In this video, Combating Sea Sickness while Sailing Causes, Treatment, Prevention, we share our experiences with Sea Sickness, and talk about what it is and what are the causes, what remedies are available (natural, drug, and alternative) and what to do in extreme circumstances.
#seasickness​ #thepatch​ #liveaboard​ #sailingchannel

Closed Captions (CC):
in this episode we talk about

seasickness

what it is how it affects you and what

to do if you or your crew is suffering

from it

while underway

last time on sailing bella chandra we

made a video about the concerns of

theft and piracy for boaters in the

caribbean

now and during the covid 19 pandemic

if you're new to the channel i'm dan and

my partner is noelle and we're sailing

bella chandra

we sailed all the way from nova scotia

canada to the caribbean we're sailing

all around the caribbean

right now making youtube videos and some

of them like this one just to help you

guys out if you're new to sailing

if you haven't subscribed to our channel

just go below this video look for the

big red subscribe button press that

button

this week's video is all about

seasickness what it is

who is affected what to do if it happens

to you

how to prevent it what to do in extreme

circumstances

and remedies that are natural or drug

remedy

or extreme remedy or even illegal

remedies

all in this video i hope you enjoy it

first of all not everybody gets seasick

some people are prone to motion sickness

other people are not affected by motion

sickness whatsoever

so really it's a case-by-case basis but

for the most part

seasickness is very very common most of

the people that we've taken on board our

boat have dealt with

it at one point or another including

noella myself and

we've tried lots of different remedies

and we have some of that information to

share with you guys

motion sickness is caused by repeated

movements when traveling

like moving all around in a boat at sea

the inner ear

sends different signals to your brain

from those your eyes are seeing

these confusing messages cause you to

feel unwell

you'll want to limit your time below

deck as much as possible

noelle and i will prepare most of our

meals in advance of departure

so we can eat while underway in the

cockpit going below decks for any

extended period of time

takes your eyes off of the sea and off

of the horizon and can quickly create

the effects of disorientation

which can lead to motion sickness on a

longer passage when we're several days

in

our inner ear and bodies will get used

to the motion and going below

becomes less of a problem on a long

passage after a few days i can go below

for several hours

and work and not get seasick but it's a

good practice to limit the time you

spend below decks

especially in rough seas unless you're

going below to sleep

which is recommended as a remedy for

seasickness

it's probably a good idea not to consume

alcohol during the voyage

and although it may be tempting try not

to go out and have a bender the night

before

naturally a good hangover and

seasickness do not go hand in hand

it would be a wicked combination and i

don't recommend it

breathing in diesel fumes from the

engine is probably the worst cause

of seasickness even if you've been at

sea for several days

and felt no symptoms of sea sickness

breathing in diesel fumes will make you

feel sick

whether the boat is in motion or not

which will contribute to the feeling of

seasickness

and in general is just unhealthy

sometimes if the boat is dead downwind

and you're running the diesel engine the

diesel fumes will enter the cockpit

sometimes there's not much you can do

about this if possible

try to limit the amount of exposure you

have to diesel fumes

sometimes we turn the boat a few degrees

just so that the fumes do not blow

directly into the cockpit

before you leave an anchorage or start a

voyage it's a good idea to flush out

each head you have on board

any stagnant water left in the lines of

your head will probably have a less than

desirable odor

going below is bad enough underway but

going below to use the head

flushing and being hit with a bad odor

can also trigger seasickness

if you can remember to do so it's

probably a good idea to give the head a

good flush before leaving port

when you do your food prep for a voyage

make sure that whatever you're bringing

will not turn your stomach

there are some foods that i've eaten

underway while seasick

that have turned me off of those foods

and if i were to eat those foods again

while sailing it might make me seasick

it might just be me but it's something

to consider when doing your food prep

i like to have snacks in meals that i

really enjoy

even if they're unhealthy good snacks

and good meals

set the mood for a good voyage and foods

that feel good

