a swimming pool, lying on a inflatable pool raft on a warm day, drink in your hand. Its unlikely you would feel seasick that way. Well being in a boat, the motion is no different than on that raft. You don't have to feel sick if you get your mind to cooperate.