Help with motion sickness...

[cruisn2castaway]

I'm cruising with my mom next year who can be prone to motion sickness at times. Has anyone else cruised with motion sickness? What helps with the symptoms the best? Any ideas to best prevent it? We are taking a 3 day cuise so that she won't have an at sea day. Any ideas to help prevent it would be appreciated! Thanks!

 

[tinkrbell929]

bonine... over the counter dose of antivert.. is AWESOME... i am VERY sensitive to motion.. and a nurse.. i have been on 3 cruises in the last 2 years... and if i start taking this a day before we embark and then daily, i have NO issues.. NONE.. (even when seas were so bad.. crew was getting sick) suggested this to my grandmother before a 3 hour van ride.. NO NAUSEA!! i highly reccommend this!

 

[79kimkarimatt]

I agree... bonine.. once a day usually does it... And you want to start taking it a day before the cruise and you may even want to take it the day your disembark. Sometimes it helps to get your land legs back....

 

[Fawn]

Another vote for bonine! No side effects, doesn't make you drowsy and it works! I am bad with motion sickness, but have never been sick on a single cruise...and we've had really bad seas a couple times in the Fall.

Start the day before and stop the day after...you'll be glad you did!

 

[wheredreamsbegin]

I have a silly question...

What if you're not sure that you will have a problem with motion sickness? Is it OK to take bonine anyway? Or, is it better to see if you have a problem and then begin treatment if necessary?

 

[maggie blossom]

Another bonine question: does it matter if you take it in the morning or before bed?

many thanks!

 

[Fawn]

OK, this is just what has worked for us. We take it every morning at breakfast. Only one cruise, when we had 24 foot waves, did we take an extra at bedtime. You can take up to 2 a day, I believe. Doesn't really matter when we take it since it doesn't make us drowsy...just nice to have a set time everyday so you remember.

Personally, with the high cost of a cruise, I'd rather be safe than sorry. We take it every day, every cruise. The problem with waiting is...once you're sick, you're sick! It's hard to catch up with it...easier to stop the problem before it starts. And it's safe, no side effects, so no problem.

Way back when we started cruising, my Dr. suggested trying it for two days before vacation...just to see if we had any problems with it. We did, and we didn't have any.

Again, just mho. Ask your Dr. for advice. BTW, go to your pharmacist and ask for it...I think it's meclazine? I can get a bottle of 100 for about 8 bucks...MUCH cheaper than the Bonine brand!

 

[sjkeiffer]

I just got off the 3/20 MR cruise and we had pretty rough seas leaving and coming into LA. I, too, have pretty severe motion sickness issues and was concerned about being sick on the cruise. I got a prescription for the patch from my doctor and put it on the morning before boarding (about 4 hours) and had one on the entire time. I had no side effects and never felt sick.

Jim

 

[sjsjbrook]

My DD16 uses seabands. They work for her as long as she puts them on before the boat starts moving and leaves them on. Being a teen she thinks when she is feeling ok she can take them off, and then about an hour later bam seasickness.

We also always carry motion sickness medication just in case the sea bands stop working for her, but so far so good.

 

[Jaylie]

If you take the bonine in the morning, would it be okay to have an alcoholic beverage in the evening??

 

[SmilingGrump]

Bonine definately works and the seabands work for most people I've heard try them. I'd also suggest booking a room lower down and towards the rear of the ship as there is less movement there when you're sleeping. Topside people have less of a problem, be it the fresh air, the horizon being in site, or there's just so much else to do!

As for avoiding alcohol while taking Bonine, I know their website says to avoid it but my DW never has and she's been fine. Though, to be honest, she's usually done it the other way ... have a few wobbly pops, start filling ill, take some Bonine

 

[grafxgirl]

I am prone to motion sickness too, and went to my doctor before my very first cruise because I was afraid it would happen to me while on the cruise. Once I was on the ship, I discovered it was so large, and the stabilizers on the ship prevented me from getting sick at all and the meds were unnecessary. Hopefully, that will be the same for you mom.

 

[KarlaG4Kids]

If you are very prone to motion sickness bonnie alone may not be strong enough. I use the patch and then if the seas are very rough I use bonnie also.

