Several years ago a yachting magazine had an article
about this subject. The ideas expressed there said
that bitters settle the stomach and help with seasickness.
The writer reviewed about a dozen kinds and and concluded
that Fernet Branca was the very best. I searched and
searched for this for my wife but never found it myself.
A friend located it in a liquor store in NY and brought
me a big bottle. It is astringent and it does settle
the stomach in other situations; I never get airsick,
but I have been seasick. I did not get to test it
under these conditions, but a tablespoonful is helpful
with an ordinary gastric upset just as coca-cola and
ginger are. The reviewer did not mention Angostura
bitters, but I find that also helpful with gastric
upset.

Bitters contain alcohol and a tablespoonful might not
be acceptable to the FAA nor wise to ingest before
flying as PIC.


At 01:00 14 January 2005, Jim Kelly wrote:
Oops, I overlooked these:

'Sometimes I will take two Pepto-Bismol tablets before
take off.
The only problem with them is they tend to stuff me
up.'

'I use Sea-Band wrist bands which apply accu-pressure
to the
wrists . . . they work for me'.

Jim


Thanks everyone for all of your kind advice, including
to those
who replied off-line . . much appreciated indeed.

Thanks Roy for summarising the reasons for airsickness:
'Airsickness is usually caused by the discordance between
what the body senses visually compared to what the
inner ear is
sensing in terms of motion. If the inner ear signals
movement
but the eyes register no movement then the result is
sensory
discord leading to nausea etc. The problem becomes
even more
complex if the movement is not being created or anticipated
by
the person experiencing it.'

Hence, the adages of:
* 'keep looking at the horizon' and
* 'it's worse when someone else is in control'.

Others noted:
'minimise head movements'
'avoid swapping thermalling direction'
'try and visualize the motion in my mind (when unable
to look)'

Updates and links to my earlier summary are noted below:

* Hydration . . gauge this by watching urine colour

* Oxygen may help

* Ginger is a natural anti-emetic
Raw ginger boiled into drinking water
Candied Ginger and Gingersnaps
Ginger powder (from the grocery store) loaded into
gelatin
capsules and taken before flight.
http://gingerpeople.com/order_chews.html

* Woodside Biomedical ReliefBand
(electrically stimulates the median nerve)
http://www.aeromedix.com/?_siteid=ae...815c2aa034ed6a
4884e631140549c1ab&action=sku&sku=rbel

* An over-the-counter 'drug' which has no systemic
effect
and is therefore okay in the FAA's eyes. It's called
Emetrol
(phosphorated carbohydrates) and comes as a sweet syrup.
It is a formula based on the traditional use of Coke
syrup as a
nausea treatment (back in the days when soda fountains
actually
used the stuff). Dosage is one teaspoon per hour, and
some people
find it helpful.

* Scopolomine

* Acupuncture needles are applied to the inside of
the wrist to
stimulate the median nerve. This stimulation seems
to block the
nausea reflex for reasons which are still not entirely
clear.

* So-called 'acupressure bands' have started appearing
in pilot
shops and catalogs. These are elastic bands with protrusions
that
apply pressure to the wrist, supposedly to stimulate
the median
nerve in the fashion of acupuncture.

* Try colloidal silver - it works very well I have
had 8 tumours
plus one lipoma out each year for last 3 years.
http://www.colloidalsilver.net.au/feedback.htm .

* Get your Thyroid levels checked - that was the cause
of my
motion sickness and tumours. I did not throw up but
felt ill.

* Take a look at www.motionease.com -
On their website they say: Motion Eaze vertigo medication,
motion sickness remedy and sea sickness remedy includes
a proprietary blend of herbal oils including; Birch,
Chamomile, Frankincense, Lavender, Myrrh, Peppermint
and
Ylang-Ylang.

These comments are simply a summary of other people's
ideas, they
may not be suitable or wise advice, however I am sure
that there
is good advice amongst it. Use with due care! And thanks
again to
those who contributed.

Regards,

Jim Kelly