Bonine or Dramamine???

[CRB#33]

Which is better if the ship is rocking?

All of my family are over 12 years old, so that isn't an issue.

 

[Tinkmom]

My experience with Dramamine has been poor. It definitely makes me drowsy. Bonine (aka Meclazine) worked perfectly for me and had no side effects at all. I did a lot of internet surfing, talking to docs and pharmacists before our trip, and discussing with shipmates on our cruise (since I tend to get motion sick it is a big deal for me) and heard next to no negatives about it. That strongly contrasted with every person I spoke to who was using the patch and most who were using Dramamine. I very strongly vote for it.

 

[TheWog]

I agree, Bonine is much better.

Check out SeaBands too, no drugs at all.

 

[soccermom22]

I used Bonine last week and had no trouble. Started Friday evening and took one every night before bed. Seemed to work well, didn't make me drowsy.

Tammy

 

[Horace Horsecollar]

Dramamine Less Drowsy Tablets and Bonine Tablets are medically the same. Both are 25 mg/tablet of meclizine hydrochloride.

There's also Dramamine Original Formula, which is dimenhydrinate.

Any of these medications can cause drowsiness to some degree, but dimenhydrinate is likely to cause greater drowsiness than meclizine hydrochloride.

 

[hydster]

I think on our trip we would have been REALLY SICK(if that's possible) if we hadn't kept up on the Meclizine every 3-4 hours. My oldest suffers terribly from motion sickness and threw up on her bus a few weeks ago so you know she's bad but we gave her the Meclizine and except for a few times she felt really good and the motion wasn't getting to her. There were a few nights in our cabin that with the wind rocking side to side AND the pitch and roll of the ship being in the front it made us sick to be in the cabin but for the most part she did really well on Meclizine. I did ok...I could have done much better however. This is the first trip (except for the one where I discovered I was allergic to the patch) that I felt like crap every single day due to motion. I just couldn't seem to get a handle on it. Dramamine usually makes people SO tired they can't keep their eyes awake where Meclizine aka Bonine seems less harsh that way. It's cheaper also if you buy Meclizine from your pharmacy than Bonine OR dramamine. Usually you just need to ask the pharmacist behind the counter for Meclizine but you do NOT need a prescription for it. We get 100 tablets for 9.00 at Walmart where the Bonine or dramamine I think you get 8 pills for 6 dollars so it's much cheaper to get the meclizine AND you know you have enough to get through the whole cruise even if you are like us and pop them every 2 -4 hours as I did. Also at the height of me not feeling well I had grabbed SEVERAL green apples from the breakfast buffet and they did help calm my stomach down enough that I could tolerate it until the next Meclizine kicked in. The sea bands people swear by but don't rely on them as your only source of seasickness prevention because if your pressure point is too deep (like ours) it won't help.

Heidi

 

[mic&min]

Bonine for me.......

Already bought a couple of boxes for my Alaskan cruise. I take one each morning.

 

[lbgraves]

Bonine here!!! I tested it out at the MK 2 days before our cruise. I was able to ride the tea cups & even the space mountain ride without feeling ill. Usually the carosel makes me fell ill. We had 15-20 foot swells on the cruise & while some people were very ill, I had no problems at all...except maybe walking in a straight line.

 

[Kimer]

Okay - I can go on roller coasters, etc.....but I had a tough time on the ship! Whomever said you can not feel the ship move is full of baloney!!!!! Bonine was my friend - saved me from having a miserable time - and I sailed in March - can you imagine me in October!?! I guess it is all relative...some feel it - others do not - I brought Bonine and Dramamine "just in case" - was VERY surprised to find that I needed it - BADLY! I tried the Dramamine too - made me sleepy and did not work as well for me. Oh - I was passing out the Bonine the first night to fellow travelers too!

 

[JenLynn]

I have cruised several times in the past and have never had trouble with motion sickness before, but on this recent cruise as soon as i stepped foot on the ship i could feel it rocking (and luckily our cabin was mid-ship). For the most part i wore the seabands and they helped me tremendously (thank goodness). One morning i was feeling a bit sick so i took a meclizine (i compared bonine, less-drowsy dramamine, and the Target brand "less-drowsy" motion-sickenss med and bought the Target brand since the ingredients were the same for each and the name brands were more expensive). Anyway .. it knocked me out. Within an hour of taking it i started feeling drowsy and about 2 hours after that i was exhausted and napping in the cabin.

 

[TMTIP]

Which is best for kids? I have an 8 & 10 year old, want to have some on hand just in case. Where do you find SeaBands? Thanks.

 

[mshinrockford]

We talked with our Pediatrician before we left on our last cruise, and he suggested our kids take 1/2 a bonine tablet a week before the cruise to see how they tolerated it. We had no problems, and gave them each 1/2 tablet each morning on our cruise and had no problems with motion sickness. (The kids were 9 and 12). Good luck!

