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There have been a number of questions asked about seasickness in the forums over the last couple of years but there has never been a full article about it so I thought I would give it some time.
For those of you thinking of going to sea, this is one of the unknowns that you cannot really know about until you have had your first few trips. For those who have done one trip and maybe suffered then you will want to know will I suffer again?
Seasickness, or any motion sickness, is caused by a disparity between your eyes and the balance part of your ears. If you are stood in a room and looking at the wall and your eyes are saying you are stationary, but then the room is being moved around, your ears are saying you are moving. At this point your brain gets confused and starts sending alarm signals to your body. Anyone who has had a severe ear infection will tell you that loss of balance and sickness is debilitating.
Being sick saps energy and leaves you dehydrated. Not being able to eat because your stomach has gone on strike and your brain stops you feeling hungry means you get bad quite quickly.
First of all you need to understand that MOST (99%) of seasickness is made worse by your own brain. I was seasick on my first day at sea. We were crossing from Amsterdam to Hull and I have never seen the North Sea calmer, before or since, it was like a mirror. I had been on ferries in rough seas before I went to sea and never felt sick, but my brain was saying this was a real ship! It was all in my mind. If that is not the case with you, and you are genuinely feeling motion sickness, maintaining a positive mental attitude really does help and you will get over it quicker if you do not give in to it or feel sorry for yourself, (as difficult as that is at the time.)
Now tell yourself that this is temporary. Within a few days, if not sooner, you will no longer feel it. That is called finding your sea legs! Some people who were at sea for a year on one ship used to suffer land sickness when they came ashore.
Mild symptoms are nausea and tiredness, so you may have already had early signs of it when you first join your ship and the ship was moving about a little and you felt incredibly tired. You are only really bad when you have extreme dizziness, extreme vomiting, blinding headaches and cold sweats.
Things that help:
Things that don't help:
Stugeron, or other anti sickness drugs, can help in the short term, but you have to start taking them before you actually start feeling sick to be effective. There are also wrist bands that push on pressure points that some people claim work. However in my opinion, and it is just an opinion, this is back to the original 99% in the brain…
Both of these are short term measures though. You will either get your sea legs and be fine for the rest of the voyage and feel it a little bit each time, or you could always be ill for a few days each voyage, or you could be one of the few and suffer sea sickness in bad weather your whole career. If you are really lucky you will be one of those who never get sick, but they are in a very, very small minority.
Please try not to worry - it will pass. You will then stop feeling it all together. But do not be frightened to be honest and tell people if you are ill. Whilst keeping busy is good - getting over it is more important. Your head of department will understand.
There are a couple of funny points to be made. There is a cure for sea sickness - sit under an apple tree! (Think about it for a minute!)
Secondly I always advise people to take a spoonful of Jam. It does not stop you being sick but makes everything taste sweeter when it comes back up!
Finally I can empathise a bit. Back in the 80's I was on a Maersk Anchor Handler that had a terrible motion that made the accommodation vibrate back and forth under your feet, a bit like a shuffle, when she was pounding in a sea. It was a weird motion and it made many people sick the first time they were in a good blow. We got caught stern to on a rig shift on the bridle in a storm and after 8 hours I started being sick. Within 24 hours I was so ill I was unable to work for 3 whole days until we got back into Aberdeen. I was so bad I wanted to sign off but the skipper persuaded me to stay on. Apart from my first day at sea I had not been sick in 7 years.
They say there are two stages of sea sickness. The first stage is when you are frightened you are going to die. The second is when you become afraid you are not going to die! I got to the second stage on that trip for sure.
As a footnote you need to know that you are in good company if you suffer sea sickness:
I hope this helps some of you to relax a bit and learn to take it in your stride. It won't kill you - it will just feel like it at the time!
Ian
For those of you thinking of going to sea, this is one of the unknowns that you cannot really know about until you have had your first few trips. For those who have done one trip and maybe suffered then you will want to know will I suffer again?
Seasickness, or any motion sickness, is caused by a disparity between your eyes and the balance part of your ears. If you are stood in a room and looking at the wall and your eyes are saying you are stationary, but then the room is being moved around, your ears are saying you are moving. At this point your brain gets confused and starts sending alarm signals to your body. Anyone who has had a severe ear infection will tell you that loss of balance and sickness is debilitating.
Being sick saps energy and leaves you dehydrated. Not being able to eat because your stomach has gone on strike and your brain stops you feeling hungry means you get bad quite quickly.
