Motion Sickness

Those of us, me included, who suffer from motion sickness are all too familiar with that queasy feeling that we can get when riding certain vehicles.  Different individuals are prone to different triggers and intensity of symptoms.  Your body determines that you are moving through space based on signals your brain gets from your eyes and signals your brain gets from your body.  If those signals clash, then for those of us prone to motion sickness, that's when we start feeling sick to our stomachs.  How can those signals clash?  The most common way is when your body can feel like it's moving (when you're riding in a car, for example) but you're reading and focusing on something else, so your eyes give your brain the message that you're still.  Some individuals can be even more sensitive and just get the sensation of motion sickness when the degree of movement is more marked (like riding a small to medium boat on choppy waters) even without trying to read.

Based on how motion sickness occurs, the best way to minimize/prevent it is to encourage the person affected by it to not read while riding in a moving vehicle or do anything that requires focusing on something stationary in the car (even watching a movie on a tablet or other similar activities).  Instead, they should be encouraged to look out the windows of the vehicle to look at the horizon so that their eyes also give their brain the message that they are moving, consistent with the signals their body is transmitting to their brain.

Some nonpharmacologic ways to manage motion sickness are acupressure bands that are designed to be worn tightly around the wrist and are designed to activate pressure points that can help to decrease the feeling of nausea.  Also, sucking on ginger hard candies or ginger lollipops or anything made with real ginger may help.  Deep breathing and turning the A/C to high (low temp and high air flow) might also help.  If these interventions are not enough, over-the-counter remedies may help.  Dramamine is available for adults and chewable Dramamine for Kids is safe down to 2 years of age.  It can cause drowsiness, though, so it may not be appropriate in all situations.  Another over-the-counter option is Benadryl (which also of course would likely cause drowsiness but can be given younger than 2 years of age).  Lastly, if conservative management and over-the-counter options have failed, you should consult your doctor to see what prescription pharmacologic options might be an option.