Seasick Remedies

nigelmercier said:
Even cheaper if you make your own using LoSalt.

I was going to link to this, but easier to copy...

Dioralyte contains glucose, sodium chloride, potassium chloride, and disodium hydrogen citrate. I think the latter is just an antioxidant. LoSalt is sodium and potassium chlorides, but isn't quite the right proportion, so I add normal salt to boost the sodium content. If you look at a sachet, it tells you the proportions of each, as does the LoSalt pack. Having said that, the original formula for rehydration fluid was "a handful of sugar and a pinch of salt", so I don't think it is critical.

[Later]

Dioralyte per sachet: Sodium Chloride (NaCl) 0.47 g; Dextrose Anhydrous 3.56 g; Potassium Chloride (KCl) 0.3 g; Disodium Hydrogen Citrate 0.53 g

LoSalt is a blend of at least 66.6% potassium chloride and up to 33.3% sodium chloride.

So Dioralyte has 1½ times as much NaCl as KCl, and LoSalt has 2 times KCl as NaCl. To get the proportions right you need to add more NaCl. Too early in the morning for sums.

[Later still]

Ignoring molecular weights...
3g LoSalt is 2g KCl and 1g NaCl
add 2g NaCl (normal salt)
Total 2g KCl and 3g NaCl, which is correct ratio for Dioralyte, and enough for half a dozen sachets with the addition of about 20g of glucose. I think the disodium hydrogen citrate is optional, but perhaps someone knows better.

The problem is that it doesn't mix evenly, so I just mix a tiny quantity with a mustard spoon when I need it, in ratio 3:2:20
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Just about one of the best rehydraters around is ordinary full fat Coke, and it includes most of the necessary salts etc. as well.

Much more pleasant to drink than some other salty solutions and you can add stuff to enhance the taste/effects too. :)
 
SAMYL said:
Just about one of the best rehydraters around is ordinary full fat Coke, and it includes most of the necessary salts etc. as well.
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Surprises me that it would contain much in the way of salts, but certainly when we had childhood tummy upsets my mum would give us flat coca-cola as recommended by the doctor.

Pete
 
Here's a French article on the subject. I have noted the key points:

http://voyagesenmer.com/vivre-a-bord/le-mal-de-mer-prevention-et-traitement/


Seasickness = conflict of the senses + stress -> histamine reaching the brain.

Risk of 4 dangers = cold, hunger, fear, tiredness

Before embarking :

Drink 2l water by day.
Start medication 24hrs before.
Avoid, alcohol, coffee, heavy/greasy foods.
Catch up on sleep which reabsorbs histamine in the blood.
Prepare quick light meals in advance to minimize time below.

Underway;

keep hydrated and maintain blood/sugar level with vitamin rich drinks containing potassium; supplement with bananas, cereal bars, biscuits and hard sweets.

Avoid getting sunburned.

If you feel nauseous occupy yourself: helm and concentrate on the horizon.
Avoid diesel and exhaust fumes.
Keep warm.
Do not lie down.

Medication can help in some 80% of cases but probably as much by their placebo effect. In France : Nautamine, Dramamine, Nausicalm. If vomiting, there is no point.

Scopoderm patches (SWMBO swears by them) but must also guard against the 4 dangers but must begin the treatment before being sick. Some large boats ban them because of secondary effects : perception, sight, taste etc.

Ginger can help, probably because of the sugar content.

Drink without waiting to be thirsty; sodas are good because of sugar content.
Eat; an empty stomach leads to hypoglycemy

Most people adapt within 2 days. If it lasts longer than this then there is real danger and medical assistance should be requested. Avoid “the viscosité mentale qui annihile la volonté” (Cours des Glénan)
 
prv said:
I'm rather surprised that this isn't used to justify the famous Gallic fascination with suppositories :)

Pete
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This is one situation where a suppository would have a definite advantage, Stemetil (Prochlorperazine) Suppositories are - or were - available, but not over the counter. Scopoderm (Hyoscine) patches also avoid the obvious problem of oral medication being useless once vomiting, however all are most effective taken in advance of any symptoms.
 
