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Seasick Remedies
Acupressure Wristbands
The idea behind wristbands is similar to acupuncture: Block signals to the brain that cause seasickness. There are two types: wristbands that use pressure on the wrist to block signals and a high-tech version that does the same thing using electronic stimulation.
***********
C Bands are an elastic band with a small bead that is placed on the wrist providing
a Acupressure point. It works to prevent Seasickness. It also is prescribed by
doctors to pregnant females to prevent morning sickness.
Our vessel is an Island Packet 31 and had given us my miles of cruising pleasure.
My wife has used C bands for 20 years and finds it very effective. A short story
involves two of our Grandchildren on a trip from Dunkirk to Buffalo Ohio on Lake
Erie in five foot waves. Both children were getting sick and C Bands were placed
on their wrists. In Thirty minutes they were down below playing board games on
the floor.
Roy Wellington
Granville, Ohio
***********
With respect
to Vol.26 No.3 of Seaworthy and your back cover
article on the above subject, I offer the following:
"I can vouch for the wristbands with the pressure point 'buttons', as
in the mid-1980s, my wife and I joined an Audubon Society expedition
to look at penguins and albatrosses and things in Antartica - not as died-in-the
wool bird watchers, but as the most practical way to "sail" around
Cape Horn in fulfillment of a life-long ambition. Ninety-five percent
of the passengers (and many of the crew) responded to force 10 and 11 conditions
by being violently green and avoiding all meals. We never took these
contraptions off our wrists for fourteen days; never missed a dinner; and enjoyed
a nice shower every day.
This was altogether a much more civilized way to deal with the situation,
than that which I experienced in the late 1960s delivering a racing yacht
up the Pacific Coast from Newport Beach to San Francisco. Seven
of us - all experienced bluewater sailors - took some terrific punishment
for two days in 50 knot head winds and huge seas. Five of our merry
little band would not stir out of their bunks which left me and Dick
Bernstein (of "Bernstein's Fish Grotto" in San Francisco) to
sail the boat.
I chose not to leave the cockpit, grimly fixing my sight on some imaginary
horizon, while Dick was happily consuming open face sandwiches of peanut
butter and Bermuda onion on dark rye, while smoking a filthy cheap cigar. I
tried one of the sandwiches and immediately felt better, but could not
bring myself to complement this with the cigar. It was pointed
out by others of the crew in defense of their mutiny, the cigar might
have been a contributory factor to their condition.
Take your pick. Personally, I would opt for the wristbands,
but if you have the guts to try it (no pun intended), the peanut butter
and Bermuda onion on rye really works. I cannot recommend the cigar."
John Colver
Belvedere, California
***********
Blahhhh...
what an awful feeling to be seasick! My first experience
with seasickness came when I went to scuba dive in the Fathom Five Provincial
Park in Ontario; in between dives, while waiting for the other divers
to come on board, the boat was rockin' and rollin' and I didn't feel
very well. I was told to go to the local pharmacy where I could
buy Gravol, an over the counter Canadian version of Dramamine. I
took Gravol before my next day of diving and sure enough it did the trick
with no side effects. At some later date my husband and I were
taking a large, "stable" catamaran from Cancun to Cozumel;
an hour before boarding I took Dramamine. We ordered something
to drink once on board, I got up to go to the restroom and I never came
back to my seat... I was sick the whole ride and ready to kiss the ground
once we got off the boat. I vowed I would not go back that same
way and we took a small airplane on the return trip instead.
My husband and I both love to go on cruises but I was nervous after my
previous seasickness experiences. I was told about Bonine, which
is over the counter and I could take one every 24 hours; I bought it,
I used it and it worked like a charm. The only negative is that
I took the pill each morning and by 9:30 p.m. each evening I could barely
stay awake to go see any of the shows. I didn't mind much because
I was so thrilled to have no ill feelings during the entire cruise...
and many more to come! At some point my husband saw an ad for the
Relief Band Explorer, that wonderful little watch-like device with intensity
settings 1 - 5 that sends an electrical impulse into the palm of your
hand. I was leery to give this a try and skip the daily Bonine
but I truly wanted to be able to cruise with taking daily drugs. The
Relief Band claimed that you could put it on when you weren't feeling
well and then remove it once feeling better (versus wearing and keeping
it on continually). Lo and behold, on our next cruise I went drug
free and Relief Band free all but 15 minutes of one day and the Relief
Band, when I did need it, worked like a charm! I am sold and have
told so many other people about it for whom it has worked as well. I
am so certain of its effectiveness that I don't go on an airplane without
it! I never get sick on airplanes but I'm no fan of turbulence
(often feeling green during it) and as soon as the turbulence begins
I put the Relief Band on my wrist and it works like a charm.
I now have a home based cruise business and have bought an extra Relief
Band Explorer because I lend mine out to clients and I also recommend
it to all who raise the concern of seasickness! Conquered!!
Lynn Dils
Chelsea, Michigan
***********
We were
racing down the Coast of California. The winds were 25
kts, gusting to 35 kts all evening. There was no moon, no horizon, and
the helmsmen steered strictly by the sound of the waves coming up behind
us. During his watch, Johnny sat in the cockpit with little to
do except wait for a headsail change. In the dark we couldn't
see his queaziness.
