Placement of the Transderm scop patch?

[fishcall]

Hi,
I am planing a diving trip and am prone to sea sickness. Years ago I used the Transderm scop scopolamine patch and it worked well until I accidently rubbed it off taking my mask on and off. A little while later I was geting sick. I was wondering if anyone had tried putting the patch somewhere other than behind the ear? Would it work the same if I applied it to a hairless area on my hip? Anyone tried this? Thank you.

 

[Papa_Bear]

Hi,
I am planing a diving trip and am prone to sea sickness. Years ago I used the Transderm scop scopolamine patch and it worked well until I accidently rubbed it off taking my mask on and off. A little while later I was geting sick. I was wondering if anyone had tried putting the patch somewhere other than behind the ear? Would it work the same if I applied it to a hairless area on my hip? Anyone tried this? Thank you.

No! It is designed to deliver the medication as close to the inner ear as possible! I am not a doctor, but I play doctor once in a while!

 

[Water Bug]

Will not work in any other area. You can try to shave a small area behind the ear. If it is clean and dry it should stick. There are some really good over the counter pills that are non drowsy but Transderm V is potent. Word of advice - be sure to switch ears between dosages - I made this mistake before and had extremely blurred vision.

 

[Skyjunky]

You can ask your doc for the pill form of the patch. Scopace

 

[Damselfish]

besides clean and dry, sticking a bandaid over it can help too.

 

[DiveMaven]

I wear a patch to boat dive (and fly) and what I do is make sure to clean the area behind my ear well with alcohol. Then after sticking the patch on, I cut off the ends of a (clear) waterproof bandaid and stick the two pieces on the patch, anchoring them firmly to my skin. I've found that the clear bandaids are the stickiest and have never lost a patch.

 

[teknitroxdiver]

Where are you putting it behind your ear? Put your finger right 'behind' your earlobe, where it's kinda soft. Just a bit up and back from there is where it goes. Your mask shouldn't get down in there to mess with it. Maybe throw a piece of waterproof medical tape over it.

 

[Scotttyd]

You can ask your doc for the pill form of the patch. Scopace

I will preface this by stating I am a pharmacist so I do have somewhat of a clue of what I am saying. The pill in my opinion is not a good choice, much much more of a chance of side effects (mainly blurred vision, drowsiness, etc) not good list for one diving. Also this is the same drug that is often used as a date rape drug. The patch is a low dose and the reason it is used behind the ear is that the low amount of drug only gets to the site of action (the inner ear) and thus systemic side effects are minimal. It will not work if placed elsewhere. An alternative is meclizine or antivert, it is available without a prescription, very inexpensive (ask the pharmacist for it as you can get a bottle of 100 for about the same price as a pack of 8 that sits on the shelf). This pill does not cause as much drowsiness as dramamine and if it bothers you, it only lasts 8-12 hours and you can stop taking it prior to a dive if you are on a cruise ship

 

[twinkles]

Hmmm. Now I have some research to do. My doc told me that it didn't matter where I put it. The drug was going into the blood stream not bee lining from behind the ear to the middle ear. I am not arguing, cause I have no idea, just sharing what I was told. Now that I have conflicting info, and I am going to have to reconcile it somehow or other.

 

[Scotttyd]

Hmmm. Now I have some research to do. My doc told me that it didn't matter where I put it. The drug was going into the blood stream not bee lining from behind the ear to the middle ear. I am not arguing, cause I have no idea, just sharing what I was told. Now that I have conflicting info, and I am going to have to reconcile it somehow or other.

I can find no references to placing it anywhere else. Is it going to hurt you? proabably not. Is it going to be beneficial? maybe Yes there are measurable blood levels, but I believe the concentration is higher near the site of application, where the vestibular nerve is, therefore moving the patch aware from here will potentially decrease the benefit. You can try it and see how it works, and report back to others. I believe a lot of personal characteristics can cause variable absorption (body fat amount is one) and placing the patch behind the ear reduces these variables.

By the way from the companies website.
Patients who expect to participate in underwater sports should be cautioned regarding the potentially disorienting effects of scopolamine. A patient brochure is available.

I would definately not use the patch on a complex dive without first seeing how it affects you in a simple dive/pool dive first.

my 2 cents worth