A couple of days ago I told the horrific story of my latest boating adventure (please see: Learning Scuba and feeding fish). I had spent the better part of a day puking off the side of a boat. I was miserable.
I could have prevented it easily. I knew how.
I’ve always been prone to motion sickness. I used to hate flying because of it. The smallest turbulence would make me queasy. I rarely threw up, but my body demonstrated its unhappiness in other ways. In addition to nausea, I would sweat and shake. After landing, the nausea would quickly dissipate, but the shakiness would continue for quite a while. Yep, I hated flying, and I hated boats even more.
Then, I became a fan of the show Myth Busters. And, one day, thankfully, I watched episode 43: Sea-sickness – Kill or Cure?.
The Mythbusters team set up an evil contraption: a revolving chair that was designed to induce motion sickness. They tested the chair on each member of the Mythbusters team and found that Adam (above) and Grant (below) were the most susceptible.
Those two guys, then, had the worst job in the world. One by one, they tested non-medical motion sickness cures to see which ones helped. Here were their results (quoted from “Annotated Mythbusters”):
- Homeopathic tongue tingler. “They used a unnamed spray that you squirt under the tongue as often as needed. Grant was sick within 10 minutes and vomited some small chunks. Adam was sick within 4 minutes.”
- Wrist straps: “They wore little gray wristbands that are ‘Barry Manilow’s choice.’ Adam was sick within 90 seconds. Grant got sick as well. They’ve gotten pretty quick with bringing a bucket to Grant.”
- Ginger pills: “It worked! Adam and Grant were both fine.”
- Small shocks on the P6 Acupuncture point (on the wrist): “Both Adam and Grant got sick.”
- Placebo: “They told Grant and Adam they were getting an over-the-counter pharmaceutical remedy, but they actually gave them vitamins. Adam’s reponse: ‘I hate this [bleeping] chair’ after three and a half minutes. Grant: ‘This is among the most effective, if not the most effective.’”
- Dramamine: “Worked on Adam and Grant, but it made them both a little loopy.”
Here’s my summary: Ginger pills worked great for both Adam and Grant. Dramamine also worked for both of them, but it made both of them sleepy.
Ginger capsules for flights
After watching the Mythbusters show I immediately went in search of ginger pills. While I didn’t manage to find anything called “ginger pills,” I did find bottles of ginger root capsules at area health food stores. They tend to be found on the vitamin shelf. Today, they can be bought online too (note: I’ll earn a small commission if you purchase from Amazon through this link or by clicking on the image of the capsule bottles).
The general advice I’ve found is to swallow a capsule an hour before it’s needed.
I began taking a ginger capsule before every flight. And, since they have virtually no side effects, I would often take a second capsule during a long flight – just in case.
Initially, the ginger capsules only partially worked. During heavy turbulence I would still get sweaty and shaky, but I no longer felt queasy. That alone was a huge improvement! Even better, over many years of flying, my motion sickness symptoms seem to have drained away. In fact, somehow I’ve gotten to the point where I don’t need to take ginger at all when I fly. Even the worst turbulence no longer seems to have any major effect on me.
Ginger capsules for boats
Since learning about ginger capsules, I’ve had far fewer experiences riding boats in rough water than flying through turbulence. However, in those times where I have been on a boat, I’ve always been fine after taking ginger.
In my recent scuba diving adventure, I didn’t know that I would be in a boat until I showed up at the dive shop. An email from the instructor had said that we would be doing shore dives. So, I showed up without ginger. Somewhere along the line, plans had changed without my knowledge. I boarded the boat without ginger capsules but with the hope that my motion sickness days were behind me. Unfortunately, it wasn’t so. I can’t remember ever before puking as much as I did that day.
I honestly don’t know what would have happened if I had taken ginger on that latest boat trip. Would I have been fine all day? Would I still have gotten sick, but not as severely? All I know is that, going forward, if there’s even a chance of being on a boat in the open water, I’m bringing my ginger capsules!
Side effects
WebMD lists the following possible side effects of ginger:
- Gas
- Heartburn
- Upset stomach
- Mouth irritation
In my case, the only side effect I’ve noticed is the occasional slightly painful ginger flavored burp. The solution to this problem was simple: avoid carbonated beverages.
