I'm headed out on a fishing vessel for a 2-week long research trip, suddenly leaving sooner than expected...and I've been told to expect to spend the first few days being violently ill.
Any hot tips for over-the-counter medication? Or is that stuff all the same? Home remedies, etc?
Rum?
Dramamine.
the stick-on scopolomine patch is purported to be very effective.
I'm normally immune but discovered I'd get really quesy as a passenger on track. When I started instructing HPDE events I bought some Bonine which worked as advertised. Then one weekend I forgot to take it, but found I didn't need it anymore. Huh.
Stay above decks. You need to be able to see the horizon, have fresh air, and give yourself something to do. Seeing the horizon as a visual reference for the movement your body is feeling makes a HUGE difference.
If your stomach is only mildly upset: ginger. I liked the little Ginger People ginger chews when I was doing sailboat racing. Not sure how much it actually helped keep my stomach settled, but it certainly tasted good. 
I am very prone to motion sickness. Which made being a sea going sailer, um, interesting.
Dramamine works better than anything else for quieting my inner ears, which is where the sensation comes from.
Being able to see the horizon helps greatly with the visual cues. Beware of focusing on your rod or such.
No heavy foods. Saltine crackers work well at absorbing stomach juices, which helps calm the tummy.
There's a non-drowsy version of Dramamine iirc called bonine(?) that worked great for me during my brief rally navigating career - and I get very motion sick.
Myself, offshore and coastal sailboat racer with many hours at sea, in many conditions.
Good advise so far but to expand...
Stay outside, do not go in the cabin or below decks:
This is maybe more important before you get sick. Think of it as preventative. Keep some breeze on your face. Once inside, the movement without the reassurance from the breeze of which way the primary movement causes confusion, sickness.
Ginger: Altoids Ginger are a good choice.
A personal favorite is Pepcid Complete tabs:
These are for Acid Reflex but by definition, they reduce stomach acid. For me, reduced stomach acid results in more settled tummy and no desire to hurl. Pop two while healthy on land as a precaution. Pop one additional tab as needed on the boat if tummy flares up.
motomoron wrote: the stick-on scopolomine patch is purported to be very effective. I'm normally immune but discovered I'd get really quesy as a passenger on track. When I started instructing HPDE events I bought some Bonine which worked as advertised. Then one weekend I forgot to take it, but found I didn't need it anymore. Huh.
I like how this works, but have found that the side effects suck- your vision gets a blurred. And I assume that going on a research trip involves some reading, this isn't a great solution.
(the vision thing freaked me out the time we've had to use the patches for a long time)
And other cruise people also like Bonine.
I second the scopolamine patches. Worked like a dream when I went on a 7 day cruise.
Plus it helped with the hangovers while on said cruise. Bonus!
EvanB wrote: Rum?
Specifically, a Goslings Dark and Stormy.
Rum for the head and Ginger for the stomach.
PS: don't skip the lime, it wards off scurvy!
JohnRW1621 wrote:EvanB wrote: Rum?
FTW
Eye patch.
The ear patch works wonders for people that come fishing with me. Stay outdoors, with wind/horizon in your face and away from diesel fumes.
Oh, f-yeah...nothing turns me sour faster than diesel fumes at sea!!!
Spoolpigeon wrote: I second the scopolamine patches. Worked like a dream when I went on a 7 day cruise. Plus it helped with the hangovers while on said cruise. Bonus!
Third.
Cut them in half if they make you drowsy.
I've heard ginger and York Peppermint Patties work.
I did the patch thing years ago when I went on a cruise on a 200-ft motor sailing ship. I was pretty much the only person at dinner one particularly rough night, but then again, Tim was wearing the same kind of patch and he was down below NOT having dinner (more like lunch in reverse for him). It was also very effective as a nap-inducer, but not in a bad way. More in a "I usually don't sleep that well on trips, but I think I'll have another few winks" sort of way. Definitely did not interfere with my reading.
Margie
Bonine totally cured my girlfriend's tendency toward nausea while being a passenger in a car to the extent that she was able to read on our last road trip, and as a bonus, it turns out that it drastically reduced the feeling of fatigue after a long time in the car (which may have been, for her, a side effect of feeling sort of wretched the whole time).
Don't worry. Be happy. 
Oh, and avoid greasy egg and sausage biscuits for breakfast. I recall a fishing trip out of Oregon Inlet with my brother. I felt a tad queasy, and I'm usually fine. My brother chummed. More than once.
I have no experience with drugs. I concur on the above decks thing.
Call your pcp and request a prescription for phenegrine (sp?).
Works for pretty much any nausea, pretty much instantly.
This is very topical for a motorsports forum, as motion sickness is an occupational hazard for rally navigators. Long-term use (more than a day or two) certainly comes in to play there, as navis have to stay sharp.
Janel used to have real problems with motion sickness before we started running the Targa. She carries Gravol (pretty similar to Dramamine, I think) in the car and wears sea bands. She avoids rapid head movements in the car, like looking from her notes, out the window, and back to her notes. But she's found that staying focused on a task (like making sure I don't drive into the ocean) is by far the best. A few times she forgot to put on the sea bands and didn't even notice.
Not all of those options are available to people on a boat, particularly the laser-sharp focus solution 
But the sea bands really seemed to be what worked best for her, both in the car and in travel.
She's since cured herself. Lots of travel and the racing means that she never gets queasy in the car anymore.
Thanks everybody. I hit up a couple of pharmacies on my way home, and it turns out I didn't have a lot of choice, anyway. Picked up a couple of packets of Dramamine-like tablets, which was about all that was available.
I'll get some ginger sweets tomorrow, and see if I can find the patches elsewhere. Maybe a bottle of rum, too
sea bands ?
Sea bands have a lil button that's supposed to apply pressure to a reflex point that stops ya from hurling and some people swear by em. I have a totally unpredicable issue with seasick. Some days I get it on rough sea and not when it's calm, sometimes I get it when it's calm and not at all during a storm, no ryhme or reason to it but the only thing that works, partially, for me is the scope patch behind the ear. It might not keep me from getting sick, but I don't feel sick, so I can still function. One fishing trip I had a patch behind both ears, fished all day whilst heaving over the rail, feeling perfectly normal aside from the tunnel stew, the most comfortable puking session I've ever experienced. If I were you, I'd bring one of everything listed here and see what works best.
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