Motion Sickness cures!?

[Londonboy29]

Dear All,

I had a question on cures for motion sickness, and specifically wrist bands.

I had my first flight a while back, and was fine, until the approach back to base where I had a bad bout of it.

I was hoping you could give me your thoughts etc as I don't want to lay out my money for professional training if this is going to happen every time.

Much appreciated.

LB

[27mm]

Whoa there, don't give up! If I had a quid for every bloke / blokess who was unwell on their first (or even subsequent trips), I'd have retired years ago. First of all, keep at it; as you get more experience, the sickness will in all probability gradually go away (it did with me). Some tips to help in the meantime to minimise queasiness:
- Never fly on an empty belly
- Never fly with a cold
- Never self-medicate
- Keep your eyes outside the cockpit as much as possible
- Keep busy
- Keep the cockpit temperature cool
- Tell your instructor immediately if you feel unwell - if he is unsympathetic, get a new instructor
- Always carry a barf-bag (works like an umbrella - if you've got one, it never rains)
I've probably left out loads of tips, but fellow Ppruners will no doubt help out -in the meantime, try the above before you go spending money on uncertain "cures" and "remedies". Finally, remember that flying is the best fun you can have with your clothes on - good luck.

[Dick Whittingham]

Cheer up! Motion sickness is curable. Basically what is hapening is that your brain is getting conflicting signals from the different senses that measure "upright", your eyes, your deep muscle sense and your semicircular ear canals. The brain interprets the garbled info as signs of poisoning and issues instructions to the body to clear out the poison by vomiting - thats my theory.

You cure this, or at least get to live with it by coming to accept the different inputs as normal, or by blanking out the conflict by accepting one input as the master and ignoring the others. This is the basis of the instruction to look steadily at the horizon.

The RAF cure motion sickness problems by subjecting pilots to a carefully graded series of disorientation manoeuvres to build up both confidence and tolerance. As for me, I was initially sick after 20min. This had built up to 40min by the end of basic training. I then came back to England in a small ship through 4 days of a North Atlantic gale. Although sick initially, by day two I was up and about, fully acclimatised, and it stuck with me, more or less, after that

So keep on flying, do the mental thing to accept all the different inputs and it will come right.

Dick Whittingham

[Farmer 1]

Could not disagree less.

Also, it makes all the difference if you are doing the flying as opposed to being a passenger. I'm a very poor passenger - always wear wrist bands - but have never felt the slightest bit unwell when I've been up front.

[A2QFI]

I had a Bulldog student who felt unwell during aeros, his or mine! I bought a set of wrist bands and let him try them. They certainly seemed to lengthen the period of time before he felt unwell, by quite a lot. It maybe that he expected them to work so they appeared to = psychsomatic. They are cheap enough to try. Allegedly a similar effect can be achieved by putting a coffee bean or a small peanut in one's watch strap on the inner wrist. Might mean wearing 2 watches though! I'll go along with keep the cockpit cool and look out as much as possible!

[mustflywillfly]

I was feeling very unwell during the aeros phase of military flying training. I tried some wrist straps from Boots (as A2 suggests) result? Felt much much better. Remember always take a sickbag too - they can be ordered from Transair Pilot shop or similiar.

[AIRWAY]

The wrist bands worked for me too i have to admit.

Regarding the motion sickness everything has been said already, just keep flying... :ok:

[Genghis the Engineer]

The wrist bands act upon a point known in chinese medicine as Pericardium 6.

If you look at the inside of your wrist, you'll see two creases. From the centre of the lower (nearer to your elbow) crease, measure down the length of the front joint of your thumb. That shows you where P6 is, if you feel around that part of the wrist, you should identify that this is a slightly more tender spot than other nearby parts.

The band is applying variable pressure (basically a stud that wiggles around a bit as you move) to this point, which [for reasons even chinese medical practitioners seem rather vague about] quells nausea.

You don't need the band - if you aren't flying, massage it gently with a finger or thumb from the other hand, and it has the same effect.

There's a diagram of the Pericardium Meridian and its points here (http://www.yinyanghouse.com/acupoints/pc_meridian.html)

G

(Hobby interest in the practice of aspects of oriental medicine)


N.B. If buying sick-bags, spend a few extra pennies and get ones that seal closed!

[ElFot]

Londonboy29 take a look at this thread about nausea also: http://www.pprune.org/forums/showthread.php?t=240858

[Milt]

The severity of your Motion Sickness is a measure of your sensitivity threshold to small accelerations. The better the pilot the more sensitive he/she will be to the motions of a vehicle - be it a bicycle, a car or an aircraft. That better pilot will be amongst the first to become airsick if someone else is doing the manoeuvering. Rarely will that better pilot become airsick if he is doing the controlling himself. Spins are an exception but in a spin you are not in control.

