Advice on seasickness

Gitane

Gitane

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My wife and I did a bit of sailing last week and she said that, but for a period of seasickness, she actually enjoyed it. (Result!!)

Whilst she is on deck she does not get seasick, also not whilst at anchor. But, if she goes below whilst under way, even for a short while, she gets queasy.

What advice can the panel give on seasickness, because if we can cure that, we can do some more longer cruises?
 
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If it's a bit rough I can't spend long below either, although fortunately my wife has a better stomach for it. I don't get on with Stugeron, we use the other sort (hyoscine, I think?) in the form of Boots 'Travel Calm' brand. They work faster than Stugeron, too, effective within 15-20 minutes we've found. Gave a granddaughter one of these the other day when she started to look a bit pale, it certainly fixed her quickly.
If we set off on any longer trip e.g. cross-Channel, we usually both take the Travel Calm before we start, and we're both usually fine then.
Haven't really found that ginger does the trick. Appreciate visits are needed below, but perhaps your wife would be best to keep them as brief as poss, and to prepare food/drinks etc for the trip before you start.
 
Stugeron certainly, but part of the trouble is sometimes inexpert helming. The motion of the boat can be very different with different helmsmen. I once took over the helm of a Trapper 501 off the Naze when I noticed my wife and daughter turning green, after which they found it much more comfortable in the quartering sea.
 
I suffer badly. A trip to Holland can result in me vomiting 5 to 7 times.
There are two basic drugs in the tablets etc. Stugeron has one, but tends to make people drowsy - not great if you need your wits about you but maybe ok for a crew member that doesn't. The other drug is found in Kalms and some patches. This is fine for me unless I am sick and then I can't sit upright but have to lay down even though I feel ok otherwise. Probably a balance thing. There are some mechanical options... there are some weird glasses which are a tube half full of blue liquid which means you can see the 'real' horizon when down below etc. Then there are things like Sea Band which are wristbands with bobbles on the inside that go on the accupressure point on the inside of your wrist. A more advanced version of those is a 'watch' which fits in the same place and has a couple of small contacts. When you turn it on, you get a rhythmic tingling sensation for a few seconds, which is a different pattern to the motion of the boat. You can increase the intensity if needed.
I have tried all of these other than the glasses. The watch thing works best for me and means I am alert and not affected by the side effects of Stugeron/Kalms. It still doesn't stop it fully though.
 
When I was a pup, all them years ago, I was a 16yr old just left school. I went straight to the boats and spent 3 days solid being sea sick, I was crawling the deck on my hands and knees.

I got over it.

There's 3 types, the folk who never get seasick, the folk who get seasick once or twice and their body adapts and then they never do again, then the folk who just get seasick every time.

I fell into the 2nd cat thank goodness.

I stopped smoking years ago. I didn't want patches or chewing gum or tablets, I just stopped lighting cigarettes. I know a guy who's addicted now to nicotine chewing gum.

When I was sick, I was just outa school and I went to a 54ft trawler with the bunks in the front... oh dear... not a good start. A great big crewman cut up a plaster and put a small 1cm square on each side of my head. I still to this day dont know if that was a placebo or not lol but it worked for me.

The body will cope, trust me.

Kind regards

Skip
 
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Scoperderm patches.

Small patch worn behind the ear turned SWMBO from being sea sick on a boating lake to Ellen Macarther! After a few years of using them she now manages without.
 
pks1702 said:
Scoperderm patches.

Small patch worn behind the ear turned SWMBO from being sea sick on a boating lake to Ellen Macarther! After a few years of using them she now manages without.
Click to expand...

That's very interesting and as my post above saying about placebo, that's what the big fisherman did to 16yr old me, he just cut up a plaster and did that.

Kind regards

Skip
 
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pks1702 said:
Scoperderm patches.

Small patch worn behind the ear turned SWMBO from being sea sick on a boating lake to Ellen Macarther! After a few years of using them she now manages without.
Click to expand...

