Mal de mer remedies

[bilbobaggins]

Has anyone any experience of the 'Remedy Watch' shown in the Force 4 Chandlery catalogue 890004?

I'm putting together the medical pack for a distant-water trip, and I'm well use to carrying Stugeron, crystallised ginger, rehydrant....
but what else should I consider?

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[Sans Bateau]

A bag of ginger for me. Never done mal de mer, feel sorry for those who do.

 

[PeteCooper]

Do I remember reading in one of Arthur Ransome's books that you should tie bacon rind to a piece of string, swallow it and then pull it back out.
Or another one recommended to me was to sit under an apple tree.
Sorry, no help at all.

 

[AIDY]

root stem ginger..........

 

[Twister_Ken]

No.

Did once try some pressure 'acupuncture' wrist bands once.

If you want them, you might be able to find them in the bottom of the Alderney Race, along with the remains of my dinner.

 

[vyv_cox]

Wife and daughter both use wrist bands and find them useful. Wife always takes Boots travel sickness pills in unpleasant conditions and has found, over many years, that they offer the best compromise between freedom from seasickness and drowsiness, dry mouth, etc.

I have never suffered but was once persuaded to try Stugeron before getting into an enclosed lifeboat on the North Sea. I think the effects of the pill on me were worse than the seasickness might have been. Never again.

 

[jimbaerselman]

Trials were conducted pre WWII invasion time. The obvious worries were that seasick soldiers arriving in N France would prefer to die on arrival . . .

Anti-histamines were one effective remedy. They worked by partially shutting down some nervous system links. The trouble was, soldiers would be half asleep on arrival . . .

The most effective cure was discovered as an incidental result of the tests - by their third or fourth exposure, most test participants had become immune. It's currently thought that the 'wrist band' remedies work this way. First time round, poor guy gets seasick. So he rushes out to buy a cure, any cure. Next time he wears it he doesn't feel so bad. Conclusion - it works!

Not really. He's just acclimatising. But he won't give up on his wrist band. Or his ginger. Or whatever else. And he'll sell the cure with conviction . . . while the guy who created this random idea gets the real benefits . . .

 

[Hermit]

My wifes uses the Relief Band watch which gives you an electric shock and it is the only thing that ever worked. My sailing peace is now shattered!

 

[Koeketiene]

I've found that alcohol works well - I'm not joking.
Beer tho - not spirits.


If not, just keep going - would you rather be sick or drunk? /forums/images/graemlins/smirk.gif

 

[whiteoaks7]

There's a lot of info on the web and as a prime sufferer I've researched most of it. The latest thinking is that the disagreement between eyes and ears mimics the effect of some toxins and our brains are programed to vomit the toxic food.

Hyoscine in the form of Scopaderm topical patches seems to be the ultimate and works for me but you have to get them on prescription. Hyoscine is also available as pills - Boots and Kwells provide 300ug per 8 hour pill but these are only really ok for short voyages since the concentration in the blood peaks early then decays over the 8 hour period.

I did post a question about hypnotherapy since it seems to me some of this (in my case at least) is psychosomatic - I think I will be queasy therefore I am - but no-one seems to have tried it and since this will cost me a cool £100 I don;t want to risk the money. It seems to me though that the bands and watches (same price as hypno for the watch?) may work the same way - an implanted belief or faith.

When I was working on ships the company used to provide Dramamine which always knocked me out but when I awoke twenty minutes later I was fine for the day(s). The Navy used to pass pills around but I never thought to ask what they were - certainly the crew of a submarine could not afford to be asleep for twenty minutes in a storm.

It's true (someone else has posted this view) that you do build up a tolerance. But it's also true that the feeling is the worst thing I've experienced. My worst ever was retching so hard for eight hours that I burst a vessel in my nose and arrived covered in blood. But as soon as you set foot on land the whole awful feeling disappears instantly - amazing!

You could research the hypno for us . . .

 

[Porthandbuoy]

Scopalomine patches. Available on private prescription if you know a doctor.
They are also the best hangover cure known to man (or woman in this day and age of PC bolloks).

 

[Bejasus]

Mythbusters(don't all laugh at once), did a test on remedies and by the end concluded that the most effective of all that they tried, was ginger. Appeared to be the most effective with no side effects.
I carry ginger capuses on board and also make sure the ship I work on has them for my crew, and we go out in seas you wouldn't believe.

