Sea Sickness while diving

[pjones]

I am booked for a live aboard with my wife coming up in about 3 weeks time now and she raised a concern that I was not able to answer so I thought I would put it out there to the more experienced folk on the board.

Her concern is based on something that we figured out while on a cruise ship last year when she started feeling sick during breakfast. No it was not the morning sickness, she had the dreaded seasickness! I walked down to the medical facilities on board and the Wonderfully cheerful nurse pointed me over to a basket filled with an anti-seasickness medicine called "Medi-Meclizine". The lovely thing about this medicine is that it lasted for 12 hours before another dose was required and it did not have any drowsy effects.

My question to you is this; Have any of you tried this while diving? Does anybody know of a reason that it would pose a danger to a diver for any reason if used pre or post dive? Also, I would like to hear of suggestions or alternatives to coping with seasickness.

Just to start this off, The nurse also suggested eating Green Apples to help reduce the feeling of seasickness (this being the reason that they always have them available 24/7)

 

[mikemill]

I haven't tried that particular medicine. I know plenty of divers who use Dramamine and Bromine with great success. The key with sea sickness is to be proactive about it. Take the med before you get sick and if you start feeling sick don't fight it. Find the right spot to let loose and go for it, you'll feel better afterwards

 

[Kevrumbo]

There's nothing wrong with quick & easy somatic remedies/medications for sea sickness, but you can break the dependency on them over time with self-hypnosis/visualization only, building up in the process your own "psychosomatic tolerance".

The motivation is to do all means cognitively to help yourself without any over-the-counter drugs (and the side-effects they can produce), but only seek professional help with prescribed medication as necessary when those avenues, methods of self-help are not viable.

Here again is the method and the logic behind using the cognitive visualization technique which I've posted about in few boards including several threads in the past here on Scubaboard:

Most people don't get motion sickness while driving a car or piloting a boat/plane; the reason being because you're directly effecting the action of the vessel, you see what actions you have to take to steer a clear passage, you anticipate and react to the dynamic forces that result from such actions. Your mind/body kinesthetics are synchronized, your vestibular senses unconfounded, and you don't develop the nausea associated with motion sickness.

Here's how to achieve that state as a passenger on a diveboat:

Look not only at the Horizon, but also at the railing of the boat in the foreground --and see how it all moves relative to each other as the boat makes way through the swells. Memorize that movement and close your eyes, feel the boat's rhythm moving through the swells, and "see" that railing/horizon movement in your mind's eye. Anticipate where that railing/horizon orientation will be when you open your eyes . . .and finally open your eyes to see it and confirm it. Convince your mind and inner ear that you are in dynamic motion based on your sense of balance, tactile/kinesthetic feedback, and coordinating-synchronizing it all with the movement pattern of the railing/horizon which you just memorized. . .

In other words . . .don't anticipate being seasick --anticipate being in control, knowing & feeling what the boat's motion is going to be. With practice of this simple visualization, you can even "quell the queasiness" in the roughest sea conditions --all without any medication of any kind.

Again --All you gotta do is look at the horizon, see how it moves relative to the boat's motion and memorize that pattern, and then get a feeling for the rhythm of the swells and synchronize it with horizon's motion. Now when you go down belowdecks, just play it all back in your "mind's eye" as you begin to feel & anticipate the boat's apparent motion --or even imagine the boat belowdecks is transparent and you can actually see the horizon & swells in sync with the boat's apparent motion-- it's all just visualization without medication and it works!

That's the visualization technique you gotta practice, and unfortunately it's difficult to do if you're concentrating on something else like setting up your gear, reading a book, watching a video, worrying about running out of ginger pills/dramamine/bonine etc. But once you get good at it, you can hold the malaise to a reasonable level even in stormy seas --a "four" for instance on a scale from 1 to 10, with "ten" being projectile vomiting, extreme nausea, hugging the rail and begging for someone to shoot you . . . (In my thirty hour passage from mainland Costa Rica to Cocos Island, I was cognitively exhausted using the technique over an extended period, and just simply fell asleep naturally). . .

