sea sickness

[homa]

another vote for Stugeron

Stugeron works for me and a number of friends and family members swear by it - but it only works if it is taken at least 6 hours before.

 

[phanakapan]

You can try any/all of the above suggested drugs/herbs/wristbands/keeping warm/hydrated etc. For me, (I have suffered really, really, badly in the past) it's also to do with confidence, knowledge, not being scared. So do get all the training you can, do as much skippering as you can- and if, say, you were asking on behalf of your partner/crew, make sure they do the same.

 

[ReggieK]

I often suffer from seasickness and have tried everything. The only thing I have found to have some effect is the vibrating wrist watch. It works quite well , the only problem being that if you are crewing you are moving about and the band can move away from the accu point and you immediately feel sick again, so, keeping it in place is a problem, but it does definitely have an effect

 

[ex-Gladys]

I had a weird experience last week... Did a sea school week with East Anglia SS (v.good btw) and had to plan an evening passage in the dark out to COrk Yacht beacon, Roughs Tower, round S. Cork Sand and back into the Orwell.

I went below to check navigation stuff, then helped out with washing up, and on going back top sides, felt decidedly average. I expected to be sick, as the wind was dropping and we had a decidedly loppy sea. Towards the S Cork, I stood up for some reason and when I sat down again within a minute the queasiness had gone...

Weird

 

[jeanne]

Start taking the Stugeron at least the day before. As others say,no alcohol, heavy fried meal etc the night before, and keep well hydrated. Fortunately I don´t suffer, but a cruising friend ( a nurse...) suffered every time she left port. She was 2 years into a long term cruise. Leaving Salvador in Brazil to head north, usually on the wind in a sloppy sea and lots of squalls, for the first time ever, she stood her watches and kept eating....

 

[jimbaerselman]

Probable explanation -

Seasickness is caused by conflicting information about what's going on (motion-wise) between your body and your vision.

This conflict is also the symptom of some types of poisoning - consider those over-indulgences of your youth when the bed spun round in circles . . . hence 'conflict' = 'puke to remove poison', a nice evolutionary benefit.

So, if you minimise that conflict, you remove part of the cause of seasickness. When below, your eyes tell you that you're static, your body says that you're heaving around. Bad news. Close your eyes.

On deck, your body says you're heaving, part of your vision agrees, part doesn't, depending how much infrastructure is surrounding you.

Standing up reduces some of that infrastructure - eyes and body now largely agree. Steering, if you have an open position, also helps. Concentrate your vision on the horizon.

Anti-histamines cut the connection by partly putting you to sleep . . .

It's interesting to note that some computer gamers, working with big screens, also suffer motion sickness. Their eyes tell them they're moving, their body says they're static. And that could happen while they're sitting under a tree, if anyone should happen to place one of those big machines under a tree.

 

[StanFolds]

I did hear of a 100% cure, holding a £2 coin between the teeth, extensive testing of this method was tried in an open boat in rough sea somewhere off Aberdeen.
Stan

 

[Guest]

[ QUOTE ]
I did hear of a 100% cure, holding a £2 coin between the teeth, extensive testing of this method was tried in an open boat in rough sea somewhere off Aberdeen.

[/ QUOTE ]
Sadly that only works for people who come from Fife.

 

[Rabbie]

My cockpit sole is lined with astroturf - works for me - as does Stugeron at the beginning of the season.

 

[Allan]

If you also had a wooden mast it would be foolproof!
Allan

 

[smiala]

thanks for that cellboy, didnt know that, just checked on the packet. The doc charges 6 or 7 quid for 84 tablets ! which seems a bit cheaper than boots, so this might be a tip for others.

One of the benefits seeing the doc had was to confirm that my feeling sick was real, now from the posts I see I might have a sub consoius psychosomatic illness or am I really feeling sick, I dont know anymore /forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif

Good advise in above posts.

 

[Alfie168]

Never been car sick, but seasick..oh yes..sometimes provoked by incorrect intakes of fluid/food, sometimes nerves, sometimes flat calm sea, sometimes choppy sea.

And sometimes I don't get seasick at all...complete bl**dy mystery to me /forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif

Taking pills (kwells) does help

Tim

 

[Zippysigma]

I frequently get sea sick (used to get car sick too) . It must be in the mind as when I need to act urgently (free a crab pot from arround the rudder at 2am mid channel), I am fine, only to puke when relaxing again.

Best drug i have found is called Travel Gum from Greece. Only trouble is that I cannot read the instructions, so have no idea when to take or how many! They also do dull me down.

 

[SmileyGiley]

Stugeron. can make ya drowsy, but works well. First time I went to sea (work, not pleasure) was from Aberdeen in a howling gale, sideseas. I'd had pills before we left, but felt fine so didn't bother again. We had a programmer riding - he was sick for a week & could hardly walk. I finally managed to persuade him to try some Stugeron (rather than bands, herbs & other stuff he'd been trying) and it worked an absolute treat.

Assuming they're still available that is.

 

[ChasB]

Ginger is frequently recommended on divers' forums - take several packs of ginger nuts along!

I get sea sick reading a book in a car. Pay attention to the world around you. Focusing on what is static on the boat, such as going below, will make it worse. Better to give the victim a task like taking the helm or looking for up-coming landmarks ashore.

A common ingredient in sea sickness pills is piriton, an anti-histamine. I get hay fever and found piriton put me to sleep. I now use half a tablet of cetrizine (Boots do a cheap variety, look out for cetrizine hydrochloride in the ingredients) In small quantities it's non-sedating. Aka Zirtek. Should work on sea-sickness but I've never tested it out. Good for nettle rash and insect bites too!