Possible dangers of Stugeron sea sick tablets!

Zagato

Zagato

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I am very sucesptible to sea sickness, I can start being sick within 20 mins of being in a sea that is not that choppy, rolling at all. I still want to sail so for a trip to Lulworth Cove I took some Stugeron which amazingly prevented me from feeling ill in lumpy, F4 wind over tide conditions. I also didn,t feel that bad compared to the last time I took it when it gave me an upset stomach and really knocked me out. Not good for a social scuttlebutt rally a few years ago. I lost half a stone in one week...

ANYWAY reading about the chemical used in Stugeron it says it could lead to drug induced Parkinsons disease :eek: I really don,t want to stop sailing but this is worrying, has anyone got any further insight into it? Forget wrist bands, watches etc as a cure.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cinnarizine
 
My other half gets sporadically seasick -- especially at night for some reason. She however gets completely knocked out by Stugeron, very much like you report, to the point of staying asleep for an entire 7 hr bumpy X Channel trip!

We were recommended scopolamine patches, but haven't got then yet as she is suspicious of the potential side effects.

Be interesting to see what others have to say.
 
I tend to feel ill when there is a quarter swell. I usually take a 1 a day loratadine anti-histamine and that seems to help. If it doesn't my next port of call is an alcoholic ginger beer, a glass of prosecco or even a beer. Alcohol dulls the senses and helps remove part of the sea sickness equation. If really really feeling bad, I'll go downstairs, lie parallel across the fore berth and close my eyes - this always helps and I generally fall asleep.
 
Been through most of the drugs available to combat sea-sickness and have concluded that scopalamine patches have the most effect. Only had mild hallucinations once.
Lying down below with eyes closed also helps. I think that combining this with earphones and relaxing music may help even more. Except that I am still leaving someone else to sail the boat!
Peter
 
Scopolamine is effectively what was used for Dday. It is known to be effective, but the one thing it doesn't do is allow the body to develop tolerance, so it is very useful for one-off trips but less so for extended cruises. I have taken stugeron with effect, though I seem to be less prone these days, with a larger boat and GPS.
 
Years ago a friend crewing for me took some Stugeron - I can't remember why as he'd covered thousands of miles sailing already and didn't usually seem to suffer - maybe it was an experiment, he was a healthy 19 or so years old.

Within half an hour he was pretty much unconcious in the corner of the cockpit, I could not rouse him, it was quite worrying - he recovered after a couple of hours.

My parents always relied on Stugeron and it served them well - I am very lucky, I don't suffer - but clearly for some people such as my chum it would be downright dangerous to take for the first time singlehanded - so I feel anyone thinking of using it should first try it when someone able to take over or already in charge is around.

As for causing Parkinsons, I suspect if only taken occasionally it's probably OK, all pills have nasty side effects - I and a few people I know have trouble sleeping so before ' important days ' tend to rely on Nytol ( the one pill a night type is the only effective one in our experience ) - but now there are theories it can bring on Alzheimers...
 
I never used to be sea sick on large vessels but a trip on a Ton class sweeper induced a propensity to upchuck big time, I then tried all the varieties available.

Stugeron I found induced severe vomiting if taken when feeling ill but worked brilliantly when taken as recommended at least two hours before proceeding.

I also used to carry a bucket to collect my arising's. The only problem was it almost induced PTSD in the coxswain on the wheel in the space below. I would upchuck into the bucket, wipe my mouth and shout a conning order down the speaker tube. The coxswain told me he always thought I would get it the wrong way round and he would collect an earful.

The best treatment told to me, was to eat an apple sitting under the tree from which it fell.
 
Tips for those who suffer - and anyone trying to look after them;

if people are really suffering get them below with a bucket.

The bottles of mineal water with a teat to suck are particularly handy if the boat is moving around; you will need lots of them, or a lot to refill them, as most of it will come back up, but hydration is important and the sufferer will probably be thirsty.

Orange squash mixed in may make it more palatable.

Once the worst is over, you can get re-hydration sachets to mix with water containing the minerals and salts lost during prolonged sickness; think they're called Dioralyte, they are a pleasant blackcurrant flavour, available from chemists in packs of four for around £4.00
 
As mentioned above, I always believed that the best cure was to hug a tree. This theory fell down on a cruise ship that had a large tree in the atrium.
 
When they became available over the counter ( originally only via docs prescription) i tried some scopalamine patches the day before a trip to see if they gave me any side effects. I was so sea sick at work that I spent several hours in one of the firm's spare quiet rooms to recover.
I have found that my cockpit hatch seat does help as I can collapse into it & rest my head etc & still maintain a semi seating position & keep a view of a wide horizon aft of the boat.

