carsick

[Bella_Vixen]

On Thursday, Becks, Mr. Becks, and I went to Appleton for shits and giggles.

Mr. Becks, being a driving geek, took the *scenic* route. I'm not even close to kidding.

I bet we weren't even halfway through the trip when I started getting motion sick. I'm used to it. Usually it's just a slight headache and my stomach feels a little yucky.

Oh no. I could only be so lucky.

I had a full blown headache. I was nauseous. I was *crying.* I almost threw up, and I haven't done that in 7 years.

I tried to think of the last time I felt like that, and I came up with when I was flying home from NJ, and that didn't come close to this.

It started when we were driving on a very curvy road along a river, sometimes being 5 feet or less from said river, and no guardrail.

Towards the end, I started gagging. I prayed we would get there and park before I threw up, because I didn't trust myself to be able to talk long enough to ask to pull over again.

Luckily, the little I had in my stomach decided to stay there.

When we got home, I found out that my mom AND my older sister were worried about me {I don't get sick often (as in years apart), but when I do, it's bad.}, not to mention Becks and Mr. Becks.


Any ideas on what hit me so hard and why? Mom and Becks thinks that my (prescription) sunglasses had something to do with it. (JM? Little help here?)

[Ree]

It might have been all the twists and turns.
I suffer from motion sickness, too, but it doesn't always hit me.

There are times I will feel like hurling, usually on very bumpy and winding roads, especially if they aren't paved, but on other roads, I don't have a problem at all.

[Bella_Vixen]

That, and I'm a bad passenger.

I take after my mom a lot, and she's a self-called bad passenger, so she warned me that when I started driving, I may not be able to handle being a passenger.

I don't think I've driven her towards vomiting, though.

[katie kaboom]

I don't know why you felt so sick, but i do know you should try Bonine. It's an OTC motion sickness pill. It's pink and tastes like a sweet tart, but it does wonders for me. The first time i ever flew i spent the whole flight trying not to be sick. Between then and the next time i flew, i found Bonine and i have not had a problem with motion sickness since then. It works for car, air, and boat travel. And one pill lasts 24 hours.

[BookstoreEscapee]

Dramamine, baby!! (Swallow quick, though, cuz if you let it dissolve at all in your mouth it tastes nasty and tends to linger on your tongue.) I also like to bring an ice cold Coke and/or mints with me on long drives just in case (spearmint Life Savers, if I can find them, but wintergreen or peppermint work, too).

I've always gotten motion sickness. I can't read in the car at all (the one time I tried to do my homework on the bus convinced me of the need to finish my homework at home), and if I'm going to be riding for more than an hour I always take Dramamine. Usually I'm OK on shorter trips but it varies (if I'm already not feeling well in some way I'm usually worse). Luckily I don't get sick when I'm driving. Sitting in the front seat is better than the back. I've only flown a few times but I took Dramamine just to be safe, so I don't know if I would get airsick (but I'm happy not knowing); trains I'm usually OK on (I had a half hour train ride each way when I worked in Philly, and I only ever felt sick if I was already not feeling well; the day I went home early with a migraine was torture!).

My 31st birthday was fun. A friend had offered her house for the gang to hang out, about a half hour from my house. Another friend drove so I could drink, and halfway there (not even drinking yet!) I had to have him pull over on the side of the highway (maybe 50 yards from a gas station but I couldn't wait that long). I didn't throw up but I was dangerously close. His new car with leather seats didn't help, either. He pulled into the (closed) gas station and I walked to it, and got a soda from the machine outside to settle my stomach.

Is your sunglass prescription new? If so, it could be a contributing factor. If you have a cold or allergies causing congestion in your ears that could contribute, too. From what I've read motion sickness is caused by the conflicting signals your brain gets from your eyes ("hey, we're moving!") and the balance mechanism in your ears ("no we're not!"). When I had labyrinthitis (inner ear infection causing extreme, non-stop dizziness) they gave me prescription-strength meclizine (the drug in Dramamine) to alleviate the dizziness until the viral infection cleared up, but riding in a car for a couple days there did not strike me as a wise idea.

