Seasickness

[brian eiland]

In the Nov issue of Yachting World magazine I noticed an interesting 'letter to the editor'

C for seasickness

Sir, I read with interest but also some amazement the great report on seasickness (Yachting World, October). The illness which in fact is not an illness, is caused by histamine produced by the brain when disturbed by 'illogical' movement.

Histamine production can be cut by high doses of Vitamin C; one has to take three, four, or even five grams when feeling the onset of seasickness. Recovery comes immediately.

The link between seasickness, vomiting, and histamine was discovered by German Professor Dr Jarisch.

My wife, who suffered severely on every sailing trip, tried out our remedy on our last trip in Croatia. She took three grams. Shortly after drinking the Vitamin C cocktail she felt great.

Heinz Ernst Daester
Madany Yachting
Obfelden, Switzerland

[safewalrus]

Seasickness caused by the brain being disturbed by 'illogical' movement

You mean like people worrying about sonar killing whales in texas! or writting loads of unadulterated rubbish about it!

Well thats me banned! Again!

[cyclops]

On Direct TV the show--Myth Busters--- tried several cures. One that worked very well was taking Ginger. The revolving chair, blindfold and with rolling around of the head, brings it on in 5 + minutes. It may be on again this week.

[Thunderhead19]

ha ha ha heh heh heh.......Texas...ha ha

[Bergalia]

My old cook, Lachy McMurdo, recommended tying a piece of fat bacon-rind to a length of string. Holding the string firmly and swallowing the rind, then pulling it back, and reswallowing - at least ten times... He kept the same rind and string in his locker for the fifteen years he sailed with me. Oddly not one of the crew found it necessary to put the cure to the test....

[boltonprofiles]

String again - what is it with you and string???

[Bergalia]

Originally Posted by boltonprofiles

String again - what is it with you and string???

To quote 'Skippy' elsewhere in the forum: 'It's one of my areas of expertise...'

[MarkC]

The book by the professor is a gem - I think only in German at present.

is caused by histamine produced by the brain when disturbed by 'illogical' movement.

Your poor brain is trying to interpret (or mis-interpret) what you eyes are seeing and what your balance system in your inner-ear is recording. This causes stress. (Doctors used to say that this mis-interpretation makes you very aware of your stomache - but this is not true).

It is the histamine.

Stress 'burns up' the vitamin C in your body - Vitamin C keeps the levels of histamine in your blood low.

The histamine comes from your diet and is released into your blood from your digestive tract. Hence - the more movement, the more dissolved into your blood stream. - that's why they say sit in the middle of the boat and watch the horizon.

It is the histamine that brings-on that woozy feeling, nausea, vomiting.

Vitamin C tablets disolved under your tongue are the best when sea-sickness occurs. Tablets work better disovled in the mouth than in the stomache - so avoid the vitamin c drinks or swallowing the tablets.

Sleep removes histamine.

Tomatoes, aged or ripened cheese, red wine, beer , manufactured meats like salami, easily perishable protein-rich foods like tinned Tuna, chocolate - all contain heaps of histamine. Avoid processed or aged foods.

Fresh meats (not tuna) fruit and vegetables, fresh cheeses have little histamine.

So if you are a sufferer:

Sleep well before a journey.
Avoid a hangover
Watch your diet.
Watch your sailing-snacks.
Have chewable Vitamin C tablets handy.

The book recommends to take one or a half of the old-fashioned anti-histamine tablets 2 hours before departure. (The tablets I used to take as a kid - they used to put me to sleep!). But to be sure - on a bad day - a tablet would work. Compared to nausea it is a small price to pay.

(The Vitamin C remedy has also worked for me for hang-overs and allergies!!!)

Rid that histamine.

Happy trails.

[boltonprofiles]

MarkC - does the professor say why some people are subseptible to sea sickness and others like me have never experienced it ?

You would think that if it is caused by some sort of chemical imbalance in the body that everyone would have it at some time and I often (too often) sail with a hangover after having little or no sleep.

[MarkC]

A few interesting things the Proff. throws in:

- perhaps you have inner-ear damage?

(There are stories of sailors deliberately damaging their inner-ear with a needle or spike to 'cure' themselves of seasickness).

