Motion sickness prevention?

[gurgleflep]

Have any of you got some tricks to help prevent or weaken motion sickness? Next month, if all goes as planned, I will be headed out of state so that I may pick up a very special friend of mine so she can stay with us for a little under a week. The trip will be about 10 hours to get there and back and we'll be returning her as well so another 10 hours a week or so later.

Anyway, I have severe motion sickness issues and would like some form of help other than Dramamine (I will have this on hand though). Any help, tips, pointers, aids..? The windows in the vehicle we'll be using are unable to roll down.

TL;DR?
Big trip early next month. Need some tips to keep from making an Exorcist remake.

[Traab]

Dont look out the side windows. That kind of motion can really throw you off. Dont try to read or watch tv or whatever because the tiny vibrations from movement are enough to really mess with your nausea. Other than that, I dont have much to offer, I have never been much of a motion sickness kind of guy.

[gurgleflep]

Dont look out the side windows. That kind of motion can really throw you off. Dont try to read or watch tv or whatever because the tiny vibrations from movement are enough to really mess with your nausea. Other than that, I dont have much to offer, I have never been much of a motion sickness kind of guy.

The hardest one out of all of those will be not looking out the side windows, I like looking at the wonderful Autumn leaves turning in color. As for reading and TV, we don't have a TV and reading gives me headaches in vehicles :smalltongue: Thanks for the suggestions/tips :smallsmile:

[Cuthalion]

Dont look out the side windows. That kind of motion can really throw you off. Dont try to read or watch tv or whatever because the tiny vibrations from movement are enough to really mess with your nausea. Other than that, I dont have much to offer, I have never been much of a motion sickness kind of guy.

Eh? I thought you were supposed to stare out the side windows and not look much inside. Thus the reading. I'm afflicted by this too and I always look out and try not to look much inside the car...

[Elemental]

Hmm... When I go on really long car or bus trips, I get some tablets from the chemist that do a really good job. I'll have to see if we still have any.
One moment...

They're Hyoscine Hydrobromide, also known as Scopolamine.
I suggest asking your chemist about it before you buy it though.

[Savannah]

Sit in the front seat of the car and watch the road out the windshield, not the side windows. If you can't be in the front, sit somewhere in the back where you can see out the front.

Try to stay cool and have moving air on your face.

Eat ginger -- any format. Ginger hard candies are probably the best, but nibbling candied ginger or even taking powdered ginger in capsules can work.

Do not ever think about being sick or how you're going to be sick. Talk to someone else or think about something else that requires focusing on what you're talking/thinking about.

If you start feeling sick, breath deeply, get some cool air on your face, look straight ahead, and think about something else.

[Tridax]

Talk. Be distracted. Perhaps drink cola, I think it helped me on my last few trips. I don't know if it is useful to look/avoid looking out of the window, but it is surely a cozy piece of glass to lean on. (so shaky though). If you are feeling very unwell, try to get asleep, you'll skip the most part of hell.

These tips are based only on my experience, though. I am no doctor, but I can give you suggestions as a fellow motion-sickness-poor-soul.

[Cuthalion]

Eat ginger -- any format. Ginger hard candies are probably the best, but nibbling candied ginger or even taking powdered ginger in capsules can work.

I will try this sometime.

[thubby]

avoid looking at road and power lines, they're uniformity makes them look stationary.
try counting the utility poles. they're set at somewhat irregular intervals, and will always be moving relative to the car in your field of vision.

[Traab]

Eh? I thought you were supposed to stare out the side windows and not look much inside. Thus the reading. I'm afflicted by this too and I always look out and try not to look much inside the car...

The problem is your eyes are constantly trying to focus on objects that are whipping by way too fast just in time for the next object. It causes eye strain and can also cause nausea. As for reading, the problem is basically the same, on a smaller scale, there are constant tiny shifts and bumps while driving that will cause your eyes to have to refocus over and over and over again.

[gurgleflep]

First off, I can't help but giggle at how many ponies have commented :smalltongue:
Secondly, thank you for all the helpful tips :smallsmile: I'll be sure to pick up some Cola and get air blasting in my face - the Scopolamine may be a problem though if it involves actually going to a doctor, I haven't got any insurance at the moment.

Having had no personal experience with ginger though, I have a question: is it sweet, spicy, sour, tart..?

