What is the best seasickness remedy?

I've seen a lot of different recommendations, Bonine, seabands, what does everyone think works the best?

transderm scopalamine patches. But they work best if placed before you get sea-sick! Of course seeing my bar tab causes a different type of see-sickness altogether - and for that there is no cure!!:D

I took a combo of bonine and ginger capsules(all natural) & the ginger Altoids(several a day)-I bought sea-bands and didnt really use them.

-took 1 bonine nightly before bed and took the ginger capsules in the am and pm-i started 1 day before boarding. I heard @ so many negative side effects w/ the patch-use the search feature & check it out. I found it quite scary some of the severe medical problems people encountered & for others-wouldnt cruise w/anything but the patch-Try it beforehand to see how you react, imo-wouldnt chance it as the ships are so stable, most people dont even take anything. i am just taking precauctions-will be using the bonine and ginger caps in 5 days...NCL Star in Vancouver :) happy cruising. Liz

Where does one get scopalamine patches and bonine caps? I'm new to cruising and want to be prepared.

For my DW the only thing that works is OTC Meclizine. If she starts them as directed BEFORE getting on board, and continues to take them regardless of how she feels, she has no problems.

She has tried bands and the patches, but always (usually mid-trip) comes back to the Meclizine.

Once she IS sick, the only solution for her is fresh air, green apple and Ginger Ale. In fact, that combination worked for all four family members that got sick when coming out of the Inside Passage on our way to Sitka. The cabin steward chased them out of the cabins, apparently the WORSE place to be, cut up some apples and brought them bottles of the Ginger Ale. Seems he lives with the same problem.

Back in the 1950's Old Salts used to recommend a piece of fat pork on a string, swallowed and brought back up.

Warning!! don't try this unless you are on deck,leaning over the side with the wind blowing from behind you!! I t also helps to be completely Nuts!!

Seriously, most sailors get sea sick (even Lord Nelson),the best way is to keep on deck and busy with something to do and even if you are sick, you will soon get over it and once you get your sea-legs most people aren't sick again, BUT there are exceptions!!

Seaband wrist bands work for us!!

NCL usually distributes the Meclazine without charge.

Thanks for all the responses! I heard that whatever NCL distributes (I guess Mezclazine), can make you drowsy. Has anyone had that side effect?

Try the long acting Bonine. I had a horrifying experience with the patch and lost almost 2 days on my cruise because I couldn't see! I have heard of people cutting the patch in half, but why bother? Bonine works just as well..non drowsy also.

Bonine is a trade name for meclizine. Draminimine non drowsy is also meclizine. I have terrible motion sickness and bonine/meclizine/dramimine non drowsy is totally efective for me. I buy whichever I can find in the drugstore. If you can find it meclizine is usually the least expensive.

I used the patch once and I don't think it's as effective.

I take a meclizine before the the ship starts to move and another one each day of the cruise. That does the trick for me. I haven't noticed any drowsiness but sea air does tend to make some people sleepy. It just makes me happy.

We have also been successful with combining Bonine (generic Meclizine) with ginger capsules. The Meclizine must be taken before you sail and it can make you drowsy. It comes in two sizes- 50mg and 25 mg. A child or smaller adult should use the lower dose. Ginger capsules, available in any health food store, should be taken at the first sign of any queasyness.

My wife, who is very susceptable to motion sickness, has found the following regimen very effective. Since we always sail out of New York, she takes a 25mg meclizine with her dinner while still sailing in New York harbor. It does make her a little drowsy but she is soon going to sleep. The next morning, if seas are rough, she will take an additional meclizine with breakfast. If seas are calm, she doesn't need any more but walks the deck after breakfast to get her sea legs. She keeps the ginger capsules handy just in case she starts to feel a little queasy. This has worked for her on many cruises.

First, for virgin cruisers, remember that the bigger the ship, the less the motion sickness (general rule), read the stability ratings for the ships (some designs have better stabilizers than others).

I would not recommend the scopolamine patch due to higher incidence of side effects.

Medical acupressure bands have shown no effect in a double blinded study in laboratory conditions. Although commonly recommended, they do not work any better than a placebo (i.e. if they work, it's probably all in your head)

Here is some information on a few things that probably do work....:cool:

J Travel Med. 1994 Dec 1;1(4):203-206.Related Articles, Links

Comparison of Seven Commonly Used Agents for Prophylaxis of Seasickness.

Schmid R, Schick T, Steffen R, Tschopp A, Wilk T.

Institute of Social and Preventive Medicine of the University of Zurich, Switzerland.

The objective of the study was to compare the efficacy and tolerability of seven drugs frequently used for the prevention of seasickness: the drugs were namely cinnarizine, cinnarizine with domperidone, cyclizine, dimenhydrinate with caffeine, ginger root, meclozine with caffeine, and scopolamine. The design was a randomized, double-blind study with two arms. On ethical grounds, a placebo group was not included as in a previous study, in the same setting, 80% of the passengers not receiving prophylactic drugs were seasick. The setting was in Andenes (Norway) during a time period from July to September 1992. Subjects were 1741 tourist volunteers who were joining a whale safari. The main outcome measures were vomiting, malaise (modified Graybiel criteria), and subjective reports of adverse events. Follow up was possible in 1489 volunteers (85.5%). In each active treatment group, 4.1-10.2% experienced vomiting and 16.4-23.5% experienced malaise (not significant). Equally, there was no significant difference in the incidence and characteristics of adverse events reported in the various medication groups. Scopolamine Transdermal Therapeutic System (TTS) users exhibited slightly more visual problems and the agent tended to be less effective. Six of the seven medications may be recommended for prevention of seasickness; scopolamine TTS seems the least attractive.