Does anyone have any personal experience of the sea-sickness watches offered by the various Chandlers (see http://www.force4.co.uk/ProductDetails/mcs/productID/1879/groupID/9/categoryID/88/v/3d71bc47-0075-4ad3-a40e-48a787e117c2)?
Do they actually work?
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 Not sure on that one - sounds a bit too good to be true, but did find this very article on seasickness while researching the watch: http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9904E1DC1039F930A25757C0A964948260&sec=health&spon=&pagewanted=printSCIENCE WATCH; Folk Cure For the SeasickMothers and grandmothers sometimes prescribed ginger tea to settle an upset stomach. Now, the findings of recent investigations into the validity of traditional herbal remedies indicate that our ancestors had the right idea, if not the best way to administer it. Two psychologists have reported in the British medical journal, The Lancet, that capsules of powdered ginger root were twice as effective as Dramamine in warding off motion sickness. The study, conducted by Daniel B. Mowrey of Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah, and Dennis E. Clayson of Mount Union College in Alliance, Ohio, involved 36 college students who said they were highly susceptible to motion sickness. About 20 minutes before the actual test, each was given either Dramamine (100 milligrams), two capsules of powdered ginger (940 milligrams in all), or two capsules of powdered chickweed, which served as a placebo control in the study. Then the students were spun in a motorized chair for up to six minutes while their symptoms of motion sickness were recorded. The rotation was stopped if the student vomited or asked to stop. None who had taken the placebo or the Dramamine lasted the whole six minutes, whereas half who had taken ginger stayed the full time. The study showed that it took roughly twice as long for those who took the ginger to become as sick as those who took Dramamine. The chickweed gave no apparent benefit. The researchers emphasized that ginger root must be taken in capsules to avoid severe irritating effects. Capsules of powdered ginger root can be purchased in health-food stores, Dr. Clayson said. He recommended taking two or three capsules to prevent motion sickness. Dr. Mowrey said his studies have also shown that the herb can counter the diarrhea and vomiting of gastrointestinal ''flu.'' The effective dosage seems to vary from person to person, with some taking as many as 10 or 12 capsules an hour. Unlike Dramamine, the ginger root produces no sedation or other effects on the central nervous system. The herb appears to act entirely in the gastrointestinal tract, absorbing toxins and restoring normal gastric activity, Dr. Mowrey said. Excessive doses, however, may irritate the upper digestive tract.
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| Edited: 08/06/07 15:49 |
well my wife and I have them and they work. not 100% cure but the incedents do seasickness are much fewer and seem not to happen if we have the bussy thing on. still feel quezzy sometimes but not chucking it up! Friends of ours swear by them too.
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We are the importer for the ReliefBand and you should consider me biaised but we sell well over a thousand a year for sea sickness, not directly but to other retailers, and in the last 2 years we have not had one single unit returned because the user said it didn’t work. For sea sickness we think that it is brilliant! It also has medical clearance for morning sickness but here its effectiveness is a bit hit or miss. On one occasion we received a testimonial from a former Royal Naval officer who left the service after suffering form sea sickness; she told us that she could now enjoy leisure sailing again.
Available from all good chandlers.
Our experience is that for people who are ordinarily normal in their response to motion sickness the product works very well. For people who suffer medically with severe motion sickness it appears to work less effectively and perhaps this is because the cause of the two sorts of sickness is different. The ReliefBand works on the same acupuncture pressure point as the simple sea bands but unlike those it stimulates the point continually and more effectively with a small pulsing electric charge. You don’t have to keep it on all the time just when you start to feel queezy and within 15 to 20 minutes you will feel the benefit.
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All those tings is in your mind and it's working only because you believe in it or better, they let you believe in it.
There is only one cure. Get a prescription by your pharmasist or docter of Cinnarine 25 mg. and Domperidon 10 mg.(not the champagne).
Cinnarizine 25 mg is really a anti histaminicum and it helps against travel diseases (seasickniss).
Domperidon 10 mg. is a anti emeticum and it prevends vomathing because the sphinter of the stomage will open! The vomating when your seasick occurs because the sphincter of the stomage is blocked!!
take 2 hours before sailing each of one and repeat it again one hour before you will sail. You will be astonished!!!
