This wiki article claims that 66% of people are susceptible to motion sickness in severe conditions. Only 33% are susceptible in mild conditions. I’m not entirely sure which category I fit into, but I’d say it’s likely to be the first. I get air sick, sea sick, simulation sick, car and bus sick and I don’t really know about space sick. I’ve never been there but chances are I’d feel ill.
Every Friday afternoon I take my two softball teams to play interschool sport. This involves a ten minute bus ride each way. Usually I try and sit by myself so I can look out of the bus but today one of my shy, newish boys asked if I could sit with him. Not wanting to be rude, I accepted his offer and he proceeded to talk the entire way, preventing me from watching out the front of the bus continuously. I began to feel exceptionally ill and, since asking him to stop talking would only be a little less offensive than throwing up on him, I let him continue. It’s very difficult to seem interested and engaged in a conversation with a small child whilst wanting to throw up. Once we got back to school the nausea did not subside. Again, it’s almost impossible to teach 29 hyperactive children while wanting to throw up. Furthermore I have the unfortunate tendency to not ask for help when needed so I soldiered* on.
I’m sick of getting motion sickness. Are there any remedies out there that actually work? I tried sea sickness tablets once but I was so drowsy that I slept through the entire cruise. When I awoke, I was too drowsy to talk without sounding drunk. The tablets would have made me unfit to drive had I been required to do so.
My only other remedy so far has been to go to sleep. There’s a catch with this one but I’m afraid telling you would be oversharing. And we know how Nathan feels about that. Unfortunately this remedy doesn’t really work if you’re suppose to be the one in charge.
*I actually told my kids I had some “very important” work to do on the computer and would let them play some quite games so long as they didn’t disturb me. Technically supervision rather than teaching but that’s all I could manage.
Robyn is Nathan's wife. She was once a teacher. She is now a student at Queensland Theological College. She enjoys playing music and all sorts of exercise. She is the proud owner of two pet turtles.
Robyn has produced 18 articles.
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1Amy
wrote on 30 October 2009 at 5:52
Ginger tablets work pretty well (mythbusters actually found they were far more effective than any other drug/remedy), otherwise, the watching the horizon method helps.
But buses are awful for it, aren't they?
2Phoebe
wrote on 30 October 2009 at 6:58
'I get air sick, sea sick, simulation sick, car and bus sick'
Add 'needle sick' to that and you've got a complete list :P
Poor Nathan. I've heard ginger works pretty well too – that's unfortunate that the tablets you took made you drowsy. I'm not really familiar with the motion sickness tablets on the market, but I'm imagining a simple anti-emetic would help a lot? Have you got anything on prescription?
3Phoebe
wrote on 30 October 2009 at 7:01
Lol I only just realised it was Robyn who authored this blog… sorry Nathan :P
4Nathan
wrote on 30 October 2009 at 7:03
The stuff about teaching and the reference to me in the penultimate paragraph wasn't a giveaway? Nor the by line at the top of the article?
No, I can proudly say that I don't get motion sick. I am in fact at the far end of the travel sickness scene – I can read on boats, trains, cars, you name it…
5queenstuss
wrote on 30 October 2009 at 10:15
Having suffered more than my fair share of morning sickness, I can attest that ginger is a great cure for nausea.
I get 'reading the map in the car when my husband thinks he knows his way around Brisbane despite having not lived there in nearly 15 years' sickness. Not fun.
6Leah
wrote on 31 October 2009 at 8:22
David used to get motion sickness aaaaaaall the time when he was a kid. Mum gave him some medication before he took his first plane flight, fearing he'd get air-sick. He didn't get air-sick, and seeing as he was so prone to every other type of motion sickness, the medication must have worked. I have no idea what it was though, sorry :P Maybe ask her, if she remembers.
But Andre also reckons ginger-based products are pretty good. He's probably in the 66% that are susceptible in severe conditions.
I've only ever gotten "motion sick" twice and both had other factors contributing to them; the first was when I was about 13, travelling on some very windy roads in outer Sydney, and the smog in the air was bothering me. The second was when I was reading while driving along windy roads in Western Australia. What was I reading about? A bush doctor having to pull a man's tooth with a pair of pliers.
I used to be SO freaked out about dental things that I once passed out from reading a pamphlet about the complications that can arise from wisdom tooth extractions. So reading that other story on a windy road really wasn't a smart idea.
Sometimes I get queasy reading on windy roads, etc. But once I put the book down I'm ok.