High altitude & sea sickness medicine

Family, Education, Health and Pets
21
I would say it specifically refers to being on a boat but one could infer that a sufferer might also get motion-sickness in other situations. I'm not sure what point you're trying to make as the situation is specifically about being on a boat.

22
Went to post #1 and you're right, it's about a damned boat. I better stop here

23
I'm not as you are very unlikely to get sea sickness on a little lake.

I think the OP should tell us!

24
Traditional solution for altitude in the Andes is to chew Coca leaves - I think even legal in some countries there but I'm sure not anywhere else.

25
When I read OP's post, I thought he meant Lake Titicaca (Peru/Bolivia), but that's "only" 3800 meters? In which case, you will need acetazolamide. C'mon, OP, inquiring minds want to know!

26
That'd be pretty much the solution for anything in life!

27

In Switzerland it's not licensed for altitude sickness prevention. And it needs a prescription. Good luck finding a doc willing to prescribe it off label, other than an altitude specialist

..

28
I am not sure this is correct - it certainly doesn't reflect my experiences.

I have done a lot of sailing (>35,000 nm) and am extremely susceptible to seasickness, spending a lot of time on lee side throwing my guts up. Scopolamine (hyoscine) patches have helped along with not having too much in your tummy to hurl. Breaking the cycle with cola works (for some strange reason).

I get altitude sickness as well and haven't yet managed to get above 4,500m. I don't bother now as the pain is too much.

29

In Switzerland it's not licensed for altitude sickness prevention. And it needs a prescription. Good luck finding a doc willing to prescribe it off label, other than an altitude specialist

..

30

I get mine here:

https://www.swisstph.ch/travelclinic/ (last prescription was literally yesterday)

but also UZH will prescribe it as part of their travel clinic. It’s so common in Switzerland that most doctors dealing with hikers will prescribe it.

That said - unless you plan on flying TO altitude, I usually recommend buying at destination. The pharmacies foothills of the himalayas sell it MUCH cheaper (and generally don’t care about prescriptions)

31

When we used to scuba dive, my former partner struggled with motion sickeness, she was ok in the front of a car but the back was a no no, boats were a big problem, and fights could be if she didn’t have a window seat. She used to take over the counter and precsiption meds, with varying success, and invariably drowsiness (not cool on a dive boat). She then tried acupuncture bands… amazing, worked a treat and she never took tablets again.

She had the elasticated ones with a wee plastic bobble inside like these:
https://lloydspharmacy.com/products/…pressure-bands

That was +25 year ago, now you get all techy ones… with a techy price to:
https://reliefband.co.uk/?gclid=Cj0K…UaAiseEALw_wcB

Not sure how they’d work for altitude though?

32
Next can someone suggest a homeopathic remedy?

33
Quite simple. 1 ml of tequila a day. With half a liter you feel dizzy and nauseous, 1 ml is the homeopathic dose.

34
In medical studies they have been shown to have zero effect on motion sickness irrespectively of whether they are used correctly or incorrectly.

There's probably a placebo effect.

Probably.

35
Just speaking from actual experience with someone successfully using bands, and no longer needing the wizardry of modern chemistry for motion sickness. 1 person does not a study make.... but hey nothing like a good read on google eh

36
I'm not knocking the use of the bands - if they work then use them

Don't underestimate the placebo effect.

As for Google - I'd rather trust a peer-reviewed scientific study obtained via a Google search than trust my local pharmacy here which peddles nonsense remedies including homeopathic ones.

37

Groan !!

38
My dad use to take us on his boat often when I was young, and I'd often start to feel nauseous. As it turns out, the problem was that I was looking down rather than outward, toward the horizon. (This is also why I can't read in cars). So my advice to try to help prevent motion sickness in a boat is to be conscious of what your line of vision is doing and to make sure you're looking outward rather than looking down at something, or at the water.

For any kind of motion sickness or nausea in general, I've actually found ginger candies to help a lot. I buy the Chinese (?) ones in the photo below that you chew and are sold in pharmacies here, in the little green box. They work really well for motion sickness and nausea. It seems I remember an Apotheke worker even once telling me that that's why they sell them. I can't guarantee that they'd help for altitude sickness, as I've never experienced that. But if that involves nausea, I'm sure they would help.