
The Rolling, Lurching, Vomit-Inducing Road to a Seasickness Cure - sohkamyung
https://www.hakaimagazine.com/features/the-rolling-lurching-vomit-inducing-road-to-a-seasickness-cure/
======
AdrianB1
When I was doing the flight school, the first 20 hours were early morning or
late evening to avoid turbulence. At around 30 hours, I was flying light
planes very low over fields and forests in the middle of the day, I had motion
sickness so bad that I was barely able to ride my motorcycle back home. I
asked the instructors about this and they said something in the lines of "we
all had it, it is going away with time".

The next year I never had motion sickness when I was in control of the plane,
but if I had a copilot when we were switching control I still had some motion
sickness in bad conditions. Several years later I almost never have any
problems, unless I spend too much time looking at the maps and not outside of
the cockpit. It goes away with time, it seems. I never tried sailing in the
past few years to check if I can get seasick, but I noticed I am almost
unaffected by car sickness that I had a lot when I was a kid.

One way to partially train for this was doing a couple of in-flight maneuvers
that provoke sickness to almost anyone, including some seasoned pilots:
inducing close to zero-g conditions, either by doing short slingshot maneuvers
(point at 20-30 degrees nose-up and then push the stick keeping 0.5g, then
0.3g, then 0.2g) or doing it faster while extending the flaps to full, the
sensation is very bad if someone does it to you, but it can be even enjoyable
if you doing yourself flying alone. I practiced the slingshot part for a few
weeks, this is what it took me to get to ~ 0.2g without feeling sick.

~~~
madengr
Do you get motion sickness in VFR conditions, especially having to focus on
instruments?

I’m contemplating getting a PPL, but I’m very prone to motion sickness trying
to read while flying. If I’m not resting, turbulence is just fine. First-
person-shooters make make me sick, but third-person do not.

~~~
AdrianB1
Yes, I used to get it in VFR, IFR flights are heavily restricted in my country
(they are completely forbidden for light planes, same as night flights).

~~~
Svenstaro
What country is that?

~~~
rytis
Romania, judging by the profile.

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vessenes
Stephen wolfram turned me on to these goofy glasses
([https://www.smithsonianmag.com/innovation/could-these-
glasse...](https://www.smithsonianmag.com/innovation/could-these-glasses-cure-
your-motion-sickness-180969722/\);) his description said that he could code in
the back of a car with them on.

I find them very effective at reducing seasickness below decks. I won’t say
there are no funny feelings being below with roll, but I will say I could
definitely work hanging upside down angled to roll direction with only mild
discomfort: a HUGE improvement over folk remedies.

The way they Are said to work is the liquid in the glasses shows a real
horizon and this settles your brain into being able to believe your inner ear.
I think a less goofy version of this could be built out digitally on the
inside of sunglasses; I think it would be pretty popular.

~~~
pmichaud
That link is dead, I am interested though!

~~~
detaro
it just has two extra characters at the end. cleaned:
[https://www.smithsonianmag.com/innovation/could-these-
glasse...](https://www.smithsonianmag.com/innovation/could-these-glasses-cure-
your-motion-sickness-180969722/)

~~~
vessenes
Thank you and sorry!

------
eternalny1
I tried numerous ways to combat motion sickness when I'd fly passengers in
light aircraft.

Everything from those wristband-watch type devices that use pulses of
electricity to stimulate nerves, to dramamine and other OTC options.

The most effective treatment by far was ginger root powder. You can take it in
capsule form and it was the only really effective treatment I came across.