Hammock 2 (600 x 403).jpg

It is better than taking various medicines as there are no after effects
 
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Drug Induced Parkinsons Disease?

Mmmm...

So Extra Pyramidal Reactions are common with a number of anti-sickness drugs. But they are normally acute short term reactions - i.e. when the drug has left the system the side effect goes with it. They are due to an imbalance of dopamine which is effectively what Parkinsons is, but usually they imbalance resolved when the tablet stops. So someone acutely getting the side effect wouldn't take it again.

True enough, people who develop Parkinsons have often taken a drug known to cause Extra Pyramidal Reactions - but because they already had an imbalance forming it doesn't resolve. I am of the feeling those people were always going to develop Parkinsons. What I don't know is if they were going to develop it that year or that decade... That said - I've never seen a Extra Pyramidal Reaction from Cinnarazine - much more common with some other anti-sickness medicines. Some anti sickness drugs specifically target Dopamine. Cinnarazine only works on dopamine by accident its not the intended target. The Wiki reference that says 17% of new parkinsons cases have had cinnarazine or flunarazine fails to actually be a study of this. Flunarazine is much more potent and so I expect if you can find some data it will be significantly skewed to flunarazine use.

That said there is trial data that Hyoscine Patches are more effective! http://journals.lww.com/clinicalneu...=2012&issue=01000&article=00007&type=abstract

Expect a dry mouth with hyoscine patches...
 
Just to counter all the bad stories. I have never actually been sick but have been quite queezy. I have taken stugeron without any adverse effects as have wife and both children. So they are not the work of the devil as some posts here might suggest.
TudorSailor
 
shan said:
I tend to feel ill when there is a quarter swell. I usually take a 1 a day loratadine anti-histamine and that seems to help. If it doesn't my next port of call is an alcoholic ginger beer, a glass of prosecco or even a beer. Alcohol dulls the senses and helps remove part of the sea sickness equation. If really really feeling bad, I'll go downstairs, lie parallel across the fore berth and close my eyes - this always helps and I generally fall asleep.
Click to expand...

Alcohol! Now why didn't you say earlier?
 
I often would feel sea sickness coming on when the conditions were even quite moderate and found that Marzine helped although I would consider it a wonderful cure for insomnia. I could have quite happily slept for most of my time at sea. Even so, I would not be able to spend more than a few minutes below deck without becoming dizzy and nauseous even with Marzine. My cure was found in Avomine tablets which have not only totally cured my seasickness on even long rough trips but also allow me to work down below without any adverse effects at all. I now purchase them online and can look forward to spending my time at sea enjoying myself rather than studying the bottom of a bucket.
 
I've tried them all.
The patches had the worst side effects feeling dizzy and very dry mouth, wrist bands thrown over board mid channel (useless)!!
The best for me are Stugeron tablets and I normally take one before bed the night before and then repeat the dose just before going to sea.

Even with this at times I get caught out as the skipper of Intrepid will confirm if he reads this post 30 hrs laid up crossing the Irish sea.
 
Anyone tried TravelShades https://www.travelshades.com/

The blurb says

TravelShades limit these conflicting messages using a special lens which blocks the ability of one eye to track movement, meaning your brain is less confused. The special lens also allows light to pass through so the occluded, covered eye may still see an image and can relay this message to the brain but with no indication of movement. The brain receives fewer conflicting messages and you feel better.

Lots of positive reviews and also approval from medics. I have no connection, I just remember reading about them in the paper a year ago

TudorSailor
 
We swear by Stugeron on board, has worked well with no side effects for quite a few people who've sailed with us, BUT we have learned that it must be taken early, does damn all to help once someone is feeling a bit queasy.

You can't get Stugeron back at home in Australia so whenever I go back I always take a dozen or so boxes back for friends at the club. Always declare them and, touch wood, have never had a problem bringing them in.

If you want a warm welcome at an Aussie yacht club, walk in and declare loudly "I have Stugeron!"

For longer passages, we carried suppositories and an enema type pack for anyone who who was so seasick they couldn't keep anything down by mouth, dehydration being the killer.

When our GP back in Melbourne was going through the Ships Med Kit he was helping us put together, he got to the suppositories and we noticed he had rubberbanded 3 long straws and one short straw around the box. Though of everything did our Geoff.

Thankfully never had to draw straws for who was to insert the suppositories, neither the enema thingy.

Geoff also told us there were actually three stages in seasickness....

1. The general feeling crook, throwing up, getting to that stage there's nothing left to bring up.
2. The second stage is where you really are feeling pretty awful, indeed, feeling so bad that you start to get frightened you might die.
3. The third stage? You feel so so so bad, you are actually scared you are not going to die.
 
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