Leighb said:
Stemetil (Prochlorperazine) Suppositories are - or were - available
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That's as may be, but I think I'm likely to have much more success with the gum-patch version than in persuading a puking, shivering heap who's scared that they're not going to die, that they should take off their oiles and trousers and accept a wax-bomb up the orifice :D

Pete
 
nigelmercier said:
you can rehydrate anally using seawater. My grab bag will include 1m of hose and a funnel.
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In that case I suspect some kind of lubricant would probably be a good idea as well!

Personally, since I sail in the Channel and hope to be picked up within hours (PLB, VHF/GPS and parachute flares in the bag), I think I'll stick with the two half-litre bottles of water per person :D

Pete
 
savageseadog said:
I'm not talking about the hocus pocus stuff, I'm talking about drugs, pills etc. I'm taking some seasick prone crew on a longer trip, anyone anything positive or negative to say on the following:

Cinnarizine/Stugeron
Dimenhydrinate/ Dramamine
Promethazine
Prochlorperazine
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Ant seasick "pill" once someone is queasy or retching is useless - it needs to be a suppository. I use Iterol B6, available on the internet from Switzerland and I imagine being a landlocked country there's lots there prone to sea/motion sickness. Loads of ocean crew have tried everything else, but this works, even on people who are a day or two into their seasickness, as I have been from time to time...

Edit - if not retching or vomiting, B6 is available in capsule or lozenge form as well as suppository, and i have lots of all 3 formats...
 
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I used to feel queasy just standing on a pontoon waiting for a ferry but have improved over the last few years. The more I go out the better it gets but I still suffer out in in rougher conditions despite Stugeron. 20 minutes in a chop can still have me oiking over the side, not good when single handed, the second day of sailing is much better though. I keep trying to make Cowes from Chichester but always have to bail out to Gosport :( Seems to get choppy from the forts on.

Stugeron though is good stuff taken at least a day before you sail, it makes you feel lousy but not as lousy as sea sickness. I would have had to give up sailing if it wasn't for Stugeron.
 
tcm said:
Ant seasick "pill" once someone is queasy or retching is useless - it needs to be a suppository.
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...or some other way of getting the drug into the bloodstream. This where the Buccastem tabs are good - they melt into a blob of jelly stuck firmly to the gum, up inside the top lip, and don't get washed out by puking. One of my fellow deckhands on Stavros (known as Seasick Steve, which should have been a clue!) was given them on his fourth day of constant sickness, and a few hours later was sitting down in a rolling messroom asking for seconds.

Pete
 
Scopoderm patches for me after recommendation from a suffering long-distance sailor. Last channel crossing I tried them with the bobbly wristbands and intake of crystallised ginger, so not sure whether it was the combination or any one of them that worked. No sensory strangeness that some people report.

When I got my patches (June) they seemed to be in short supply with an apparently long time before good stocks were available.
 
nigelmercier said:
Never tried them. From NHS site:

"Prochlorperazine maleate is a medicine which is used in treatment of anxiety, nausea and vomiting, schizophrenia, vertigo and mania."
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I've never tried them either, touch wood I've never been seriously seasick (though I'm certainly not immune). I was just very impressed with the effects when they were used on Stavros. The master didn't really want to issue them, as being a pharmacist-controlled drug meant he had to fill in some extra paperwork, but when it was clear that time and stugeron and ginger biscuits weren't working, Steve got his tab and up he bounced.

The range of conditions they're indicated for surprised me too when I went to buy some - but I suppose that's actually not unusual. Viagra, for instance, was invented (and works) as a heart drug.

In fact, I believe that one of the Migraleve pink and yellow tablets (can't remember which) is substantially the same drug. The other Migraleve tablet is a simple painkiller which I also carry. So I'm prepared for migraine as well as seasickness should anyone succumb :)

Pete
 
+1 for Stugeron - if it's too much of a knock out try taking half a pill every four hours instead of a whole one every eight, works great. Tried patches but too hallucinatory.

NB if getting Buccastem, don't tell the pharmacist you want them for seasickness - it's not on the list of things they're prescribed for & the first couple of places I tried wouldn't give them to me, had to go to a third & say I had a migraine.
 
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