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Dealing with Motion-sickness......

 
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Mayuri

posts: 21

Jun 11, 2008 00:11    Quote
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The first step in dealing with any ailment is understanding what is wrong so that you can mentally deal with the problem. This is very important in dealing with seasickness. Seasickness starts with the inner ear, your balance centre.

Even though your headaches, you are sick to your stomach and feel the worst you have ever felt, but you are not sick, just simply out of balance. At times your skin is actually green. No question about it, you feel bad, but you must remember you have no disease, just a motion problem. YOU can do a lot to cure yourself, and very quickly.

A good analogy might be; you keep turning around in a circle until you fall down and Throw up. If you stop turning, you feel better very quickly. Your balance centre was just out of whack.

Some things to remember: Fresh air is good but you want to stay low and to the stern of the boat. That is where you will encounter the least motion. The bow of the boat pounds through the waves, up and down the stern drags through the water. The ride is much smoother. The boat rocks from side to side. The higher you are the more movement you encounter. Think of a flagpole in the wind. There is very little movement at the bottom while the top may, sway quite a lot. So, you want to be low and to the stern. Look at the horizon and try to get your balance. Take some deep breaths. Rock your shoulders back and forth. Realize that your body is probably tight and stiff. Try and roll with the boat instead of, sub-consciously, stiffening up and fighting the motion. It's called getting your sea legs. Sometimes it takes awhile. Sometimes a nap will help. Try to take your mind off how bad you feel and focus on something else. Remember, the first step to controlling seasickness is to realize what is wrong with you and deal with

that, not concentrate on how sick you are.

Medications:

There are several good medications on the market. The best is probably the

scopolamine patch. It is a prescription medication but usually easy to obtain with a simple call to your doctor. Dry mouth is usually the only side effect. But that is true with most all seasickness medications.

There are several over the counter medications but the one we like best is

Dramamine. Drowsiness is the side effect but less so than with other brands. To be effective you should get this medication in your system at least 8 hours before you board the boat. If possible, sleep on it and take more when you board the boat and you tend to be less drowsy. That way, it's in your system and working when you wake up.

A ginger drink many people say works quite well especially to settle your stomach.

Combining both with the medication can work well also. Wristbands can work for

some people but are not generally considered the best remedy.

Severe seasickness can be treated by using a combination of both the scopolaminepatch or stemisil suppositories and almost never fails. But you should check with your doctor. The side effect is hunger and more drowsiness.

gajananrisbood

posts: 23

Jun 11, 2008 08:45    Quote
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Hey this is a well collected information... I will just add a small point in this... Its related to your brain also... while you are feeling sea sick, if you look at oscillating stuff, then you tend to feel more sea sick... So try not to hang anything in your cabin, like cloths or boiler-suit & stuff...

rameshk

posts: 8

Jun 11, 2008 08:48    Quote
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Also try and not look at rough sea... looking at sea can also make you more sea sick... I think this entire thread is a good read for all seafolks who are joining ship for the first time...

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