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Article - Coping With Seasickness
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An important question asked by a lot of first time charter customers is
whether or not they might get seasick. Understanding seasickness
might help you learn how to deal with the possibility ahead of making your
trip.
Seasickness is actually just good old motion sickness. It is
extremely common in some degree and 80% of all people will
experience motion sickness in some form during their lifetime. Even
NASA trained astronauts often require motion sickness medicine while
in space. It is certainly nothing to be ashamed of. Unfortunately,
that’s not much comfort when you are experiencing it!
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Motion sickness is caused by the body’s
confusion of feeling one thing through its five normal senses
but seeing something different visually than it is feeling. In
rough water a boat rocks, rolls, pitches, and heaves. The
signals sent to your brain by your eyes and inner ears,
conflict. It's simply visual disorientation. This causes
an entire host of symptoms including nausea, vertigo, headache,
dizziness, and even panic. Anyone that has experienced
seasickness knows that it is not pleasant. Someone once said,
“No one ever died from seasickness.” But when you are the one
that is seasick that quotation is going to sound like a big fat
lie to you!
Seasickness is the result of the brain receiving confused
messages from the nervous system concerning motion. If your eyes
are seeing what appears to be calm surroundings but your body is
feeling motion that it isn’t seeing, the reaction is going to be
nausea.
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The inner ear plays a big part in the
process. The outer portion of the inner
ear is called the cochlea. It basically
functions as a loudspeaker. It converts
sound pressure impulses from the outer
ear into electrical impulses and passes
them on to the brain via the auditory
nerve. Further inside the ear are the
semicircular canals. These are the
body's balance organs. They use hair
cells to detect movements of the fluid
within the canals. The canals are
connected to auditory nerves that send
these signals to the brain. If you bend
over to tie your shoe, the fluid in your
semicircular canal sloshes around and
tells the brain, "I'm bent over now, so
don't get dizzy." |
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Stress can also play a part in motion sickness. If
you've had a bad experience with this before, you can
bring on the condition through mere anticipation. Some
people who regularly experience motion sickness from
cars, planes and boats can induce it just by looking at
the offending mode of transport just through vivid
recollection. |
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Precautions/Preparations: There are some simple things that people can do for small portions
of immediate help.
If you begin to feel queasy, avoid staying only in the salon. Remember,
in the salon your eyes are seeing a nice stable four walls, a ceiling, and a
floor but your body is feeling something entirely different. If you
must stay inside the salon, at least try to stand or
lean somewhere and look forward watching the outside horizon through
a salon window. As an alternative you might lay in a comfortable place and
just close your eyes.
The least amount of motion on a large fishing boat will normally be
at the boat’s transom. Some boats have portable boat chairs or
even bean bags that can be set near the transom and look forward during
running. Your body will attempt to see what you will be
feeling.
You might try to go up on the bridge and join the captain. This
does a couple things. It gives your senses a different perspective
of what is happening and sometimes it is enough to help equalize
your body's balance and your brain. Also, in some cases a
conversation with the captain helps take your mind off your
symptoms. Once you begin to get control of your senses this little
improvement in location might get you past your symptoms. |
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Natural
Remedies:
There are several natural potential remedies for seasickness. Some
of them only seem to work for some people. Hopefully you can find
the right combination of things for your situation. |
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Ginger for some reason seems to be one of the better natural
cures. Try a combination of things like ginger tea,
gingerale, ginger cookies, and ginger pills before and
during your trip. Ginger root powder capsules are also
available in health food stores and many people swear by the
powder. |
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People that tend to get motion sick or people that are not
sure should always avoid caffeine and alcohol before and
during offshore trips. |
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Eating
saltine crackers and drinking Coca Cola seems to
help some people and can even act as a placebo
when nothing else is available.. |
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The Relief Band
was my
favorite natural method and works for about 95% of the people
that try it. These electronic
wristbands look like a common wrist watch and emit an adjustable mild electric shock to your wrist. This
is the only 100%
natural method that I
personally have ever seen that has worked even
after the patient has already begun
to show strong seasickness symptoms. Because of their
effectiveness, these bands are now becoming popular for morning sickness among
many pregnant women, amusement
park enthusiasts, for blood pressure regulation,
race car drivers, Meniere's Disease, vertigo and
even joint and back pain.
Unfortunately,
although they were available
over the counter previously, now
they have been reclassified as
Rx only and the price has more
than doubled. You should see
your doctor if you would like to
give these a try and see if he
can give you a prescription.
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Prescription and Non-Prescription Medicines:
For those that don’t mind taking medicines there are several
possibilities both over the counter and prescribed. All have
varying side effects but the prescribed medicines tend to be
effective but with stronger side effects.
The most common drugs are Dramamine, Dramamine II, Antivert, and
Bonine which are all essentially antihistamines. They are
available over-the-net or over-the-counter at most pharmacies.
Antihistamines will make most people drowsy and Dramamine will
almost certainly have that effect. Dramamine II and Bonine are
non-drowsy formulas but they still put some people to sleep for
a few hours. How do they help seasickness? Basically they deaden
the senses and tend to lessen the whole experience.
Prescription Scopolamine patches, worn behind the ear
like a tiny band-aid, are the most common prescription drugs for
seasickness. Scopolamine also comes in pill form. The patches
last up to three days, provide time-release doses of the drug,
and are usually very effective for preventing nausea. The side
effects are somewhat severe in many people and sometimes include
extreme drowsiness, disorientation, bad taste and even blood
pressure problems.
Hopefully this article will help you prepare
for and deal with the possibility of seasickness. If you have
already experienced it and know that you are susceptible please
read the article again carefully and take precautions ahead of
your charter. If you are not sure, take the precautions ahead of
your trip anyway! Remember, statistics show that you are very
apt to be susceptible. Don’t let the fear of seasickness ruin
your plans or your trip. Instead use this knowledge to defeat
your fears. |
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