 

[Kailua's Belle]

I bought the generic less-drowsy Dramamine. I took it once a day in the afternoon and was fine. Even with extremely rough seas out of LA, I never felt sick. I brought some ginger for my son that is prone to motion sickness and he had to use it once, on our way out of LA, and it worked well for him.

I never felt drowsy and had one to two drinks a day while taking it.

 

[disfaninca]

I am also prone to motion sickness. I have been on five cruises and have tried everything. You definitely want to take meds as a preventative measure.

First cruise I took Dramamine and I ended up getting very sick, so sick that I couldn't be away from a toilet long enough to leave my room (which was in the front of the ship) to go to the middle of the ship where there was less movement. Needless to say, I pretty much had to wait it out because once you get to that point, it's too late.

Second cruise I took Bonine and was ok for the most part, until we sat in the theatre in the back of the ship. There was too much movement and I started to feel queezy, so I went up on deck and walked around in the fresh air and felt better. Middle of the ship is definitely best, and has the least movement.

Third cruise I took Bonine and had seabands, just in case. When I would start to feel queezy, I would put the seabands on and actually felt better. But I couldn't wear them for very long because the little balls in them would dig in and start hurting my wrists.

Fourth and fifth cruises I use the patch and that seemed to work best for me. Although after the fifth day or so, I would have a hard time focussing on things up close, but that went away as soon as I took the patch off. I
decided that I could live with that as long as I wasn't sick.

Everyone is different, and what works for some doesn't alway work for others, you just need try things and figure out what works best for you.

 

[Amy Fran]

Everyone is different - definitely. I get severe motion sickness (can't fly 'cause I puke for days afterwards) so I worried to the hilt before my first cruise. I read everything I could, booked a room as low and close to the middle as possible (least amount of movement) and brought every remedy I read about. However, I was absolutely fine - not sick whatsoever - until the seas got rocky going through a storm. The Bonine made me so incredibly drowsy I couldn't take more than half of a pill if I was going to keep my eyes open, and I didn't see much difference with or without the Sea Bands. The ginger ale our server offered me was the only thing that seemed to calm my stomach. (Ginger ale is not on the menu, but they do have it.) As soon as the seas calmed down, I was fine again. Even booked another cruise

Just a heads-up: The one thing that surprised me was how quickly I got sick. During dinner I thought, "I don't feel too great," and suddenly I was throwing up. Any other time I get motion sickness, the puking part comes with a lot of warning. I hope you don't experience any problems whatsoever and have a magical cruise!

 

[SmilingGrump]

Second cruise I took Bonine and was ok for the most part, until we sat in the theatre in the back of the ship. There was too much movement and I started to feel queezy, so I went up on deck and walked around in the fresh air and felt better. Middle of the ship is definitely best, and has the least movement.

I'm curious, what was the facing in the theatre? If the seating is facing to the stern then I know some people get affected since they're facing backwards to the ships movement. Also, most of the movie theatres on ships face port or starboard and I've found that many more people feel queesy in rough seas after sitting that way for a while (including myself and I'm almost never suffer from motion sickness).

 

[disfaninca]

The theatre seats were facing the stern of the ship.

 

[madscrapper]

I have inner ear problems and am very prone to motion sickness. Our first cruise was the 11 night Mediterranean. I had no idea what to expect but I wanted to be prepared. We had very rough seas the first and last nights - I was fine. What I did was probably overkill, but better safe than sick.

1) Took Bonine every morning

2) Hyland's homeopathic motion sickness pills a few times a day

3) Chewable ginger tablets - did this maybe half the days

4) Liquid ginger syrup (can take straight or mix with club soda/tonic water) - never needed

5) Sea Bands - only came off in the shower.

6) Green apples - heard staff in the gift shop talking about the rough seas and how they ate them and were ok.

I was fine - totally fine even when other people were sick. I was fine in the back seat of our van zipping around the Amalfi coast, on the highways, in Rome. I have never been fine in the back seat of anything before. Never.

The Hylands and ginger products I purchased at Whole Foods...any store that carries homeopathic goods should have them.

Best of luck

 

[HsvTeacher]

I have severe motion sickness, and Bonine/Dramamine/Meclizine don't work for me. I get a prescription for Transderm Scop patches from my doctor, and they work great.

When we were on the Wonder in December, we had an aft room on the 6th deck. Other than one night of extremely high waves, I didn't have any problems with motion sickness.