It's also known as (Touristil) but Touristil you can only get it in belgium!!
For those who suffer still there is only one cure. Lay still with your head against a solid part of the ship and feel the boat when it moves!! Never loose contact.
Any remarks or questions?
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| Edited: 14/06/07 16:52 |
 The bast way to avoid sea sickness is to sit under a tree!
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I've got a small boat. There are no trees onboard! :)" I will sail to some palmtrees an sit under it.
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Never used to get sea sick but things have changed as I got older. I bought one of the watches 2 seasons ago and provided it makes contact to the skin as perscibed in the instruction it seams to work feels odd when your finger starts to tingle - one of those things where you say, would I have not been ill if I had not worn it. Also take 2 other pills under the tongue 20 mins before starting off and that seems to resolve the issue. But still will not go below and cook a good fryup!!
Found this on another web site:
Motion sickness is a conflict between your senses. A fluid filled canal in your inner ear that controls your sense of balance tells your brain that your body is moving, while your eyes, looking into the cabin of the boat, tells your brain that you are not moving. That conflict can cause your body to be out of balance, and we know how the digestive system feels about that.
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The wrist things keep your senses and mind off because these things give pulses and tingle to your nerves and set off your mind to think about something else. It sure can help, every man is different offcourse. Those things almost only helps good with older people like I forexample (46) who grew over the seasickness. But i also don't wanna go below to cook some thing in bad weather. You should'nt do that anyway at all in those conditions. (its dangerous).
The conflict between the senses you describe is then starting. I sailed over more than 20.000 miles as a Medic with the Royal dutch navy and even the most hardend men get a little ill when the weather was rough. Taking domperidon or motilium can help to get rid of the nouisea feeling because these pils opens up the sphincter of the stomage and preventing from vomating. this feeling is over more than 50% responsible for the seasickniss feeling.
20 minutes before sailing is too late!!. Swallow these pills i described two hours and 1 hour before you go and you will be surprised!! These pils do need to get a sertain bloodvalue and it is important to take them at least two hours and the one hour before you go. THATS THE SECRET!!!
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| Edited: 14/06/07 20:17 |
I have suuffered quite acutely with seasickness especially when the boat is pitching (rather than rolling). I have tried a number of remedies including hypnosis, ginger, stugeron and the also the "watch thing." Nothing has stopped me from being sick. I also found that once you were vomiting, taking anything orally becomes quite a challenge because once you swallow a tablet it pretty much comes straight back up. (You have to take most sea-sicness pills every 4 or 8 hours). I have heard that maybe using the pills as suppositories and putting them up the back package might be a suitable alternative but have never tried this. Anyway, regarding the watch thing: Reading one of the replies below from one of the distributors, I would question his theory as to why nobody has ever returned a watch. Maybe its because they just could not be bothered. John
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I have had onboard the watch type thing for a number of years and it has been warn by as many as 20 people over those years and in all bar two cases it did the trick. Recently for instance I applied it to a chap who told me he was seconds away from being sick and within 90 seconds ( his estimate ) he was well on the way to recovery. I felt that if something costs that much it would of been exposed as rubbish in the press and would disappear from the market.
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| Edited: 16/09/07 11:16 |
20 people is not representive and a lot of people think that if somebody is told that it helps against seasickness they bekieve in it and it sure helps! Its all a mind game!!
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Sure it may not be representaive and yes it could well be a mind game but anything that helped those poor souls enjoy their day must surely be good.
