How to cure sea-sickness?

[needTHEnet]

thanks ozwald that was a good read very usefull soon as i can cure my sickness i can catch more fish i still keepo going out just spew in between fish

[onerabbit]

Just so the sceptics who can't deal with the "it's in your head " theory feel better,

yeah, even I have days when am not so happy,

but only after a big night on the beer the night before,
or an empty gut that morning,

the thing is, once you have it in your head, "Oh no, I dont want to get sick",
you are probably already half way there ..........

Keep busy, drive the boat if you have to, catch fish.........
Sakata bickies can help, or what ever will line your stomach. (will also give you something to spit up before you get back to the job at hand )

But by all means DONT WORRY ABOUT IT, there is nothing surer to ruin your day than thinking about how you DONT WANT TO GET SICK..................

Once you do, you are gone..........

Just keep trying, it is something that you will get used to.

Muzz

[Platitudinus]

When we used to go out fishing in the English channel we learnt two things:
1. Wash your hands in a bucket of cold sea water for 1 minute, first thing in the morning and your hands stay warm all day
2. Have a good breakfast - it doesn't stop you being sick but tastes better than just bile when it comes up!

Seriously Kwells - just half a tablet does me fine
P

[champion]

Some good tips here guys - and a popular thread

As someone indicated - there is no magic cure for everyone - just like there isnt fuel that powers every car...

You need to do a bit of trial and error - but just be cautious of taking more than one remedy at a time (even over the counter preparations) as the combined effect can be very unsafe. Never take an antihistamine before operating machinary / driving to the ramp, esp. at 4am when your already weary eyed. If you feel tired (some pple are more sensitive than others to the sedating effects of medication) dont drive, or if already out, anchor up somewhere safe and have a rest.


The concept of vomiting / Sea sickness is nearly always multifactoral - and differs for each of us. We all have varying receptors in our central nervous system that are known as "emetic centres" which can cause us to feel miserable, and if stimulated for long enough, vomit... The difference is - some vomiting is anticipatory (people get sick in boats, so I will too, or I was sick last time so this time I will too), some are as a result of our vestibular / cochlear centre that coordinates balance which doesnt match to what we see / sense with proprioception, sometimes its olfactory (smell of fuel, kero stove, fish guts), sometimes psychosomatic (see someone else being sick, so your induced into nauseated state too etc ect - I cant think of the others off the top of head.. but medications work on these different receptors - so you need to find a medication that targets the vomiting centre thats causing you to feel sick - if that makes sense.

We also have varying thresholds or tollerances at these emetic centres - so what makes me vomit may be well tollerated by my brother, same as I can only drink 2 beers and feed affected, where other's tollerance can be much more. We can modulate our threshold or sensitivity of these emetic centres by some of the things people have already pointed out. Things that make us more tollerable of emetic stimuli include

Keeping cool
Keep grazing (keep the guts working)
Good ventilation
Avoid cabbins (keep view of horizon)
Rest before going (good nights sleep)
Avoid alcohol / coffee
Avoid smoking / passive smoking


Some medications that I have found have the best success are:

1. Scopolamine - by far the best. Try to find a compounding pharmacy and they will make you up a scopolamine stick to apply to your wrists (like in a lip gloss applicator). It is transdermally absorbed very well. You may be able to buy transdermal patches - talk to your pharmacy.

2. Travel Calm - tablets - cheap and easily obtainable... Not quiet as successful as scopolamine but still very good.


Good luck and let us know how you go...

Regards,

Brad.

Brad it is intersting what you have said, are you a Doctor ?



Joe

[oldboot]

From memory bradles is a paramedic.


if i remember scopolonine is used a as a truth drug......so if you use it don't try telling fibs to the Mrs or the fishing inspector


The idea that it is in your mind IE part of concious thaught.....probaly not.

It is all done in your head however.......at a level deeper than your subconcious.

you may be able to use tricks to fool your subconcious.



cheers

[justjack]

ive heard the best cure for sea sickness is the shade of a gum tree....