- perhaps not chemical imbalance - more your metabolism may be different, perhaps you eat far more Vitamin C rich foods or less histamine containing foodstuffs. Perhaps you have a very slow/fast digestive system.

- The Prof. discusses accounts of Capt. Cook and other explorers (eg on the Beagle) who had to stop and let their crews recover from sea-sickness, exhaustion, scurvy - how did saliors who have worked their entire lives at sea get sea-sick? - It was because of their diet, namely salted (aged) meats and biscuits - the meat being high in histamine and there being no Vitamin C foods at hand.

- I assume you are not an allergic person? Never had asthma? Food-allergies, pollen, mold, dustmite allergies? - with these allergies the body is under stress - stress reduces vitamin C, histamine levels rise in the body triggering more allergic reaction, the nauseau starts etc...

Before this book - I couldn't work out why one day sailing I would be fine - the next day (doing exactly the same things I would feel bad. And why this bad feeling wouldn't go away after I got off the boat.

[boltonprofiles]

MarkC -
Never had anything wrong with me fortunately, so I do not have inner ear damage and I am not to my knowledge allergic to anything. I am sure my metabolism is pretty normal.
I am in no way doubting what you say - I just find it an interesting topic and I suppose whoever can market an actual 'cure' will make a fortune.
If it is as simple as ingesting ascorbic acid - vitamin C - then obviously already on the market anyway.
Thanks for the information. Have you told us the name of the book or not?

[MarkC]

Histamin-Intoleranz, Histamin und Seekrankheit
von Reinhard Jarisch

24 euro on amazon.de - I dont know if it yet in English.

Dr. R. Jarisch was involved with researching food allergies - in 1993 he looked at histamin from red wine as a cause of headaches and allergies.

he says that all the information for sea-sicknes was there - but no-one put 2 and 2 together.

It is the histamine that causes the nausea - not the balance system/eyes/brain then focusing on the stomache (all the doctors used to say this).

Diet, antihistamine, vit C - All the tests on other preventatives were found to be only placeabo effect - ginger, presure points, cotton in ears, bacon fat , strings, tatoos, curses, funny hats etc

[brian eiland]

Originally Posted by boltonprofiles

....I just find it an interesting topic and I suppose whoever can market an actual 'cure' will make a fortune.
If it is as simple as ingesting ascorbic acid - vitamin C - then obviously already on the market anyway....

You trigger another memory of mine on a similar theme.

I once sat in on an interesting discussion between two intelligent chemical engineers (one an ex-business partner) as they talked about a third party chemical engineer friend of theirs that had long been associated with the separation of certain desired metals from their basic mined-ores. This usually involves some considerable number of chemical solution 'baths' and separating out the desired product by acknowledging small differences in ionic charges.

The story was that this third party began to study the human blood system in this same manner to try and understand the ‘clogging of the arteries’. What accounted for the deposits building up on the inner blood vessel walls? As I remember the story he became so engrossed with the subject matter that he funded and established an entire research lab somewhere in the vicinity of NY city, and ultimately established a wholesome chemical explanation for the process. The big culprit was Aluminum and its ions. I don’t remember the exact chemical dissertation.

He identified the problem, and the culprit material, but he also developed a method and substance to stop this detrimental process accruing in our blood streams. Not only did this substance stop the process, it could actually reverse some of the damage.

Now the kicker. He identified two substances that could reverse the damage, and they were both common available chemicals we might find in our household, that taken in small amounts on a daily basis were very effective. For this reason neither the medical fraternity nor the drug companies would ever acknowledge this noteworthy work….no profit to be had. And stupid me I can’t remember the names of these two substances???

[yipster]

keep thinking brian! before the girl walked in for shopping i was going to mention/ask about this but had to run and deleted the reply but here we go again.
i have seen and had people SEASICK.
so have planty of carsickness pills aboard now but it has to be taken in advance, once sick it takes a while for recovery.
i was going to ask if there werent any cleaner tricks as bergalia's string.
forexample having ones ears closed and have them drink a glas of water stops hickups a la minute

[MarkC]

A glass of red wine a day.

and

Half an asprin a day.



Yipster:

Just tell them that after 3 days and nights the sickness goes away! Usually.

Half an antihistamine tablet 2 hours before as insurance.

vit c chewies

but cheese, crackers, beer and red wine is so easy on a boat - while cooking a steak and 3 vegies is a major pain...