Don't let motion sickness hold you back!

[biochemgirl]

I love theme parks and usually suffer a fair amount of motion sickness that limits me to one big ride every other hour. I definitely can't ride FJ or Hulk on repeat like my son does. In the past, I've ridden once or twice then waited at the exit while he rode several more times. This visit, I asked my doctor for the patch (scopolamine). IT WAS AMAZING!! I rode everything as much as I wanted.

So if you are limited by motion sickness too, try the patch - it could change the way your family tours together.

 

[julydeya]

Thank you!

 

[cschaaf]

So glad it worked for you! It's so frustrating when you have to sit some out so as to not ruin your whole day.

I love the scop patch. Works great for me and I've not suffered many side effects. I've used it on about 4 or 5 trips now and I had slightly blurred vision for a few hours the first time I wore one, and one time, after taking off the patches at the end of a trip, I felt slightly dizzy for a few hours. Neither were bad enough that it stopped me from doing thing. And both were totally worth the benefit of being able to ride any ride I wanted.

Any of the pills, even the 'non-drowsy' stuff makes me extremely tired. Even 1/4 of a Meclizine will knock me out cold for a few hours. So those are not an option for me.

One of my wife's daughters also gets motion sick and I got her to try the patch. It doesn't work as well on her. She still gets a bit nauseous if we ride things without waiting a bit between rides. And she has a few of the side effects: dry mouth while using the patch, some dizziness while using the patch, and more severe dizziness and headaches when she takes them off. Still, she chooses to wear one otherwise she wouldn't be able to ride much of anything.

I just ordered a ReliefBand yesterday. I want to try that out before our Alaska cruise this summer. I have a work trip coming up next week where I will be riding in a taxi - which always makes me nauseous. It's about a 15 minute ride from the airport to the office and I always feel like it it was 16 minutes, I wouldn't make it. I figure it's a good place to test it. Then I'll send it to my wife's daughter and see if she can test it out. I'll buy another one if it works for her.

 

[damo]

So glad it worked for you! It's so frustrating when you have to sit some out so as to not ruin your whole day.

I love the scop patch. Works great for me and I've not suffered many side effects. I've used it on about 4 or 5 trips now and I had slightly blurred vision for a few hours the first time I wore one, and one time, after taking off the patches at the end of a trip, I felt slightly dizzy for a few hours. Neither were bad enough that it stopped me from doing thing. And both were totally worth the benefit of being able to ride any ride I wanted.

Any of the pills, even the 'non-drowsy' stuff makes me extremely tired. Even 1/4 of a Meclizine will knock me out cold for a few hours. So those are not an option for me.

One of my wife's daughters also gets motion sick and I got her to try the patch. It doesn't work as well on her. She still gets a bit nauseous if we ride things without waiting a bit between rides. And she has a few of the side effects: dry mouth while using the patch, some dizziness while using the patch, and more severe dizziness and headaches when she takes them off. Still, she chooses to wear one otherwise she wouldn't be able to ride much of anything.

I just ordered a ReliefBand yesterday. I want to try that out before our Alaska cruise this summer. I have a work trip coming up next week where I will be riding in a taxi - which always makes me nauseous. It's about a 15 minute ride from the airport to the office and I always feel like it it was 16 minutes, I wouldn't make it. I figure it's a good place to test it. Then I'll send it to my wife's daughter and see if she can test it out. I'll buy another one if it works for her.

Keep us posted on how that works for you. I'd be interested and I'm sure a lot of others would too.

 

[PDXmouse]

I have more issues with motion sickness than anyone I’ve ever met. We leave in a week and I have 15 days of the patch AND a reliefband with lots of extra batteries ready to go. I’m really hoping I don’t have to sit our 2/3 of the rides like normal.

I get sick on everything. Everything.

 

[macraven]

I have more issues with motion sickness than anyone I’ve ever met. We leave in a week and I have 15 days of the patch AND a reliefband with lots of extra batteries ready to go. I’m really hoping I don’t have to sit our 2/3 of the rides like normal.

I get sick on everything. Everything.

All I can say is I hope you can still have fun and enjoy the parks

Hope the patch and bands give you relief

I get some motion sickness on 3 of the screen rides
I look at me feet when that happens
and able to recover fine

Wish you a great day in the parks and no motion sickness!

