Sea/Motion Sickness Help

[Avid Angler]

hey guys, it seems like every time i head up to ontario i get sick real bad and end up laying down. this doesnt happen until i get on the boat and doesnt go away until after i get off. so this is why i narrowed it down to sea or motion sickness. i know of the obvious things to do like Dramamine, but was just wondering if there was any tips that could help. like someone told me to go with a full stomach when most generally we go up early and i dont eat anything. doesnt happen on the fingerlakes just up to ontario. thought i would come here for help because you guys probably see this from time to time. thanks for any help. it will be much appreciated, as you can imagine.

[G-Daddy]

My son eats ginger and my wife uses the scopalomine patch.

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[Missdemeanor]

Bonine....way better than dramamine. Doesn't make you tired....I heard ginger suppliments are good too.

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[Gill-T]

Meclizine is available over-the-counter now. Non-drowsy. Works wonders. Over time you should get over the condition. Rite-aid I think offers their own generic version.

[bandrus1]

iv heard olives

[Second Nature]

A friend of mine gets it really bad also and I told him about some wrist bands available everywhere but he got his at Walmart. And now he swears by them and will not get on the boat without them. I guess they press on a pressure point in your wrist. I can tell u he hardly ever has a problem now and if he does it's cause he went in the cuddy to get something

[King Slammin]

Keep your rod tips up high and look out at the horizon. Motion sickness gets worse when u ate in the cuddy or looking down at the deck

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[W.W.IV.]

I'll second the wrist bands.

[TOP SECRET]

Get the sea sickness patch, end of story. Theresa tried everything else and nothing worked... after several trips using the patches, she got "used" to the motion and now very rarely gets sea sick.

Nick

[momay4000]

Avid,

I'm a family physician and here's a few tips I tell my patients:

1.) Try and start the day off with good hydration, and have something in your stomach but don't overeat (i.e. eat some crackers, granola bar, etc). Try and avoid eating acidic foods, fatty foods, lots of coffee as these will tend to irritate your stomach and make the nausea part worse. As the guys above mentioned "ginger" can also help, but it's more for settling our stomach rather than preventing sea sickness.

2. Stay focused up on deck of your boat and keep your eyes on the horizon. Stay out of the cuddy. Avoid reading or staring at your fish finder.

3.) As far as meds - Meclizine (also known as Bonine or Antivert) is over the counter and works "OK". Dramamine is another OTC product and is basically an antihistamine which also works "OK" but causes a lot of drowsiness similar to Benadryl. My favorite is Transderm Scop (scopalamine patches) which can be prescribed by your doctor. They last for 72 hrs, so you can put one on behind your ear the night before and be ready to go the next day.

Good luck and stay safe,

Chris

[muskybob]

Ginger ale & crackers work well, No med to take. Also like the others said, keep your eyes on the horizon & keep 'em moving, not on the deck

[Poles293]

Thanks guys for the timely info I just took a friend out the other day who swore he was on boats his whole military career and doesn't get sea sick. He ended up chumming the waters over the side of the boat. I don't know what was greener his face or my emerald shad Renosky Crystalline. I printed this and gave it to him. Thanks again.

[ericjeeper]

I spend a lot of time on my boats.. But I still get queasy. I always have ginger cookies, and ginger ale.. I eat Dramamine before we head out. I have the wrist bands too. But they leave funky tan lines that are hard to explain.

My wife says it is all in my head. The last trip out two weeks ago,. I did not take anything and the sea was only 3 footers.. I was ok all day.. I might have drank a couple of ginger ales as opposed to mountain dews though.

I used the stuff that you dab a dime sized spot behind your ears down in Florida in April.. I blew chow big time.. first time I ever fished 8-10 footers. It was the first time I actually ever chummed..

[SHADE OF GRAY]

I used to get very sea sick but eventualy I got over it. I still get sea sick if i go in the cabin so I have someone else get what i need. I also drink Ginger ale and eat salty food like pretzels. The thing that helped me most was getting a bigger boat. When i would chum the water i always felt better too.