Medicinal Options
There are many, many varied drug options for treating motion sickness. Most of them, including Dramamine Less Drowsy, can lead to drowsiness. Or not. It seems to vary by person how effective each drug is and how intense the side effects are. Here are some of the popular options:
- Dimenhydrinate (Dramamine, Travel-Eze, Dramanate, Calm-X)
- Meclizine (Antivert, Bonine, D-Vert, Dramamine Less Drowsy, Driminate II, Meclicot, Medivert, Ru-Vert-M, Meni-D)
- Scopolamine Transdermal Patch (Transderm Scop)
Personally, I’ve found Dramamine to be very effective, but it also makes me extremely sleepy. Dramamine Less Drowsy caused me less drowsiness (as advertised!), but also seemed less effective. I’ve never tried the patch (Transderm Scop) but I understand that it too can cause drowsiness in some people.
Everyone is different
Not everyone reports success with ginger. For many, it seems to be a miracle cure (actually, it’s more of a miracle symptom alleviator, but that doesn’t sound as good). For others, it’s useless. My recommendation is to try different options until you find one that works for you. Start with ginger, though. While your burps may sting a bit, I promise it won’t make you drowsy.
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‘Motion eaze’ is oil that is sold at Walmart, works very well for me.
I never would get motion sickness, Like NEVER! Then after a severe head cold, which turned into sinusitis, I developed a case of vertigo. Vertigo so bad, that I could not even walk. After a month or so, the inner ear nerves healed, and the vertigo went away. But now, I can get motion sickness in extreme situations. Which leads to me to believe that once the nerves in your ears are damaged, motion sickness/vertigo becomes a regular occurrence. I had 3 very bad bouts. Separated by years of no issues. But each time I had a vertigo episode, it was after having a severe head cold. Lately I have been ok. Since I wear a mask, in close situations, I have not had a cold in 2.5 years. Wearing a mask has been very helpful for my allergies as well.
Dramamine and Meclizine help in the few situations that I needed to take them, but they do need to be taken in advance. None of these meds make me drowsy. I think I tolerate the motion sickness meds because I have taken allergy meds (which are similar chemically to motion sickness meds) for over 50 years.
I do a fair bit of salmon fishing on smaller boats, 4 ft waves would feels like you’re being shaken up in a snow globe and sea sick. Since travelling to Australia i’ve been hooked on Bundaberg Ginger Beer (its non alcoholic btw), and luckily its becoming more popular state side, it has natural ginger in it (and carbonated sugar water), every time I drink one before the boat and another on the boat I haven’t been sea sick. When looking for ginger beer, the ingredients must say “natural ginger” or “ginger extract” , some ginger beer and ginger ale is “ginger flavoring” chemicals, which I don’t think will do anything.
Good tip. Thanks!
Bundaberg Ginger Beer is sold at Costco now.
check with your pharmacy / which ones you are buying. There are different levels of “oh it is just a capsule for the esoteric people” to medical grade capsules. Your difference in reaction might be to the fact that you bought lower grade ginger capsules – us motionsick people need the good stuff. Here in Germany I found that 10 capsules in the pharmacy will cost 7 Euro – but I get reliable results (plus single packed pills and not a bulky bottle)
Over here we also have something called travel medicin – I dont know what is in in, but it does not help me HOWEVER the combination of 2 ginger and one travel knocks me out so reliably after 30 min that I take one ginger about 30 min before boarding, and then when the food comes.
How I came to them:
I am in the camp of “show me a roller coaster on TV and I get sick”. My family called me crazy when I told them a decade ago “oh I booked a flight. to SFO. Which is13h flying. Plus two more later the year” when I barely can survive a traindrive (never against the driving direction). With all that, ginger does not help much to make it okay, but it makes it bareable.
A friend started me on ginger when I flew Hamburg to London and sat crying in London because it was so bad (honestly considered going back by train). I picked up ginger capsules in the chinese district and have used them ever since. Those must have been good stuff, because I found since them that these type of bottles are much cheaper, but less reliable, hence my pharmacy trips. On my longer travels SFO.LHR-Ham i am so dosed up that usually I sit down on the last leg and dont even notice the take off in LHR. 😉
Bonus tip: For me I cannot turn my head unless it is in the direction of the flight. Even talking to other people is highly distressing, so is any type of TV or complicated podcast. I found this in other places too: I believe that motion sickness – as the word says – is about imbalance. The brain is compensating for what the balance center cannot do. This requires “process cylcles” – and if you try to busy your brain (conversation, intense podcast) you will get sicker. For this I have noise generator apps on my mobile. I prefer brown noise and pink noise over white.
hope this helps!
Have you tried Motioneaze? It’s a mixture of essential oils that is dabbed behind the ear. It can alleviate symptoms even after they appear and doesn’t cause any drowsiness or dry mouth. Definitely worth a shot!
