Motion Sickness
Motion Sickness
25 Quick-Action Cures
The sky is blue, the sea is green, and you are bright-eyed and rosy-cheeked, out on the deck of a sun-dappled sailboat bobbing along in the waves. Bobbing and dipping. Dipping and lobbing. Lobbing and listing. Listing and rolling. Rolling and rising. Rising and sinking. Sinking and splashing. Splashing and crashing. Crashing and churning. Listing and bobbing and dipping and rippling. Crashing and churning and stomach turning. And before you know it, you're launching your lunch into glistening green waters, quaking and quickening. It's altogether sickening.
The French call it mal de mer, and even the most seasoned sailors can suffer from it. In the air, it's airsickness. On land, it's car sickness. And then there's amusement park ride sickness-at least one visitor a day turns green on Disney World's Space Mountain or Big Thunder Mountain roller coaster. But it's all the same thing-that queasy, uneasy feeling collectively known as motion sickness.
"Motion sickness results when the brain receives wrong information about the environment," explains Rafael Tarnopolsky, M.D., a professor of otolaryngology at the University of Osteopathic Medicine and Health Sciences. To help keep our bodies in balance, our sensory systems continually collect information about our surroundings and send it to our inner ears, and like computers, they organize the information and send it on to the brain.
It is when our balance system notes a discrepancy between what our inner ears sense and our eyes sense that motion sickness can take hold, says Horst Konrad, M.D., chairman of the Committee on Equilibrium of the American Academy of Otolaryngology/Head and Neck Surgery. Not everyone gets it, but the signals are pretty clear when we do. We get dizzy. We sweat. Our skin turns pale. We feel nauseated. And if things don't get any better, we throw up.
Once you feel the symptoms coming on, motion sickness can be very difficult to stop, especially if you've reached your particular point of no return—usually when nausea sets in. But the following remedies can help nurse the symptoms and might be able to cut them short. Better yet, they might keep the symptoms from starting in the first place—next time you're bobbing and dripping, dripping and bobbing along on a pretty afternoon's wave.
A Space-Age Cure That Goes to Extremes "...four, three, two, one—lift-off!" With an earth-shaking roar, white-hot jets propel Spacelab 3 and its four-member crew into the stratosphere, where it turns its back on a world still tremulously shivering. But the folks in ground control aren't the only ones shaken up by the blast. A mere 7 minutes into the flight, one of the crew members has his first "vomiting episode," an incident that is rerun numerous times during the mission. Being motion sick in space is a serious problem for astronauts. "At any one time, the whole crew could be incapacitated," says Patricia Cowings, Ph.D., director of the Psychophysiological Research Laboratory at NASA's Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, California. "Potentially, it could be disastrous. Throwing up while wearing a helmet could be fatal." And there's no easy solution, since motion sickness medications can have dangerous side effects. But new horizons are opening up, thanks to a biofeedback training program. For the past 15 years, Dr. Cowings and her colleagues have been making members of the American public sick in order to help astronauts feel better. "Essentially, our routine involves bringing a person up to our lab and making him throw up," says Dr. Cowings, know to her colleagues as the "Baroness of Barf." A devious device aids this process: a chair that rotates at the same time the volunteer moves his head at various angles, a process that throws off his inner ear's sense of balance in a few minutes. "It works on virtually everyone," Dr. Cowing says. "If a rock had an inner ear, it would make a rock sick." While rotating , the subject is monitored for physiological responses such as heart rate, breathing rate, sweating, and muscle contractions. "No two people have exactly the same response," Dr. Cowings explains. "Motion sickness is actually a kind of fingerprint that's unique to each person." The fingerprint clearly drawn, each person can then be taught to control his unique responses through a combination of deep relaxation and exercise of muscles—muscles we don't realize we can exercise, like those in blood vessels. If a person can successfully control his early responses, he may prevent more violent ones from coming up. "We've trained more than 250 people, and our track record is pretty good," says Cowings. "About 60 percent can completely eliminate their symptoms when we retest them in the chair. Another 25 percent can significantly decrease their responses. And the training remains effective for up to three years." The results are promising enough, says Dr. Cowings, that an actual cure for motion sickness is on the horizon. |
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Think about motion wellness. "Motion sickness is partly psychological," says Dr. Konrad. "If you think you're going to throw up, you're probably going to." Instead, turn your thoughts to something wonderful.
Leave nursing the sick to someone else. It's a common occurrence. You're on a fishing boat. Everything's going along fine until someone gets sick. You watch in sympathy, maybe even offer a comforting shoulder. Before long, you're the next body down. Then there goes another. It's the domino theory in action. As cruel as it may sound, do your best to ignore others who are sick, says Dr. Konrad. Otherwise you're liable to end up in the same boat.
Get your nose out of the joint. Bad odors such as engine fumes, the dead fish on ice in the back of the boat, or the sardine sandwich being made in the galley can contribute to nausea, says Dr. Konrad. Aim your nose elsewhere.
Butt out. If you're a smoker, you may think that lighting up can calm you, deterring motion sickness. Wrong. Cigarette smoke can only contribute to impending nausea, says Dr. Konrad. If you're a nonsmoker, hightail it to the nonsmoking section of the plane, train, or bus if you feel queasiness coming on.
Travel at night. Your chances of getting sick diminish when you travel at night because you can't see the motion as well as you can in daylight hours, says Roderic W. Gillilan, O.D., an optometrist in private practice in Eugene, Oregon, who has helped hundreds of patients overcome the problem.
Don't get friendly with unfriendly food. If certain foods don't like you when you're standing still, they're going to like you even less if you're moving. As tempting as plentiful meals may be during your travels, don't overindulge, advises Robert Salada, M.D., director of the Travelers Health Care Center at the University Hospitals of Cleveland, Ohio, and assistant professor of medicine at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine.
