Sea sick at surface interval

[Linny]

I too get seasick. I found the different pills work and it took some time to figure which pills' side effects I could live with on a trip.
I shoredive whenever possible.

 

[joel smith]

Great advice, think Ill try some ginger tablets from a health food store and take some ginger ale just in case . Ill report back with the results. Does anyone know how often you take these I know I will start taking them 12 hours before the dive , but Ill be diving 4 days.

 

[Linny]

I don't know about the foodstuff but would suggest trying out the dramamine, bonine, scope patch products some day you don't have anywhere to be before your trip. You may find one of those products doesn't have undesirable side effects and would keep you enjoying yourself topside..

 

[joel smith]

I do not like side effects.

 

[beanojones]

Great advice, think Ill try some ginger tablets from a health food store and take some ginger ale just in case . Ill report back with the results. Does anyone know how often you take these I know I will start taking them 12 hours before the dive , but Ill be diving 4 days.

I have not heard of anyone having side effects from ginger, other than possible ginger burps.

People I know who take it start a few days before they get on the plane to go somewhere for diving and continue until they get back on the plane from somewhere.

People who have real motion sickness problems say it is a lot like allergies: you should think of your motion sickness as a tub that is slowly getting filled every time you are in a vehicle (car, plane, boat), and only slowly drains out.

If you start ginger 12 hours before getting on a boat, you are starting with a half filled tub from the plane and car rides getting there.

 

[lv2dive]

I use prescription anti nausea med called phenergan 25 mg and I think the generic is promethazine...

Saw this and had to reiterate the obligatory, "test your reaction to any medicine PRIOR to using it for diving."* I get migraines periodically and my last-ditch effort to resolve them (after several other medication options) is phenergan. 12.5 to 25 mg of phenergan will knock me out for 8-12 hours and allow me to sleep off the migraine - the downside is I'm "fuzzy" for up to 24 hours. Hence, it's my last-ditch effort - on the plus side, knocking me out is usually effective in treating the migraine, but on the downside, it knocks me out and I'm out of it a bit for several hours later. And I'm not usually susceptible to side effects, either. So my point is, as previously mentioned, please don't try this or any other medication without ensuring that the side effects wouldn't be detrimental to your diving.

*Obviously Jim, from reading your posts I know you wouldn't dive if you had these side effects, glad that it works for you with no side effects! Funny how drugs effect people differently!

 

[Booyakasha]

One thing that I have not seen mentioned and this gets my son often. Is after you surface get out quickly. Don't stare at the boat going up and down or the ladder. A lot of times you are concentrating on proper boarding procedures, getting your fins off, grabbing a ladder and everything including yourself is going up and down up and down and you loose the horizon. I tell my son to wait until there is no one waiting to go up the ladder surface and go straight up. Hanging out on the surface by the boat messes him up. Worst case face away from the boat.

B.

 

[ddmattos]

Bonine-----one before bed the night before, then one as the boat leaves dock early morning. Then one daily for the rest of the week for multi-day trips. You should get your sea legs after a while.

I did not try Dramamine since I saw and read how drowsy others became. Who knows, they may have over did it. Taking too much will ruin your day as well.

Suit up half way just before the boat leaves dock. Bending over on a rocking boat sucks. I always dive dry (shell suit) so my suspenders support the bottom half of my suit while the top half hangs. Wetsuit can be worn in similar fashion minus the suspenders.

All other suggestions about boat fumes and horizon are great stuff. Just remain calm and don't over exert yourself. If needed, Ask for help!!
Water and PRETZELS !!!

Good Luck.

​

 

[scubaaaronh]

Bonine works well my dad used to always have it on the boat for customers. It has very little side effects compared to the others and most people said that they didn't notice anything. Ginger snaps are also another thing that helps, and ginger pills. If you can tolerate it chewing on a raw piece of ginger works the best. I saw this in the Bahamas years ago. Lady got seasick on the boat during the interval. The captain said grab your mask and fins keep your wetsuit on and jump in. the lady was fine a few minutes after and spet the time floating around. Thought it was a coincidence till i heard of it being done in a couple other locations also.

Here is something you need to know if you are a puker. Eat a good breakfast of pancakes with lots of syrup. This is going to sound gross. When you puke it back up first of all you wont go into dry heaves since you have something in your stomach. Second of all the pancakes and syrup coat the throat coming back up and you wont get the bile burn after. It also doesnt taste bad coming back up i have been told. I havent personally experienced it. My dad was taught this by the guy teaching his captains course years ago to tell customers. No sausage or bacon. just a short stack.