 

[hydster]

TMTIP--I wrote this whole thing up awhile ago...some of the information may be helpful

Sea Bands and Relief Bands

Sea bands are a terry cloth type band that you wear on your wrist. It has a white knob that if positioned correctly CAN put pressure on the wrist pressure point. Here is a website with a picture of a Sea Band
http://www.etravelergear.com/noqmotdiswri.html
These bands are very cheap but beware that since they rely on hitting a specific spot in your wrist it is possible that they will not work very well. They did not work well on me or my husband as our pressure point is too deep. The spot it is supposed to sit on is called the NeiGuan Pressure Point (P6) if you want to research that pressure point.


The Relief Band is a sort of watch looking contraption that actually shocks your wrist with a shocking impulse that is supposed to help with motion sickness as well. It is quite pricey and in the same sort of category as the Sea Bands where if they work I hear they work great but if they don’t work well you hopefully have another method with you. Here is a website with what these are:
http://www.reliefband.com/ We found them at a local store for about 70 dollars but ended up returning them as they didn’t work for either of us.

These two options are nice if you don’t want to take any medication but please beware that there is a chance that they will not work and make sure you have a backup method.

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The Transderm Scop patch is a patch that contains scopolamine and you put it on behind your ear and wear it continually for 3 days at a time. You MUST be diligent about washing your hands after they come in contact with the patch and if you accidentally touch it and touch your eye(s) they can dilate your pupils and give you symptoms much worse than seasickness alone! These patches work well for some but have a higher rate of allergic reactions than other forms according to my pharmacist (take that for what it's worth). Their website is http://www.transdermscop.com/site2/ and I would suggest that you read the side effects in the patient information section. I didn’t try this out at home before we left on our first cruise and I ended up in the cabin sick with a nasty headache, upset stomach, dizziness, dilated pupils and miserable. Turns out I am highly allergic to scopolamine and didn’t know it! I would suggest if you plan on using this you try it out at home first to make sure that you are not allergic to it. I have also heard that there is a new scopolamine product called Scopace that gives the same benefit as the patch but with fewer side effects. Ask your doctor if you want to go this way if they think it is good for you and your body.

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Then there are the over the counter drugs like Dramamine, Dramamine Less Drowsy, Bonine and the active form of Bonine and Dramamine Less Drowsy which is Meclizine.

Dramamine is a dimenhydrinate and it has the ability to make you really really sleepy! I'd suggest trying these methods out at home before you go as well to see how they react especially if they make your extremely tired and if you drink how you react with alcohol. Original Dramamine can be used in small children although not under the age of 2 but can make them extremely tired and agitated. Here is their website
http://www.pfizer.com/do/counter/digestive/mn_dramamine.html


Dramamine Less Drowsy and Bonine are actually Meclizine. You can generally buy Meclizine over the counter (although some pharmacy's keep it behind the counter) but without a prescription and the Meclizine is generally cheaper. We get 100 Meclizine tablets for 8.00 where we get 12 Bonine for 8.00 so the difference is a big deal to us! Meclizine, Bonine, Dramamine Less Drowsy are all antihistamines such as Benadryl. We usually start taking this medication 2-3 days before we leave and continue to take 1 pill every morning until we have been home for at least 2 days. Our pediatrician told us we could give a 1/2 of a 12.5 mg pill to our older kids and my dd needed it but my 2 boys did not. They didn’t suffer from motion sickness at all but my 9 year old did suffer. I would also suggest trying this out at home before you go as well. Better to lose a weekend than a whole trip! Here is an online pharmacy (prices are outrageous) but it has some good information on Meclizine http://www.online-health-pharmacy.com/_buy_meclizine.php

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There are also Ginger tablets or candy that you can take with you to help with nausea and generally you can buy them in any health food store. As with the relief bands since they are "natural" and not a drug it would be hard to try them out before you go so make sure you take a backup method as well. Also some people find that mint is helpful as well. I believe these are in the same kind of category where ginger and mint have a calming effect on the stomach.

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As you can see there are many ways to combat seasickness but you need to make sure that you pick the right one for you!! I honestly can’t say this enough but make sure you try whatever medication you can out at home before leaving on your trip so that you can deal with the side effects at home. A trip to the ships' doctor is quite costly and MOST insurance require that you pay for the treatment up front and then submit a claim to get reimbursed. I know my one trip to the ships doctor cost me over 200 dollars because I had to get an anti-nausea shot, diagnosis, more medication and I lost 3 days of my trip! Remember it is a lot easier to prevent sea sickness than it is to cure it.


Heidi

 

[jerseyjanie]

Can you still enjoy a "few" cocktails while taking the meclizine?

 

[hydster]

We did and we didn't have any problems with it. I think it's actually easier to drink with Meclizine than Dramamine but that's my own personal opinion. Of course this time our bar bill was SIGNIFICANTLY less due to the fact that we were all a little under the weather for pretty much all of the trip.

Heidi

 

[JenLynn]

I bought my set of SeaBands at the grocery store for about $6.00 for the pair. I have also seen them at the local drugstore. They worked very well for me, thank goodness!