Question of Queasiness

[bunn]

Can anyone recommend a non-drowsy sea-sickness tablet that is available to buy in the UK? Philmophlegm had some really good ones in Iceland, but we don't know the brand, and a local pharmacy says no such things exist.

Comments

[philmophlegm.livejournal.com]

To repeat what I said on facebook:

Theory 1: The ones in Iceland worked because of the placebo effect.
Theory 2: They weren't entirely legal pharmaceuticals.

Oh, and I'm too much of a sceptic to experience any placebo effect from stuff I think is probably pseudoscientific bollocks.

[alitheapipkin.livejournal.com]

I believe evidence suggests the placebo effect works even when people know they are taking a placebo.

I've taken Stugeron but it's an antihistimine and causes drowsiness in some people so that may not be much help to you.

[beckyc.livejournal.com]

Or how about: they gave you effective anti-nausea tablets which happened not to make you remotely drowsy, but weren't technically non-drowsy?

[bunn.livejournal.com]

Well, the people who gave him them did *say* they were 'non-drowsy' and they seemed, frankly, to have a pepping-up effect so that not only was he not drowsy, he was popping all over the place like a jumping bean, guzzling hot chocolate and cinnamon buns like there was no tomorrow. I speculated they might have caffeine in.

I have already asked the whalewatching company on facebook if they could possibly tell us what was in their Magic Pills, but they are maintaining a distant Icelandic silence.

[beckyc.livejournal.com]

Ah yes, those "fun" situations where they mix slightly stimulating and slightly sedating psychoactive substances and then cross their fingers and hope for the best that it'll average out about right, but could leave you zombied or wired.

OTC cold remedies are a real nuisance for that kind of thing.

[beckyc.livejournal.com]

Hmmmm - is this a hypothetical "Does such a drug exist?" (if so, I never found one!), or more of a "what can Philmophlegm take for travel sickness that might be OK for not causing drowsiness" - in which case, how non-drowsy do you need? Not crossing the blood-brain barrier at all? Or can Philmophlegm try them and see if a particular drug happens not to be terribly soporific? I tried a fair few anti-emetic and anti-vertigo drugs when I got labyrinthitis a few years ago, and whilst some of them are available OTC, I wouldn't get any of those for the first time without discussing with a GP! Most of them were theoretically *not* non-drowsy, but I did not find them remotely soporific IYSWIM.

Prochlorperazine* (I find this great as an anti-emetic but rubbish as an anti-vertigo drug). Can be bought OTC (I've seen it marketed as a migraine drug called Buccastem M in the UK and a travel sickness drug called Stemetil in the US). Acts on the brain, so may be off-limits; also the list of potential side effects is a bit scary!

Domperidone (also used for migraines) is a bit less scary in its list of side effects but I found it was pretty rubbish as a travel sickness pill. Other people get on great. Wikipedia says does not cross blood-brain barrier (which may explain why I don't find it very good). Available OTC.

Also, I found betahistine to be great for stopping inner-ear based dizziness and sickness (so it was pretty good for the dizziness with seasickness), but I found it doesn't work very well as a general anti-nausea drug. And does act on the brain as well as the inner ear. Don't think this is available OTC, but it's what the GP gives you for vertigo if the previous two don't work, i.e. not remotely hard to get on prescription.

*When I was on a Caribbean cruise last year, pretty much all our group were on prescription packs of prochlorperazine (which had been doled out like smarties by our respective GPs) for the first couple of days. Could this have been the drug obtained in Iceland?

[bunn.livejournal.com]

Definitely the second one.

Pp, (possibly because he is a no alcohol, no coffee sort of person?) appears to be unusually susceptible to travel sickness pill induced snooziness. He has generally avoided them since we had one coach trip back from London to Oxford where he took, I think, a single Kwell, and I had to more or less carry him home.

As we will have both dogs and luggage to carry this time, and no car, I'm really hoping to be able to find something which may leave him in control of his stomach AND his legs... Maybe a trip to the doctor is indicated.

[bunn.livejournal.com]

... I mean, both dogs to look after, and luggage to carry. I'm not proposing I try to carry 45 kilos of dog as well as luggage, potentially sleeping husband, etc. For that would be the wisdom of fools!

[bunn.livejournal.com]

I tried to buy some Buccastem M OTC, for pp to try in the safety of the house - but the pharmacist refused to sell it to me as it is only licensed for nausea, not for sea-sickness, and she was worried about it interacting with pp's epilepsy treatment. In fact she didn't want to sell me anything, having heard the word 'epilepsy', and seemed on the point of telling me he should even avoid ginger biscuits!

As pp has been nomming ginger biscuits for many years without any sign of it affecting his epilepsy at all, I feel this is a risk he can probably handle...

[timetiger.livejournal.com]

I've often seen ginger recommended to protect against nausea, even for pregnant women or people having chemotherapy. It's available in gelatine capsules in the U.S., as well as in various more or less convenient forms for cooking, but I'm afraid I don't know what the UK situation is.

[bunn.livejournal.com]

I used ginger biscuits with some success when car training Brythen!

We could certainly give ginger a go. It seems unlikely to conflict with any other product, either.

[carmarthen.livejournal.com]

IDK about legal in the UK, but I don't recall meclizine (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meclozine) being very drowsifying--but a lot is down to individual reactions. I'm pretty resistant to the drowsy and the wiring effects of antihistamines in general.

[bunn.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the suggestion! There do seem to be UK brands containing meclozine.

I think I'm going to buy a selection and test them on him one by one, mwahahaha. It seems the scientific way to find out!