MOTION SICKNESS

It happens to the best of us. One minute you're on top of the world, the next minute you're hugging the head. Here are some things people have done to conquer motion sickness.

Motion Sickness Management by Bill "Stoubie" Steuber

I had to chuckle at some of the ideas that have been brought forth for motion sickness. The band thing, the pills, the acupuncture, and witch doctor stuff is all good if you are trying to make a buck, but it will not help the problem. So what makes me such an expert you all are probably asking?

I was, and still to this day, have to manage motion sickness. Notice I said manage and not cure. There is no cure, only management. When I was in joint undergraduate pilot training, my first few flights were great, but then something happened, and every time I did a G warm up I felt like I needed to toss my cookies. I never did, but I always felt like I did. So, the Air Form weenies sent me to their air sickness management school. I learned some valuable lessons there.

Before I pass these things on to you though, the best way to get over any kind of motion sickness is to constantly expose yourself to the stimulation that causes you to become sick. After a while your body will just adapt. The question remains though, what is constant stimulation; everyday, once a week, once a month? I don't know the answer, but the more you are out there the less chance you have of getting sick, your body will adapt.

Your diet is one of the largest contributors to motion sickness.
Drink pure water. Do not drink power aide, Gatorade, or anything else that is not pure H20. Even a little bit of sugar delays your ability to absorb water.
Do not eat anything that is acidic such as oranges and apples and things like that. You must think of your stomach as a giant bowel of acid, and you don't want anything in there that is going to increase the acid or make it have to work on something fatty. Try eating a plain bagel or bread, no butter or topping. This acts as a sponge and can really help. I used to make Rolaid or Tums sandwiches with wonder bread. All my IP's thought I was nuts, but I made it.
Proper hydration is paramount, however, last minute hydration will make it worse. You should be pissing clear before a trip, but if you suck down water all the way to the boat, guess what? You are going to see it later. Remember the bowel of acid, well, if you add water you just fill the bowel up.
The mental aspect of motion sickness can't be ignored. When I was in training, the sight and smell of the ready room and my face mask would make me sick. I had to overcome this, buy trying to associate good things with those smells. Try going to the boat a few times and not going anywhere. Smell your gear and don't associate it with getting sea sick. Look, if you go to the boat and smell the gas on the boat and start worrying about getting sick, you will.
Anxiety increases motion sickness. If you are a stress case before going diving, or are scared to be in the water chances are you are not going to have a good day. Recognize your own signs of when you are getting nervous, and then ask yourself why am I nervous. Take some deep breaths and relax on the trip out there. Sometimes I laugh when I get on a boat and there are people sitting there with their spearguns looking like they are about to make a D-day jump over The Third Reich. Relax dude, this is supposed to be fun.
There is a breathing technique that will bring you down from your current state of motion sickness. For example, let's say there is a scale of 1 to 10. Number 1 being, I am in bed after a great night of nookie and 10 being I am hanging off the side of a boat with blood vessels bursting in my eyeballs from hurling so hard. Ok, if when you get on the boat you begin to feel sick, you have to bring that level back down into the comfort zone of say a 2 or a 3. Usually when you become actively sick you drop right to about a 3 or 4 and stay there a little bit, and then it goes back up right? Well you can use this breathing technique I have been taught to manage that level. If you have read this far, then see the section below, Stoubie's Breathing Technique.
Now, from time to time I still get sick, but you know what, that's ok, because I don't let it ruin my dives. You can get to the point where you barf, but if you do what I have mentioned above, and get on the breathing technique you should be able to get right back in the water.

Stoubie's Breathing Technique
It seems that there are many of us out there who suffer from motion sickness. That's ok though, because here is something that can help you. Now, no promises here, but this is what the Air Force teaches it's dirt darts (aka pilots) to keep them from puking on expensive equipment. Your tax dollars paid for the research, so it only figures that you should get to share in the benefits. Don't worry, none of it is classified or anything like that. It's just breathing. Well, sort of.

