Scopoderm Patches

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jakeroyd

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I've got some from my doctor for the 2013 season.
Have not tried them yet.
I know they work by disrupting the signals from the ear's balance mechanism to the brain.
However , I got to thinking about the fact that you only wear one for the customary 72hrs.

I assume you need the other side of your head undrugged cos you might lose all coordination if two
At he's we're worn.
Quite apart from the fact that you would have doubled the dose and therefore overdosed.

Has anybody done this and survived ?

Only thinking out loud.
 
Regardless of where you stick it it is a systemic effect due to absorption through the skin into your bloodstream. Both inner ears and the rest of the vestibular (balance) system are equally affected. Patches are just a convenient alternative to tablets as they have a more sustained action.
 
robertt said:
Regardless of where you stick it it is a systemic effect due to absorption through the skin into your bloodstream. Both inner ears and the rest of the vestibular (balance) system are equally affected. Patches are just a convenient alternative to tablets as they have a more sustained action.
Click to expand...

Another advantage of the patch, is that if you find the side effects unpleasant you can remove it and the effect will disappear quickly. With tablets you have to wait for it to get out of your system.

I would suggest trying them ashore on a non critical day just to make sure you can tolerate them. A few people, including SWMBO, find the drowsiness, dry mouth, etc too unpleasant.
 
My better half swears by them, she gets the side effects of dry mouth and slight feeling of giddiness but she says that compared with the feeling of death she felt without it is a small price to pay.

Out of interest did you get them on prescription or over the counter? In the past a previous doctor refused to give them saying that he didn't agree with performance enhancing drugs .... Mind you he was in Hertfordshire, here in Hants the docs understand sailing.
 
When you do wear them, stick a plaster over the patch, it's less likely to come off then, I woke up with one stuck on my cheek once.

Wash your hands after applying them, and don't touch your eyes. Make sure you have lots of fluids available, you do get a dry mouth, so you'll be drinking lots, but use the heads down below when you need to go.

Also try to get lots of rest before using them, I found if I was lacking sleep I would get hallucinations - Boat sailing off in space, dreaming I was in the Caribbean, when I was doing the Fastnet, and flicking between reality and dreams then not knowing which is which, also seeing lights or hundreds of dolphins when there weren't any.

Also on dry land your sense of balance will be dulled, but it's not noticeable on board.

I stopped taken them and went onto Kwells instead, same drug, smaller dose and lasts 6 hours rather than three days.
 
In our experience...

ChrisE said:
My better half swears by them, she gets the side effects of dry mouth and slight feeling of giddiness but she says that compared with the feeling of death she felt without it is a small price to pay.

Out of interest did you get them on prescription or over the counter? In the past a previous doctor refused to give them saying that he didn't agree with performance enhancing drugs .... Mind you he was in Hertfordshire, here in Hants the docs understand sailing.
Click to expand...

...used to be prescription, now OTC in E/W Sussex, mind you, never had a prob with craphat Civ GP, our GP recognised it's utility post chuck up, since a patch retro applied gets crew upright and ops asap.
+1 on the plaster sur patch mind, two Para chums upchucked in March last year on a Cherbourg milk run, applied patches, stayed on for 1, not for other=+tape, so solo stag til about 20nm orf East entrance, 12 hours on helm with zero proper tea coffee input!
02.00, our serious case stepped orf onto C'berg finger-Dog****- big lumps of **** all way up the pontoon and fingers to the T-head on V pontoon. Hosed him down before we let him back on!!!:D
Marina went ballistic next am-cleaned everything up, but dog owner had PUFO'd pdq I think. It's the only way some people put up a stripe- dog handler- cos the dog cannot out rank them!!!:D
 
We had a bad scare with this type of patch some years ago. As we only had a limited supply and the sailing was 12 hrs max we cut them in half.

This led to an overdose situation as the active incredient leaked out the cut edge and 36 hrs worth was applied.

The result was severe hallucinations.
 
TQA said:
We had a bad scare with this type of patch some years ago. As we only had a limited supply and the sailing was 12 hrs max we cut them in half.

This led to an overdose situation as the active incredient leaked out the cut edge and 36 hrs worth was applied.

The result was severe hallucinations.
Click to expand...

I know that the patches were withdrawn about ten years ago due to production problems, perhaps you had some of t he bad batch ....
 
just to confirm the question asked above , I got mine on prescription.
there are some things like epilepsy eyc. that prohibit their use.
I have them on a re-order basis.
I'm a fully paid up member of the Birmingham Navy so the doctor was not familiar with them and had to look them up.

I have tried Stugeron which worked but put me to sleep , quite literally (4 on the boat) so I am hoping Scopoderm will work without sleepiness.

I guess I was thinking too literally about the head , you must have a head full of the stuff so one will do the job.

Contrary to the comment above it say's it can take 24hrs for the drug to leave your system once the patch is removed.
 
snooks said:
When you do wear them, stick a plaster over the patch, it's less likely to come off then, I woke up with one stuck on my cheek once.

Wash your hands after applying them, and don't touch your eyes. Make sure you have lots of fluids available, you do get a dry mouth, so you'll be drinking lots, but use the heads down below when you need to go.

Also try to get lots of rest before using them, I found if I was lacking sleep I would get hallucinations - Boat sailing off in space, dreaming I was in the Caribbean, when I was doing the Fastnet, and flicking between reality and dreams then not knowing which is which, also seeing lights or hundreds of dolphins when there weren't any.

Also on dry land your sense of balance will be dulled, but it's not noticeable on board.

I stopped taken them and went onto Kwells instead, same drug, smaller dose and lasts 6 hours rather than three days.
Click to expand...

Hallucinations and flicking betwen reality and dreams - no wonder you thought sailing with a baby was easy and they don't cry much. Explains your comments on other thread.:D
 
ChrisE said:
My better half swears by them, she gets the side effects of dry mouth and slight feeling of giddiness but she says that compared with the feeling of death she felt without it is a small price to pay.

Out of interest did you get them on prescription or over the counter? In the past a previous doctor refused to give them saying that he didn't agree with performance enhancing drugs .... Mind you he was in Hertfordshire, here in Hants the docs understand sailing.
Click to expand...

I should have added that she only uses them when passage making, ie trips of 2 or more days.
 
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