The five stages of sea sickness

[fsik]

Never been motion sick before my first set of boat dives, now Dramamine's my best friend. I'm lucky that getting underwater cures it, but anywhere above the safety stop, it's the technicolor yawn, early and often.

For some reason almost everyone on the boat that day ended up spilling much protein, to the delight of the local fauna. There were decent swells, but it just wasn't that rough. Maybe it was my stellar example (nearly scored a direct hit on the dolphins who swam up near the rail to see what I was doing...so embarassing)

That day on the boat there was a poor teenager who was so violently ill he practically exhausted himself before we got to the first dive. He was obviously just waiting to die for the next couple of hours. Kinda hard to keep stepping over his generally lifeless body as his dad's trying to roust him.

We notice later he's sunbured real bad...his dad dragged him on the boat, and he didn't want to go, so I'm thinking of a new death wish category: 'So sick that other people want the person who dragged you along to die.'

 

[SeanQ]

After a long day on the ocean, I can come home at night, close my eyes, and still feel the swells. Best lullaby I've ever had.

 

[coreypenrose]

Without patch = I want to die

With patch = Nausea which is easily controlled by ginger or just staring at the horizon and breathing out of my mouth.

 

[Cape Fear Divers]

Here is a pretty good summary of the options to help with seasickness. http://www.realage.com/health_guides/MotionSickness/recs.aspx
I am fortunate not to have much problem with it, but the best advice i have heard from a fellow diver was this: Seasickness is caused by the disagreement between the feedback your brain is getting from your various sensory inputs. In particular, your inner ears say you are pitching up and down and side to side, but your eyes (which see your surroundings moving with you) say you either are not moving, or are moving in ways that are not consistent with what the inner ears are reporting. Given this, my comrade suggested shutting off one of the conflicting inputs. You can't shut off your inner ears, but you can shut off your eyes by simply closing them. So he suggested lying down and closing your eyes. Works great for me when i do start feeling queasy. Obviously, those of you who get really sick would have to use this technique early, before it gets bad. (And, yes, i know that this flies in the face of conventional wisdom about keeping your eyes open and looking at the horizon, etc. But really, i think both are based on the same idea. Looking at the horizon lets your eyes get feedback about the boat's movement that is similar to what the inner ears are getting, since the horizon stays still and your eyes move relative to it with the boat. It's just easier to close your eyes than to focus on the horizon for long enough to beat the crud).

Also, i notice that i never get seasick when i'm running my boat, but do sometimes mildly when i'm a passenger on someone else's boat. This makes sense given that seasickness is caused by brain confusion (see above)--if my brain is occupied with something interesting, it doesn't worry about the sensory input conflicts. So some of the mental techniques to be found at the link above might work.

Hope some of that is helpful.

 

[Kim]

I am also one of the lucky ones who has never been sea sick. Actually I think that that should be an option in the poll - if you want I'll add it.

 

[SFLDiver]

I am also one of the lucky ones who has never been sea sick. Actually I think that that should be an option in the poll - if you want I'll add it.

Ditto here .... been thru some rough schtuff w/o so much as a burp.

I'm usually the cruel soul who is offering the green ones
"a nice hot greasy pork sandwich served in a dirty ash tray."
MMMMMMMM-mmm-mmm!!!

Payback has struck tho,
my gear has been painted (twice) by vomitus eruptus missed overboard shots.

I may not get seasick, but after a few days on a liveaboard ....
just the minor rocking gets my inner ears going,
then the sea legs hit once I'm back on land.

A good rum runner usually kills the vertigo. '

 

[Diver0001]

I am also one of the lucky ones who has never been sea sick. Actually I think that that should be an option in the poll - if you want I'll add it.

Sure, go ahead and add it. You might be the only one to choose it, though.

Make the text say something like "I'm a non-barfing wonder-of-nature"

R..

 

[Kim]

OK - it's done. A few people have also said that they didn't get sea sick so I'm not the only freak!

 

[murphdivers286]

I have been on every level of the scale and then some. I have been on a gambling cruise ship in rough seas where everyone else was sick, but I was okay. (no medication) Then I've been on a dive boat where I was the only one so sick I was lifeless hanging off the railing. I don't understand. Everytime I get ready to go on a dive boat, I would start thinking, "I'm going to get sick", and guess what, I did... I have taken the pills, but they seemed to only work in mild seas, but did not worked in rougher seas.

I started using the patch from my doctor and it worked fine, but I would still feel a little nauseas. As long as I did not looked down, I was fine. I would feel sick if I looked too long at the deck, but it would go away when I looked at the horizon. Now remember, I was thinking about getting sick the whole time.

I have noticed recently, I don't get sick at all. I still put the patch on the night before, but it feels different on the boat. I have stopped thinking about getting sick before a dive. I have felt so great lately that I almost think it might just be in my head. I really don't plan to stop using the patch, because I really don't want to get sick. I'm just wondering two things. Can seasickness be in your head? (like thinking about getting sick and you do). Can you get used to being on a boat, and your ability to overcome the seaickness gets better? If anyone knows, please tell me.

 

[rab]

My only bout of throwing up came on quite suddenly when on deck of a relatively small boat. When seated, I leaned over so far to fiddle with gear that I had absolutely no view of the horizon -- fed the fish about 10 sec. later, swig of water, finish with gear, do a dive. I still voted as a "non-barfing wonder of nature". I've been the only non-drugged passenger on a dive boat (the captain being considered a non-passenger) to keep all my cookies where they belong.

-Rob