Go ahead, get fresh. Deter nausea with a breath of fresh air, suggests Dr. Salada. In a car, open a window. On a boat, stand out on deck and take in the sea breeze. On an airplane, turn on the overhead vent.
Think before you drink. "Too much alcohol can interfere with the way the brain handles information about the environment and can set off motion sickness symptoms," says Dr. Konrad. What's more, alcohol can dissolve into the fluids on your inner ear, which can send your head spinning. Drink in moderation during plane and ship travel.
Get enough sleep. "Your chance of getting motion sickness increases with fatigue," says Dr. Gillilan. So be sure to get your usual quota of sleep before taking off on a trip. If you're a passenger in a car or plane, catching a few zzzzs while en route can help, too, if only to temporarily ward off potentially sickening stimuli.
Sit still! Your brain is already confused enough without your creating extra motion. Keep your head especially still.
Get up front and out ahead. In a car, move up to the front seat and focus on the road ahead or the horizon, says Dr. Tarnopolsky. This will bring signals from your body and your eyes into balance.
Better yet, get into the driver's seat. When you're behind the wheel, you're sensibly looking straight ahead, says Dr. Gillilan, and you have the added advantage of anticipating any quick changes in motion.
The Alternate Route
Age-Old Cures Still in Use They may not work for all and may not work every time, but folk remedies for motion sickness have probably been around since man first decided to seriously check out the scenery beyond his own backyard. Some of these remedies are still popular today and are certainly worth a try. Gingerroot. The first settlers to the New World might have taken it to ease their transatlantic voyage. Although the tradition dates back hundreds of years, eating a bit of ginger recently passed scientific scrutiny when an experiment showed that two powdered gingerroot capsules were more effective than a dose of Dramamine in preventing motion sickness. Ginger works, researchers theorize, by absorbing acids and blocking nausea in your gastointestinal tract. Olives and lemons. The early stages of motion sickness cause you to produce excess saliva, which dribbles down to your stomach and makes you nauseous, some doctors say. Olives, on the other hand, produce chemicals called tannins, which make your mouth dry. Hence, the theory goes, eating a couple of olives at the first hint of nausea can help diminish it, as may sucking on a mouth-puckering lemon. Soda crackers. They won't stop salivation, but dry soda crackers might help absorb the excess fluid when it reaches your stomach. Their "secret ingredients" are bicarbonate of soda and cream of tartar. Coke syrup. Prescribed as an antinauseant for children, Coke syrup added to seltzer water may help. The same may be true for any carbonated cola beverage. See for yourself. Acupressure wristbands. Sold in many marine and travel shops, these lightweight wristbands have a plastic button that is supposed to be worn over what the doctors in the Orient call the Nei-Kuan acupressure point inside each wrist. The wearer is protected against nausea, the theory goes, by exerting pressure on the button for a few minutes. |
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Get caught up on your reading some other time. Don't read while you're riding in a car or on a rough plane or boat trip, says Dr. Tarnapolsky. The movement of the vehicle you're in makes the printed matter on the page move, which can make you awfully dizzy.
But if you must read, there are ways to do it without getting sick, says Dr. Gillilan. Among them:
- Slouch down in the seat and hold the reading material close to eye level. "It's not the reading itself that makes you sick," he says, "but the angle at which you're doing it. When you look down while traveling in a car, the visible motion from the side windows strikes the eyes at an unusual angle, and that is what triggers symptoms. This method brings your eyes into the same position as if you were looking down the road."
- Hold your hands next to your temples to block out the action or turn your back to the window nearest you.
Find the center of most resistance. On a ship, get a cabin amidships, where the least amount of rolling and bouncing occurs, advises Dr. Tarnapolsky. On a little boat you may find no such escape, although a forward cabin may be smoother than aft.
Come out from under. Staying cooped up below deck in a boat or ship, especially in a poorly ventilated area, is just asking for trouble, says Dr. Salada. Cone out, come out, wherever you are.
Set your sights on something stationary. It'll help get your sensory system back in balance. Standing in a bobbing boat and watching the horizon, however, may make you sick because the horizon will bob along with you. Instead turn your sights to a stationary point in the sky or the land in the distance.
Take a preventive pill. If motion sickness is as inevitable for you as snow in January, you might want to consider taking an over-the-counter medication like Dramamine or Bonine. Taken a few hours in advance, it can prevent symptoms from occurring in the first place, says Dr. Salada. One or two tables last for up to 24 hours. But be sure to take it in advance, because it won't be effective if taken once the symptoms start.
Remember, time heals all wounds. And this includes motion sickness. You may feel like you're going to die—in fact, it may sound like a blessing—but motion sickness doesn't kill. Your body will eventually adjust to the environment in a ship or boat—although it might take a few days—and will stop reacting.
So be patient. Things will get better.
PANEL OF ADVISERS
Patricia Cowings, Ph.D., is director of the Psychophysiological Research Laboratory at NASA's Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, California.
Roderic W. Gillilan, O.D., is an optometrist in private practice in Eugene, Oregon, where he specializes in the treatment of motion sickness.
Horst Konrad, M.D., is chairman of the Committee on Equilibrium of the American Academy of Otolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery, and professor and chairman of the Division of Otolaryngology at Southern Illinois University School of Medicine in Springfield.
Robert Salada, M.D., is director of the Travelers Health Care Center of the University Hospitals of Cleveland, Ohio, a first-of-its-kind service that provides health information and immunizations to travelers and immigrants. He is also assistant professor of medicine at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine in Cleveland.
Rafael Tarnopolsky, M.D., is a professor of otolaryngology at the University of Osteopathic Medicine and Health Sciences in Des Moines, Iowa.
