ReliefBand
I have always been prone to motion sickness. Going out in a boat meant that I would be sick; the only question was how long it would take before I was hanging over the edge. My wife really wanted to go on a cruise, so I looked to see if there was anything that modern science could do for me. Dramamine puts me to sleep, so that was out, and I feared the patch would be just as bad. Then I ran across the ReliefBand. After reading a number of reviews I tried it, and the results for me were amazing. I went on a seven-day cruise and never had a moment’s illness, not even when we were on a small fishing boat with several people bringing back their lunch right near me.
The ReliefBand uses small pulses of electricity on pressure points in the wrist that relieve nausea. It’s approved by the FDA for morning sickness, but it certainly works for motion sickness as well. You can adjust the strength of the tingling from 1 (very mild) to 5 (strong enough to make my fingers curl a bit, involuntarily).
The ReliefBand needs to be worn tightly, and I’m often adjusting the band to make sure the electric pulses fall in the right place on my wrist. I adjust the setting according to the level of ship’s motion; sometimes I’ve set it on 5, mostly I leave it on 2 or 3. The most severe test I put it to was on my most recent cruise, where one evening we had 15-foot swells and Force 7 winds. Half the crew was seasick, and most of the passengers, too. I didn’t feel so good, myself, but I never felt like throwing up; I just went to bed early.
I don’t know why this device isn’t better known or sold more widely because it does the job exceptionally well with no drugs and no side effects. I’ve run into a couple of people on cruises wearing the ReliefBand, and they all have stories similar to mine. Yes, it’s expensive (if you hunt around you may be able to find it for around $110), but if you're planning to spend a lot of money on a cruise it pays for itself in the first sickness-free day.
Available from Amazon
Manufactured by Neurowave Medical
Favorite (15)
rob
Like all motion sickness remedies, this may or may not work for some people. I'd try some ginger pills first and possibly save $120... Or do what I do: eat a big meal before going on the boat, get sick and barf it up (you feel better if you throw up food rather than dry heave), then feel right as rain the rest of the trip ;)
Mark
$110? Seriously? I picked up some generic acupuncture-style bands that apply pressure to a nerve between the tendons on your wrist for my wife. The first day of our cruise she was rather green around the gills, so I went to the concessions shop to pick some up for $5 and she felt great the rest of the trip. The bands also worked well for pregnancy and morning sickness.
http://www.drugsdepot.com/viewitem.php/drugsdepot/pd1744015/ACU_STRAP_MOTION_SICKNESS_BAND
JR
Seems very expensive for a placebo. Are there any scientific studies appearing in peer reviewed journals showing this method effective against sea sickness.
James
I agree with Mark. No way I would pay that much when something much cheaper works just as well.
http://www.amazon.com/o/ASIN/B000O827E0/ref=nosim/betteraddons-20
My wire uses them for both motion sickness (boats and planes) and her morning sickness.
Lee
We should note here that any sea sickness/dizziness that lasts beyond the cruise could be BPPV (Benign Paroxysmal Positional Vertigo)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benign_paroxysmal_positional_vertigo
This is where crystals in the inner ear involved in the balance functions get dropped into the wrong place by the odd motions on the sea. If a person returns from a cruise and still has balance problems a week later, there are doctors that can put you through a series of movements to put the crystals back in there proper place.
Be sure to get a medical doctor trained to perform the proper treatment for BPPV.
Jeanne Edna Thelwell
I get used to get motion sick if I *looked* at something with wheels, and I've gotten seasick a number of times. (When we went cruising in the Caribbean, I almost never went below; I even slept on deck unless it was pouring.)
When I took a bus tour of Israel, I tried the patch. It worked, and the only side effect was a dry mouth. It didn't make me sleepy. I recommend trying it.
Sam F
"Seems very expensive for a placebo. Are there any scientific studies appearing in peer reviewed journals showing this method effective against sea sickness."
A simple Google search would have told you the answer.