Value your sensitivity to motions because your precise control of such motions when you are doing the controlling will be above average.

[fernytickles]

Ditto all of the above. I get good and properly airsick if I do aeros to any extent, and have to take travel sickness pills if I go in the sim. Wouldn't recommend those for flying tho' as they won't help you to gradually overcome the sickness. Try fresh ginger, its supposed to help reduce the effects if taken regularly. And don't give up, whatever you do!

[Farmer 1]

I'm a very poor passenger - always wear wrist bands - but have never felt the slightest bit unwell when I've been up front. (By me.)

The better the pilot the more sensitive he/she will be to the motions of a vehicle - be it a bicycle, a car or an aircraft. That better pilot will be amongst the first to become airsick if someone else is doing the manoeuvering. Rarely will that better pilot become airsick if he is doing the controlling himself. Spins are an exception but in a spin you are not in control.

Value your sensitivity to motions because your precise control of such motions when you are doing the controlling will be above average.(By Milt.)

Thanks, Milt. You just made my day!

[Field In Sight]

Just watched Mythbusters on the Discovery channel. They tested lots of remedies for motion sickness.

The only one that seemed to work very well, with no side effects was "Ginger tablets.

[Stop Stop Stop]

I agree with the above posters on the Wristband method of alleviating motion sickness. Whilst I have not suffered myself, when I was an instructor I had a female student that suffered very badly. Using the bands cured her motion sickness almost entirely.

Also, I think there is a point that often when someone suffers from extreme motion sickness, their blood sugar levels are low, such as if they haven't really eaten anything. Typical scenario is someone who knows they feel sick when they fly so they don't eat for the risk of bringing up a huge meal. From my experience, I have noticed that if someone regularly has problems, if they can be persuaded to eat prior to flying (and I don't suggest a 3 course meal, just a light meal- sensibly balanced) then they seem to suffer less motion sickness.

However, the bands definitely work as long as they are in the right position. They also helped my wife when she was suffering from pregnancy-related nausea. If she took them off, the nausea returned within 30 minutes!

[Londonboy29]

Dear All,

Many thanks to all of you for taking the time out to give the advice.

I truely hate being sick on flights (even though it was only in the last 5 mins of my first flight), but hope to get round it some way.

Regards.

LB

[iynix]

Hi all..

I myself have motion sickness. As such i would like to know what are the other factors other than the problem due to the imbalance of the inner ear could cause motion sickness? Thanks:)

[Genghis the Engineer]

Hi all..

I myself have motion sickness. As such i would like to know what are the other factors other than the problem due to the imbalance of the inner ear could cause motion sickness? Thanks:)

- Focussing on objects which are close rather than far
- Having a full stomach
- Lack of good lighting
- Lack of fresh air / odours
- Lack of currency in the airborne environement
- Noise

[The flying nut]

Hi all, I suffer from sea sickness and was told about the ginger tablets, instead i got ginger chewing gum, it does the same job as the tablets. To cut a long story short it did stop the vomiting but it leftme feeling really rough.:ooh: If you dont mind feeling like that then by all means go for them. That is my experience may not be the same for others. Hope this helps.:ok:

[matelot]

It's similar in boats and yachts: disorientation and the smell of diesel/salty cordage (Yes, I know these aren't in a/c).

Head up, focus outside at the horizon, think like a bird (which don't suffer from motion sickness), and remember that even Nelson suffered quite a lot.

It will get better. You'll know you've got over it when you'd kill for a bacon buttie! Seriously. :ok:

[unstable load]

The only one that seemed to work very well, with no side effects was "Ginger tablets.

I prefer to suck a lifesaver. :E





Bu%$#r, wrong thread!!:eek:

[davidd]

Good Luck LondonBoy29
Im seventeen hours in to my ppl and have felt sick 3 times.
I havent actually been sick but have had to cut the lesson short twice.
The first time I went up on a trial i was fine.
2nd time up (1st as PUT) I felt very green indeed on landing i felt worse, this sickness lasted a good 7 hours.
12th time up a very bumpy flight lots of turblence the sickness lasted about 4 hours after landing. EX16
14th time up was very bumpy and windy I had to really work hard with a nasty crosswind 30 minutes into the flight we returned as I felt sick again. EX17, sickness lasted a couple of hours.
I have taken to eating ginger nuts before flight!
I hope I can crack it, maybe I will also try one of these wrist bands.
Personally its the initial stench of fuel when entering the aircraft and coupled with crap weather it's a receipe for me turning green.:uhoh:
It seems im affected by the bumpyness aspect, the G part just scares me.

Dave

[daedalus]

A ship's officer told me the one sure cure - "Sit under a tree.":\