~~~
puranjay
I suffer from pretty bad motion sickness. Can you share the sort of dosage
and/or brand you use?

~~~
uhhyeahdude
Not who you asked, but I absolutely love Chimes ginger chews. They are strong,
and I’ve had excellent results using for nausea.

If you look for Chimes on Amazon , you can find a 1lb bag for around 15 bucks.

------
_ph_
Unfortunately, I am extremey susceptible for any kinds of motion sickness. As
a passenger of a car I regularly get sick, sometimes even when driving myself.
Trains are mostly ok, if I keep looking into the distance. I even experience
it with other kinds of irritation, like a malfunctioning mouse, where the
mouse motion and the pointer reaction are not tightly enough correlated. It
took a while until they made optical mice I could use.

I agree with everything said in the article, perhaps one tip: if you have
someone whom you know that that person is susceptible to motion sickness,
don't ask that person if she or he is still feeling fine, that might push them
over the border. You should of course watch them closely, as the dangers
described in the article are absolutely real. At minimum you loose any concern
about your own wellbeing when affected.

One substance, that has been quite effective for me, has not been mentioned in
the article, and that is Cinnarizine. It has to be taken at least 3 days
before you plan to take part in any motion sickness inducing activity and from
then on every day, e.g. during travel, in low dosages. While not granting
complete immunity, it allows me to ride cars as passengers - once I was even
texting on my phone! - and travel by plane etc. If you are suffering from
motion sickness to an extend preventing you to travel otherwise, I can only
encourage you to talk to your doctor about it.

So, indeed, I wish desperately for a cure for motion sickness, preferrably
before self-driving cars become a thing :).

P.S. I am probably one of a few people who have never watched a movie on a
plane :p. Despite of this, I managed to acquire a sailing boat license, due to
the help of cinnarizine. Speak of braveness/stupidity.

If any of my experience might help, please ask me any questions.

~~~
wackget
I'm the same. It drives me absolutely insane when software developers
(especially games designers) don't think about motion sickness.

Things like scrolling a web page can induce vertigo-like feelings if the
content lags while it's scrolling. Mouse lag, which you mentioned, is
unbearable.

I've had to stop playing certain games such as Overcooked or Lovers in a
Dangerous Spacetime because they incorporate elements where the entire
screen's perspective moves.

------
joshuaheard
I was a little disappointed they had no cure for seasickness yet, other than
looking at the horizon (which works, unless the seas are so rough the horizon
is rolling as well). You can control some of the symptoms (upset stomach,
lethargy, and nausea) with Diet Coke. The soda calms the stomach, and the
caffeine keeps you alert to fight the nausea. Crawling into the fetal position
and hoping you would die also helps :)

~~~
clort
I used to have a couple of bottles of coke and ginger biscuits for the first
few days. My theory is that you need energy/stimulant and hydration. The coke
is basically sugar and caffeine and liquid. The longer it is in your stomach
the more you will have absorbed. I like ginger biscuits anyway and they are
also very sugary. Oh, and the coke doesn't taste any different coming back up.

The article started with the phrase:

    
    
      The worst thing about being seasick is knowing you are not going to die.
    

but I've heard this phrased better as:

    
    
      At first, you are afraid you are going to die,
      but then, you are afraid you are not going to die.

~~~
dbcurtis
I like those. I have also heard: "Nobody has ever died of being seasick, but
many have wished they could."

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modeless
No mention of the most interesting recent development, low frequency vibration
applied to the skull. Unfortunately development is moving incredibly slowly
but I think it has promise.
[https://otolithlabs.com/science/](https://otolithlabs.com/science/)

~~~
dr_dshiv
I guess their main market is VR motion sickness.

What is the mechanism of how vibration disrupts nausea? This article says it
is like how white noise can block annoying sounds... But also some bits about
targeting certain nerves and not other.

[https://www.defenseone.com/technology/2018/11/inventor-
may-h...](https://www.defenseone.com/technology/2018/11/inventor-may-have-
cured-motion-sickness-without-drugs-and-could-mean-lot-us-military/152960/)

~~~
weaksauce
if i had to wager a guess it would be to apply noise to the liquid in the
tubes that control balance. if it can disrupt the rocking motion or even
induce artificial motion it could counteract it. that said it's a wild guess.

------
somada141
Another tidbit that may be interesting to those that suffer from motion-
sickness, especially on boats, that I was taught by sailors in northern norway
(was stranded there during the pandemic) is that a lot of them are more
affected by the rolling of a boat rather than the waves that hit the boat
perpendicularly. Thus, their advice was to face the direction of the roll -
either by turning your chair or sitting sideways - and face the horizon on
that side as that motion is easier to acclimate to. I've tried that one and I
admit it did help. By no means a panacea though.

------
kajecounterhack
If you're curious about an engineering approach to attack the root cause of
seasickness, check out the Sea Keeper
([https://www.seakeeper.com](https://www.seakeeper.com)). It's a big gyro that
eliminates boat roll, which is one of the main culprits of seasickness.