[CaptSpike]

I have seen many many people get sick thru the yrs. Chartering on the ocean almost garuantees on a sporty day someone will go down. I would recommend the patch as the most effective preventitive with pills behind that. As an operator we couldn't distribute pills to clients for insurance reasons (in case they had some unforseen reaction) but I did carry two sets of bands. I can tell you from my experience the bands work on some people and don't on others. i have had people down and out and they put the bands on and a half hour later they were on deck fishing with the rest of the crew. Again some we not, but certainly worth a try. One note on the bands. Buy the ones with the velcro strap so you can incease the pressure. The elastic strap ones streatch out over time and are not as effective. Also make sure the person presses and holds the pressure points as instructed frequently after they first put the bands on. This helps them to recover faster.

When I first started boating on the ocean I was always fine above deck but didn't feel so good going below deck (never got sick but just didn't feel great). Over time I would go down below and stay there for a while on sporty days to help myself aclimate. After that yr I never had another problem even in the worst of sea conditions. I don't imagine this works for everyone but it worked for me.

Good luck. There is nothing worse than being green.

Spike

[vintage terror]

if you worry about it, you will get sick. Keep it out of your mind.

the other thing is dont drink alchohol the night before.

only time i ever got sick was a night after drinking a bunch of marqaritas

they tasted alot better going down than up.

[W.W.IV.]

I found this amusing, quite a few years ago I'd take a friend out and he allways got sick so he tried the wrist bands and it worked great for him. In 89 I bought a shinny new BaHa sport fishermen and I loaded him and family and friends into the boat in Sodus and we ran down to Fairheaven and had a picnic and a good time. I had a vidio cam. mounted under the hard top and vidioed the trip, well it was a little ruff and the background was really rolling,we were in about 30fow and the shore line going up and down, well the next night I went over to there home to show them the Vidio. My friend keep getting up and going out side. the next day he told me he went out because he was getting sick waiching the vidio. That really sucks . I feel bad for those that get motion sickness,when I was a kid I got sick riding the horse and wagon. .

[muskybob]

I feel bad for those that get motion sickness,when I was a kid I got sick riding the horse and wagon. .

GEEZ Mike, & here I thought you were born BEFORE the wheel was invented.

[bandrus1]

when I was younger I had no problems.... boat doesnt bother me but I can not go 1 or 2 pumps on a swing without feeling ill

[Avid Angler]

wow!! thanks for all the help!! i think these tips will make the fishing much more enjoyable! i will let you guys know how i make out on the next trip. some of the tips i was doing totally opposite of like good hydration and having food in your stomach which i wasnt doing. so i think that will help plus ginger ale and cookies and some meds and i think i will be ok. once again thanks for all the help everyone i really appreciate it!!

[LongLine]

Avid - Try to do the driving of the boat. i.e don't just sit there waiting for a fish. Stay out of the engine fumes. Make sure you wear a hat.

Tom B.

(LongLine)

[fishfearme]

I always bring ginger snaps and ginger ale. When I start feeling a little off I eat a few cookies and drink a ginger ale. Erbyjoe swears by dramamine . Staying busy on the boat always helps.

[Mortigan]

myth busters tested Dramamine, acupressure bands, behind the ear dots and ginger pills. For Adam at least, the ginger pills were most effective.

[skipper19]

I feel bad for those that get motion sickness,when I was a kid I got sick riding the horse and wagon. .

GEEZ Mike, & here I thought you were born BEFORE the wheel was invented.

When I was a kid I thought I was gonna get sick riding a horse...

Then the quarter ran out.

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[carpedium]

Well based on everyone's recommendations I called the doc and got a prescription for my wife who will get motion sickness in the boat even when it is on dry land and I am walking around in it. In the water she has about 30 seconds before she has to jump out and swim. She has tried the OTC stuff with no real success.

We tried the transderm scop over the weekend out on some choppy seas and she was absolutely fine. Many of the OTC treatments make you very drowsy, but she had no side effects on this stuff. Thanks for the recommendations.

Be prepared to pay, though. About $60 for 4 patches. Each patch lasts 3 days.