i did a search on this topic and all i found was discussions on how nobody uses the 'barf bags' anymore...

well, i use mine quite often, almost every flight i take i get nauseous and throw up even the water i drink...

a few weeks ago, i even got sick on a 1 hour flight from Oakland to John Wayne...

besides medication (they only work for a few hours on me..) is there anything i can do to help me not be airsick? do those $100 wristband things work? is there anything i can eat or do? i'm going to go to germany in about a month and i'm dreading the flight.. thx.

First of all Matthew, welcome to FlyerTalk !

Motion sickness can be horrible and unrelenting....I used to get it a lot and its just the worst feeling.

I always had success with Marezine over the better known drug Dramamine, but you said you don't want to do the medication route.

On a recent cruise, friends used ginger pills (obtained at a health food store)...one night was especially rough, and where others felt ill (including me), they were fine. They took the pills routinely, morning and evening, on the cruise even when the seas were fine. They also said that simply drinking ginger ale would give your system some ginger which would help fend off the symptoms.

Other friends on the same cruise had gone to their Doctor and gotten the motion sickness patches and claimed they, too, worked well.

I doon't have much experience with the wristbands for motion sickness, but I did use them for morning sickness when I was pregnant with my first child and they did absolutely nothing for me.

I guess your best bet would be to ask your Doctor for a recommendation that best suits you.

Enjoy Germany! If you hang around here long emough, I imagine it'll just be one of many long distance flights you take.

The Chinese remedy works very well for me -- ginger. You can get dried ginger capsules very inexpensively in the USA and other places.

Unlike "drugs", you can take ginger every hour or so. It is amazing how effective it is for all kinds of stomach upset.

I use the "Sea Bands" when I fly and only pay $20/pair. If you see them at anything more...run away . You should be able to find these at any good size pharmacy. They work on pressure points and contain no drugs.

While I don't use the barf bag I do get very nauseous when I don't wear them. Then again I tell people that I don't have too much to fool in brain so they seem to work well on me.

I have taken flights where I have gone to adjust the straps because I wasn't feeling well only to find out I hadn't put them on!

For $20 you really can't go wrong even if they don't work for you. I would use them in combination with ginger and/or maybe just 1 gravel pill for such a long flight. You are going to need to drink water and such a long flight or be very very dehydrated and the jet lag will get you in the end.

Good luck, it's terrible feeling that way.

I do some ocean sailing and I and most everyone I know uses the scopolamine patch. It's pretty effective, but you do need a prescription.

From what I've heard and read in the general aviation periodicals, the Relief Band product for $100 or so is probably your best bet. Expensive, but everything I've read is that it works pretty well.

Request seats on the aisle over the wing. Those are (in my opinion) in an area of the plane that feels the least jerk when the plane changes its acceleration (this causes motion sickness).

Here are a couple of things I do -

1) Turn on the air vent full force and aim it directly at your face. Oxygen is one of the best antidotes for air sickness.

2) If there is good visibility out the window, look as far away as possible and fix on a specific site. When that site disappears, find another one. Watching things go by makes things much worse. This is what skaters and dancers do when they spin.

I know some sailors who swear by granny smith (the green ones) apples. They say if you eat one it has a soothing effect on your stomach. Ginger is said to help too. You might try drinking a ginger ale.

I was airsick on most every flight (especially during descents) for my first decade of flying, despite the Dramamine my mother would make me ingest.

Finally got over it around the age of 10 by pretending I was on a roller coaster having fun, and not in an airplane being miserable

Originally posted by monahos:

Finally got over it around the age of 10 by pretending I was on a roller coaster having fun, and not in an airplane being miserable

__________________________________

I once was on a Southwest flight in a storm and the plane was jostling around quite a bit. Many people were visibly frightened. A clever flight attendant got on the public address system the next time we experienced a large dip and merely said "wheeeeeeeee ! !"
like a kid on a ride. It brought a chuckle amongst the passengers and you could feel the tension in the air ease up considerably. Now whenever it's rough, I just think back to that day and think to myself "wheeeeeeee ! !"

wow, so many good tips.. thanks, everyone!

i guess i don't want to leave out medication completely.. i'll try that other stuff besides the dramamine.. and those $99 band things, i guess it'd be a good investment if it does actually work.

Save your money.

If I may offer a proven suggestion that has worked on even the most airsick amongst us: just take your thumb and fingers on one hand and apply pressure on the other wrist, palm side up. Make sure the thumb temporarily restricts the flow of blood by pressing your thumb on the flat part of your wrist below your hand. Hold it there until you feel the airsickness begin to dissipate, which should only be for a few minutes. Some people will also close their eyes while doing this to lessen the effect of motion. Others will "switch" hands and wrists after a few minutes to balance the effect. Repeat this procedure as often as deemed necessary.

In a few minutes (depending on how airsick you are), you will feel as good as new. A cold drink (preferably carbonated) afterwards will really help. No medication is necessary; in fact, some people sometimes get even sicker after taking medication.

Also, it is best to do this procedure when you feel there is a possibility of the onslaught of airsickness, rather than once the airsickness overtakes you. Prevention is the best choice here.

And yes, for those of you who guessed, this is basically how the wrist band that reduces or prevents airsickness works.

Just out of curiosity, does anyone know why this particular "pressure point" therapy works?

my OB/GYN taught me the pressure point technique to alleviate morning sickness, but its worked for pretty much all situations of nausea, even if its just prolonged the inevitable long enough to get to an appropriate facility.