Seasickness: do you eventually quit getting it?

[syoungs]

So I love fishing the salt, but almost every time im on it I end up sick. Like real sick can hardly function. Ive tried otc stuff with limited success, and the patch, with better success, but still end up sick.

We are considering buying a boat in the next year or so. The goal would be chasing salmon and bottomfish mostly.

Having a boat would put me in the ocean much more often then now. Will I eventually get my sea legs and quit getting sick though?!

[Bango skank]

I started working on tugs in 2006.  The first couple years i would get really seasick.  Like wanting to die sick.  It sucked.  But i never once took seasick stuff, and i eventually got over it.  The guys that take pills and patches are reliant upon it forever.  I just toughed it out until it wasnt a problem anymore.  But this is me spending 180-220 days per year at sea, it still took a couple years.  Dont know if youd ever adjust or not given the amount of time you would spend at sea.  Everybody is different.

[7mmfan]

Some do, some don't. My Dad has actually gotten worse over the years, but doesn't spend much time on the ocean. Every year at the beginning of my seasons in AK I would be queezy a few days and then get over it. Only one way to find out I guess!

[vandeman17]

So I love fishing the salt, but almost every time im on it I end up sick. Like real sick can hardly function. Ive tried otc stuff with limited success, and the patch, with better success, but still end up sick.

We are considering buying a boat in the next year or so. The goal would be chasing salmon and bottomfish mostly.

Having a boat would put me in the ocean much more often then now. Will I eventually get my sea legs and quit getting sick though?!

I used to get super air and sea sick like you mentioned. What helped me, through the assistance of my mom's classes she took, was actually training my vestibular system. The main cause of motion sickness has to do with your sense of balance which is in your ears. I swam a TON when I was little and had numerous ear infections along with actual blown out ear drums.

To help repair that, I started doing a series of balance exercises a few nights per week for a while and that seemed to help.

[The scout]

The guys I know that get it have not gotten over it

[Fishmaker57]

I too suffer from this, and have tried multiple ways of getting through. I love to fish the salt, and for me, I would always reserve a day or two to just tough it out and be sick. By the end of the second day, I am ready to drink beer and will fish for another week and never get queasy, regardless of how rough it got. That being said, I was much younger and tougher in those days (and maybe not as smart). Now I take two different approaches; I can go out and spend time in calmer waters, like Puget Sound, and spend a day getting used to the rock of the boat, then push for the open water. Once out there, if I start to get a little sick, I head back in and repeat the process. The better approach, for me, is to get the patch, and put it on the afternoon before going out the next day. Same process though, if I start to get sick, head back in. For me it just takes some time, can't just rush off land and into the big stuff.

[JimmyHoffa]

For me it depends on partly on how long in between going on a boat.  If I go once a year or less, it is bad for the first day, tolerable the second, then fine from then on.  If I go once a week, barely notice it and goes away pretty quickly. 

[Mfowl]

I have always gotten seasick on the ocean to the point that I don't even risk it anymore. I do well by taking an OTC motion sickness pill the night before I go out and again in the morning. I have also used scopase (prescription) and that worked really well too but its not easily obtained. I have also done well with a patch/pill combo when it appears to be less than ideal conditions.

[Skillet]

It's true what they say about getting seasick:

"At first it feels like you're gonna die, then it's worse when you realize you won't."

I used to get pretty sick when racing on sailboats, but like Bango, would just power through.  Then I discovered the Scopalamine patch.  Used it occasionally at the beginning of a fishing season, if I've been on the hard for a while and heading into bad weather. Less every year though, I think it's been over a year since I used one. I'd start with the patch on, wear it for a couple of days, then be just fine for the rest of the season.

I think your brain eventually learns to ignore the mixed signals that come from your eyes and you inner ears.  That's why you see old salts wobbling down the dock when they first jump off a boat after a long voyage.  But in your case, I don't think you'd get enough sea time to retrain your brain to ignore those signals.

 

[Angus]

I worked with a guide in AK who was a seasicker, he was on the water every day from late May until late August. He had a RX med he HAD to take anytime the forecast was for more then 3' seas which happened pretty frequently. He relied on the med for the 15 years I worked with him.
Thankfully I only got sick on the water once but I blame that on a bad ice cube in my cocktail the night before.

[trophyhunt]

The only thing that has ever worked for me, and I have tried every thing!! Zorfran, prescription meds that really work. I did get sick still once on zofran but the waters were really , really bad at neah bay.  Tell your doctor to give you zofran, it’s magic

[syoungs]

Well, i guess tough it out it is. The times ive gotten sick have been in rough seas. Tuna fishing last year was nasty all day, i made it 5 hours with the pstch before i was sick, and was still functional even after.
Ill stockpile patches and look into the zofran for sure!

The good part of having my own boat; ill never go out in water as rough as the charters ive been sickest on did lol

[blacktailhunter]

Scopolamine pills, problem solved and haven't got sick or felt queezy at all since taking them the last 10yrs.  Patches worked most of the time but pills seem to be way better for me at least.  Will have to search around for places that can make the capsule.

[syoungs]

Weve got a compounding pharmacy just down the road from my house. Ill check with them on the pills!

[Westside88]

I usually am fine, but had an episode a couple years ago where I thought I was going to get sick. Since that really made for an unpleasant day I started using the patch behind the ear. As was mentioned earlier zofarin is good for when you’re starting to get nauseous. I’ve never felt even a little sea sick when running my own boat for what it’s worth. I think it’s because your focused on your surroundings differently