[thubby]

The problem is your eyes are constantly trying to focus on objects that are whipping by way too fast just in time for the next object. It causes eye strain and can also cause nausea. As for reading, the problem is basically the same, on a smaller scale, there are constant tiny shifts and bumps while driving that will cause your eyes to have to refocus over and over and over again.

erm. motion sickness refers to the phenomenon caused by your inner ear perceiving motion while your eyes do not. reading and whatnot cause some people issues because the page isn't moving relative to themselves.

looking out the side window can be an issue in large open spaces because of parallax. objects outside the range of our rather pathetic 3d vision will cause your eyes to perceive less motion that is actually occurring.

[Traab]

erm. motion sickness refers to the phenomenon caused by your inner ear perceiving motion while your eyes do not. reading and whatnot cause some people issues because the page isn't moving relative to themselves.

looking out the side window can be an issue in large open spaces because of parallax. objects outside the range of our rather pathetic 3d vision will cause your eyes to perceive less motion that is actually occurring.

All I know is that if I do enough of either, I get sick. So i figured its best to mention avoiding that if you are already prone to sickness.

[Savannah]

Having had no personal experience with ginger though, I have a question: is it sweet, spicy, sour, tart..?

It's hot, but used in desserts. It's a pretty distinctive flavor, and I don't quite know how to describe it, sorry. Some people love it and others really hate it, so you'd probably want to try it before you're trying to use it on a long trip.

[Togath]

I'd recommend ginger as well, it's excellent for most types of nausea.
As for taste.. it's.. gingery?
I only know it's fresh taste, which is a sort of tart pepper(as in black pepper rather than members of the Capsicum genus) flavour, that goes oddly well with other flavours.

[Elemental]

Secondly, thank you for all the helpful tips :smallsmile: I'll be sure to pick up some Cola and get air blasting in my face - the Scopolamine may be a problem though if it involves actually going to a doctor, I haven't got any insurance at the moment.

Really? I wasn't aware that it was a prescription medication... Still. That aside, I have heard that ginger does wonders and can be gotten in pill form if I'm not mistaken, so I'll echo those suggestions and the one's that involve sitting at the front.
Also, I find the smell of vanilla to be helpful.

Final note: Someone should do experiments to see if the effectiveness of ginger carries over to gingerbread.

[Cuthalion]

Having had no personal experience with ginger though, I have a question: is it sweet, spicy, sour, tart..?

Ginger... is a bit spicy, while.. gingery? :smalleek:

[SarahV]

I remember a Mythbusters episode where they tested seasickness remedies and they found that taking ginger pills really worked.

Peppermint oil is also a good remedy for nausea. I was on a medication for a year that made me nauseous for about a week out of every month and I basically lived on saltine crackers and Altoids (the standard Altoids are flavored 100% with peppermint oil).

[gurgleflep]

Really? I wasn't aware that it was a prescription medication... Still. That aside, I have heard that ginger does wonders and can be gotten in pill form if I'm not mistaken, so I'll echo those suggestions and the one's that involve sitting at the front.
Also, I find the smell of vanilla to be helpful.

Final note: Someone should do experiments to see if the effectiveness of ginger carries over to gingerbread.

It probably isn't a prescription pill, but if it is.. Eh, you get the idea. I'm a broke bum xD

Mmm... Gingerbread...
Do gingersnaps have ginger in them?


General consensus: ginger tastes like ginger.

Well, that solves up the taste issue :smalltongue:


I remember a Mythbusters episode where they tested seasickness remedies and they found that taking ginger pills really worked.

Peppermint oil is also a good remedy for nausea. I was on a medication for a year that made me nauseous for about a week out of every month and I basically lived on saltine crackers and Altoids (the standard Altoids are flavored 100% with peppermint oil).

Mints are good and I know I can deal with their tastes :smallsmile: Would spearmint work as well?

[SarahV]

Mints are good and I know I can deal with their tastes :smallsmile: Would spearmint work as well?

I have never tried spearmint for nausea personally, but the plants are closely related, and the interwebs suggest that will work too.

[Force]

It probably isn't a prescription pill, but if it is.. Eh, you get the idea. I'm a broke bum xD

Scopo's a script medication, yeah. You might be able to get it over-the-counter in some countries, but in the States at least you need a doctor's order.

[Cuthalion]

Mmm... Gingerbread...
Do gingersnaps have ginger in them?

Well, that solves up the taste issue :smalltongue:


Indeed. That's the flavor of ginger, with sugar.


Ginger produces a hot, fragrant kitchen spice.

Also, you have tried ginger ale, no? Everyone has.

