sea sick

[fishinAK]

Ok I know no one likes to admit they get sea sick. But, if there is anyone out there that does do you have any tips, tricks or drugs that have help to treat or prevent it?

I am deck handing in Cross Sound this year for the first time. I have sport fished Cross sound and Icy and have gotten sea sick nearly every time. however, By the 2nd day of the trip the sickness is usally gone.

thanks for any and all ideas!

[Katlian]

I believe in having the full complement of drugs on board. My wife's favorite is "marezine". You have to special order it from the pharmacy. It is OTC, but not very common.

For king openers, we do not screw around. Anyone who has turned green in the past gets the patch. It makes you sluggish and by the forth day you cannot see well enough to read a book. But you never get to that special hell of fully sick.

slr

[Salty]

Marezine sure works for some. What works for my wife is called "Trip Tone" which she used to get at Mac's here in Sitka. She would take it when I got up at dawn or so and then she would be fine all day except that she would sleep until noon unless I got her up at 8 or so. We liked it better than the patch and other stuff which made her drowsy. She walked off the bow of the boat one time when we were trolling off of Shelikov when she was using one of those other kind.
What I highly recommend is recruiting and keeping deck hands that don't get sea sick or who are so tough that they work right through it. Drugging your crew, while the only solution sometimes, is just not the best situation.
I remember the August opening when I took my best friend and one of my brother in laws commercial trolling. What a disaster! We ran into the fish, the weather was tough and they both got horribly sea sick. I was running the boat, pulling gear, cleaning fish, icing fish etc. while they were trying to work while puking all over everything. I finally told my brother in law to go lay down. He made it to the cabin doorway and laid down half in and half out of the cabin which meant I had to stumble over him every time I went into or out of the cabin. I sent my best friend down into the hold to ice fish. After a while I looked down there and he was curled into the fetal position near a pool of green vomit on my slaughter house ice. In a forever regrettable moment I told my good friend to "get that green stuff off of my ice now."
My wife had made a great lasagna which we had heating up in the oven. Both my crew were too sick too eat and for some reason when the weather is rough I get hungry. So, while they were laying around moaning and puking, I ate the whole thing. So, when Sarah asked me how Dan and John liked the lasagna I said "the crew devoured it". Somehow I am still great friends with both John and Dan but they have not asked to crew with me since and John often tells the story of my insensitivity to a little vomit on the ice.

[Jon]

My wife uses Promethazine, it's a prescription drug. She gets sick even reading in a moving car so this stuff really works wonders. 1/2 a pill/day, in the morning, and no side effects. It's inexpensive online, about 20 bucks for a three month supply. Also doubles as an anti-histamine.

[packy]

Meclazine, and I am not sure if I am spelling it right, but that's the pronunciation any way. You have to ask the pharmacist for it from behind the counter. Here is what I have found to work for my new crew members and friends. Don't follow the instructions on the bottle. Take one the night before you go out, just before bed time, and then take one in the morning. It has worked every time and even with some really sensitive to motion people. There is one draw back if they don't stay busy they will get very sleepy but you can work through that. Thanks for the stories they where quite entertaining. I am sure glad I was blessed with no motion sickness problems.
I have seen some really ugly times for people out on the water. Hey, it don't hurt to have a chummer once in a while either

[John Murray]

It true you can really turn green from seasickness!That must mean your really sick.
One thing you shouldn't let happen to you or your crew ,if one gets pretty sick out there. Is don't let your electrolite balance get too screwed up.One should have some remedy to bring things under control.It can be quite dangerous to have someone trying to dressing a salmon under those conditions(whoops there goes a finger part)s_ _t gotta cut the trip short.
More on this later when I can dig up some fixes.
.

[Once and Future]

I wanted to post a link to the best sea-sickness article I have ever read, but it escapes me. So I will try and remember as many points as I can. Some members of my family suffer mightily from it. There are medicines that help, and there are non-medicinal steps to be taken as well.

As far as medicine, my family members are gravitating towards a half a promethazine tablet once a day. They used to use the Scopamine patch. The patch worked well, until we turned that final corner around the capes to where the open ocean is really "loose" with big ground swells running a different direction to the surface wind waves. And Promethazine seems to be working better in that regard. Before the patch, Bonine (meclazine) was thought to be the best. Dramamine II is the same product as Bonine, I believe. Original Dramamine, I swear, would make anyone seasick even if they don't tend towards it. Whatever medicine, take it a couple hours before you leave the dock, or better, the night before.

And don't discount the ancient remedy of ginger. Just make sure if you are taking ginger snaps, they are made will real ginger. The ginger seems to help your stomach as an aid to digestion, which is explained further in the next paragraph.

