I had been to Australia before but when I was invited to attend another press conference (this time in Cairns), I was totally excited. The reason: I would have an opportunity to go to the Great Barrier Reefs, the world’s largest coral reef system.
And so the time finally came. Before we left the pier, we were told by the organizers to take medicine but two journalists – one from Indonesia and another from Fiji – didn’t heed the advice.
We stopped at the top of the reef system. We were in the open sea and it was just a matter of time that the two journalists started to feel dizzy as the yacht kept on wavering. A few minutes later, one was already vomiting while the other was nauseous. “So, this is how it feels,” said the Indonesian scribe.
He was referring to motion sickness. The ancient Romans knew about it. Even the US National Aeronautics and Space Administration made note of it. The French call it mal de mer, and even the most seasoned sailors can suffer from it. In Greek, nausea means “seasickness” (from the word naus or “ship”).
If the motion causing nausea is not resolved, the person is most likely to vomit. Any type of transportation – car, bus, boat, ship, plane, helicopter and even amusement park ride – can cause motion sickness.
“You get motion sickness when there are conflicts among your senses,” the website, WebMD.com, explains. “Say you’re on a ride at the fair, and it’s spinning you around and upside down. Your eyes see one thing, your muscles feel another, and your inner ears sense something else.”
The brain can’t take in all those mixed signals. That’s why you end up feeling dizzy and sick.
“Motion sickness can strike suddenly, progressing from a feeling of uneasiness to a cold sweat, dizziness and then vomiting,” says the US-based Mayo Clinic.
Experts say motion sickness “is more common in women (particularly during menstruation or pregnancy) than in men, and more common in children than in adults. People who have migraine headaches, including a balance disorder called vestibular migraine, have a higher risk of motion sickness than those who do not have these conditions.”
Motion sickness can make traveling abhorrent. “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,” says The Doctors Book of Home Remedies.
You may escape motion sickness by planning ahead. If you’re traveling, the Mayo Clinic says that you should reserve seats where motion is felt least:
* By ship, request a cabin in the front or middle of the ship near the water level.
* By plane, ask for a seat over the front edge of a wing. Once aboard, direct the air vent flow to your face.
* By train, take a seat near the front and next to a window. Face forward.
* By automobile, drive or sit in the front passenger's seat.
If there’s no way you can have any of those aforementioned seats, there are over-the-counter drugs that are effective at preventing motion sickness. Be sure to talk to a doctor or any healthcare professional if you should take medicines for motion sickness.
Unfortunately, they can cause drowsiness. At one time, I tried taking something that contains dimenhydrinate on my trip back to the Philippines from the United States, which was 17 hours, non-stop. Every now and then, I was sleeping in my seat. The flight stewardess had to wake me up for the meal. The drugs are most effective when taken an hour or two before traveling.
Or you may consider scopolamine, available in a prescription adhesive patch. Several hours before you plan to travel, apply the patch behind your ear for 72-hour protection. Again, consult your doctor first before using the medication, especially if you have health problems like asthma, glaucoma, or urine retention.
If you can’t take medicine, there are other ways. Try drinking soft drinks like Coke or Pepsi. Experts say these two drinks help reduce the chances of getting sick because they contain phosphoric acid, which is an ingredient in a liquid medicine used to treat upset stomach and throwing up.
When I was kid, my mother usually brought with her some gingers whenever we were traveling. She told me that ginger is the best known natural remedy for motion sickness. And she was right!
A 1982 study revealed that people prone to motion sickness who took ginger lasted 57 percent longer in a computerized rocking chair than people who took an over-the-counter remedy. Ginger has been found to help in treating nausea caused by dizziness. This was reported in the book, Super Life, Super Health.
Generally, a day before I travel – especially if it’s a long trip like going to the United States or Australia – I get enough good sleep. Sleeping is one of my weapons against motion sickness. “Your chance of getting motion sickness increases with fatigue,” says Dr. Roderic W. Gillilan, who specializes in the treatment of motion sickness. So be sure to get your usual quota of sleep before taking off on a trip.
I have met several people who usually don’t eat when they travel. “The biggest mistake people make is not eating, mostly out of fear that if they eat, they will vomit,” says Dr. Robert M. Stern, a researcher on motion sickness and nausea for the US National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).
“But avoiding food is the worst thing you can do,” Dr. Stern adds. “When you don’t eat, the electrical activity of the stomach becomes very unstable, and it’s very easy for anything – a bad smell, the sight of another passenger getting sick, whatever – to push you over the boundary and make you vomit.”
This is what Dr. Stern recommends: “You should eat a small, low-fat meal before traveling, because the stomach is slower to empty fatty foods into the intestines, and you want a meal that will pass through the stomach quickly. And then, while you’re traveling, I recommend going no more than two hours without eating something, even if it’s just crackers.”
The Doctors Book of Home Remedies shares several other ways you can do to avoid motion sickness. Those who smoke and drink are advised not to do these vices when traveling. There are those who believe that lighting up a cigarette before a long trip or flight can calm them to deter motion sickness. Basically, that belief is wrong. “Cigarette smoke can only contribute to impending nausea,” says Dr. Horst Konrad, chairman of the Committee on Equilibrium of the American Academy of Otolaryngology/Head and Neck Surgery.
What about drinking beer or wine? “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 of your inner ear, which can send your head spinning.
Some people read while traveling to unwind or to make their mind busy. But if you are likely to suffer from motion sickness, doctors advise that you should not read. “Reading is one of the worst things you can do,” says Dr. Millard Reschke, senior scientist for sensory function and director of the Neurosensory Lab at NASA. The movement of the vehicle you’re in makes the printed matter on the page move, which can make you awfully dizzy.
Instead of reading, why don’t you listen to music or do some problem solving in your head? Use other diversionary tactics to take the punch out of motion sickness. “That includes driving yourself,” says Dr. Stern. “People who usually get motion sickness rarely get it when they drive.”
Another tip: Look where you’re going. “Being able to look out the window and follow the movement helps a great deal,” Dr. Stern says. “One reason that kids get sick in the back seat of cars so often is that they can’t follow the movement of travel. They see only the back of the front seat. Of course, it’s easier to watch things go by when you’re in a car or boat than in an airplane. But wherever you are, if you’re feeling sick, it usually helps just to ‘see’ where you’re going.”
But the best thing that you can do is to avoid worry. “Nobody ever died from motion sickness, even though they’ve felt like they wanted to,” says Dr. Stern. “That’s important to mention: Anxiety is just going to make you feel worse, because it provokes some of the same undesirable body changes as motion sickness. If you relax and realize this is just a passing thing, you’ll fare much better.”
Happy trip!