The landsickness treatment thing is something I would have paid money for. I
was on a 3-day sailing trip and when I got off it was a couple of weeks before
everything stopped spinning.

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pengaru
Nothing seems to help me when I go sailing, nothing other than just doing it
regularly and if I'm out on a multi-day sail I'll get my "sea legs" and it
seems to stop. Only to return back on land where I'll be hallucinating waves
with my eyes closed and feeling like interior spaces are rocking back and
forth for days if not weeks.

------
rootusrootus
I am mildly prone to motion sickness in actual motion situations, e.g. small
planes (love to get my pilot's license, but cannot), reading in a car, etc.
But I am _extremely_ sensitive to motion sickness induced by visual stimuli. I
have to take Dramamine just to watch a movie. Switching to a larger smartphone
will trigger it for a few days. Putting on reading glasses will have me really
sick in about 10 minutes. It has a huge impact on the things I can do, and the
reading glasses problem is now a big problem because I'm getting old enough to
need them.

I'm going to try the 'see sickness' treatment that I see on the net, but it
almost seems scammy, though they claim they're not selling anything. But if I
can find a way to even partly cure it, the quality of life improvement would
be worth paying real money for.

------
eternauta3k
The adaptation to sea and then to land reminds me of the adaptation to space
(and back to Earth) described by this NASA doctor:

[http://omegataupodcast.net/34-space-medicine-and-
telemedicin...](http://omegataupodcast.net/34-space-medicine-and-
telemedicine/)

------
tdy721
Pot right? Hemp for ropes, flowers for sea legs? Adam Savage mentioned
something about it on Tested. I don’t think I’ve personally been motion sick
when I had some pot around.

I didn’t see it mentioned? I have a bad habit of skimming but no mention at
all?

~~~
pengaru
I get sea sick pretty badly and for a couple years went sailing regularly on
the SF bay.

Tried marijuana edibles multiple times, it only made the vomiting a more
intense experience and going overboard more likely.

It also made the sailing more error prone.

------
somada141
For those considering the glasses I can find two versions of them [1] and [2]
at 90€ and 80€ respectively (latter on sale). I've never tried them but
they're too ugly-looking not to work .

[1] [https://boardingglasses.com/](https://boardingglasses.com/) [2]
[https://lifestyle.citroen.com/en/shop/_/pr4619/lunettes-
seet...](https://lifestyle.citroen.com/en/shop/_/pr4619/lunettes-seetroen-
inspired-by-you)

------
miesman
Article mentions scopdex (scopolamine) for treatment found these links which
are interesting:

[https://www.ibtimes.co.uk/scopolamine-devil-s-breath-nasa-
us...](https://www.ibtimes.co.uk/scopolamine-devil-s-breath-nasa-use-
medical-342346) [https://youtu.be/ToQ8PWYnu04](https://youtu.be/ToQ8PWYnu04)

~~~
uhhyeahdude
Regarding scopolamine, Vice magazine made a documentary about the way it's
used in Columbia. It's rather unsettling, but worth watching if you're
interested in this kind of stuff.

[https://video.vice.com/en_us/video/worlds-scariest-drug-
colo...](https://video.vice.com/en_us/video/worlds-scariest-drug-colombian-
devil39s-breath-part-1/55ef5be749b3d5591cf227c4)

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clort
Well this article was about seasickness but nothing about a cure, sigh. I'm
about immune now but my partner is not.

I thought it was interesting that they say those who never get seasick have a
"dysfunctional" vestibular system; they have a slow vomit response, even if
poisoned. I wonder if I am just adjusted or if my vestibular system is now
dysfunctional.

------
handedness
I'm surprised to find no mention here or in the article of the Bárány chair,
as it's very effective for some:
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bárány_chair](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bárány_chair)

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coderintherye
I've spent a few months at sea and the trick that worked well:

Stare at the horizon. Seems to help calm the senses down.

~~~
_ph_
Yes, that helps. And anything, which reduces the confusion for the brain. It
can help a lot to stand instead of sitting down. So when my stomach gets iffy
in trains or busses, standing helps me a lot. This is, because you get a
better feedback about the motion. Fresh air is also always very welcome in
difficult situations.

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k__
Interesting!

I just had the idea to take Vomex A before using a VR headset. :D