Scopoderm are excellent if you can take them. They are a psychoactive drug and can cause hallucinations in some people - she needs to try one at home on a day when she can afford to go to bed and sleep it off if she starts seeing pink elephants
 
maby said:
Scopoderm are excellent if you can take them. They are a psychoactive drug and can cause hallucinations in some people - she needs to try one at home on a day when she can afford to go to bed and sleep it off if she starts seeing pink elephants
Click to expand...

Are you asking his wife to go to bed lol?

Kind regards
Skip
 
maby said:
Scopoderm are excellent if you can take them. They are a psychoactive drug and can cause hallucinations in some people - she needs to try one at home on a day when she can afford to go to bed and sleep it off if she starts seeing pink elephants
Click to expand...

I doubt I could tell if she was Psychotic over normal behavior :rolleyes:

She was fine with them, then the thought they were onboard if the going got rough seemed enough. Nearly 10 years on she does not even think about it which backs up what Skip found. I can relate to that too - As a 12 year old I went with my father on the Ramsgate Angling festival local charter boats had a day at sea competing. Moored just off the Goodwind's with a stiff beam wind rolling around I was sick as a dog, the skipper allowed me to lay on the floor in the wheelhouse on the proviso I dashed out if I felt unwell it was a long day never forgotten. In my early sailing life I went expecting to be sea sick because I was before, sure enough I felt unwell. This was until an old training skipper put me on the wheel at the first signs of my gills turning Green and each time during the trip. Since that trip I have never (so far touch wood) suffered with sickness - the mind can play strange tricks.
 
The Scopaderm patches mostly work for me but not always. Disappointed that I don't get any hallucinations; was looking forward to the back to the 60s experience
 
Don’t visit every pub in Ramsgate for a couple of beers, go for a curry at closing time, open a bottle of red wine at 02.00 when finally back on the boat and then expect to leave for the Medway at 08.00 in 25 knots of SW without any consequences.

That would just be really, really stupid!
 
Just FYI +1 for Scopamine patches but they are only available by prescription. I've only discovered them this year... Wish I'd had one on a couple of weeks back, when we got back to the mooring in a 20 kt SE wind over very big (therefore fast) tide... After I'd done my chores head down below decks, I threw up...

My normal "poison" is Stugeron, which doesn't make me dozy, but as a rule spending time below early in the season inures me for the rest of the year. Unfortunately not had that opportunity this year...
 
Gladys said:
Just FYI +1 for Scopamine patches but they are only available by prescription.....
Click to expand...

It's quite true that they are only available on prescription, but our experience is that you can get that prescription very quickly via one of the on-line prescription services. My wife went to our doctor for the first box of patches, but goes on-line these days. The duty GP asks a couple of questions, then issues a prescription with an appropriate warning about possible side-effects.
 
There is a body of opinion that favours CAT2 type for most of us.

The brain is thrashing around looking for the analogue for the condition that you find yourself in. Sometimes it takes awhile to find the file and run it.

In my case it can be a week but not often more. A week of feeling green and wobbly - fortunately never physically sick. Do struggle once others start.

Anyway, anti histamine works for me in the transition phase.
 
Avoidance:

1. Look at the horizon and focus on a ship. If no ships, look at the horizon and focus on trying to locate a ship.
It takes your mind of the movement of the vessel you are on. :cool:

2. Take a session at the helm. The concentration will refocus your mind.

3. Do not eat cheese or other high fat food before going sailing.

Treatment:

1. The shade of a green tree. :sleeping:

2 Strawberry jam. Doesn't necessarily stop sea sickness but it tastes just as good coming back up. :disgust:

3. I do subscribe to Minn's suggestion : Very simple one: preserved ginger. :encouragement:

If you find you are feeling rather sea sick.
a) Go to the leeward side and throw up.
b) You will feel much better almost immediately.
c) Then wash your mouth out wait CocaCola.
d) Not mouthwash, as this has a slightly different effect. DAMHIK
 
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For my wife the answer was seabands. Stugeron can make some people very drowsy so treat with caution.
Get your wife to be confident on her own in the cockpit while you make the tea. Calls of nature are of course an issue. Kalms work for a friend of mine and do not make him drowsy (he still expects me to make the coffee even on his boat).
At least it's progress Ron.
 
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