Slightly late to the party, but I can attest to the amazing power of ginger capsules! I used to throw up on planes all. the. time. It got so bad that I was basically scared to get on a plane and go anywhere. I joked that I would never leave my city again. But then I had to…so I had to find solutions. I tried everything. Ginger really works!
so much great information here
I started using ginger capsules when my kids were young and all got car sick. It worked every time. I don’t get motion sickness but can verify that it works. Nothing worse than having small kids getting sick all over the car.
Have to add my experiences with the patch. I used to call it my miracle drug until the withdrawal symptoms became more severe than the motion sickness.
I get motion sick from bus rides, plane rides, and train rides. Don’t even mention boats and snorkeling in strong current. Most of our trips entail at least three of these. So on our last trip, which was three and a half weeks, I used the patch the entire time. Worked like a charm except for the dry mouth. But one day after removing the last one I had every symptom listed in the pamphlet and they lasted until……
I had to fly less than a week after returning and threw up when we got to the airport (Zofran didn’t work) and saw my husband get on the plane without me. AA was kind enough to let me just sit at the airport until another patch kicked in and I was able to fly after five hours. Then I had to go through the whole routine after that trip.
Took two weeks to get “cleansed”. Now I don’t know what I am going to do. Ginger is nice, but does not alleviate all the problem for me. I guess I’ll go back to Stugeron which I have bought in Europe and Nepal (the patch still works better) it worked better than any other pill.
Check the type of ginger you are using and maybe go for a pharmacy. My ginger bottles you get in the asia market have a much lower grade and dose than what I get as medical grade. These are more expensive, but are a much higher (and safer) dosis.
Altiod’s used to make a ginger mint that was great for nausea. I usually just have old fashioned ginger cuts (hard candy) or some form of ginger candy that I chew on to combat nausea. Not if airlines started serving Dark and Stormy’s…
Zofran works the best. It isn’t drowsy, we use it on all our cancer patients and they are actually able to tolerate the chemo whereas 29 years ago, people would just give up on chemo due to the side effects. Millions of pregnant women also take it every day.
I’m not a doctor, but my understanding is that not all anti-nausea treatments work for motion sickness. I believe that Zofran is specifically indicated for medically induced nausea (e.g. chemotherapy or radiation therapy).
You’re right, Zofran would not be the best choice for motion sickness. Phenergan (something also given for nausea) would be a better choice.
Take it with a grain of salt especially since a study with adequate power has yet to be performed, but a recent small study found that amongst ER patients doing a quick sniff of a rubbing alcohol wipe was better than placebo and was equally as effective as common anti-nausea medications administered in the ER. That being said, I wouldn’t recommend huffing/consuming it on a regular basis as any alcohol is toxic.
Another vote for the Transderm Scop, it has become my go-to for cruises. Put on the night before and it truly makes travel a pleasure. Unfortunately, if the seas are really rough, I’ve double patched. Thinking that ginger pills might be worth a try instead of doing that, as I’ve always been concerned about the safety of doubling up.
May I ask what ginger pill brand you’ve bought? There are many on the market from which to choose.
Thank you.
I’ve tried many different brands and haven’t noticed any difference in effectiveness. One that I’ve used recently, New Chapter Ginger Force, I especially like because the pills are tiny and easy to swallow: http://amzn.to/1OAAQ5f
Thank you.
Try preggie pops. They are ginger flavored lolly pops that work well for motion sickness. I keep a box of them in my car for people that get motion sick. I get motion sick if I’m not driving.
If you are not a pill person…
When my best friend was going through chemotherapy, we searched for ginger in every form since it worked so well to prevent the nausea that goes with chemo for her.
While she was getting her treatments, I kept her mug of tea with sliced fresh ginger filled frequently. Commercially produced bags of ginger tea didn’t work so well.
Trader Joe’s has “Ginger Chews”. They are pretty intense, but they work. Candied ginger worked pretty well too.
We didn’t know about “Ginger Pills”. Since she found the taste of ginger soothing and was taking enough pills already, they probably would have been a back up if we had known.
BTW – she is cancer-free for 4 years now. Yay!
I’ve used Dramamine for years, for boats, planes or being in a vehicle on twisting roads going from an airport to a hotel (if it’s far). I’d rather be a little sleepy than sick. What I’ve found is the trip is exciting enough for me with things of interest I end up not noticing any drowsiness. But, I also can tolerate drowsy inducing medicines better than most. My digestive tract is sensitive to herbs like ginger so I don’t take those pills (ginger ale is okay for me). Everybody is different, so it’s good there are choices.