Sea Sickness - any hints, tips, advice?

[landsurfer]

I've heard the ferries to and around the Hebrides can be rough, hence the reason I'm asking for advice

Sleep...
Jules just sleeps ..
Drug induced ... from her GP .....
Holyhead to Dublin, CairnRayan to Belfast...
The drugs do work ........

[Vorpal]

Those bands work well for Mini V. I bought them on a ferry for her, but you can get them at chemists, and large shops like Asda & Tesco.

http://www.sea-band.com/why-seaband/

[LollyKat]

If I can lie down and shut my eyes I'm reasonably all right but otherwise I'm very prone to being seasick. The pressure bands don't work for me but Stugeron helps a bit. Last year my brother-in-law took us sailing and even though I was out on deck and there wasn't much swell, some of us started to feel queasy. He produced a bottle of some kind of oil (snake oil?) which, dabbed behind the ears, quickly cured us. Unfortunately this was in Australia and I can't remember what it was.

On something like the Oban-Barra ferry I'd take some Stugeron and try and find a reclining chair somewhere where I can shut my eyes until it is all over.

[axel_knutt]

Another vote for watching the horizon, it's stood me in good stead a few times. I'm a bit prone to travel sickness but I survived Dover - Calais once when the carpets ended up covered in huey, and another time when we had to moor outside Dover and wait for the wind to drop before the sea was calm enough to enter the harbour. On that occasion it was dark so the was only lights to focus on.

I'm fine in a car as long as nobody gives me a map and asks me to navigate. I made myself pretty green round the gills photographing my house out of the window of a Cessna 172 once too, and then struggled to hang on to my dinner for the rest of the flight. Tilting trains make me queasy, but ordinary ones don't, even if I read.

I think the most certain way to get it is to worry about it.

I used to go out with the Maldon Barge Match each year, photographing Thames sailing barges. One year it was blowing a hoolie, and I laid awake all night listening to the wind and sh!tting myself. It was a force 8, and broke the mast of one of the barges, but I was fine.

[Colgrenfell]

Stay as warm as possible - don't start the journey on an empty stomach.

[SimonCelsa]

Which tablets do you recommend?

Most ocean going ships carry a fairly comprehensive medical chest (dispensary) & a tome named 'the Ship Captains Medical Guide'. The drug of choice for alleviating sea sickness is usually Cinnarzine 15mg.

All the best, Simon

[Bonefishblues]

Which tablets do you recommend?

Most ocean going ships carry a fairly comprehensive medical chest (dispensary) & a tome named 'the Ship Captains Medical Guide'. The drug of choice for alleviating sea sickness is usually Cinnarzine 15mg.

All the best, Simon

Stugeron is a Cinnarzine 15mg tablet.

[ANTONISH]

+1 for Stugeron.
It's a good idea to get some in your system well before sailing.
I used to be in the RNXS (otherwise known as dad's navy) and spent a number of weekends in the engine room of small ships - but the voyages were not usually long enough to become habituated to the motion.
I found that Stugeron taken the evening before and continuing the recommended dosage worked very well.

[cotswolds]

I've never had a problem on larger boats, even in storms, so was surprised when I was seasick on my first trip on a small boat.

I agree with what other people have said, particularly keeping your eyes on the horizon - I looked down to tie a knot once and was sick.

I've tried different brands of seasickness tablets and none of them do anything for me. Antihistamines (hay fever tablets) work for some people.

The breakthrough I made was discovering seasickness can be due to low blood sugar. Don't eat a big meal before you get on board (though I'm guessing you weren't going to...) - it diverts blood supply to the stomach. Do have a supply of easily absorbed snacks, and if you start to feel sick, eat something. Keeping a large bar of chocolate stashed in my cabin and having a few squares when I thought I needed it got me through a week's sailing holiday without problems.

[Mick F]

Having spent 27years in the Royal Navy, and spent weeks on end at sea in in a small frigate in the Iceland/Faroe Gap in horrendous seas, I feel I have something to say on the matter.

My first time at sea was crossing the channel in a minesweeper. I was 16years old and was a sick as a dog. Only "cure" was to go on the upper deck and keep an eye on the horizon, so it made my brain understand the movement. The problem on a ship, is that you can feel the movement, but unless you can see the outside stability, you get motion sickness.

After being ashore for months, then going back to sea, the seasickness would return, but after a day or two, you get used to it. Eventually, it disappears completely and you get to love the movement and delight in rough seas. Rougher the better.

Advice from me, is to get up top and look at the sea and not dwell on worrying about being ill. Try not to be in a place where you can't see outside. Try not to be all the way forward or aft, but aft is better than forward. (Aft is the blunt end, and Forward is the sharp end)

Good luck me hearties.

[Vorpal]

If you do take something like Sturgeon for it, it will not be effective unless it is taken at least two hours before departure. If you've tried motion sickness tablets before, this may be why they don't work.

[Mick F]

Smudge Smith my sonar maintainer in HMS Sirius suffered from sea sickness and never really got over it.
The SIS - Sonar Instrument Space - was quite a way forward and down on 3deck - 3rd deck down from the upper deck - and during the bad weather he couldn't really function down there. I had to do some maintenance for him on occasion.

He tried seasickness tablets to no avail. He also tried a wrist band with some sort of pin in it that stuck in his wrist, and to my surprise that worked better for him than the tablets.

If it worked for him, it worked for him. We're all different.

[Vorpal]

Mini V gets more relief from SeaBands than from tablets. If she takes tablets, she still doesn't feel well, it just isn't as bad. I can't say how much better; I've never suffered, myself.

[mnichols]

Does anyone have problems with Sturgeon causing constipation? I find this worse and longer lasting than the motion sickness

[Ruadh495]

The bands work for me too. Didn't believe they would, but they do. The principle is acupressure and how that works your guess is as good as mine.