[oldboot]

So I should have a eucalipt as a pot plant on the boat

cheers

[justjack]

na it has to be a big tree hahaha or you have to have a bloody big boat

[snagking]

Thanks for all the good info guys, I'll let you know how I go the next time I go out.

[DR]

well, just received my ETs compound chemist seasick tablets & lo & behold the main ingredient is scopolamine with some ginger, caffene & other stuff i can't pronounce let alone spell. look forward to the weather settling & giving them a go..

[jake0]

Vitamin B in the form of vegimite sandwedges is a popular motion sickness preventative among motor racing navigators.

I know this is a fact, as testified by seeing many vegimite sandweges splatterd down the pasenger side of rally cars.

So that leaves me wondering about the effectiveness

I learned not to step up to the navigators door, when a car came into a controll till I could see the colour of the navigators face
Vegimite sandwedge vomit has a distinctive smell and does not come off you jeans or shoes easily.

cheers

yes i to have vegimite sanags, seem to work ok, also i read oranges, might give this a go

[champion]

From memory bradles is a paramedic.


if i remember scopolonine is used a as a truth drug......so if you use it don't try telling fibs to the Mrs or the fishing inspector


The idea that it is in your mind IE part of concious thaught.....probaly not.

It is all done in your head however.......at a level deeper than your subconcious.

you may be able to use tricks to fool your subconcious.



cheers

Very true oldboot,


My mrs is on a program to trick/reprogram her mind. She has been suffering from (a doc believes, and we have seen many) silent migrains for about a year now.
She has sea legs all the time (no vomiting). When she walks the floor moves..... and part of her rehab is to reassure herself that everything is ok, mind games with herself really.

So yes it can be in your head, But there is a LOT more to it !!


Joe

[wilcara]

Some good answers here...

I would be interested to hear if anyone has ever been sick whilst IN the water eg surfing, skiing etc.

Yes many do, I get sick in my kayak after a while sometimes if it is rough enough.

Brad it is intersting what you have said, are you a Doctor ?

Braddles and me are the two resident paramedics on the forum.


Also, as a matter of interest and I wonder if anyone else is the same, as I get older I find I am getting more prone.

When I was around 20 I was working on a boat and hardly ever got sick, maybe only if it was hot and fishy smelly and had my head down doing something and the boat was rolling in a swell..... enough to make anybody sick. I always had boats and sailed etc...

Now I am 54, and I find I really have to plan on taking someting before I go out whatever the conditions. This is annoying!

Anybody else like that?

[FNQCairns]

I have been sick while spearfishing, rough water is never a problem but it was a BIG calm rolling swell, from a cyclone way offshore when I lived in SEQ.

The view from the mask in 8m deep water was like zooming in and out, I had no defence and polluted the imediate 5m radius a couple of times
Kept my buddys from stalking any fish down current from me for a while

cheers fnq

[DR]

I would be interested to hear if anyone has ever been sick whilst IN the water

JIM

Ah yes, & as bad as it was I still chuckle..
My wife gets chronic motion sickness. While in Cairns a few years back, it was a pristine glassie day on the water so we decided to do the reef snorkelling thing. Took 1 1/2 hours to run out on the big cat. climbed onto the pontoon which was almost stationary, almost... wifey had started to feel decidely unwell, all info says if you can jump into the water & all will be good, jumped in for a snorkel & made very little difference. We climbed back on board & as all toilets were engaged the missus went to what was, she thought, a secluded, hidden spot behind something on the deck..I wandered over as she lost breakfast & possibly last nights tea as well, very shortly after i heard excited voices down on the under water viewing deck 'look at all the fish, they are feeding them' thats when i realised she had her spit right in front of the window below, heaps crowded around taking pics & enjoying watching the fish eat spew.... I was up top pi**ing my pants.
she was actually that crook that the staff were worried & I ended up putting her on the Tourist chopper & sending her back to cairns rather than make her suffer another 1 1/2 hour run back. Pilot had a spare seat for return journey so let her have it for the cost of a joy flight..