Sea sickness

[infomama]

Are Sea Bands the gold standard (I read they pinch)? I don't want our cruise ruined with sea sickness or feeling drugged up.What do you use? Ginger candy? Prescription meds? Patch? Sea Bands? Dramamine?
I'm pretty nervous about this since I can't even read in the car without getting sick.

[liz]

Bonine (meclizine). I love this stuff. It doesn't leave me feeling sluggish and you only have to take one pill for 24 hours. You can find it next to Dramamine at the store. hth

ETA: You might want to get a prescription for the patch just in case. I think you can get them on board the ship, but I am not sure how much it would cost. I have a few friends who swear by it for cruises.

[peanut520]

I have a touch of vertigo and tha patch works well when we snorkel, but haven't been on a cruise since my last experience without the patch (I literally fell out of my shower when I closed my eyes to wash my hair for over two weeks). I want to try the psi band next time to minimize drugs in my system.

[LMPC]

I used the bands when I was pregnant with morning sickness and they helped a lot. I didn't feel that they pinched, but after a while I would have to adjust them a little to move the pressure point to a different location. Was not a big deal.

I used Bonine on a sailing trip in college. Worked fantastic! Did not feel drowsy at all.

[Tondi G]

if you are really sensitive I would talk to your doctor about getting the prescription patch for sea sickness.

[rlu]

bonine for me and the kid during our Alaska cruise (and when taking super curvy highway 9 to the woods around here). We hit some pretty bad rough seas and while others were stuck in their rooms we were merrily going on our way.

It seems the size of the ship determines how big the stabilizers are. I've no idea how big the disney ships are, but I do better on cruise ships than on sight-seeing boats (and the float plane in Anchorage almost did me in, I was green when I got off even with the bonine).

Locally the kid bonine is hard to get but it is online, drugstore.com has it but not walgreens.com.

I found the sour jelly bellys really helped during my pregnancy and during a recent flirtation with the flu found them again to help with the unsettled stomach (no idea why it does, but it seems to work for me).

[bigpassport]

I got the patch and was so sluggish the first day of my cruise I don't even remember it. I've found on subsequent cruises that a non-drowsy Dramamine 24 hour on the first day (before boarding) is enough to get my sea legs, after the first day I don't need anything. And if I did need to take something, the non-drowsy Dramamine 24 hour is really non-drowsy so I could take it the whole time.

If you're thinking about the patch, I would recommend that you try to get your sea legs with Dramamine or something else non drowsy and only use the patch as a last resort.

Also, the lower you are on the ship and the more toward the center (not front or back) will have the least movement.

[mytwosons]

I've only been on one cruise, but didn't have any problem. There is no way I can read in the car (even reading a couple words makes me sick) and I need to take dramamine when driving on winding roads or through the mountains. All that to say, I hope you do fine too!

[DrSally]

All of the above. I've never been on a cruise, but with my level of motion sickness/vertigo, I imagine I'd get sick. I do dramamine, but it makes me drowsy. I have a $100 electronic watch thing that sends little signals to the pulse point on your wrist (the accupressure point that supposed to help with nausea). It actually works. Ginger (real stuff) does help me somewhat (TJ's sells candied form). I also had a script for phenergan and loved the stuff. Same effect as dramamine, but very little drowsiness (shorter half life, etc. ). Never tried the patch.