Air Sickness Help

[alctel]

Hey all,

I suffer from fairly bad motion airsickness, and I was wondering if there was any techniques or natural suppliments that I could take that would help.

Its been getting better - originally during my first few hours I used to feel ill even flying in a straight line with mild buffeting! Now I'm fine in normal attitudes, even in turbulance, and I can deal with stalls, acceleration etc no problem. But as soon as my instructer and I do spiral dives/steep turns/spins, after a few (4-5) I get this SEVERE nausa attack, start sweating buckets, and my concentration goes all to hell. It gets so bad that I'm unable to fly the plane effectively and have to let my instructer take control. He has never suffered from air sickness and suggested talking to other people who have done in the past to find out what worked for them.

Are there any tips you can offer? I've been unwilling to take tablets for it since I've heard it improves on its own (which it has) so do I just have to tough it out till it gets better?

[Hedley]

LOOK OUTSIDE.

I cannot emphasize that enough. Nausea is
caused by a disagreement between your eyeballs
and your inner ear.

If you look inside the vehicle, your eyeballs tell
you that you aren't moving, but your inner ear
says you are, and you barf.

LOOK OUTSIDE.

Like anything else, you will develop tolerance
over time.

Don't fly hungry. You want something on your
stomach - don't fly with low blood sugar.

When you get hot, immediately get straight
and level again, because that happens right
before you barf.

LOOK OUTSIDE.

[sissyphus]

chew ginger, or they make a ginger gum. I've seen small patches that go behind the ear, don't know their name. google it
cheers


p.s i can't agree more with Hedley, look outside. Look to the horizon, get some fresh air, you'll be fine.

[Chuck Ellsworth]

Fear of the unknown is also a trigger of motion sickness, as you become more relaxed you are less subject to motion sickness.

[twotterflogger]

Have you tried non-drowsy gravol? Might do the trick untill you get used too it.... are you sure its not a mild panic attack?

[alctel]

Thanks for the advice! When I started feeling a bit strange I was looking INSIDE the cockpit and gluing my eyes to the dash in order to try to feel less sick -apparently thats the opposite of what I should be doing!

At first I was pretty nervous of flying which I think was a major factor as . said, however now I'm fine and really really enjoy it. I can do fast climbs, stalls etc with no problems it just seems to be anything that involves tight turns/circles causes my body to revolt.

I will keep my eyes firmly fixed outside, and hopefully that will sort it, thanks.

I still haven't vomited yet, but its been damn close a few times...

[AUGER9]

Ginger root has been proven as effective as any OTC chemicals in preventing motion sickness, and without the side-effects. Try some crystallized ginger or ginger tea or chewing some as someone mentioned.
Fresh cool air usually helps me, use the air vents, and when it gets bad, open the window on your side if able.
ShoppersDM has some wrist bands for motion sickness that apparently work as well.

[matt777]

I was the same way for the first 10-15 hours of my training. You will get over it, just keep fighting through it and it will pass eventually. I can do almost any manuever now without feeling a thing!

[Hedley]

When I started feeling a bit strange I was looking INSIDE the cockpit and gluing my eyes to the dash in order to try to feel less sick -apparently thats the opposite of what I should be doing!

Exactly. When people start feeling scared, they instinctively
curl up into the fetal position, which gets their head down and
looking INSIDE the cockpit, which is a sure-fire receipe for
nausea because your eyeballs and inner ear are now disagreeing
about what's going on.

LOOK OUTSIDE.

This is why people barf when they read in the back of a
car, and this is why most people feel better when they
drive (or fly) the vehicle - it forces them to

LOOK OUTSIDE.

Don't feel bad about the nausea thing. Everyone has
a nausea limit. . Yeager barfed the first 5 times
he flew, too.

The human body is an amazingly adaptable thing. If
you hang in there, you will be amazed at what you can
get used to with respect to fear, nausea and G tolerance,
both positive and negative. However I must warn you
that the process is not always entirely enjoyable. But,
the results are

[sstaurus]

Besides the looking outside thing, which is great advice, I find its also a mental thing. If you worry about getting sick too much, and anticipate it happening then it's more likely to happen. Relax as much as possible, blast air onto your face, try to focus mentally on something else, and breath. Don't tighten your stomach and forget to breath deep.

I'm down to only having problems sometimes when its 40deg outside and bumpy, and you're close to the ground, sweating in a little 172 sauna, because its hard to cool down and the illusions are worse when you're close to the ground and drifting alot.

Good luck

[seniorpumpkin]

My previous career had me kayaking on the ocean with tourists. On days with big swells and heavy fog, people barf a lot. I started handing out candied ginger, gravol, and the pressure point wrist bands. The gravol often takes time to be effective, but the ginger is fast acting and isn't a drug . Ginger combined with wrist bands turned out to be a sure fire solution every time. The wrist bands hit some kind of a pressure point in the wrist that helps a lot. Seems like some kind of placebo to me, but it's an easy solution, something you can keep in your headset bag.

[Highflyinpilot]

It will go away with time im sure, but till then dont forget your little baggy. I was flying with another student many a moons ago and buddies stomach decided to drop him a little present, the only thing available was a bottle of gatorade(Green) so he went in the bottle, the only problem was there was still about a quarter juice left, so you could imagine what that looked like, Green gatorade and vomit.


