Trains, Planes and Travel Sickness

It seems as though everyone in my circle of friends and family is traveling this August. My kids are off visiting Grandma in New Hampshire. Perhaps you’ve got some travel plans this month. And, with travel often comes the adventure stories. This August I am writing about travel sickness – dizziness/vertigo, nausea, vomiting, etc. and some practical tips to help ward off the maladies of travel.

Hot fun in the summer time...

In my years of travel, summer time traveling was usually the most grueling. Growing up in the hot and humid New Jersey summers during the early 1970’s (these were the days before seatbelts, air conditioning and FM radio) a summer trip in the massive Plymouth usually meant someone was going to get sick. My parents would load us up; Dad would check the air pressure and the oil about 5 minutes before we were to depart and gave us our first taste of travel delays. If we were headed north to visit family in New England we would always have to deal with the traffic around New York City. We hoped for the best and off we went. 

There are many different kinds of travel, and many different kinds of travel sickness.  Here are the most common symptoms of travel sickness:

1. Nausea
2. vomiting
3. vertigo
4. headache
5. sweating
6. general malaise

The effects of Dramamine

The most common OTC motion sickness medicine is Dramamine aka Dimenhydrinate . The side effects of Dramamine are:

• drowsiness or dizziness;
• restlessness, excitation, nervousness, or insomnia;
• blurred or double vision;
• dry mouth, nose, or throat;
• decreased appetite, nausea, vomiting, or diarrhea;
• difficulty urinating; or
• an irregular or fast heartbeat

Use caution when driving, operating machinery, or performing other hazardous activities. Dimenhydrinate may cause dizziness, drowsiness, or blurred vision. If you experience dizziness, drowsiness, or blurred vision, avoid these activities. Use alcohol cautiously. Alcohol may increase drowsiness and dizziness while you are taking dimenhydrinate.

You shouldn’t take dramamine if you have these conditions:

• kidney or liver disease,
• an enlarged prostate,
• difficulty urinating,
• bladder problems,
• glaucoma,
• asthma, or
• an irregular heartbeat or any other type of heart disease.

Homeopathy for travel sickness

If you’re not interested in these side effects then homeopathy has many options for travel related motion sickness, with no side effects and often incredible results. The only necessary skill is to find out what kinds of symptoms are happening. The key is to look for the individual symptoms. Perhaps the person has all of the above symptoms but the smell of fumes and exhaust put the person over the edge. The correct remedy would be homeopathic Petroleum. Or perhaps the vertigo is so overwhelming that laying down is the only position that gives any comfort, the correct remedy would be Cocculus Indicus.

Here are the top 4 homeopathic travel remedies and their indication for use:

Cocculus – A remedy for true spinning vertigo, where person needs to lay down. There is great nausea and vomiting upon getting up. The condition is made worse by looking at moving objects. There is a drunken sense to the person, a heaviness, a stupor. There can be diarrhea as well with vertigo. There is often a headache in the back of the head with the vertigo.

Petroleum – nausea and vomit made worse by smell of exhaust fumes. Diarrhea can accompany as well.

 
Tabacum (tobacco) – deathly nausea – think of the first time you took a puff on a cigarette – icy cold, sweats, vomiting, terribly faint with great restlessness. There is a great desire for fresh air. Smoke of any kind aggravates esp. tobacco. There is relief to have eyes closed.

 
Borax – (Sodium borate) – nausea from car, boat and airplane. The main thrust is worse during downward motion.

These remedies are available at any health food store – Super Supplements, the Herbalist, Whole Foods, PCC and are inexpensive – $5-$7 per tube, which is 20-30 doses. Great to keep in your medicine cabinet.  Choose the 30C potency and take 3-5 pellets per dose. 

Again remember that homeopathy employs serial dilution to point of nothingness, so in essence you are ingesting the vibration of the substance not the material substance. It is incredibly safe with no side effects, with 200 years of effective use by millions daily.

Take 5 pellets under the tongue, if one remedy hasn’t worked then try a different remedy – wait about 10 minutes to see if there are results. You’ll know quickly if results are happening. There may even be a temporary aggravation – this is a good sign that the remedy is stimulating the vital force into action.  Then wait and see how long the results last.  Often one dose will be enough, sometimes resdosing is necessary.  Put on your best detective hat and find those individualized symptoms. If nothing has worked then give me a call or try Dramamine.

Enjoy your rest of your summer and may your travels be filled with joy!

Send me your stories...

I would love to hear any travel stories you have with homeopathy involved.  I will publish the best ones!

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I would love to hear from you! If you have any comments or feedback regarding this newsletter, please feel free to email me. I look forward to reading your responses. Thank you!