Diving with Dramamine?

[Ferg822]

My buddy gets motion sickness easily. Dramamine has worked, but can they dive with it?

[Gene_Hobbs]

Dose-response curves were obtained for Sudafed (a decongestant), Benadryl (an antihistamine), and Dramamine (an anti-motion-sickness preparation) at 1, 3, 5, and 7 ATA with the animals breathing compressed air. None of the three compounds produced significant performance changes at the recommended dose levels, even under pressures to 7 ATA.

From:
Walsh, JM; Burch, LS. THE BEHAVIORAL TOXICITY OF SUDAFED, BENADRYL, AND DRAMAMINE UNDER HYPERBARIC AIR. (abstract) Undersea Biomedical Research, Vol. 4, No. 1, March 1977 RRR ID: 4117 (http://archive.rubicon-foundation.org/4117)

[herman]

Welcome to the board. Can't add any medical advise but there is no way I head out for 5 or 6 hrs on the water (common in NC) without it. Lots of divers take it. I do prefer the Damamine II or Bonine over the original Dramamine, it last longer and does not make me as sleepy.

[DocVikingo]

Tame the Technicolor Yodel: Managing Mal de Mer (Reprinted from Undercurrent)
http://www.awoosh.com/DocVikingo/Sea_sickness_remedies.htm

Regards,

DocVikingo

[knotical]

DocV,

The title alone deserves a thank you. The article more so.

k

[DivingPrincessE]

I use Dramamine every time I dive and have never had a problem. It usually makes me a little sleepy at first, but as soon as I hit the water, I'm wide awake.

[djtimmy77]

I use original formula dramamine on practically every boat dive, unless it is really, really flat. I find that it helps with the drowsyness as well as the effectiveness to take one the night before and then one again in the morning.

Make sure you have taken it before and know how it affects you before you take one while diving.

[DocVikingo]

I use Dramamine every time I dive and have never had a problem. It usually makes me a little sleepy at first, but as soon as I hit the water, I'm wide awake.

Hi DivingPrincessE,

It is of limited information to use only the word "Dramamine" as there are three different Draminine products ---> Home | DramamineŽ® (http://www.dramamine.com). The "Chewable" and "Original" formulas contain dimenhydrinate, a compound that can pose problems for the diver (See * below). The "Non-Drowsy" formulation contains meclizine and is generally preferred.

Helpful?

Regards,

DocVikingo

* "Pharmacotherapy 20(9):1051-1054, 2000:

The Psychometric and Cardiac Effects of Dimenhydrinate in the Hyperbaric Environment

David McD. Taylor, M.D., Kevin S. O'Toole, M.D., Thomas E. Auble, Ph.D., Christopher M. Ryan, Ph.D., and David R. Sherman, R.N.

Abstract

Study Objectives. To examine the psychometric and cardiac effects of dimenhydrinate at 1 and 3 atmospheres (atm) of pressure (0 and 66 feet of sea water, respectively), and to make recommendations about the drug's safety in the diving environment.

Design. Double-blind, placebo-controlled, crossover study.
Setting. Monoplace hyperbaric chamber of a university hospital.

Subjects. Thirty active divers (mean age 38 yrs).

Interventions. A bank of seven tests was used to assess cognitive function during four different dive combinations: placebo-1 atm, placebo-3 atm, dimenhydrinate-1 atm, and dimenhydrinate-3 atm.

Measurements and Main Results. Heart rate and cardiac rhythm were recorded during all dives. Repeated-measures multivariate analysis of variance was used to analyze the effects of dimenhydrinate, depth, and drug-depth interaction. Dimenhydrinate resulted in a significant decrease in scores of mental flexibility (trail-making, part B, p<0.05) but had no effect on scores in the six other psychometric tests (p>0.05). It had no effect on mean heart rate (p>0.05), although frequent unifocal ventricular ectopic beats occurred in two subjects after ingestion of the drug. Depth resulted in a significant decrease in verbal memory test scores (p=0.001) and mean heart rate (p<0.001).

Conclusion. Dimenhydrinate adversely affects mental flexibility. This effect, when added to the adverse effect of depth on memory, may contribute to the dangers of diving."