Ok, some background here before I tell you how to do this thing. In order to do the breathing right, you have to know some ground rules. Don't do this technique as a warm up right before you take a big breath of air and make a dive. It's sort of like hyperventilating, but not really. Just trust me and don't do it right before you have drop down on a fish.

Secondly, it's impossible to do it with a dive mask and snorkel on. You should be sitting down with your head up focused on something ahead of you that is not moving. They taught me to get my eyes in the cockpit and stare at a nonmoving instrument like an RMI card. For a boat, you might try looking at the deck or a piece of gear on the deck. If you have to close your eyes once you bring your anxiety level down (the puke factor) then fine. You are going to need to practice this thing BEFORE you go to the boat or to the water. Also, you can only do a few repetitions of it and then after that it's looses it's ability to do whatever it does to the nerve in your stomach. That's why you have to practice BEFORE you go out, so that you don't blow your few tries when you really need them to work.

Ok, to begin you MAY have to do something fighter pilots call the "hook" or G-strain. Notice I said may and not should or must. For me, the breathing technique works better if I do a G-strain before I breathe. You though, might not have to do it at all. Try it both ways if you want. If you just want the technique, then skip this next section and go right to the breathing stuff.

Since fighter pilots have to do turns that can sometimes exert 8X the force of normal gravity, they have to find a way to keep the blood in their head. So here is what you do. While sitting, tense your calves, quads, then butt, and stomach muscles while at the same time taking a breath and clamping down on your glottis. That's the little muscle thing in your throat/chest that clamps off the air. The sound that comes out of your mouth should sound like you saying the word "hook." Now here comes the hard part. You should have a full to a half full chest of air. Now the idea is to keep that chest inflated at the same time keeping all the blood to the head. You can't let all the air out of your chest, just a little, then quickly suck it in again in short little gasps all the while keeping the blood in your head. Don't blow a bearing though, it shouldn't be so hard that you get a headache, just enough to push the blood to your head. This shouldn't last more than 10 seconds. You may feel a little light headed after you do this, but that's ok, for some reason you are supposed to. I am not a doctor, or a physiologist, I am a glorified truck driver, so I can't tell you all that is happening, all I can tell you is that this will now prepare you for the most important part; the breathing.

Once again, sitting in a chair or on the boat, you are going to have to tense your body in the same way you did the G-strain, calves, quads, then butt, and stomach, only this time keep moving up the body. Next strain your chest, your shoulders, your biceps, forearms, hands, fingers, neck, and head. Then release them from top to bottom slowly. The Air Form bubba that taught me this said that this is a way of conditioning the body. What you are telling the body is that you understand that it is feeling ill, and now you are going to do something about it. I think it is some kind of stress relief exercise, which would make sense since most motion sickness comes from people thinking that they are going to get sick, then worrying that they are going to get sick. Do this little stress relief thing as often as you would like, there is no time limit or repetition number involved. When you have calmed down and are no longer worried about getting sick, you can do the breathing.

Ok here it is the moment you have been waiting for. With your body totally relaxed I want you to exhale all the air out of your lungs. Don't over exaggerate this process, you don't have to try and collapse a lung or anything. Ok, is the air out? Good, because that was going to be your last comfortable breath for the next three cycles. With air out of your lungs I want you to close your mouth. Now, quickly, and violently suck air in through your nostrils. But, it's got to be a burst, think quick quick quick. The breath should only take as long as a second, maybe two. The goal is to try and suck as much air in through your nose as you can in that quick rapid inhalation.

HOWEVER, at the same time you are taking this breath, you must forcefully extend your stomach outwards with the same intensity and explosiveness. This is going to take practice. You will look and sound very strange. People on the boat will think you have just sucked your brains into your stomach.