 

[Bubbletrubble]

My question to you is this; Have any of you tried this while diving? Does anybody know of a reason that it would pose a danger to a diver for any reason if used pre or post dive? Also, I would like to hear of suggestions or alternatives to coping with seasickness.

The active ingredient in Medi-Meclizine is...meclizine.
Guess what's in Bonine?
Bonine is my anti-seasickness med of choice on dive trips.
Many divers successfully take antihistamine meds to stave off seasickness.

Don't turn yourself into a guinea pig on the live-aboard trip. Experiment on land on a non-diving day before the trip. You need to know whether the side effects of a prospective anti-seasickness med are tolerable for you. This is how I found out that Dramamine (dimenhydrinate) makes me feel unnaturally "loopy." It works great for other people, though.

Refrain from eating greasy foods.
Keep your eyes on the horizon. Sometimes it can help to get fresh air.
Stay well-hydrated.
Some studies have shown that ginger can be helpful.
If you're feeling adventurous, you could even experiment with self-hypnosis.

BTW, what kind of "Green Apples" did the nurse recommend? Granny Smith? Golden Delicious? Do the apples have to be completely green in color? What about Gravensteins? (I have never personally heard of green apples being used to prevent seasickness.)

It takes a while for your body to adapt to the rocking motion. If you're lucky, you'll adapt just before the end of the live-aboard.

 

[tstormdiver]

I am also prone to Mal De Mer (sea sickness), especially when things get rough. I typically use the Scoplomine patches (yes, the silly little dots behind the ear). I had massive problems with it making me drowsy & unable to focus my eyes enough to read. When I was in the Galapagos this past summer (liveaboard), I was reluctant to take anything, though I was queasy. One of my fellow divers, who is also a nurse, suggested cutting the patch in half. I tried it & it worked (for me) like a charm! No sea sickness & no drowsiness.

 

[fresh_fish]

I prefer Bonine. Just remember to take one before you leave the land, at least a day in advance, just to see if you can go about your day and not feel funny, drowsy, or any other noticeable side effects. If you are affected, the concern is that the narcosis will compound this effect, dangerous situation.

If you can take something on the surface and keep your wits about ya, then you'll be fine under water. They do not physically change you, so you will not have concerns of equalization, like you would with a decongestant.

 

[Krazyklaws]

My partner gets badly motion sick even when a passenger in a car for a few miles. On a boat he's ill before we've even left the dock!

He takes Stugeron 15 tablets, the active ingredient is Cinnarizine and it does the job without any side effects (for him at least). We've done some two week liveaboards and he's fine as long as he remembers to take the pills regularly and not wait until he feels ill.

 

[bubbles01]

My husband is prone to seasickness and even though I love boats I am a little apprehensive about our first liveaboard in a few months time so I was very pleased to read all this advice - thank you. Does anyone have any advice about how to avoid being ill in the Red Sea re stomach problems? We went to the Red Sea for the first time 2 years ago and I was very ill for most of the week and yet we have travelled all over the world before and never been ill. If anyone has any advice it would be very gratefully recieved. Thank you.

 

[Garrobo]

In Walmarts pharmacy you'll find a little bottle of "motion sickness" pills, Equate brand, 100 for around three dollars if I remember right. One the night before diving, one in the morning, afternoon and evening. Don't know if I would ever get sea sick without them but I never wanted to take the chance after seeing a bunch of pukers on the first boat ride I took.

 

[Doppler]

Ginger works for some folks. The raw root chopped up and chewed may be a bit strong for those not accustomed to its taste and tang. Ginger compound travel sickness pills are available in many drug stores. Experiment.

One of the most enjoyable ways to take ginger is in ginger beer (this is neither alcoholic nor is it anything like ginger ale). Even better to calm a stomach upset by a boat's motion is a dark and stormy (a cocktail of navy rum, ginger beer, lime and grenadine), but that may not mix with diving for you and yours.