[Savannah]

Gingersnaps do have ginger in them, but I'm not sure if they have enough to be actually useful here.

[thubby]

ginger beer is the closest thing to liquified ginger you'll ever taste.

[warty goblin]

I find head support to be the real key; if my head's shaking around I can get some fairly unpleasant nauseous headaches in a hurry.

[Serpentine]

Eh? I thought you were supposed to stare out the side windows and not look much inside. Thus the reading. I'm afflicted by this too and I always look out and try not to look much inside the car...I've found that the problem is switching between the two. I can read in the car without getting car sick as long as I literally do not take my eyes away from the pages, or I can watch out the window.

Sitting in the front and always looking straight ahead has always been the main thing I've seen that helps. Seems like there might be some conflicting information here, but I've found that consistency is the most important thing, and "watching where you're going": if you're looking out the front window, you're more looking further away, where things "move" slower relative to you, and you can also see all the twists and turns coming up, which seems to reduce the impact of the movements on you.

Going boat fishing with my family, the method we found was to take one motion sickness tablet the night before (over the counter or off the shelf, not prescription), and then one with breakfast. Note that this was when we were leaving at dawn, so basically it'd be one a good 8 or 9 hours before you get in the car, and one within the hour of going. My grandfather gets sea sick a lot, and he found that this made a humongous difference.

If you can manage to get to a bulk-billing doctor or something like that, though, obviously they'd be able to give you the best advice.

[Ravens_cry]

ginger beer is the closest thing to liquified ginger you'll ever taste.

You have to find the good stuff. Most store stuff is more like slightly gingerish ginger-ale. Nice, but it's not ginger beer.

[Maelstrom]

I'll second all the ginger related items... Used to use it all the time when going out on the Pacific (NorCal/Oregon) fishing...and that ocean does indeed MOVE.

In particular, the ginger pills and really ginger ale/beer -- but the real stuff, not the canada dry mixer (which is sprite with light ginger flavoring). Reeds is a favorite and fairly easy to find.

I'd recommend against the cola...

[The Succubus]

erm. motion sickness refers to the phenomenon caused by your inner ear perceiving motion while your eyes do not. reading and whatnot cause some people issues because the page isn't moving relative to themselves.

looking out the side window can be an issue in large open spaces because of parallax. objects outside the range of our rather pathetic 3d vision will cause your eyes to perceive less motion that is actually occurring.

The eye-flicking movement is what we audiologists call "nystagmus". It's a normal behavior for most folks. What tubby's talking about is the brain receiving conflicting signals.

Balance is comprised of three separate systems - the vestibular system, which are the three semicircular canals in the inner ear along with some other bits and pieces, visual input from the eyes and proprioceptory system, which receives input from things like the feet and neck. Although people are not 100% certain of the causes of motion sickness, conflicting input between these three systems is strongly suspected to be the root cause.

It's something I experience myself on occasion, along with sea sickness. Sleeping helps me get through the worst of it and my folks usually let me sit in front. Fixing my gaze forward on the horizon helps but only when I'm sitting front.

[Morgarion]

I've read that either sucking or eating olives can help. I don't remember which it was, but I know you have to start before the motion sickness actually kicks in.

[Krazzman]

Hmm if ginger helps here some ideas what we do with Ginger:

Cut the root into slices(around the thickness of a quarter to around the double of that) and take about 3 of them and put them in around 1 litre of boiling water. Wait for it to cool and stretch it with water on a 10:1 basis (10 being ht water) or higher concentration up to your taste and drink that while sleeping the whole 10 hours. (I can sleep in moving vehicles pretty good due to driving to andalucia from germany and back with my partents for quite a few summer vacations [22hours in car for getting there and 22 again to go back])

Else listen to music/talk and do other stuff that will definitly keep you distracted. I don't have motion sickness but I read in the time where it was bright and as soon as it got shadowy in the car switched to playing gameboy to keep me distracted. All while listening to music.

About the flavour of ginger:
I dislike spicy things. And ginger is one of these things that really have a sharply-hot flavour that feels like cutting your tongue if you aren't accustomed to it. The dilution in water prevents this.

Eat something like potatoes that have a high amount of "starch" (according to dict.leo... seems wrong).

Hope this helps.

[Tylorious]

Definitely DO look out the side windows. This helps your brain associate the motions you are feeling with actual movements.

[Serpentine]

I really do find the front windows to be much better. If you can only look out the side, try to look at things that are far away.