will improve your appetite and a good

appetite is the opposite of seasickness

being cold on board in rough seas is

another contributing factor to

seasickness

it's a good idea to keep warm clothing

handy in the cockpit or near the gangway

that you can easily grab on watch in an

attempt to keep yourself warm

when we sailed down from canada we had

many cold weather days

and staying warm was a real challenge

being cold in rough seas can bring on

some nasty seasickness

my number one seasickness cure is to

helm the boat

take the helm and watch the horizon

keeping your eyes on the horizon

will sync up your inner ear with the

motion of the boat and

should settle out the feeling of motion

sickness sleeping is the number one cure

for seasickness

if you can try to go below find a

comfortable birth

and try to sleep when you sleep all of

the symptoms causing your motion

sickness

should reset and your body and inner ear

might settle with the motion

if so chances are when you wake up your

motion sickness will be gone

and you will be ready to take a shift or

eat a meal there are some people who are

very prone to motion sickness

and even sleep will not work if underway

and seasickness has taken you there are

some natural remedies which i've already

mentioned

like sleep taking the helm or watching

the horizon

another natural remedy is ginger tea

ginger ale

ginger cookies or just about anything

with ginger in it

ginger root is a natural anti-nausea a

drug like dramamine can work

after the onset of seasickness however

there will be a time period before the

drug takes effect

it's better to use sea sickness

medication in advance of your departure

but several of them should still be

effective if taken after the onset of

sea sickness

there are various sea sickness drugs

available in different countries

a quick google search will reveal the

most common drugs

available for motion sickness they are

dramamine

scopolamine meclazine or bonin

diphenhydramine cyclazine and

promethazine

some drugs that are available in canada

are not available in the united states

in canada we can buy dramamine and

scopolamine

but drugs like boneine cyclazine and

promethazine

are not available at a pharmacy when we

had first left nova scotia the sea state

was pretty wicked

we left the end of october it was cold

and there was like two meter waves and

it was just

blowing like crazy we always had wind on

the nose and we were just bee lining it

trying to make it for our bermuda window

we tried a few different seasickness

remedies at the time

scopolamine patches so with those

patches you have to put it on

12 hours before actually heading out on

your voyage

so the patches just go right behind your

ear you stick it you leave it and your

sea sickness free for three days

straight

it was pretty amazing uh to think that

we wouldn't have any seasickness for

three days but

after day one you start to notice that

your mouth will start to get a bit

cottony after day two you barely can

taste food anymore

and we had no idea that

you were supposed to drink three times

the amount of water

that you typically would drink on the

patches

keep in mind if you are going to be

taking these seasickness patches

it's really important to really get that

water intake

i call them astronaut patches because

they work so well like you can

have any kind of motion and you won't

get sick but it does make you feel

really strange

and it's not our go-to it's kind of like

a backup more

for us because we don't really like

being on those patches

but if we're expecting really really

rough weather and stuff we will take

them

after uh the first three days i didn't

want to go on the patch anymore i felt

pretty content just

winging it but dan kind of pushed me to

do another three days and replace the

patch

so after six days in total i was just

done with the patches we still had

really rough seas but

i was pretty used to the motion of the

boat at this point and i just decided

i could go without dan on the other hand

was still

having a bit of seasickness and went for

another three days after that so he did

nine days in total

on the patch in canada there's a drug

called gravol which is actually

dramamine

there were a few nights where i did feel

a bit nauseous and

i decided to take a gravel

the gravel would just knock me out like

i was just

out dan would wake me up for a minute

just to help with a line here

pull in that pull in this and then i

would just lay down and just pass out

again i just could not keep my eyes open

on gravel

so when noelle takes a dramamine she

is almost out of commission we beat

sailing together

and doing things together and then

noelle would just disappear

and i'd be looking around for her and

you know if she'd taken adrenaline she's

basically sleeping

