Seasick treatment

I have always been prone to travel sickness, land or sea, but never feel sick in a car when I am driving. Helming a boat has a lesser protective effect on me.
When I was young I found that Kwells worked well for me (hyoscine - Boots Travel Calms are the same stuff), but made me drowsy and thirsty. My wife and family also claim that hyoscine makes me "odd" - irritable and spaced out. In the last couple of years I have been using Stugeron (cinnarizine 15mg, two tablets) which works at least as well as hyoscine but with no drowsiness or dry mouth, and my family report that I am no worse than usual when I take them. The only drawback compared with hyoscine is that you have to take them two hours in advance. Be careful if you buy Stugeron/cinnarizine in some overseas pharmacies as it also comes in 75mg strength, and if you take two of those it will knock you out.
Like others have said, once I have been afloat continuously for about three days I seem to be able to do without the pills.

Alan
 
Yup - any strong smells (diesel, smoke, stuffy cabins etc) will push any one who is feeling a bit green over the edge quite quickly!

Ginger is good (also try as a tea with bits of ginger in hot water).
Peppermint clears the gluggy feeling and can help if only as a mind over matter thing!
Avoid rich, fatty foods.
Very important not to allow your self to get cold - wrap up warm in advance (if necessary).
And...um another observation - and I don't know why..but, constipation and rough seas don't mix -so keep yourself regular!
Keep busy helming or scanning horizon for shipping etc
If you are feeling quiffy - don't go below (if you can avoid it).
Don't worry unnecessarily - the mind prolongs the agony. So think positive thoughts as you are keeping busy helming etc

Watch out for those Scolp.....? patches - I have seen unpleasant side-effects with a number of people - ck with your doc.

Marezine used to be my drug of choice for the first aid kit for anyone who needed to stay reasonably alert (works for some not others though). I only gave Dramamine to non-essential crew as it makes you very drowsy.

You should have your sea legs by 3 days if on passage and if not it is generally all in your mind - as I once saw with a crew member who was sick for a 3 weeks ocean passage (fear played a big factor there prob because we had 2 hurricanes bearing down on us). He needed suppositories and all sorts of medical care - but ultimately he just was not suited to being at sea.
 
Scopolamine ah yes ....the patches (when they did stay adhered behind the ear) gave the most peculiar hallucinations.

We were sailing between Maui and Kauai in the Hawaiin chain on a 37 footer.

Wind 30 to 35 knots and quite steady, waves 10 to 15 feet, lots of white caps, boat speed up to an amazing 16.2 k but mostly 12 k and surfing.

Each white cap, and there were a great deal, was magically transformed into a small powerboat, perhaps 12 to 15 feet long with one or two occupants!

Some trip.

Sworn off the patches now !
 
[ QUOTE ]
And...um another observation - and I don't know why..but, constipation and rough seas don't mix -so keep yourself regular!

[/ QUOTE ]

On this subject, has anyone ever found repeated motion to affect bladder control? More than once, having been in a tideway for a bit, I've found I suddenly need to give the shrouds a big hug right away!!

Or maybe it's just breaking the beer seal...

/<
 
Over the last few days I have been hit with a particularly unpleasant inner ear condition called "Labyrinthitis". Basically it's likle the horrible bit that comes after a really good night out, staggering around ceiling spinning etc. Quack has prescribed Prochlorperazine tablets, very effective and I bet they would make a good sea sickness pill.
 
I avoid \"instant\" soup

Agree with all comments re bands (partially works for my daughter), and water ginger (work for me).

I've never succumbed to yet, but I'm sure I will sometime. When I've come close to it a couple of times, I've used the ginger tablets. Oddly enough, on the two or three occasions that I've felt queazy, it's occurred after "cup-a-soup" type stuff. I've subsequently avoided instant soup while underway - and since then had no problem. Haven't tried "pot-noodles" but suspect the experience would be similar.

Has this happened to others? Is there a connection with the additives?
 
Some dry bread with an oily fried egg, washed down by a large tot of whisky...... The bread lines the gut and soaks up the bile while the fried egg gives you some nourishment if kept down and oils it all if it comes up. The tot is just to dull the pain. All as explained to me on my first day in the bay some 40 years ago.
 
Re: I avoid \"instant\" soup

Was it Tomato soup? If so, there's your answer. I often have Cream of Mushroom Cup-a-soup with no ill effects.

Alcohol hasn't been mentioned much in this thread. I have seen near catastrophic results from a boozy late night followed by a crack of dawn departure - even the most hardened and experienced seafarer can be rendered completely useless.

Francis Fletcher
 
Over the years my crews have numbered two or three hundred people, from absolute novices to fairly experienced skippers: about one in three being afflicted by seasickness. I have become convinced of three main causes:
1. Disorientation by loss, or distortion, of the usual horizontal or vertical visual references (as darkness falls, or going below). Drugs can help, but repeated reminders that the mast, and apparently vertical structures below, are NOT vertical, are eventually more effective.
2. Anxiety, often subconscious. Once the cause is identified or deduced, and dispelled by explanation or confidence-building, the seasickness often vanishes in the instant. Often it has been as simple as explaining how and why a ballast keel works!
3. Inactivity. Dispelled by positive involment in the sailing: encouragement to 'ride the boat' instead of sitting passively like a rag doll. Again, sickness often vanishes in minutes. I do not recall one dancer, skier, or horse-rider suffering from seasickness.
Take pills if they might reassure, but engage the mind!
 
Agreed to all those, but would also add that boats not underway cause far more effect than boats moving, especially so with fast powerboats, probably because people concentrate on the horizon or a fixed point more when at speed.

This doesn't help with trying to sleep in a bunk while underway, or hanging head down in an engine bay though.

I don't suffer much from sea sickness (in fact I haven't for over 30 years) but experience of rolling ferries in rough seas while younger always keep me up on deck in any boat no matter how long the watch
 
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