Seasickness Happens - How to Help
Filed in archive Water Adventures by Beverly Durfee on January 03, 2007
The best part of the piece is its tips on seasickness - quoted here - but read the entire article for Do's and Don'ts and much more to make your dive trip a smooth one.
Prevention is better than treatment. Once you feel nausea, there's not much you can do. What you should have done is gotten ahead of the problem. Take seasickness meds before you board the boat, not when you feel queasy. You might even begin taking the pills the night before, to build up a level of the stuff in your system.
Eat. You'll do better with something on your stomach. Make it bland, like bread or cereal and go easy on coffee and orange juice, which are acidic, and greasy sausage. Don't stuff yourself, though. The idea is to make your stomach comfortable.
Stay on deck. Fresh air and watching the horizon seem to help. One theory is that seasickness is your brain's reaction to mixed messages when your eyes see a stationary world inside the boat, but your inner ear reports one going up and down, up and down. For example, trying to read, which keeps your eyes steady, usually makes things worse. If you do sit inside, close your eyes.
Warning signs. Headache? Chills? Pallor? Burping? Head for the railing, on the downwind side of the boat, and let 'er rip. You'll feel better almost immediately.
Don't be embarrassed. Seasickness is not a character flaw, it's a physiological reaction no amount of will and courage can prevent. And you're not the first.
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