Sending you Mummy dust

 

[cschaaf]

I have more issues with motion sickness than anyone I’ve ever met. We leave in a week and I have 15 days of the patch AND a reliefband with lots of extra batteries ready to go. I’m really hoping I don’t have to sit our 2/3 of the rides like normal.

I get sick on everything. Everything.

My best advise for the patch is:

• Put it on the night before you will need it
• Be careful to not touch the sticky side of the patch and wash your hands thoroughly after applying the patch. Wouldn't hurt to use laytex gloves while applying them. You just don't want to get that stuff in your eyes.
• Replace the patch at the 3 day mark
• Leave your last one on the full 3 days, if not a little longer.

I hope it works for you like it does for me!

Please let us know.

 

[biochemgirl]

My best advise for the patch is:

• Put it on the night before you will need it
• Be careful to not touch the sticky side of the patch and wash your hands thoroughly after applying the patch. Wouldn't hurt to use laytex gloves while applying them. You just don't want to get that stuff in your eyes.
• Replace the patch at the 3 day mark
• Leave your last one on the full 3 days, if not a little longer.

I hope it works for you like it does for me!

Please let us know.[/QUOTE]


The advice to leave the last patch on is probably a good one. I took mine off right away after only wearing it for about 1.5 days (the trip was over!) and definitely had withdrawal symptoms. Nothing bad enough to not want to use it again, but notable.

 

[ilovetotravel1977]

Has anyone tried those Gravol Ginger Tablets? I have some of those from our last cruise, but didn't need them. Are you supposed to take one AFTER you feel queasy or do you take it BEFORE you anticipate feeling queasy?

 

[Iluvshoes531]

My husband uses the patch every time we go on vacation to Universal. He has severe motion sickness where he can not even be a passenger in a car. He always drives wherever we go. The patch helps him immensely! He has also gone on 6 cruises wearing the patch and never has gotten sea sick! I have motion sickness at times. I just take meclazine and it works great for me.

 

[fiasco32]

I get motion sickness as well and tried over the counter, non-drowsy Dramamine for the first time our recent trip. Worked very well for me on rides like FJ, Jimmy Fallon, etc.

 

[cschaaf]

Had my first experience with the ReliefBand and, I'm not willing to give up yet, but it didn't really do much for me.

Short version - it may have slightly delayed my queasiness a bit, but it wasn't enough to make a big difference.

I fly for work from time to time and rarely do the flights bother me - maybe 10% of the time. Never been sick, fortunately, just a bit queasy.

I hadn't planned on using it for flying, but on my first flight last week, during takeoff, I didn't feel well. I grabbed the band, put it on, and turned it on.

I can only describe the feeling as almost like getting hit in your funny bone, but not nearly as strong. If getting hit in your funny bone is a 10, the band is like a 2.

After a few minutes, I started feeling a bit better. I wasn't sure if it was the band or just that the flight smoothed out. I ended up falling asleep with the band still powered on, so that gives you an idea that it's not all that painful.

Then it was time for the part of trip that I always dread - the cab ride from the airport. My plan was to wait until I didn't feel good, then turn it on. I figured if it would stop it at that point, it worked very well. I got in the cab and the guy floored it away from the curb and blew through a stop sign at the airport. I gave up on my plan and turned on the band.

Usually, I'm fine for a few minutes, then my queasiness gets progressively worse. The ride is usually about 15 - 30 minutes and at about the halfway point, I start to get sweaty and want to get out. The last 5 minutes or so of the ride take as much concentration as I can muster. I've never been sick after the ride, but I always feel really close. Within about 2 minutes of getting out of the cab, I feel better.

This time, using the band, I'd say I felt better for a bit longer than normal and was getting pretty happy - then the effectiveness started wearing off. Instead of feeling incrementally worse, I would feel bad, then okay, then a little worse, then okay, then a little worse, then okay. Kind of a sine wave but each time the bad feelings started, they were worse than last time.

The band didn't make proper contact the whole time. If I moved my arm, the contact would come and go. I found the best position and held my arm there. By the end of the ride, I'd say I was as queasy as I usually am - it just took a bit longer to get there. Instead of the last 5 minutes, it was the last 2 minutes.

