Seasickness relief bands

L

Laundryman

Well-Known Member
Joined
17 Dec 2007
Messages
667
Location
Live in Hemel Hempstead, Boat is in Haslar.
Visit site
Sitting at my desk and a moment of boredom I clicked on ybw forum and saw an article where they tested a life raft for real. Captured my interest and I read it through. One of the comments was the onset of seasickness. The comment was made that one guy in the raft had taken no precautions and suffered quickly. The photographer had taken kwells which delayed the onset. Chris Beeson, I think, commented that he was wearing a relief band, as recommended by Nigel Calder in a recent article in Yachting Monthly, and it worked! So, does anyone know the article where Nigel Calder endorses the band? I subscribe to the digital edition of YM but can't find it. Being susceptible to seasickness, particularly at night, I'm interested in which band he is referring to. Anyone else like to offer an endorsement of any particular relief band? Until now, I'd always thought they were just giving a placebo type of effect but I'm willing to be proved wrong.
Thanks. Alan
 
I also suffer a little and chemicals just put me to sleep so I am watching replies to this question with interest.
 
I assume you are reeferring to the elasticated or velcro bands with a small ball in them
I have the electronic watch & one thing I have noticed is that as i move my hand the shockwaves either feels strong or week.
I also have found that if i bend my wrist in I get less shock but if I bend my hand back i get more shock. I also note that the shock strength varies how far up the wrist the watch goes

This leads me to suspect that the nerves that respond to the small "ball" move about & so the ball does not always rub on the nerve
As there is no electric shock to tell one where the best point of contact is, the ordinary elastic or adjustable velcro cannot be relied on to work for everyone. If the nerve is deep in the wrist, without the telltale pulse, no one can tell when it is in the correct place

I am constantly having to fiddle with the position of the electric watch to get max pulse. However, if i get it on the correct spot then it definately helps resist seasickness. I suffered seasickness on 30% of trips at least but the watch ( correctly positioned) has reduced this by half
So if the relief bands ( he non electric ones)are on the right spot they will probably work but knowing where that spot is is guesswork
 
Last edited:
I suffered with mal de mer once at the age of nineteen and the memory of the unpleasantness has not left me, thirty years on. So when I was asked to crew on a friend's delivery trip from Holland to the UK South coast in 2006, I invested in one of these relief bands.
I read a test in a yachting magazine, where a crew sat in a liferaft and the only one who did not succumb, was the wearer of the relief band.
I bought one online and it cost be around a hundred and ten pounds.
It looked like a watch, had a blue face and five levels of intensity. When in the right place, it makes your ring and little finger tingle.
We left IJmuiden on a grey, cold, blustery day and for the first twenty hours it was steep seas, sixes and sevens and a lot of slamming.
Fairly early on in the trip, I had to go forward to take a hanked on sail down. In the process, the bow dipped into the water and I was momentarily submerged in water.
Needless to say, with the actions of sail handling, winch operating and all the other manual tasks, keeping the relief band in the right place (and it has to be in exactly the right place to work) proved virtually impossible and I succumbed to blowing chunks within four hours. I don't suppose getting the strap and my wrist wet helped either.
Another member of the crew - a hardened Dutch sailor with a few North Sea crossings under his belt, was also knocked down by sickness and that left the remaining two to hold the fort.
I was okay within sixteen hours, but by then I had ditched the relief band.
I subsequently sold it on eBay, getting most of my money back, to a fellow who was going on a cruise and his wife was worried she might get seasick.
I suspect in that environment, where you don't have to do anything except maybe raise a glass to your lips in an air conditioned environment, it would be fine... but my experience of it was that it simply cannot be kept in the right place while actively sailing a boat.
I subsequently discovered Stugeron - a revelation! I know it can make you drowsy, but I have been able to time doses with being off watch and after several ocean passages I have found it totally reliable.
 
Daydream believer said:
I assume you are reeferring to the elasticated or velcro bands with a small ball in them
I have the electronic watch & one thing I have noticed is that as i move my hand the shockwaves either feels strong or week.
I also have found that if i bend my wrist in I get less shock but if I bend my hand back i get more shock. I also note that the shock strength varies how far up the wrist the watch goes

This leads me to suspect that the nerves that respond to the small "ball" move about & so the ball does not always rub on the nerve
As there is no electric shock to tell one where the best point of contact is, the ordinary elastic or adjustable velcro cannot be relied on to work for everyone. If the nerve is deep in the wrist, without the telltale pulse, no one can tell when it is in the correct place

I am constantly having to fiddle with the position of the electric watch to get max pulse. However, if i get it on the correct spot then it definately helps resist seasickness. I suffered seasickness on 30% of trips at least but the watch ( correctly positioned) has reduced this by half
So if the relief bands ( he non electric ones)are on the right spot they will probably work but knowing where that spot is is guesswork
Click to expand...

These "watches" stimulate an accu pressure point on the wrist. (very effective for morning sickness) They must be on the exact spot which can be felt by a buzzing down the middle finger. They do work to a certain extent if you sit still and don't move your hand about, which is useless unfortunately if you are trying to crew.
The elastic ones with the plastic button in my experience do not work as the button does not go deep enough to apply the right amount of pressure.
 
I had a pair of sea-bands many years ago. One day I went out to do some work on the boat at her then mooring on the Gareloch and slipped the bands on to see if they had any effect. As far as I could tell they didn't, so I got the work done and slipped the bands off to leave them on board before heading ashore. I did this almost without thinking, and ten minutes later found myself feeling very queasy indeed. It was some time before I realised (consciously, at any rate) that the onset of my queasiness must have corresponded with taking off the bands.

On that basis I'd say that they probably worked, once, for me. They were uncomfortable, though, and I discovered Scopoderm shortly afterwards, so I never used them again.
 
A friend of mine shared this with me. His father was a competitive sailor for 40 years who suffered from chronic sea sickness. Tape your big toe together with your next toe with insulation tape. Doe this on both feet, but not together!!! You will win races! cheers Rob
 
I've used seabands for years as they work for me. My daughter is RN and sometimes uses them for her first couple of days at sea. I also bought some for MIL when she was having chemo and they helped her with sickness.
 
Stugeron works ok for me most of the time. I buy mine in spain where you get 75mg per pill rather than the 15mg you get in the UK (and for much less money). Only one per 24 hrs then but it does make me a little sleepy. However, I think I am far more effective at tasks when a little sleepy than when I'm throwing up over the side or wishing I was dead in my bunk :-)

If anyone wants to buy any in Spain, it is sold as Stugeron but you can ask for Cinarizina which is more readily understood in chemists in my experience. You might also get some strange looks if you're a bloke by yourself as I believe they use it for morning sickness relief.
 
Last edited:
There is a doctor in Brest who works for the navy and who organizes desensitizing courses which are, apparently, very effective.
 
I can not sail without Sea Bands. The Velcro type. the elastic ones are not firm enough.
Had to add stugeron in heavy weather during the circomnavigation
 
We have one of those £100 electronic wrist bands that give pulse shocks and my wife says it does not work for her.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Share this page

Top