Can You Cure Motion Sickness?

Relieve the symptoms of motion sickness with remedies such as lying down, drinking plenty of water, changing seats, getting some fresh air, taking medication, or trying some ginger or acupressure bands.

Motion sickness is a type of dizziness that occurs in response to real or perceived motion, and can cause gastrointestinal and nervous system symptoms.

Motion sickness cannot technically be cured, but it can often be prevented and symptoms may be relieved. Symptoms usually go away when the motion stops. 

Preventing motion sickness includes environmental modification such as:

• Looking at the horizon or a distant, stationary object
• Avoiding reading or looking at a screen while in a moving environment
• Getting plenty of air (roll down the windows, turn on the air conditioner, direct a vent toward you)
• Eating small portions of plain food and avoiding heavy meals, or greasy, spicy, or acidic foods before or during travel
• Drinking plenty of water
• Avoiding alcohol
• Selecting seats where motion is the least
  • In a car, the front seat is recommended and driving is better than being a passenger
  • In a boat, the lower deck and midship cabins are recommended
  • In a plane, a seat over the front edge of the wing is recommended
  • In a train or bus, forward facing seats are recommended

Once symptoms of motion sickness begin, treatments include: 

• Environmental modification
  • Lying down when you feel sick
  • Drinking plenty of water
• Changing seats if you are not already in an optimal seat to reduce motion sickness
• Getting plenty of air 
• Complementary and alternative treatments to treat and prevent motion sickness
  • Ginger
    • Sucking on hard ginger candies 
    • 1 to 2 mg of ginger taken orally
  • Acupressure bands applied to both wrists (may be worn in anticipation of symptoms but also after symptoms have started)
• Medications may be used to both treat and prevent motion sickness
  • Take medications for motion sickness one to two hours before traveling
  • Medications used to prevent motion sickness can often cause drowsiness so the side effects must be considered against the benefits 
    • Scopolamine patches (Transderm Scop)
      • Good for use when exposure to motion will be prolonged, such as on a cruise
    • Antihistamines 
      • Shorter-acting and more sedating, but work quickly and are helpful when there is limited exposure to motion
        • Dimenhydrinate (Dramamine, Draminate, Gravol)
        • Meclizine (Bonine)
        • Diphenhydramine (Benadryl)
        • Chlorpheniramine (Chlor-Trimeton)
      • Nonsedating antihistamines such as cetirizine (Zyrtec), loratadine (Claritin), and fexofenadine (Allegra) are not effective for the treatment of motion sickness 
  • Promethazine (Phenadoz, Promethegan, Phenergan) may be used if transdermal scopolamine and antihistamines are not effective
  • Other medications that may be used include 
    • Diazepam (Valium)
    • Phenytoin (Dilantin)
    • Rizatriptan (Maxalt) (for people who have migraines)