The article I was looking for helped me understand several aspects of the dilemma. The main problem is that your inner ear and vision work together to sort out motion and balance. When conflicting signals are given to the brain, it has the effect of disrupting digestion, which is one of the most complicated and delicate processes of the body. So the worst possible scenario would be if you are on a rocking boat and you can't see outside, or are focused on a close task like reading or tying fishing line. We have probably all heard to go out on deck, or at least look out the window. This adds up, because under that scenario, you eyes and inner ear detectors can agree on more of what they're sensing. On a troller, the cockpit is the best place, because the motion of the boat is less, plus it's a safer place to puke from. Just make sure somebody is keeping tabs on you back there. And, cleaning fish isn't going to work if you're the least bit queasy.

One thing I have noticed is that saltier people tend to keep their torso and head in motion more, which separates them from the movement of the boat just an extra little bit. And by "in motion" I mean like a compass gimble. Their motion is opposite of the boat, so an imaginary bubble on top of their brain inside their skull would spend more time in the very peak of the head. A person getting sick who sits at the table and braces their shoulder and head up against the wall in a vain attempt to find stability is making a mistake.

Now that search for stability often leads people to seek their bunk. And while we have heard that is a mistake (and it is for someone who is expected to work immediately) it can actually help someone who is very sick "reset" themselves, as the eyes are closed so a big part of that sensory conflict is gone. If your boat is making a run to an anchorage, maybe you can sleep until the water is flat, which you can take as an opportunity to reset further.

Taken together, the medicine and the "resetting" can ease you into getting accustomed and being more productive. What doesn't work is an unsympathetic captain who thinks he can force you to get over it or die. That feeling of helplessness makes things worse. "Hey, I'm not sick, what's your problem? Suck it up!"

And lastly, what to ingest, besides ginger snaps: The article said not citrus. And that's what made me believe in the whole article. It's been several years since I puked, but when I did my orange juice came up looking just like it did when I drank it 4 hours previous. Thus proving to me my digestion was on hold.

Today I learned the theory of "bolus" which is apparently a nice soft ball of food in your stomach, which can be created with oatmeal, a bagel, or crusty bread. A little peanut butter seems to help me. Dairy products do not. And just a sip of something carbonated would make me puke right now.

And some people want to puke and get it over with. I HATE puking. That is why I can't get as drunk as some. Some of my friends are able to puke and bounce right back. Once I puke, I am in bad shape for a long time.

But as far as carbonation, I had one friend tell me drinking a beer for breakfast before you leave the harbor will fend of sea sickness. I'll leave that experiment to somebody else.

[JKD]

I have tried nearly all of the products suggested above with varying degrees of success. I had very good results recently after recommending "Bonine" to deckhands. I keep Bonine, Dramamine, and Merazine on the boat. Bonine seems to work best by taking the first dose the night before departure and every evening of the trip before they go to bed.

I used to recommend [and kept a supply of] Scopalamine patches on my other boat. Our family doctor back then was a seasonal troller and he used the patches for his children for many years from Sitka to Yakutat. He said that these worked best by allowing time to get the active ingredients into your system before dealing with any wave action. I have noticed a lot of charter fishing clients coming down the Sitka docks and climbing onto charter rigs wearing patches behind their ears, but I couldn't say for certain if they were using Scopalamine.

Seasickness is a very real curse and I sincerely feel sorry for anyone who has the affliction. The only time I ever got queasy was when the boat I was on had a diesel exhaust leak that developed when we were running in to Pelican from the Fairweather Grounds in a strong SW storm. This gave me a taste of the misery a seasick person goes through. I have had both troll and long-line deckhands that went through all of the proper anti-seasickness procedures and still got sick, so not everyone responds well to seasick medications.

[Jackson]

I usually take 1-2 Dramamine in the morning. Work too hard and fast to get drowsy. Maybe a little grumpy though.

[carojae]

Most people get sea sick, only a few will actually hang over the side and puke.

[Once and Future]

I read once in a post by a coast guard man that said given a small enough boat, and rough enough seas, virtually everyone will get puking sick. Imagine being inside a life raft with a canopy at night in 20 foot seas. You're not going to puke?

I tend to believe there is a wide range of tolerance to sea sickness among individuals. Simply take a rough ferry crossing with the general public aboard and see what percentage gets puking sick. I was on one once where a full third of the passengers were doing so. My family had luckily had bananas for breakfast, and did not succumb.

That said, my understanding is the Navy makes no provision for sea sickness. Yet everyone's body eventually adapts.