Well here's my .02 for what it's worth!
I am very prone to motion sickness. On our first cruise my doctor prescribed the patch. I was pretty excited because it was a non thinking medication in that you put it on and it lasts 3 days or so. It has a big warning on it that you have to make sure you wash your hands thoroughly after touching the patch or near it. Well it got itchy around it like a bandaid so I scratched. That was on the airplane ride to the cruise the night before. By the next morning my pupils were huge, dizzy, headache, light headed and sick to my stomach and vomiting quite regularly. After spending the sailaway, dinner, and the nightly fun in bed I went and spent a fortune in the ships infirmary. My husband also was having issues with it. The doctor informed us that we were both allergic although me much more so than my husband and I spent the next 3 days of the 7 day cruise in bed unable to open my eyes or move. I wish I had tried it out BEFORE I left for my cruise. The side effects of the patch are also VERY scary if you ask me. You can read about them here:
http://www.transdermscop.com/site2/view-insert.html
The next cruise we decided to go the "au natural" route and bought both the sea bands and the relief bands along with ginger. The sea bands were around 8.00 and the relief bands were new to the market and about 150.00. I figured it was cheaper than a trip to the infirmary so we bought them. We put them on and they didnt work. Neither of them. Neither did the ginger work for us. I ended up yet again in the ships infirmary only to find out that those only work if you dont have deep pressure points in your wrist. Lucky me so again I was sick. The ships doctor gave me Meclizine (for free I might add as they had a big bin of them outside the door) and sent me to my room. The next day I took one of them and felt a little better but thankfully it didnt ruin my cruise like the patch did.
I guess what I am trying to say is to go with different methods just in case one or the other doesnt work and also if you are going to go the medication route try it out at HOME where you arent ruining a very expensive vacation being allergic to it. Granted you cant know for sure if the wrist bands will help or the ginger pills since you need to be moving for that but if you or your mom do opt for medication try it out before leaving home then if you have a problem you are at home and you have your own physician to help you out.
Dramamine is something compeletly different than Bonine or Meclizine or even Dramamine less drowsy. Dramamine regular is basically an antihisitimine so if you dont tolerate those well dont take it.
Meclizine (aka Bonine or Dramamine less drowsy just more expensive) you should be able to get from your local pharmacy or they can order it for you. We got 100 - 25 mg tablets for 8.99 at our local
Walmart where Bonine and Dramamine 2 or less drowsy were 12 pills for 9.50. They are both made from Meclizine so if you are going to take those it is cheaper in the long run to use Meclizine. Also if you do end up taking it start before you leave on your trip. We take one each morning when our feet hit the stateroom floor and havent lost another cruise to motion sickness. We have drank with them and havent noticed an extreme drowsiness but it can vary with people. We also take about 2-3 days after being home to keep from getting the side to side ship motion.
Have a great time and I hope this helps.
Heidi
We did know people who were sick the entire week even with medication after they were ill. IDK if I really needed the Bonine but believe it was best not to find out.
