The best treatment for travel sickness is to prevent it - since once one develops the full symptoms, drugs will be of virtually no use. To minimize the symptoms after they occur, try breathing in fresh air - going out on deck on the ship, or opening the car windows. Avoid cigarette smoke and food smells, since these aggravate nausea. When traveling on land, as in a car or train, face in the direction of travel and fix your gaze on the road ahead or close your eyes. Reading in a moving vehicle should be avoided.
Often, repeated exposure to the motion which brings on travel sickness helps one's body to adjust and in a sense immunizes it so that one's symptoms are minimized. However, there are experienced sailors who never get over their sea-sickness! There are several drugs that can help prevent travel sickness but they must be taken before one sets out, since they almost always have no effect once symptoms come on.
Travel Sickness Remedies #1
The most effective drug to prevent travel sickness is Hyoscine (also called Scopolamine). It can have side effects such as drowsiness, blurred vision, dryness of the mouth and retention of urine but these are generally not prominent with the doses employed. A tablet of 300 microgrammes is taken approximately half an hour before commencing the journey; the dose may be repeated in six to eight hours if necessary. Children require smaller doses; a quarter tablet from two to five years, and a half tablet from five to ten years.
Travel Sickness Remedies #2
Recently, a convenient method of taking Hyoscine has become available. The drug is incorporated in a small adhesive dressing (like a piece of sticking plaster) that can be pasted on to the skin behind the ear; this allows a small, steady dose of the drug to be absorbed through the skin into the bloodstream over a period of 72 hours. The patch is applied about six hours before commencing the journey - and delivers enough medication to last a three day period. One word of caution though Hyoscine should not be used by pregnant women, or those suffering from prostate problems or glaucoma. Other drugs such as the antihistamines Cinnarizine, Cyclizine, Promethazine and Dimenhydrate are also used in preventing travel sickness especially in those who find the side effects of Hyoscine unpleasant.
Travel Sickness Remedies – What Should You Know?
All these drugs can be quite effective but it must be admitted that there is no 100%effective way of preventing travel sickness. Unless, of course, one confines oneself to traveling only on one's own two feet!
Posted in: Travel Sickness Remedies