The next afternoon, I did the reverse trip - and it was the same experience. I didn't feel as bad as quickly, but eventually felt as bad as I usually do.

If anything, I think the band provides a distraction. It buzzes you for 3 seconds, pauses for 2, then buzzes again. I think any relief it provided would have been the same relief if someone flicked my ear every few seconds.

Not sure when I will have a chance to try it again, but at this point, I wouldn't count on it and not pack some patches for a long trip. Maybe I'll try it on my other wrist (it didn't feel as strong on that wrist, so I didn't try it in the cab) if I have another business trip that pops up.

 

[macraven]

Thanks for including that link
I have menierres and usually use the meds but it wipes me out and have to lie down

The relief band is something I think I should try

Sorry that you suffer from motion sickness but maybe the band did help you from being wiped out
Some relief is better than no relief

 

[Alicefan]

I have to say I got tickled @cschaaf over the ear flicking comment lol. I get motion sickness if I try to read in a car, and that used to be pretty much the only time, but as I get older I can't handle all of the motion simulator rides without both dramamine and seabands and even then one trip through each ride is my limit. My big issue with dramamine is that it makes me extremely complacent. You can ask me what I want to do and I honestly couldn't care less. I HATE being like that when I'm at my favorite theme parks that I paid way too much money to be in! I've recently found the all natural dramamine and lo and behold, it doesn't make me a zombie! I still pair it with the seabands but it seems to do the trick just enough to at least let me enjoy the rides one time each and if I really wanted to, I could do them twice, just not in a row. Last trip we made the mistake of taking a free trip on Forbidden Journey because it stopped in the middle of our ride and we all got queasy...even the nice man from England that was our single rider partner said, "More than once and you get really spun out huh?" lol We all agreed, even my 18 year old cousin, that once was enough!

 

[cschaaf]

Thanks for including that link
I have menierres and usually use the meds but it wipes me out and have to lie down

The relief band is something I think I should try

Sorry that you suffer from motion sickness but maybe the band did help you from being wiped out
Some relief is better than no relief

:S Sorry to hear about the Menierre's.

I have occasional bouts of vertigo - when I get that, I usually just take a 1/2 Meclazine and call it a day lol Those things crush me. First time we went to Universal, I ended up taking 1/2 a pill and we went back to the hotel and I was passed out. My wife, then girlfriend, started to get scared because she couldn't wake me up. Even when she got me awake, it would be for a few seconds, then I would pass out again. I hate taking those things.

I have to say I got tickled @cschaaf over the ear flicking comment lol. I get motion sickness if I try to read in a car, and that used to be pretty much the only time, but as I get older I can't handle all of the motion simulator rides without both dramamine and seabands and even then one trip through each ride is my limit. My big issue with dramamine is that it makes me extremely complacent. You can ask me what I want to do and I honestly couldn't care less. I HATE being like that when I'm at my favorite theme parks that I paid way too much money to be in! I've recently found the all natural dramamine and lo and behold, it doesn't make me a zombie! I still pair it with the seabands but it seems to do the trick just enough to at least let me enjoy the rides one time each and if I really wanted to, I could do them twice, just not in a row. Last trip we made the mistake of taking a free trip on Forbidden Journey because it stopped in the middle of our ride and we all got queasy...even the nice man from England that was our single rider partner said, "More than once and you get really spun out huh?" lol We all agreed, even my 18 year old cousin, that once was enough!

I've tried the 'non-drowsy' stuff and I must be the exception to that rule, because it still knocked me out. I'll have to look for the natural stuff.

The first time using the patch, we got a 'free trip' on Minions once. It stopped about halfway through and they announced, "Lucky you! We'll start it again!". I was worried, but it ended up fine.

Another trip, Spiderman got out of sync part way through. They offered to let us go back through and both my wife and I were like, "No thanks! We're good" lol

 

[Alicefan]

I'm with you, even the non-drowsy dramamine makes me a zombie so I was very skeptical about the all natural but apparently it's ginger based and it's been the only thing that I've taken where I still feel normal. Hope you find something that works for you! I found it at Walmart and ordered another from Amazon. Good luck! Nothing worse than feeling ill on your vacation.