First of all you need to understand that MOST (99%) of seasickness is made worse by your own brain. I was seasick on my first day at sea. We were crossing from Amsterdam to Hull and I have never seen the North Sea calmer, before or since, it was like a mirror. I had been on ferries in rough seas before I went to sea and never felt sick, but my brain was saying this was a real ship! It was all in my mind. If that is not the case with you, and you are genuinely feeling motion sickness, maintaining a positive mental attitude really does help and you will get over it quicker if you do not give in to it or feel sorry for yourself, (as difficult as that is at the time.)
Now tell yourself that this is temporary. Within a few days, if not sooner, you will no longer feel it. That is called finding your sea legs! Some people who were at sea for a year on one ship used to suffer land sickness when they came ashore.
Mild symptoms are nausea and tiredness, so you may have already had early signs of it when you first join your ship and the ship was moving about a little and you felt incredibly tired. You are only really bad when you have extreme dizziness, extreme vomiting, blinding headaches and cold sweats.
Things that help:
- Keeping the horizon in your peripheral vision. Not staring at the horizon, but keeping the signals between your ears and eyes in synch
- Fresh air & cool areas (Standing on the Foc’sle head in the breeze coming over the bow looking forwards and listening to music on your iPod is a good thing providing it is not blowing a force 8!)
- Keeping busy, do some keep fit out on deck, like running and just keeping your mind occupied
- Take deep breaths and drink plenty of water
- Face in the direction of travel as much as you can
- Eat light meals and avoid fatty or spicy foods
- Try to stay warm, relaxed and comfortable
- Try to sleep at the appropriate time but sleeping at any time can help
- Sometimes Ginger as a food helps - ask about ginger biscuits
Things that don't help:
- Staring at the horizon
- Reading
- Going below
- Food smells, or any strong smells, just make it worse
- Using binoculars
- Doing detailed work that mean focussing your eyes on small things
Stugeron, or other anti sickness drugs, can help in the short term, but you have to start taking them before you actually start feeling sick to be effective. There are also wrist bands that push on pressure points that some people claim work. However in my opinion, and it is just an opinion, this is back to the original 99% in the brain…
Both of these are short term measures though. You will either get your sea legs and be fine for the rest of the voyage and feel it a little bit each time, or you could always be ill for a few days each voyage, or you could be one of the few and suffer sea sickness in bad weather your whole career. If you are really lucky you will be one of those who never get sick, but they are in a very, very small minority.
Please try not to worry - it will pass. You will then stop feeling it all together. But do not be frightened to be honest and tell people if you are ill. Whilst keeping busy is good - getting over it is more important. Your head of department will understand.
There are a couple of funny points to be made. There is a cure for sea sickness - sit under an apple tree! (Think about it for a minute!)
Secondly I always advise people to take a spoonful of Jam. It does not stop you being sick but makes everything taste sweeter when it comes back up!
Finally I can empathise a bit. Back in the 80's I was on a Maersk Anchor Handler that had a terrible motion that made the accommodation vibrate back and forth under your feet, a bit like a shuffle, when she was pounding in a sea. It was a weird motion and it made many people sick the first time they were in a good blow. We got caught stern to on a rig shift on the bridle in a storm and after 8 hours I started being sick. Within 24 hours I was so ill I was unable to work for 3 whole days until we got back into Aberdeen. I was so bad I wanted to sign off but the skipper persuaded me to stay on. Apart from my first day at sea I had not been sick in 7 years.
They say there are two stages of sea sickness. The first stage is when you are frightened you are going to die. The second is when you become afraid you are not going to die! I got to the second stage on that trip for sure.
As a footnote you need to know that you are in good company if you suffer sea sickness:
- Admiral Nelson, who suffered his whole life, was totally incapacitated for the first few days at sea
- Julius Caesar's military campaigns were full of reports of vomiting recruits and sea sick horses
- Christopher Columbus and his men were badly affected
- The admiral in command of the Spanish Armada (He was actually an Army General!), the Duke of Medina Sidonia, suffered severe sea sickness which helped England’s cause no end
- Richard Henry Dana, in his book Two Years Before the Mast (1840), writes of the utter horror of working aloft at the top of the masts in "an ugly, chopping sea, which heaved and pitched the vessel about"
- Charles Darwin was another person who was chronically seasick
- Clare Francis, the sailor and author, was the same (Maybe that is why she took up writing?)
I hope this helps some of you to relax a bit and learn to take it in your stride. It won't kill you - it will just feel like it at the time!
Ian
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