[Zaggab]

Science to the rescue:



Behavior Measures

To prevent symptoms of motion sickness, head movements should be avoided by holding the head against the back of a seat [10].

Visual information that is in agreement with information from the vestibular and other sensory receptors suppresses the symptoms of motion sickness, whereas incongruent information of the visual and vestibular system promotes nausea and vomiting. Therefore, subjects with seasickness should be placed on the deck and told to view the distant horizon. Furthermore, people who are highly susceptible to motion sickness should choose window seats on flights and when traveling by train.

In a car, for example, it is important to maintain a forward-looking gaze (just as the driver does most of the time) and to avoid sideways or backwards glances that present the brain with uncorrelated visual information [44].

Because ethanol leads to a disturbed visual suppression of vestibularly evoked eye movements, it is helpful not to drink alcohol to avoid motion sickness symptoms.

While smoking tobacco had a negative influence on the symptoms of motion sickness, tolerance to motion sickness was aided by short-term smoking deprivation [45].

Sleeping has a positive influence on motion sickness symptoms because sleeping reduces the excitability of the vestibular system and thus minimizes the sensory conflict.

Yen Pik Sang et al. [46] observed that controlled breathing and listening to music provided significant protection against motion sickness.

Acupuncture at the P6 or Neiguan point to treat nausea and vomiting has been practiced in China for many years. More recently, acupressure at P6 has been successfully used to decrease nausea in pregnancy and postoperative nausea and vomiting [47,48,49,50], but different results [51,52,53,54,55,56] were observed for decreased motion sickness. In this context, Stern et al. [57] found that an acuband worn on the wrist or forearm decreases motion sickness symptoms and the gastric activity that usually accompanies motion sickness, whereas Miller and Muth [58] found no significant effect of such a band compared to a placebo.

In contrast, Korean hand acupressure at the K-K9 point was effective in reducing nausea and subjective motion sickness symptoms during emergency trauma transport of patients with a high risk of motion sickness [59].
The efficacy of ginger rhizome for the prevention of nausea, dizziness and vomiting, in the case of postoperative vomiting and vomiting during pregnancy, has been well documented and proved beyond a doubt in numerous high-quality clinical studies [115,116,117,118]. However, meta-analyses have not demonstrated an effect of ginger on the prevention or treatment of motion sickness [119].
PubMed link (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23615033)

In other words, what has already been said, but this is what SCIENCE!!!! says.

For me, I must not read while traveling by car or bus, and need to look out the window, otherwise I get motion sickness. I also get motion sickness when watching other people play first or third person games (which is what is most annoying).

Edit: Note to self: Read what you copypaste before bolding text and drawing conclusions based on 1 word in the first sentence of a paragraph

[tomandtish]

I remember a Mythbusters episode where they tested seasickness remedies and they found that taking ginger pills really worked.

Worked for Adam and Grant. However, given that the placebo test also worked on Grant, his results were considered invalid.

From website:

Seasickness can be cured by using a placebo, like a vitamin or a sugar pill.

plausible

While Adam didn’t fall for it, Grant was successfully tricked into thinking he had taken a store-bought sea-sickness medication and did not throw up. Unfortunately, by falling for the placebo all his test results had to be thrown out on the grounds of psychosomatic influence.


My father has actually had good luck with the magnetized arm bands, but they don't work for everyone. He has intermittent success with ginger.

Generally ginger works best unadulterated (so capsule form).

[Juggling Goth]

Cold water on the back of the neck helps me with any kind of nausea. To quote my old PE teacher, I don't know why it works, but it does.

Cold water might be hard to source inside a car, so maybe one of those instant ice packs (the kind where you squeeze the inner pouch and shake them up), or even a menthol 'cold' patch would help?

Ginger is initially sweet but depending on the strength/concentration has a burny kick afterwards. Maybe try drinking some ginger beer or ginger tea and see if you can stand it before you start chucking the raw stuff down your throat.

[Melayl]

I have pretty terrible motion sickness myself. I'd echo the suggestions of the others, and add my own:

There are several brands of product that work on a pressure point on your wrists to prevent nausea from motion sickness. They work, but effectiveness varies by person (as it does with all remedies).

One brand (of many) is Sea Band. These are a mechanical version that actually put pressure on the pressure point. They've worked well for me in the past, and are very cheap.

A more expensive version uses electrical stimulation of the point. More expensive, but also more effective. ReliefBand is one brand, but there are many others. Some have replaceable batteries, some don't. We've used them at work when medication has failed to control the nausea.