Suddenly Johnny leaned to the rail and fed the fish a midnight snack. His
Dad turned over the helm, went below and came back up with a ReliefBand. "Here,
Son, put this on."
Half an hour later his Dad asked, "Johnny, you want to drive for a while?"
"Sure Dad", he replied, "I feel fine now."
Harmon
Heed
s/v
TRVTH
Sarasota,
Florida
***********
I
was one of those lucky people who did not get seasick until 2 years
ago. We own a 22ft Grady and usually fish the bay and slightly off
shore of the Jersey Coast, weather permitting. One beautiful calm day
we headed out to the ocean, 5 minutes into our first drift it hit me,
what a horrible feeling, at that time I vowed never to laugh or make
fun of other people plagued with this illness. I swallowed my pride,
plus, and made it thru the trip. We made the same trip the next day.
I refused to take the pills because I wanted to be awake but I did
arm myself with, peach juice, ginger, ginger ale and a couple other
home remedies, needless to say nothing worked. It took me 1 month to
find the perfect solution, stupid little arm bands "Queaz-away" costing
around $5.00. Our local boating stores cannot keep them in stock. I
purchase them 3 and 4 at a time. I strongly recommend them to anyone
who gets seasick or carsick. They even take away the rocking motion
that you experience after you return to shore.
Hope this helps you,
Betsy G
Tuckerton, New Jersey
**********
Some people get more seasick than others. I get carsick, airsick, taking a shower sick, just about any kind of motion sickness you can imagine. And these sessions of sickness could last for up to three days. How could I ever stand to cruise in our wonderful, new (to us) boat? I had tried Dramamine which only put me to sleep and the scopolamine patch dilated my eyes to the point where I could not function even though I used only 1/8 of a patch. Then I saw an ad for ReliefBand (it is one word) picturing a gal hanging onto the post of a dock. And was she ever green! I felt this was my last chance and had to give it a try. My husband I set out on our cruise from Tennessee to NY with my ReliefBand on my wrist doing its job. Near Mackinac Island in Lake Huron, the waters were so calm that forgot and left my ReliefBand in the cabin below. Next thing I knew we were in rough waters with swells from 4-5 feet. I was too sick to go below and get my ReliefBand. As we neared DeTour Village, MI the waters calmed and on went my ReliefBand. Twenty minutes later I was back to my normal, loving this cruise self. Truly amazing! Gingersnaps or ginger tea can help calm the stomach, but to me they are just an excuse to enjoy a cookie or a cup of tea.
Carol Anderson
Watts Bar Lake, Tennessee
************
None is more impressive than my own husband getting seasick. It's sudden, intense, long lasting and causes mental anguish. It can grow dangerous; it's no joke. Naturally, he's tried everything over the years. The electrical pulse wristband worked miraculously for him. He can't believe it. The wristbands were pricey and a gamble, but is he ever glad he tried it.
Roseanne Packard
Berkley, California
***********
I
have suffered since childhood with pretty significant motion sickness
symptoms and I have tried several remedies. I have been determined
through the years to not let my motion sickness symptoms interfere
with opportunities. If you’ve been plagued by this curse, you
are well aware of its ability to wreck an outing.
Over the years medications such as Dramamine and Bonine made me too sleepy
to be a practical solution for traveling. In the early 1990s the versions
of Scopolamine caused significant side effects with vision and drowsiness.
I later tried other prescription anti-nausea medications like Phenergan,
and even an anti-anxiety medication Xanax, after some well meaning friends
suggested the nausea was “all in my head” and that it was “a
control issue”. Again the drowsiness from these medications was
too significant to be practical for travel.
As a Registered Nurse I have reviewed explanations for the causes of
motion sickness, and “knowledge has availed me nothing”.
This is truly a medical malady, as anyone knows who has gone deepsea
fishing and been hit with the demoralizing and paralyzing symptoms of
motion sickness. A fairly recent therapy in the treatment of motion sickness
and vertigo issues is a treatment called Vestibular Rehabilitation, which
focuses on eye, head, and body exercises to retrain the brain on interpreting
the body’s signals from the middle ear. This therapy warrants investigation
by frequent or severe suffers of motion sickness.
Although I am very glad that I find relief from Sea Bands and/or Scopolamine,
I relish the idea that mere mortals can fly and sail without the assistance
of medication or pressure point manipulation. The next phase for me may
well be investigating Vestibular Rehab.
Johni Badder
San Antonio, Texas
***********
Although I have spent most of my life being seasick -- even when I walked on floating docks--, I was forced to come to terms with it when I married a woman who loves to sail. A doctor who also loves to sail prescribed a combination of SeaBands applied to the wrists and the pill Bonine. Be sure to take only 1/2 Bonine or you will become too drowsy to enjoy the sail. The combination of SeaBands and 1/2 Bonine works for me and I recommend it to others.
Lloyd Hirsch
Ossining, New York
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