Oh ya and the smell just hovered in the little 172. Excuse me but i have to go to the bathroom now

[ozone]

Good thread. I too suffer from motion sickness. I am in the process of learning pipeline patrol. It is taking a while to get used to flying sometimes 10 hours per day 400ft off the trees in steep turns and getting tossed around constantly. Ginger seems to work for about 4 hours. After that it's not much fun. I think I will overcome it, but will keep experimenting with with different things.

[kudu]

I agree, you have to look outside and grabbing control forces you to do that really well. I should have searched this site when I had my problem...

What helps me is if you blast your face with air to cool down or don't chew gum as it builds up saliva, also don't fly hungry and relax!! Always keep the little white bag handy. If you start to feel wierd, grab control.

I used to have a problem with airsickness and my instructor and CFI didn't know what to do with me. They didn't have any experience dealing with it themselves, but they advised me to see my CAME who suggested taking long acting Gravol the night before a flight. It didn't work that well for me, so I went back. My second visit, he prescribed a drug called Diclectin to me to take the night before. It's usually given to pregnant women to treat nausea and morning sickness; anyway it helped A LOT! After a few trips, I halved the dosage and soon stopped taking it. After that I could do spins/spirals easily. I also took crystallized ginger which helped nicely. After that I didn't make a technicoloured yawn until after PPL when i started flying a different plane and that was only on the first flight. Because of this, I think it is mostly nerves that provoke your stomach. The only real fix is to fly! When you fly more, yes your body builds tolerance, but you also build your confidence in flying the plane. The nerves go away (as I see you were able to do, alctel, good job!) and you can fully enjoy flying. To others looking for a solution, hang in there. It is discouraging, but don't abandon your dreams. It doesn't mean you don't have the right stuff or anything.

[Apache64_]

If you do . your cookies, do NOT lower your mike boom to your throat, it will actually pick it up!!!! Nastiest thing I have ever heard on my headset.

Oh and look outside.

Cheers

Apache

[beast]

I agree with the others, lots of cool, fresh air, and looking outside.

I've also found that having passengers and students breath through their mouth seems to help

[cratedriver]

My girlfriend has and I have also used Ginger Gravol (about 20 minute prior). No side effects and available just about everywhere. They work quite well to reduce that not so good feeling. What you should find is as your flying progresses, the airsickness should get less and less. Not saying it will ever go away entirely, but it should get much better. Good luck with everything.

[Luscombe]

Seems to me a buddy of mine picked up something in the states like gravol that didn't put you to sleep. I forget the name of it... something like dramamine I think. Didn't require a prescription and seemed to do the trick.

I never really paid much attention to it since I developed a cast-iron stomach on army food and bouncing around the countryside in an APC for the first couple of years of my adult life. This is DEFINATELY NOT a recommended cure for motion sickness though. Gravol seems a whole lot easier to swallow.

[sstaurus]

If you do . your cookies, do NOT lower your mike boom to your throat, it will actually pick it up!!!! Nastiest thing I have ever heard on my headset.

Oh and look outside.

Cheers

Apache

But don't forget to move it I've seen an entire 172 panel covered with spew after a student forgot to move their boom!

[Louis]

Seems to me a buddy of mine picked up something in the states like gravol that didn't put you to sleep. I forget the name of it... something like dramamine I think. Didn't require a prescription and seemed to do the trick.

That'd be Dramamine II (aka Meclizine) according to Wikipedia. As Hedley already said, don't fly hungry, but I'd add, don't fly after eating too much either.

Goodbye,

Louis

[Killa]

I've just started my PPL and last monday I had my second flight ever...
Even tho I tried my best to look outside at all times and flew the plane (except for the landing), I barfed like an animal once out of the plane (and later on driving home ). I really didn't see it coming because on my intro flight i had a blast and was only slightly light headed after.

But the second time there was more turbulence and i was tired/stressed out... the flight was at 2pm and I had worked from 6am-12 because my boss really needed me on that day. I learnt my lesson.

So i went to the pharmacy and got that ginger non-drowsy gravol, so is it ok if I take 2 of those pills before a flight? I tested it and it doesn't make you sleepy at all...

Besides avoiding dairy, any suggestion of food to eat/avoid before a flight?

[Louis]

Besides avoiding dairy, any suggestion of food to eat/avoid before a flight?

I've heard bananas are supposed to taste roughly the same both ways

[Killa]

lol ok... so do corn flakes... they taste just as good coming up....

[alctel]

Quick update on this... I was still getting horrible nausa, so I bought a set of wristbands for $10 from drugmart that my hippie friend recommended (the ones with the plasic nub that pushes into the wrist), I also grabbed some ginger as well.

Now I'm not sure if its a placebo or what, but the wristbands alone completely cured my nausa - not only that, but it got rid of the horrible 'there goes my insides' feeling I was getting on steep turns, spirals etc. I haven't even had to use the ginger. The difference is amazing, and it makes upper air work a thousand times easier.

Anyway, if you are having trouble I recommend trying the wristbands - I'm going to carry on using them for a bit and then try without them to see how that goes.

[Killa]

Thanks, I'll try to find those wristbands... but many sources (including Mythbusters) swear they don't work...
2 pills of ginger gravol work for about 30-40 min, after that the warm feeling followed by nausea starts. I hate that because then we need to land while I could do some more excercises... my instructor told me to try to take half of a real gravol 30 min before...
I'll also buy some ginger to chew... damn, something will finally end up working...