Good luck.

[gurgleflep]

Just woke up and yowzers that's a lotta comments! :smalleek: I've read through all of them and am really appreciative of this :smallsmile: Thank you all for the helpful advice, this will surely keep me from doing a remake of a scene from the Exorcist! :smalltongue:

[Knaight]

Science to the rescue:



In other words, what has already been said, but this is what SCIENCE!!!! says.


Quoted: "The efficacy of ginger rhizome for the prevention of nausea, dizziness and vomiting, in the case of postoperative vomiting and vomiting during pregnancy, has been well documented and proved beyond a doubt in numerous high-quality clinical studies [115,116,117,118]. However, meta-analyses have not demonstrated an effect of ginger on the prevention or treatment of motion sickness [119]."

Postoperative vomiting and vomiting during pregnancy do not appear to be the concern here, unless there is surgery or pregancy tied into this trip that I don't know about. Motion sickness is, and that's exactly where an effect hasn't been found.

[gurgleflep]

Postoperative vomiting and vomiting during pregnancy do not appear to be the concern here, unless there is surgery or pregancy tied into this trip that I don't know about. Motion sickness is, and that's exactly where an effect hasn't been found.

Yeah, no surgery and definitely no pregnancy involved.
As much as I love her, I shan't be doing any baby-making until we're under the same roof and living with one another for more than just a weekend.

[Zaggab]

Quoted: "The efficacy of ginger rhizome for the prevention of nausea, dizziness and vomiting, in the case of postoperative vomiting and vomiting during pregnancy, has been well documented and proved beyond a doubt in numerous high-quality clinical studies [115,116,117,118]. However, meta-analyses have not demonstrated an effect of ginger on the prevention or treatment of motion sickness [119]."

Postoperative vomiting and vomiting during pregnancy do not appear to be the concern here, unless there is surgery or pregancy tied into this trip that I don't know about. Motion sickness is, and that's exactly where an effect hasn't been found.

Eh, you can't actually expect me to read the article I linked. Did you see the whole thing? It was huge.

[Serpentine]

You quoted, and highlighted, that bit though :smalltongue:
I find it interesting that ginger seems to settle the stomach for just about everything except motion sickness... What makes the nausea so different, I wonder?

[Zaggab]

You quoted, and highlighted, that bit though :smalltongue:
I find it interesting that ginger seems to settle the stomach for just about everything except motion sickness... What makes the nausea so different, I wonder?

Yeah, just because I copypaste something and bold a sentence, doesn't actually mean I read the entire sentence that I bolded, and certainly not the entire paragraph. I'm rad like that.

As to different causes of nausea, I'd guess that it has to do with different sensory systems. Postoperative nausea is mainly caused by gastroparesis, and while the cause of pregnancy nausea is not completely understood, some believe it has to do with hormonally induced alteration of liver function, which causes some metabolite to accumulate that causes nausea, perhaps through action on the GI-tract. Motion sickness, on the other hand, starts from the vestibular system.

Ginger is a common ingredient in household constipation remedies, so it is possible that the main effect of ginger on other types of nausea is against the gastroparesis that caused the nausea in the first place. (not that I know of any studies which supports using ginger against constipation, however)

Mostly hypotheses this time, don't feel like PubMeding right now.

[Brother Oni]

Eh, you can't actually expect me to read the article I linked. Did you see the whole thing? It was huge.

You call yourself a scientist? It's a mere 13 pages long, three of which are references (well two and a bit). :smalltongue:


As to different causes of nausea, I'd guess that it has to do with different sensory systems. Postoperative nausea is mainly caused by gastroparesis, and while the cause of pregnancy nausea is not completely understood, some believe it has to do with hormonally induced alteration of liver function, which causes some metabolite to accumulate that causes nausea, perhaps through action on the GI-tract. Motion sickness, on the other hand, starts from the vestibular system.

To be more precise, motion sickness derives from conflicting signals - your eyes say one thing, the vestibular system says another.

Your brain processes all this and thinks 'you've swallowed a toxic hallucinogen! Vomit!', so ingesting ginger doesn't really help here.

I get this a lot with first person perspective games, particularly on the PC where the mouse speed is substantially quicker than with a control pad analogue stick, although it's technically called simulation sickness here.

Depending on how much I've been drinking, I sometimes get motion sick - I find that having a breeze on my face (either from an open window or from an air conditioning vent) helps fools my brain into thinking 'yup, we're moving'.