[McGoddess09]

I second the dramamine. When i was in Chicago, I had to take it to there and before any car ride we took, as I would not be up front. I forgot to take it before we went home and I was sos ick. My face turned red and I almost threw up. They put me by an open window and it worked.

Now, i always take it.

Or, if I don't have it, I go to sleep.

[JuniorMintz]

Rx'd sunglasses that wrap can have distortion, even if the rx in the lens is technically correct you can still feel nauseous. People with high amounts of astigmatism are especially susceptible.

[BookstoreEscapee]

I second the dramamine. When i was in Chicago, I had to take it to there and before any car ride we took, as I would not be up front. I forgot to take it before we went home and I was sos ick. My face turned red and I almost threw up. They put me by an open window and it worked.

Now, i always take it.

Or, if I don't have it, I go to sleep.

Look for Dramamine II. It lasts for 24 hours (and also tends not to make me as drowsy). When I went to Florida one year on Spring Break, we were staying at my friend's parents' house between Tampa and St. Petersburg (yeah, not exactly a Daytona kinda girl), and we pretty much had at least a half-hour to an hour drive to get to most of our big outings while we were there. Since we didn't exactly have a strict itinerary, I just took Dramamine II each morning at breakfast and I was good for the day. And I didn't have to worry about makings sure I had a half hour notice before leaving anywhere to take it.

[katie kaboom]

Or, if I don't have it, I go to sleep.

You're lucky you can do that. Sleeping makes it worse for me.

[blas]

You aren't weird at all. When I drive myself, unless I'm already sick, I don't get carsick or motion sickness. But me as a passenger, driving with some people, I have almost vomitted a few times.

My mother, for instance. I just cannot drive with her, and I always shudder and get upset when my car is broken and I have to ride with her.....she is too comforted by her brake pedal, and she will stomp the brakes sometimes for the oddest reasons (going down a narrow street freaking out that she's going to hit parked cars, even though she won't!) and she'll get scared and just immediately slam that brake pedal down.

And then in another way, driving with people who drive way too fast, take turns way too quickly....makes me ill as well. I can't ride with Big Sis anymore because she is such a leadfoot and has such bad roadrage that she will literally fly down the road and take 25-30 mph curves at 50+.

[BookstoreEscapee]

You're lucky you can do that. Sleeping makes it worse for me.

Heh, Dramamine makes me sleep half the time. If it's a long enough ride I tend to fall asleep, anyway. When I was a kid we had a van with two bench seats; my brother would get one and I'd get the other and we brought our pillows on long trips.

[Camry178]

Bella, was this the first time you've worn your Rx (prescription) sunglasses while in a car? If no, then I don't think they were the culprit.

I know for myself, I can't read or handle anything with an lcd screen like a pda, ipod touch, iphone, or video game, while in a moving vehicle. That can send me over the edge.

What were you doing during the drive, right before you got really sick?

[Bella_Vixen]

Bella, was this the first time you've worn your Rx (prescription) sunglasses while in a car? If no, then I don't think they were the culprit.

Nope. I wear them often when I'm driving.

What were you doing during the drive, right before you got really sick?

Looking at the river and freaking out that we were less then 5 feet away from it. Then looking away, trying not to freak out that we were less then 5 feet away from it.

Rx'd sunglasses that wrap can have distortion, even if the rx in the lens is technically correct you can still feel nauseous. People with high amounts of astigmatism are especially susceptible.

I never even thought of my astigmatism. :shaking fist:

[Camry178]

The river might have done it. Those of us that get carsick need to focus on things that are far off into the distance when we're not the ones doing the driving. The river may have just been too close for you.

[Irving Patrick Freleigh]

Oh yeah, I've gotten mighty sick when on twisty, turny roads. Like those commonly found in national parks.

I'm probably going to Yellowstone again this summer. I'll be sure to pick up some kind of motion sickness medication before I go.