Sea Sickness

irishrose · #1 (**permalink**) January 14th, 2005, 06:38 AM

We have one perso in our group who is afraid of seasickness, She has had a proble on small pleasure craft and is afraid that it will happen on the Ship. My question is this what are the options for sea sick meds? I know they say Dramamien can make you both sleepy and give you dry mouth. What have you had the best resultsn with? I have heard accupreasure bands are great. Would they work after you became sea sick or do you need to have them on all of the time? I would appreciate any advice. I know this has most likely been addressed before but would Love some help . Thaks for any help you can give.

Donna · #2 (**permalink**) January 14th, 2005, 06:55 AM

Hi Irish,
You can pick up some bonine at your local drug store, seems to work well without getting sleepy. Most likely she won't even need it on such a large ship, but its nice to have it just in case.

#3 (**permalink**) January 14th, 2005, 08:21 AM

I normal only have to look at a "vessel" on any water and I'm getting that feeling. I had many bad experiance's of the Irish sea when I was small and not to good with road sickness either.... A couple of years ago I went on a catamaran trip in Barbados cos everyone in our family wanted too...I was dreading it ....but it was okay and even had a few beers on there. Went on the "Dawn" in September and spent weeks worrying about being at "sea"....admittedly the first night out of New York was the roughest, it wasn't because it was our first night on board ...even the children club's girl said it was unusal...didn't take any mediacation...thought it would be be best to go to sleep early. After that everthing was okay...you get used to the slight sway, and in a weird way it was nice to be slightly rocked to sleep, probably the best nights sleep I've ever had, ever !!!. The strangest feeling is once you have left the ship and your walking around on land, feels like you have been drinking allnight (but cheaper !!).....I climbed up the wooden tower in Key West, at the top I was convinced it was moving three feet both ways!!!! Enjoy....you'll be fine...Lara

LisaK · #4 (**permalink**) January 14th, 2005, 10:34 AM

Dear irishrose- their are a few things to consider when it comes to motion sickness.
Do you get bad/severe motion sickness when you drive, fly or ride a train? If you do then you should talk to your doctor about the patch.
Do you get moderate/mild motion sickness when you drive, fly, or ride a train? If you do then Bonine or SeaBands would be a good choice- one or the other Do Not Try both. -these are preventatives - wear the bands all the time. take the Bonine at night or at the first sign of the queezies.
Do you just get the mild queezies? Then try the ginger cure. Ginger-Ale(this works for me) ginger cookies, there are ginger pills that you can get at the pharmacy.
The best preventatives are to get outside into the fresh air, keep some carbs in your stomach at all times(bread, crackers, chips, pretezels), keep moving- go for a walk, a swim whatever. The WORST thing to do is to go back to your cabin and lie down and think that it will pass.
Tell your friend that the ships have wonderful stabalizers and that yes there is motion -you are afterall on a moving vessel --but it is usually just a gentle rocking that you get used to, and it lulls you to sleep.

Ed · #5 (**permalink**) January 14th, 2005, 11:43 AM

Three words ...Bonine..bonine bonine... I take one at night before bed,,,,never a problem...Christmas day we were in 18 foot waves with gale force winds...no problem man....unlike 60% of the crew and guests...

beachlover2 · #6 (**permalink**) January 14th, 2005, 03:53 PM

Our son gets motion sickness real bad and before we went on our last cruise I got our family Dr. to get us a presciption for seasick patches. My husband and I never used ours, but our son had to put one on and he did it after he started getting that quezy feeling, it stopped it and he was fine the rest of the cruise. It didn't have any side effects like sleepiness or anything. We are going to cruise again this summer and will get the scrips again, better safe than miserable.

Darcy · #7 (**permalink**) January 14th, 2005, 04:24 PM

I get seasick on small boats and have found that I don't on cruise ships. Last cruise I took two Bonine pills the entire cruise. I've found I prefer Bonine over Dramamine as I have less side effects.

judiekaren · #8 (**permalink**) January 14th, 2005, 10:58 PM

In preparation for our first cruise (May 1st, 2005~Pride of Aloha) I have been doing a little checking on what to do about sea sickness myself. I've decided against the patch after reading some other threads about *after effects*. No need to take a chance, I decided. I'm a little leery of the Sea~Band, even though I read some great reports about it. (I believed people that said the little yellow plastic bracelets kept mosquitos from biting them.) Maybe the didn't bite THOSE people, but they sure ate me alive.)

I've also read and talked with three pharmacists about "Bonine", "Less Drowsey Dramamine" and "Meclazine". Turns out they are all the SAME THING! Bonine and Less Drowsey Dramamine are both 25 mg Meclazine. You would pay about $3.50 for 8 Bonine or L.D. Dramamine. Meclazine is the generic name and you can buy it from the pharmacist (no prescription required) for about $10 for 100 pills at WalMart Pharmacy or $4.99 for 100 pills at Costco pharmacy.

irishrose · #9 (**permalink**) January 15th, 2005, 02:14 PM

Thanks for all of the advice. seems that the majority is for Bonine so I think that she is going to try that. I have tried to tell her that it is nothing like a small ship but she is practical and would rather be safe then sorry. When I cruised 8 or so years ago I never had a problem and can have some seasickness when I am ao smaller boats when it is a little rocky. So I thank you all for your advice.