Now, once you have this breath of air, (hopefully you got a lot of air in) you need to slowly, very slowly let it out through your mouth while at the same time relaxing your stomach and other muscles. Do this whole process 3X times without pausing between them. Do not go on to 4. That is not the number. The number is 3. 3X times you shall do this breathing and not more than 3. 2 is not the number, unless it is immediately followed by the number 3. The number 5 is out of the question, and don't even think of stopping at 1. No, 3 is the correct number of times to do this breathing. Ok, let's review. 1, 2, 3. There will be a quiz later.

Now once you feel your anxiety level dropping you can function a little bit longer. However, the motion sickness may come back. So, get on your breathing again. You can do it as much as you want during the day, but just don't exceed the three breaths. For some reason it will not work after three breaths, and you will just have to wait a minute or two before you can try it again.

So how do you know if you are doing this right? Well, many of you will not have to suffer the abuse that I did, but you can duplicate it if you would like to see what real motion sickness is like. I got put in a room with a wooden chair that was strapped to what looked like one of those round reading chairs. There was a big leather seat belt that went across my lap. My feet were also held into place by Velcro straps. My head was placed back against two small little pads that just covered the side of the head. I was blindfolded and then they started to spin the chair. I was not allowed out of the chair until I threw up. I was not allowed to use the breathing technique. I then was allowed a fifteen minute break. Then I had to get back into the chair and had to make it for 15 minutes without throwing up again. As you are being spun a coach comes in and talks you through the technique and you are required to tell him how you feel in terms of numbers. 1 being the best and 10 being I am throwing up on your shoes. The thing was they made me move my head around like I would in a cockpit as I was being spun around. I don't care how tough you are, you are going to get sick, but once I got up to about an 8 or 9 I got to use the technique. Every time I could bring myself back down to a 3 or 4. They did this to me for 3 days five hours a day.

Why am I telling you this, well, because if you want to see if what you are doing is going to work, you have to be exposed to something that's going to make you feel sick. I have tried it in my office chair, and even gone out to the merry go-round and both seem to work well, but not as a good as the "Barney Chair." Hey, I hope this stuff helps you guys out. It worked great for me, and I know for the hundreds of military student pilots who are taught this stuff when they are getting sick. If you do it right, and follow the eating guidelines above, you should be able to manage your sickness.

Best of luck, and let me know how it worked out for you, but don't be discouraged if you still puke. I still do sometimes, heck anyone will if they swallow enough sea water or drink bunch of Gatorade before getting tossed around, but it's no big deal I just start the cycle over again until I feel ok.

p.s. Don't go out with the attitude that if I don't eat anything then I will have nothing to throw up. That is not true, you should eat something, just don't make it a greasy sandwich or Egg Muffin. You get the picture.

Another Take: The Long Swing
NASA makes astronauts practice avoiding motion sickness and zero gravity sickness using the following technique. The core of the technique is a swinging exercise, described in many eye-exercise books as the 'Long Swing.'

Using just the 'Long Swing' exercise, you may be able to overcome your motion/sea sickness entirely. However, you might need a more advanced, thorough program based on a series of very famous exercises known as the 'Tibetan five rites of rejuvenation.' Again, this set of exercises has been overly glorified and people have claimed all sorts of miraculous results; but the bottom line is they help motion sickness, that much people agree on. The five rites won't be explained here, it would take way too long. Check Amazon.com or your local book store for more information.

First of all, if you decide to start doing either the 'Long Swing' or the 'five rites', you must understand one thing--they will make you feel sick at first. Very sick. However, as you continue to practice, you will feel less and less sick doing them. Finally, you will be able to do them without feeling sick at all. That is when you will have conquered your motion sickness. Unfortunately, you may find that you have some bad habits which will bring back motion sickness, and you may need to keep doing the exercises (though not every day) to maintain the effect.

Practicing the Long Swing
This exercise is best done outside in a field, where you can see the horizon in all directions. But, you can still do it inside.

Stand relaxed, feet shoulder width apart. Keep your arms by your sides, totally limp and relaxed.

