Your sea sickness cures?

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Hugo_Andreae

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I am researching a story on the causes of and cures for sea sickness to use in a future issue of MBY and would like to include a few reader's experiences in the article. Please send me a PM or e-mail (hugo_andreae@ipcmedia.com) if you've found a remedy that really works for you or indeed has failed completely. I've seen some of the earlier threads but would like to hear more stories in greater depth to see how they compare with scientific findings.

I'm particularly interested in hearing about alternative treatments such as hypnotherapy, wrist bands, acupuncture, ginger or any other DIY solution that has worked (or failed) for you.

Cheers

Hugo
 
a) Ban them from the heads!

b) Give them the helm the instant they start to change colour.

c) For youngsters in the summer when its warm, a small bucket of cold seawater over the head generally revives them for an hour. (the adults dont generally appreciate this though!)
 
Ummmm SWBMO bought me some wrist bands from a catalogue - one of those that annoyingly come through your door I think - they seem to work for me - however "The Ancient Mariner" has a point - if anyone on board starts to complain about getting sea sick - I just hand them the helm and for a short while they are ok ... I think there the answer is keep them occupied seems to take their mind off of the problem - that also works for me as well /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

Clive
 
I've tried many things to stop the dreaded sea sickness, I find crystalised stem ginger works well for me.. I'm not often sea sick. but find it's only a very swelly sea that gets me. quite happy with rough and wind. it's when the sea is flat and has a swell running.

Cure... well staying up top and steering.

look forward to reading the finished article
 
Hugo,

Over the last few years the threads on this are so extensive I can't believe you expect more!

I suffer really badly but love boats (and previously rally navigation........ /forums/images/graemlins/crazy.gif).

Ginger in the system is great for improving the onset of discomfort (chinese meal the night beofre heavy on the ginger) but chewing on cyrstaline ginger after the onset can be counter productive!

Boots own and Stugeron got into the system early can help significantly as things start rocking.

Scopolomine patches really work wonders but cause dry throat and other minor 'side effects' after about 48hrs in my case - they are however in a league of their own and I no longer dread long fishing trips with days at anchor in slightly confused seas - classic nasty situations.

Only other one is for the reapir stage when flat fizzy lemonade(oximorom?) and dry sweet biscuits are unparalleled in getting you back to the 'what was all the fuss about' stage!
 
[ QUOTE ]
'what was all the fuss about' stage!

[/ QUOTE ] A welcome relief after the , 'I wonder if there is a gun on board, or some other way of taking my life that involves not moving from my present position' stage.
 
Can't pretend to be immune to sea sickness but the following combination of things works quite well for me:

Stugeron
Staying in the fresh air
Concentrating on something - like helming
Keeping eyes focussed on a fixed point - e.g. the horizon (this may be why helming helps)
Spending some time at sea; luckily I don't seem to suffer from chronic seasickness

I don't think ginger is a remedy - though it is supposed to be anti-emetic - but it's easy to keep down. My daughter has tried the wristbands and they seemed to help but she is a bit suggestible, so it may have been a placebo effect.

The best cure for seasickness is, of course, to sit under a tree.
 
Agree with Ginger and concentrating on something, like helming.

Also the time i used to feel sick was away from boating but during my flying experience, especially aerobatics. I found starving myself not to work. But powdered glucose in some water seemed to work for an hour of solid aerobatics.
 
Having spent some time in hospital,I noticed the frequent use of an anti sick pill on the ward.I had them after one or two doses of anesthetic, & they did seem to work. I wonder what the active ingredients are?
 
Its not so much a cure as a good thing if you think you might be sea sick .

Chocolate as aparently it tastes as good when you eat it as it does when you chuck it up again.

Not a problem for me as I have never been seasick so I have little sympathy.
 
Be careful what you eat [and drink] the night before sailing. From bitter experience I can reliably inform you that a five course dinner, including mussels in curry sauce, washed down with aperitif, bottle of red wine, followed by a couple of Calvas and a good cigar is not the best thing for a stomach that is going to be shaken up and down by a force 7 next morning.
 
Don,t get sick on the Journey.
Sometimes feel queezy the next morning.
Happened again Sunday am.
Centre of Gravity became touchy about 11 pm on Saturday in Portmadoc Yacht Club. Perhaps a theory I will have to research further.
 
Ah! I am glad I am not alone.
Is this weird experience common to Stinkies and Raggies?
Is it regional der think?
Perhaps a different Mollusc may Help?
Just a thought.
I think the Cigar is a topping way to round off with.
I would imagine it would give one a fair bit of elbow room to enjoy also.
That item is a must to keep in the Script.
Thanks for sharing Your observations.
 
Hugo

My partner, Pam, used to suffer badly from mal de mer even on the Isle of Man ferry, let alone on our Jeanneau!! /forums/images/graemlins/mad.gif

She started off using wrist bands all the time; gravitated to only putting them on if the forecast was a bit inclement and now hardly ever needs to use them.

The only thing we've noticed is that if she waits until she is actually feeling poorly, it's effectively too late and it takes quite a while for the nausea to go away, whereas if she puts them on beforehand, the sea-sickness never starts.

I would echo the other comment here though, about sea-miles because I'm sure the amount of time she has spent on board (about 40 nights last year) /forums/images/graemlins/crazy.gif has also had a positive impact.

PM me if you need more info.

Regards

Nick
 
Hugo, Here's a new one for you.
When my family and I sailed down to Cyprus we all suffered sea-sickness from time to time when conditions were gruesome - and in spite of wristbands that worked for one daughter and Stugeron which worked for the other. Nothing worked then or later as a cure for my wife except the proverbial sitting under a tree. She suffered chronic seasickness until we divorced and she stopped sailing... this was, of course, an extremely expensive cure - for me.

I don't like Stugeron or other antihistamines because I would rather throw-up occasionally but be capable of thinking and making decisions. With the drugs I just want to curl up and sleep, especially on a night watch. One day, daughter number one (13 years old) had been sick for a couple of hours and was sent to lie down with her Sony Walkman. After half an hour, she came to the cockpit and asked me if I wanted a spell off the wheel because she felt much better. This happened on several other occasions and I asked a medical friend to advise whether enough noise put into the outer ear could block the middle-ear disturbance that causes sea-sickness. He thought it might. I didn't discuss this with my girls because I wanted to see if it would work consistently but I did notice that every time it got rough, they put on Walkmans. When we eventually came back to UK, it was interesting to see they always took their Walkmans on school coach trips to events/outings, too.

The other cure seems to be age. As I am getting older, my balance is not as good as it was, (more especially after the fourth glass of cheaper wines), but I have not been sea-sick for nearly 10 years...

Apologies for the length of this post.

Martin T.
 
Has anyone ever tried the surefire remedy offered by Black Jake's unwilling crewman Bill in the Swallows & Amazons book (author Arthur Ransome) where they go off sailing to the Caribbees in the schooner Wild Cat to search for buried treasure?

Bill's method was to get a decent sized lump of bacon fat, tie it to a piece of string, swallow the bacon fat while holding on to the end of the string, and then slowly retrieve it, using the string......
 
No but this is a fact according to Dr Hillary Jones ?(the breakfast TV doctor)

before departing on a journey always have something to eat and a fatty/greasy breakfast will help keep the food down !

We always make sure we eat before we leave.
If I am single handed and leaving at first light I am not hungry but still I force a Jam butty down (hunger pains feel the same as pre throw up and they are enough to start someone chucking their guts up so the more prone to sickness someone is the more important it is they eat a proper breakfast !

Wrist bands do seam to work, and a sing song for the kids /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif
 
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