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 | TMS Poloshirt winner |
17/09/07 09:34
I think the real issue is that we are not at sea long enough to "come out the other side". As a 1st trip Merchant Navy Cadet in the 1960's I was horribly sick, lying in my pit groaning and moaning, eventually, after 5 days of absolute hell, the Mate came into my cabin & said "you really have to get up and get on with it, this is the only way you'll conquor it long term". I forced myself up and despite feeling really queazy managed to resume my duties. After a day or so I started to feel fine, my body now used to the complex and contradictory messages my senses were delivering. Over many years of deep sea and leisure yachting, I have never even fet slightly queazy since. At sea it was noticeable that none of the professional crew were ever incapacitated by sea-sickness. Only a very very small number were ever sick and this was always the first day at sea after an extended period in port. It is said that Lord Nelson was sick every time he went to sea, clearly only on the first day or so or he would never have been so effective. I also reckon that the various Navies studies are a little bit skewed, as in a lot cases they are dealing with conscript/National Service crewmen and of course most Navy personnel do not actually spend very long at sea, just small passages and lots of loitering around in anchorages and nice quiet patrols. So if you do suffer from sea-sickness (and I can still remember nearly 45 years later how awful it was) try arranging a much longer trip you'll be amazed how once you've come out the other side, it will never incapacitate you again! On a very serious note. several years ago, my brother who is a surgeon, had a crew member who was very sick and started to "go down" very rap[idly, despite being injected with anti-emetics and all sorts of stuff that he carries, which of course are not available to us mere mortals. The guy got worse and worse, eventually my brother suspected that something else was wrong, he went through the guys bags and found an insulin kit! Glucose was adminstered and suddenly the guy was better - he hadn't told the rest of the crew he was an injecting diabetic! I always keep glucose sweets on board and have found that if people have vomitted, a couple of glucose sweets seem to make most feel a lot better. I think that once people have vomitted, half the illness they subsequently feel is due to low blood sugar - unscientific, but try it!
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| Edited: 17/09/07 09:42 |
 Lots of interesting points there. The blood sugar thing could explain why ginger biscuits are so often an effective cure! The incidence of sea sickness seems to be closely related to external factors: cold, tired, hungry, hung over etc. Avoiding all these can help. I am one of the fortunate people who doesn't suffer, which is a mixed blessing as it means I get all the bruising spinnaker packing etc! I know someone who suffers from Nelson's tendency to feel sick at the beginning of a trip, but is able to push himself through it, because he knows he will feel better the next day. Is it all in the mind? We had one racing crew member who was brilliant on the boat as long as he could see land, but fell apart as soon as he couldn't - and then recovered as soon as we were on the other side of the North Sea and land filled the horizon again. But there are undoubtedly people for whom it is all too real. As well as seeking "cures" (pills, patches, watches, accupressure bands, whatever) it is a good idea to look for distractions. Getting someone to steer often works as it not only gives them something else to think about, rather than dwelling on their misery, but also forces them to look at the horizon, which can help to sort out the inner ear/balance issue believed to be the root of the problem.
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 Your comment about your crew member who was brilliant as long as he could see land but fell apart when he couldn't; it seems there is something in the fact of watching the horizon that helps prevent seasickness, a sort of 'gyro stabilizing effect'. From personal experience I remember having to concentrate heavily on navigating in a severe gale when feelilng queazy, this was on deck, then suddenly realizing I felt fine.
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I have not found the watch to be effective. After having clocked up several thousand miles now - the first few days at sea are the worst. May I suggest hyoscine hybromide (Boats own travel sickness pills) or Hyoscine patches (available from your GP) - very effective Good luck
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 I concur with what Roxy said at the top of this thread. I was recently watching Mythbusters who were testing various remedies for motion sickness. They built a sick inducing rig and discovered that two of the presenters were particularly susceptible to it's effects. The tested the watches you mention, together with various other remedies. Only two were effective. The histamine based medication stopped the motion sickness but rendered the presenter in such a state of sleepiness he was incapable of coherent thought (let alone being on deck in charge of a boat in rough weather!). The only solution which "cured" him were the herbal ginger pills. They were totally effective and he could "ride the rig" until boredom stopped him. So brew up your ginger beer, crystalize and preserve your ginger root and stock up on the ginger pills... I am!
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try the scopalamine patch. you get double vision after a few days but they are 100% succesful.
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Scopalmine seems to have the same effect as a weekend bender then! Think I 'm going to get some ginger pills in for guests who think they might have problems! As long as they miss the ropes though I'm not too bothered about people chucking up.... gives the rest of us a giggle! 
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