Swing/twist your upper body to the left, so you are facing left--but keep your feet where they are. Now swing your upper body around the other way, until you face right. Swing your upper body left and right, left and right. Allow your arms to swing around freely--keep your shoulders totally relaxed.

Don't keep your feet stuck to the ground. Allow the heel of the trailing foot to leave the ground, but keep the balls of your feet touching the ground. Your head should be constantly pointing in the direction of your torso. When you are facing right, you should be looking right; when you are facing left, you should be looking left. Do NOT look at any specific object. This is the most important part. Focus FAR in the distance (this can be hard if you are in a small room). You should see things whizzing and flying by, all blurry. Things should fly by one way, then the other.

Do not fix your eyes on any object. In other words, your eyes should always point in the same direction as your head. At first, your eyes will jump around, trying to fixate on objects. Soon, after practice, they will relax and objects will sail by your field of vision, without any fixation. Keep swinging for about 10-20 minutes. If you start feeling sick, swing for another few minutes, then stop. Try doing it in the morning and in the evening. This is not a thorough exercise. Even if you can do it without feeling sick, you may still have motion sickness. The only way to be sure is to practice the Tibetan 5 rites as well.

Medicines and Other Remedies
If you can't stomach the exercises above, you may want to try some of the following. Note that you should consult a physician before taking any kind of medication.

Opinions
I found that most medications for seasickness are too strong. What has worked for me is just to take a half a tablet. But I've always taken it the evening before a trip so I could sleep off the initial grogginess. My equilibrium seems more in control the next day during any rough trips.
I take a lot of apples and or apple juice. I'm told pectin is a natural ingredient that has a soothing effect. I'm no chemist but I do know it works.
I keep hearing that ginger works, but I have no idea what to do with it.
When I was in the Navy, they used to give us Meclazine. I don't know if this is commercially available or if it might have other names. It seemed to work pretty well....better than dramamine.
I suggest one Bonine the night before then another one in the morning before the trip. I have tried this on several seasick prone people and it hasn't failed yet. Bonine doesn't seem to make you sleepy the way Dramamine does. I keep the bands on the boat for those who forget to take Bonine, then feel sick.
The bands definitely sound worth a try. I get sick occasionally and it does not seem to have a direct correlation to how rough the sea is. On really rough days I am often fine. I'm sure it's lots to do with what I've eaten in the last 12 hours or so and when the last time was that I drank alcohol. The pain of retching up bile has been enough for me to now put 24hrs between alcohol and stepping foot on a boat!). That aside I occasionally take 'Kwells' it works fine on the sea sicknesses but definitely seems to negatively impact on my breath hold times (up to 50% reduction). I don't know why, I haven't noticed a significantly speeded up pulse or any other such obvious sign. Usually 4 or 5 hours after I have taken the drug my breathing improves. As someone else said maybe the answer is half a tab as a whole one is just too strong.
My "better half" gets sick on occasion, and the best solution I have found is a product called "travel bands" which is an elasticized band (like a sweat band) with a plastic bump on the inside. The idea being that this "bump" applies pressure to an acupressure point called the "Nei-Kuan Point". The product is said to work for conditions that cause nausea such as sea sickness, pregnancy, anesthesia, chemotherapy etc. and I've known it to work for other people. The advantage being, you only need wear them when you start your journey and they have no chemical side effects. What I can say, is that they sell loads of these "bands" on the Channel Ferries, so they must be seen as a viable solution. The product only seems to be available in the UK, but I would have thought that something exists in the US, otherwise you could try your local Chinese Medicine store. They are inexpensive, and should last quite a while.
Just to set the record straight, these "bands" are supposed to work on accupressure techniques, and are sold as a means of combatingnausea rather than suggesting that it can have a direct effect on motion sickness, which as I have always understood it, is related to the inner ear and your sense of equilibrium.
FROM
http://www.freediver.net/freedivelis...nsickness.html