Here's one describing a number of "randomized, double-blind, placebo- and sham-controlled" studies: http://www.aetna.com/cpb/medical/data/600_699/0676.html
and here's one regarding post-chemo vomiting and nausea: http://www.springerlink.com/content/ah7fq29q6n867aa9/
That said while the majority of the studies appeared to show positive effects countering nausea, at least one (bottom of the first link) showed no effects, so we'll have to wait for the meta-article to tie together all the discrepancies.
fluffy
I'm also in the "probably a placebo" camp. My guess for how it works, if at all, is that the sensation of electric discharges is probably enough to distract you from feeling hurfy, by having something to focus on that isn't the swaying motion of the boat. Surely there is something cheaper and/or more useful than that.
John
@fluffy - I think "hurfy" is my new favorite word.
elon
I'm using "hurfy" in all personal correspondence for the rest of the day.
@ Sam F: Thanks for linking to that research. The majority of the studies quoted indicate that ReliefBand and the Original Sea Band Motion Sickness Band ($8) that James recommended are in fact effective. In the one study that concluded they're not ultimately effective (though ReliefBand was found at least to delay symptoms in that study, too) "Subjects were exposed to a 20-min baseline and a maximum of 20 min of optokinetic drum rotation." Ouch.
My wife used the Original Sea Band Motion Sickness Band (they didn't spend their money on branding) with some success for morning sickness. I'm wondering if anyone has used both for comparison's sake?--es
Cloudface
Curiously, I used a similar technique about a decade ago to quit smoking. Worked like a (Pavlovian) charm--I didn't even think about cigarettes for a year and a half after 1 1/2 hours of treatment. It was billed as a spinoff of the Russian (!) space program, ominously enough... In truth, that treatment also used a 9-volt transistor-radio-sized battery, so, this may be more different than I'm imagining. I'm not sure, additionally, it is worth $100 to me not to hlruck once and get it over with.
Oh REALLY
#7 - Placebo
The way "placebo" is tossed around in comments implies that it is some kind of voodoo trick. In fact the placebo effect has been recognized for decades as a real and effective medical treatment for many conditions.
And don't be so quick to run around looking for a cheap version. The cost of the placebo treatment itself might well contribute to its effectiveness - higher price, higher effect.
pcj
acupuncture, acupressure - doesn't work, never did, really can't.
This is placebo only, ie. delusion.
Steve
My fiancee was given this as a gift last Christmas. We decided to use it instead of return it, though that was our first impulse. We went on an island cruise on a small boat and she told me that she thought it worked. We had been on a very similar cruise before (not on a large ship) and she was throwing up repeatedly. Placebo or not, it was definitely worth the $100 to have her feeling better and acting like her normal self.
Bill Betts
It is not a placebo,and those little five dollar wrist bands have nothing on this.I and several members of my family suffer from severe motion sickness and they have worked for all of us.I have also used it to counteract nausea from chemotherapy with great results.I highly recommend it.
BJ
I discovered a freely available cure to sea-sickness that has never failed me. I don't set foot on a boat. How easy is that.
"Going out in a boat meant that I would be sick; the only question was how long it would take before I was hanging over the edge."
You have no one to blame for that but yourself. Stay off boats! Simple, huh?
archer
no, bj, it's not that simple, because, as with one of the commenters above, i get motion sickness in all manner of instances having nothing to do with boats or the sea.
i'm going to try some of the suggestions offered, and if any actually work, i'll be a happy man. i can't even use an inversion table because of this problem.
[wow, my captcha is "she ravages". perhaps my stars are aligned?]
AJ
Cloudface, would you be kind enough to provide additional info on the smoking cessation program you've mentioned? My mom refuses to undergo any long term program, so a 90 minute treatment sounds like just what the doctor ordered.
Stacey
Those of you who think this is a placebo and that ginger or those elastic bands that provide pressure points are effective enough clearly do not have Severe motion sickness (notice the capital 'S'). For those of us with Severe motion sickness, generally the only relief comes pharmaceutically, enough scopolamine or Dramamine to make you very drowsy and unable to enjoy the day...and if we don't dope up, we end up with a severe vomiting and in a semi-paralytic state unable to move from the motion sickness. U read right, paralytic state. But this band, this weird electric pulse band, it works! For real...