Travel Sickness

Travel sickness is often called motion sickness, and it occurs when susceptible individuals spend time traveling by airplane, car or boat. It may come on suddenly, or it might happen every time you are in such a vehicle. Although it is not serious and always resolves on its own, motion sickness can make travel very difficult and tedious. Understanding the causes, symptoms and treatment options for travel sickness can make the condition easier to deal with. If you have questions, you may click the blue bar to the right to have a personal consultation with one of our doctors regarding your motion sickness symptoms.

The reason that you may experience car, air or sea sickness is that your eyes and inner ears perceive motion differently. Your eyes see the scenery whizzing by, and the fluid in your ears gets jostled in a different direction. This creates the uncomfortable and disorienting feeling of motion sickness. Air sickness can be exacerbated by turbulence, taking off and landing. Car sickness might be made worse by winding roads, too much heat in the vehicle or sitting in the backseat. Sea sickness may become worse when you cannot see land on the horizon, or when the waters are turbulent and choppy. Children are more likely to experience motion sickness than adults, and women, particularly pregnant women, are more prone to its effects than men. If you are anxious or fearful of becoming sick, you may be more likely to feel ill.

The symptoms of travel sickness may be mild or severe, and include dizziness, headache, nausea and vomiting. You may also notice pale skin, trembling, fatigue, sweating and the feeling of having too much saliva in your mouth. Sometimes after you vomit, you will feel better temporarily.

If you have had travel sickness in the past, you may be able to prevent its symptoms by using medications, bands or simply behavioural changes. For car sickness, for example, try sitting in the front seat and keeping your eyes focused straight ahead of you. Keep your head against the headrest to prevent too much movement, and avoid reading, which may make you more prone to nausea. For sea sickness, try to stand outside in the fresh air, and keep your eyes on any land that you can see. If you cannot see any land, focus on the horizon. For air sickness, keep the vent pointed at your face, and avoid eating anything heavy or greasy before you get on the plane.

On your wrist is a point that those well-versed in acupressure refer to as Pericardium 6. This point is on the front of your inner wrist, approximately two centimetres from the crease of your wrist. Applying pressure to this area is said to relieve and reduce nausea and other symptoms of motion sickness. You can buy travel sickness bands at your pharmacy. These have a small button that applies pressure to this area. Depending on the severity of your symptoms, this may be enough to reduce your travel sickness. A consultation with one of our doctors can help you decide whether this treatment might work for you. Some people may find success by using relaxation and biofeedback techniques. This is something else to consider and to discuss with your doctor.

If behavioural and lifestyle changes do not relieve your travel sickness, your doctor may recommend tablets for travel sickness.

One type of travel sickness medication is made with an ingredient called hyoscine. The medication works by blocking the signals which cause vomiting. This can be taken orally, or through a patch on the skin. Scopoderm TTS is a patch which contains hyoscine. You place it behind your ear at least five or six hours before you travel, and it can keep your comfortable throughout your trip. Kwell tablets contain the same medication, but are pills that you take. They are available without a doctor's prescription.

The other popular type of motion sickness medication is a drug called promethazine. One brand is Avomine, which can be taken daily during times of travel for both the prevention and treatment of travel sickness. The benefit of taking this type of medication instead of a hyoscine medication is that promethazine is less likely to cause sedation. Unfortunately, this type of medication may be less effective than hyoscine in preventing and treating notion sickness.

Hyoscine is possibly a more effective treatment, however promethazine is useful in that it is less sedative than hyoscine and therefore may be more suitable for some people.

These medicines work by minimizing the conflicting signals in the brain, which cause the confusion when the brain tells the body one thing, while visual signals tell the brain something else.

The anti-travel sickness tablets should be taken just before you embark on your journey, but can be used during the journey to alleviate travel sickness symptoms. For full details, please be sure to read the accompanying product information leaflet.