 

[jimbaerselman]

[ QUOTE ]
The latest thinking is that the disagreement between eyes and ears mimics the effect of some toxins and our brains are programed to vomit the toxic food.

[/ QUOTE ] WWII thinking, in fact. Experiments have been conducted since then to look more closely. They've clarified the issue a little, but found no solutions.

'Motion sickness' is indeed caused by conflict between what Mk I eyeball senses as 'motion', and what the rest of the body senses as 'motion'. I was a subject in such experiments in the early '70s. I'd had a high level of exposure to turbulent living (offshore racing, flying) and brashly claimed to be reasonably immune. Others were very prone to motion sickness. Some 30 subects participated

I was completely humbled by being made violently sick within 10 minutes while sitting, static, in a seat. The cause was the rocking projection of an apparent horizon around a hemispherical screen which surrounded the seat. Other 'runs' were made with the seat and horizon moving together (like being below), others were made with the seat moving, but the horizon static (real world).

Real world produced least nausea (like sitting on deck with a good visual field). The other two created equal amounts of reaction. However, the time to nausea varied widely between subjects (two lucky sods were immune) and with frequency of rocking. Several of us had 'sensitive' frequencies that really did the trick, usually higher frequencies (just like those encountered in a life raft with the hood up!) And most of us increased our tolerance with exposure.

This gives clues about postponing seasickness effects. Keep a good all round visual horizon; classically, let the subject steer, or get them regularly to scan the horizon on 'lookout'. Alternatively, remove the visual field by closing your eyes. Minimise your time below with eyes open, and don't hide inside the spray hood, or read maps. Or even charts.

Interestingly, some arcade gamers are prone to nausea, as are some space travellers. I supose we shouldn't call it motion sickness . . . perhaps 'sensor conflict nausea'. Hmm. Sounds too robotic.

 

[StugeronSteve]

Not a cure, but the "fiery" ginger beer - sold in Sainsburys - is really nice to sip on passage and probably helps to settle the stomach.

 

[Tomkat17]

My wife suffers badly from the dreaded mal de mer and has tried the watch without any great success. Something that has worked better is Bucastem which is the drug given to people suffering from inner ear issues and loss of balance. You can now get it over the counter at the chemists. It also has the added benefit that it is absorbed into your system by putting it up inside your gum and dissolving into your bloodstream and not lost when you vomite

 

[FAITIRA]

Yes found Bucastem works even after the sickness sets in, but Kwells work well for me, the worst start to a trip is with a hangover or rushing off early with out attending to the "basics" first!

 

[bilbobaggins]

Thanks to all.... I'll get ALL the variants, and put 'em in the warchest. I do understand about motion sickness, from aviation medicine training, and lots of hours in the back of Canberra T4s doing 'unusual positions' and 'limited panel'. There were occasions when I'd had to be lifted out of the back, and a couple of times where I was taking up the first pressure on the seat pan firing handle of the 'bang seat'.....

I find that I 'habituate', in that if I can avoid the triggers - hot, sweaty environment, pressure on abdomen, stench of diesel - for a day or two, then I have no more problem that season. That's why I carry Stugeron, crystallised ginger, and so on. But others respond to other stuff. So I'll carry the other stuff suggested.



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[Bejasus]

[ QUOTE ]
Not a cure, but the "fiery" ginger beer - sold in Sainsburys - is really nice to sip on passage and probably helps to settle the stomach.

[/ QUOTE ]
only when mixed with dark rum to produce a 'Dark & Stormy'. /forums/images/graemlins/shocked.gif

 

[Bejasus]

[ QUOTE ]
Interestingly, some arcade gamers are prone to nausea, as are some space travellers. I supose we shouldn't call it motion sickness . . . perhaps 'sensor conflict nausea'. Hmm. Sounds too robotic.

[/ QUOTE ]

This is similar to rally co-drivers throwing up when being tossed around in a rally stage whilst barrelling along, head down reading pace notes etc.

or your boy throwing up in the car because he is glued to his Gameboy. /forums/images/graemlins/mad.gif

 

[chamac]

Go sit under a tree !