Ginger pills for motion sickness

[Kevrumbo]

It is all in your head --and you can treat motion sickness to a degree all in your head through visualization. . .

I came back from the Galapagos (Peter Hughes Skydancer Liveaboard) in May, and just a week ago from Cocos Island (32 hour passage from mainland Costa Rica on the Undersea Hunter Liveaboard), and maintained a qualitative "3 to 4" on a sea-sickness scale of 1 to 10 ("ten" is extreme nausea, projectile vomiting and begging for someone to shoot you in the head to put you out-of-your-misery. . .); in some of the roughest waters & passages for any liveaboard worldwide --all just using visualization alone. The only downside is that it took a lot of concentration, as the boat was wallowing through 6' to 8' swells on the way to Wolf & Darwin Islands (Galapagos). Eventually I just fell asleep due to cognitive exhaustion. . .

 

[limeyx]

IMHO, motion sickness is "all in your head". Your brain gets confusing signals from your ears and eyes as to which way is up. The brain is tricked into thinking "hey stomach, someone poisoned us! Throw up to get rid of whatever it was!". Soooooo.... a placebo sounds like a perfect choice for treating it, IF it works. Don't knock it. Of course if you only have faith in heavy drugs, go for the prescription stuff.

Ginger candy works for lots of people (certainly not all) when I have offered to them. OTC Dramamine works for most (not all) other people. A bigger, heavier, steadier boat works for almost everyone (not all) else. A friend who grew up sailing every weekend went on a cruise on "the Love Boat" for his honeymoon. Of course he was seasick the whole time.

Well, unfortunately, betting a bigger boat is not really that practical.

For me, I have tried visualising, eating before the boat, not eating, avoiding caffeine, all kinds of drugs and placebos and the result is ...

scopace. With this I have (so far) had virtually no symptoms of seasickness.

Nothing else works for me although it might for others...also scopace seems to be one of the few drugs that has virtually no side-effects that might impact my diving.

 

[vladimir]

...also scopace seems to be one of the few drugs that has virtually no side-effects that might impact my diving.

The one side-effect that deters me from using it--and that it shares with dimenhydrinate--is the dry mouth, which can complicate clearing for me by making swallowing difficult.

 

[limeyx]

The one side-effect that deters me from using it--and that it shares with dimenhydrinate--is the dry mouth, which can complicate clearing for me by making swallowing difficult.

I will take dry mouth over stomach convulsions/nausea any day, and no other pill or remedy I took removes those as well as scopace.

 

[steelsaint]

I have tried both bonine, Dramamine, ginger pills, ginger ale and nothing worked for me. I took all of them a day before, the night before, the day of and I still got sick.
So I finally got the RX for the seasickness patch (Transderm Scop). I hope it works this time. Has anyone ever had trouble with tunnel vision with the patch?

 

[Randy43068]

I couldn't use the patch. I was too whacked out from it. Tired, slurred speech and general malaise when on it.

 

[robint]

I tried bonine once, it made me so sleepy I couldn't function, I would never dive after using that!

I have used the ginger pills and I think they work. It doesn't make you feel drugged, just no nausea. The directions on the box say 2 tablets with water every 4 hours.
The first time I took them was on day one when the seas looked rough (on my first liveaboard trip)... hmmmm, my slight nausea went away within minutes. Later in the day I took another dose just in case... still no nausea. The next day the seas were calm so I didn't bother and was fine. The following day it looked a bit rough but I decided not to take the ginger... still no nausea. I took them on another trip a few months later where the boat was really rocking all day long (open ocean deep diving) and I didn't get sick! I am sure I would have gotten sick otherwise, the boat was small and doing a serious back and forth motion constantly for 6 hours! Zero nausea, zero barf. I did make sure to keep myself busy talking to others, staring at the horizon every now and then. I think that along with the ginger tablets did the job!

Now I always take the tablets with me on a trip but I rarely use them. I have been in some pretty rough seas, too. So I think there is truth to the old adage about 'getting your sea legs'. I think I finally got mine.

Recently I saw that Mythbusters show where they tested all the remedies - the pills, the patches, wristbands, and the ginger. The ginger was the only one that worked and didn't have side effects like sleepyness. The pills took away the nausea but both guys were so dopey that they didn't consider it effective. Both agreed that the ginger worked for them and they would use it again.

Is it a placebo, maybe to some extent, but I really do think it works. Ginger ale has been given to kids for an upset tummy or when they have the flu, etc. for a long, long time. Most of those old home remedies are based in some fact.

just my 2 cents.
robin

 

[Like-a-fish]

Here's what works for me if you're taking a my-2-cents poll:
-1 Dramamine orignal formula pill at bedtime the night before.
-1/2 pill early on morning of dive, no coffee (seems to make acid stomach) and just a power bar for breakfast
-1 pill 45 minutes before getting on the boat.
-1/2 pill and a little snack between 1st and 2nd dives if feeling a bit queezy.
You'll be thirsty so chug water like crazy.



I have tried ginger in every form and find it does works a little bit, but if you do throw up anyway its a real bad time. Tears your throat out and tastes like soap. Now i'm turned off by ginger, even as Teriyaki in cooking.

 

[limeyx]

Here's what works for me if you're taking a my-2-cents poll:
-1 Dramamine orignal formula pill at bedtime the night before.
-1/2 pill early on morning of dive, no coffee (seems to make acid stomach) and just a power bar for breakfast
-1 pill 45 minutes before getting on the boat.
-1/2 pill and a little snack between 1st and 2nd dives if feeling a bit queezy.
You'll be thirsty so chug water like crazy.

If I did this with drammamine, I would be passed out before I got off the boat. The Scopace pills (for me) do not have this or any other issue (except being darned expensive!)

 

[claudine]

I have used the ginger pills and I think they work. It doesn't make you feel drugged, just no nausea. The directions on the box say 2 tablets with water every 4 hours.
The first time I took them was on day one when the seas looked rough (on my first liveaboard trip)... hmmmm, my slight nausea went away within minutes. Later in the day I took another dose just in case... still no nausea. The next day the seas were calm so I didn't bother and was fine. The following day it looked a bit rough but I decided not to take the ginger... still no nausea. I took them on another trip a few months later where the boat was really rocking all day long (open ocean deep diving) and I didn't get sick! I am sure I would have gotten sick otherwise, the boat was small and doing a serious back and forth motion constantly for 6 hours! Zero nausea, zero barf. I did make sure to keep myself busy talking to others, staring at the horizon every now and then. I think that along with the ginger tablets did the job!

robint, please share the brand of the ginger pills which remedied your seasickness!