Q: I’ve tried looking straight ahead when riding in cars to avoid motion sickness, but it doesn’t seem to help. I’m still miserable. Is there something else you can recommend?
Summer is a traditional time for vacations and travel. According to Robert Louis Stevenson, author of Treasure Island, “To travel hopefully is a better thing than to arrive.” When you suffer from motion sickness it’s a relief to arrive because it means you’ve finally stopped moving!
When I was in grade school, my parents would pack up our Pontiac station wagon with six kids, various changes of clothing, sleeping bags, and a picnic basket of fried chicken. We’d drive over rivers and through cities and woods to visit my grandparents who lived 4 miles north of Ocean Shores on the Washington coast. Although I have fond memories of good times playing along the Pacific Ocean, getting there was hours and hours of agonizing nausea punctuated with frantic cries of “Dad, Dad, pull over!” Even today, I still avoid KFC fried chicken.
I was liberated from my back seat misery when Varro Tyler, Ph.D. came to Seattle in 1983 to speak at a pharmacy conference. He was one of the authors of my pharmacy textbook called Pharmacognosy, which is the study of drugs from natural sources, and at that time he was writing a monthly column on herbs and natural products for Prevention magazine and had just published his book The Honest Herbal.
Dr. Tyler changed my life by suggesting ginger for prevention of motion sickness. I went home and immediately bought some crystallized ginger I found in the spice section of my local grocery store and used my apothecary scale to determine the appropriate size for an adult dose, which turned out to be just slightly bigger than a full size tablet of aspirin. Because it was chewable I could take it anywhere, and I found its sweet-hot taste pleasant. With ginger I no longer turned 10 shades of green when flying from Yakima to Seattle over the Cascade Mountains, and could even read a book in a moving car.
Along with ginger for motion sickness there is also acupressure, three different oral medicines available without a prescription and a scopolamine patch. Each of the medicines works best if taken at least 30 minutes before you start moving.
Sea-Bands® are elastic bands worn around your wrist that activate a pressure point inside your wrist that can prevent motion sickness. Ginger can be used as fresh root, capsules, or in the crystallized form. Ginger is given as 500mg-1000mg of powdered root every 4-6 hours as needed. Crystalized ginger is twice the weight of the powdered form so 1000mg would be the equivalent dose. Ginger ale, ginger tea and gum don’t have enough ginger to provide reliable relief.
Dramamine® has two different formulations, the original one and a less drowsy formula. The original formula of Dramamine® contains dimenhydrinate, a close cousin of diphenhydramine, commonly known as Benadryl®. Either one can be useful for motion sickness prevention but cause drowsiness and need to be taken every 4 to 6 hours.
Meclizine is the best tolerated medicine for motion sickness. It is sold as Bonine®, the less drowsy formulation of Dramamine® and as generic meclizine. When buying meclizine be careful to select the 25mg of the two strengths on the shelf. Meclizine is inexpensive, chewable, only rarely causes drowsiness and has convenient once daily dosing. I now prefer meclizine 25mg chewable tablets when I travel.
If these non-prescription options don’t quell your queasiness, the scopolamine patch (Transderm Scop®) is also available. Worn behind the ear for 2-3 days at a time, it is more effective for motion sickness but causes more side effects like fatigue, blurred vision, dry mouth, constipation and urinary retention. Talk to your medical provider if it is safe for you, especially if you take medicine for nerve pain or overactive bladder.
According to T.S. Eliot, “The journey not the arrival matters.” I hope one of these options help you enjoy your journeys by plane, boat or automobile unencumbered by the distress of nausea from motion sickness.