and even when i would need her to take a

shift or something i don't think she

could

it knocks her flat out it affects

everyone differently though

it's just my reaction to it dramamine is

known as a drug to

make you sleepy there's a children's

version that they give kids when you're

driving and

they're prone to motion sickness in a

car so you know

and they do sleep so you might want to

take that into consideration if you plan

on taking germ i mean

you know it's probably going to make you

drowsy yeah another common seasickness

remedy are these bracelets that you can

wear on your arm

c-bands are knitted elasticated

wristbands with a plastic knob which

exerts

pressure and stimulates the p6 or nyquin

acupressure point it has been proven

that pressure on this point

relieves nausea and vomiting we have

them on board balachandra and noel and i

have tried them

but we haven't tested them in rough

conditions as we haven't noticed any

change when wearing them

however i've spoken with people who

swear by these and apparently

they are very effective with sea

sickness prevention now let's talk about

prevention

if you plan to take motion sickness

drugs like dramamine

or scopolamine it's important to read

the label

and take your dose early most drugs

taken orally

may take up to an hour for its effects

to kick in you'll want to make sure that

your sea sickness protection

is actively working for you when you hit

those rough conditions

with scopolamine you'll want to apply

the patch 12 hours before leaving port

this is preparation and forethought if

you take the patch too late it may not

be effective

do as much food prep as possible before

leaving on a long trip

sometimes cooking underway is a pleasure

especially in light conditions

but anytime noel and i plan to sail in

the open ocean

we do plenty of food prep expecting

rough conditions

as the sea is unpredictable and you

never know try to keep at least some

articles of warm clothing handy

you don't want to be below digging

through lockers to find a sweater or

jacket while underway

and sometimes cold weather can come on

unexpectedly

it's a good idea to have a couple

articles of warm clothing handy and

ready to go

make sure that everything you will need

on hand underway is either in the

cockpit or easily accessible from the

cockpit

items like binoculars winch handles

sailing gloves

a bottle of water your life jacket a

tether

your camera or anything else you think

you need underway

limiting how much time you spend below

is a good prevention

for seasickness have a few good snacks

that you enjoy

at the ready good snacks to help improve

your appetite

is always a good thing when combating

seasickness don't go on a bender the

night before and get hungover

hangovers and seasickness just don't mix

you can harden yourself

against seasickness through experience

and time in motion what i mean is if

you're

on anchor or on a mooring ball and your

boat is moving constantly

chances are when you go out sailing

you're already used to the constant

motion and the feel of the boat

you may not get seasick but i can say

with absolute certainty that the more

time you spend sailing or

at sea the less likely you will come

down with seasickness while sailing

like anything with time you just get

used to it your brain and your body

adapts to the constant motion

we do carry one extreme drug on board in

our first aid kit

called odanzitron this is a prescription

over the counter drug

i was given by my doctor before leaving

canada with the instructions that if

someone were to get violently seasick

this drug should help them however it's

very potent this is the drug that is

offered to patients undergoing

chemotherapy

to prevent nausea so far no one on board

balachandra has taken this drug

we haven't seen a case of seasickness

that extreme but an extremely rough seas

and if myself or noel were to have

a severe case of seasickness limiting us

from controlling the boat and borderline

life-threatening

a drug like this might help us out and

we could regain control

and save our lives it's an extreme

scenario but at least we know this is

available to us if we need it

in canada the leafy green stuff is

legal i'm not going to say what it is

but it's legal

and if you take one or two parts of it

you know just enough

to help you with seasickness you just

don't want to over

consume it as it may throw you off your

game yeah

it's also a reason why cancer patients

use it

it has anti-nausea effects and it can

settle out motion sickness it's an

alternative remedy i guess

maybe a legal remedy but it is remedy

and it's worth considering

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in canada we buy gravel in the us you

would call it draminine

dramamine dramamine

you can put this in the outdate