MythBusters Take on Seasickness
This is from an Episode of MythBusters:
Results:
Seasickness - Kill or Cure?:
The Myth: A variety of non-pharmaceutical remedies to treat seasickness.
First, the Mythbusters need some guinea pigs to test; fortunately, Adam is well known to suffer from seasickness. In a test rig meant to induce seasickness, Adam lasts about 3.5 minutes. Jamie, Kari and Tory show no signs of trouble, but Grant also gets sick after 10 minutes. With a baseline and two test subjects, it's time for the tests.
Test 1: Mouth spray
BUSTED - Grant starts to vomit after 10 minutes, and Adam only lasts 4.
Test 2: Wrist straps
BUSTED - Within 2 minutes, Adam can feel himself getting sick and calls it off; Grant also gets sick, though his time wasn't reported.
Test 3: Ginger pills
PLAUSIBLE - After taking the pills and waiting an hour for the effects to kick in, Adam goes 25 minutes in the chair with no problem; Grants follows up with 30 minutes nausea free.
Test 4: Electric stimulation wristband
BUSTED - Both Adam and Grant get sick.
Test 5: Placebo test
??? - Adam still gets sick in minutes, but Grant lasts 20 minutes with no ill effect; this suggests that Grant's seasickness is partially in his mind, and that he is not really seasick.
Test 6: A pharmaceutical
PLAUSIBLE - Only Adam is shown on the chair, but Kari notes that both have similar results, they didn't get sick, but don't look too well either.
The end result, the ginger pills are deemed PLAUSIBLE.
Results:
Seasickness - Kill or Cure?:
The Myth: A variety of non-pharmaceutical remedies to treat seasickness.
First, the Mythbusters need some guinea pigs to test; fortunately, Adam is well known to suffer from seasickness. In a test rig meant to induce seasickness, Adam lasts about 3.5 minutes. Jamie, Kari and Tory show no signs of trouble, but Grant also gets sick after 10 minutes. With a baseline and two test subjects, it's time for the tests.
Test 1: Mouth spray
BUSTED - Grant starts to vomit after 10 minutes, and Adam only lasts 4.
Test 2: Wrist straps
BUSTED - Within 2 minutes, Adam can feel himself getting sick and calls it off; Grant also gets sick, though his time wasn't reported.
Test 3: Ginger pills
PLAUSIBLE - After taking the pills and waiting an hour for the effects to kick in, Adam goes 25 minutes in the chair with no problem; Grants follows up with 30 minutes nausea free.
Test 4: Electric stimulation wristband
BUSTED - Both Adam and Grant get sick.
Test 5: Placebo test
??? - Adam still gets sick in minutes, but Grant lasts 20 minutes with no ill effect; this suggests that Grant's seasickness is partially in his mind, and that he is not really seasick.
Test 6: A pharmaceutical
PLAUSIBLE - Only Adam is shown on the chair, but Kari notes that both have similar results, they didn't get sick, but don't look too well either.
The end result, the ginger pills are deemed PLAUSIBLE.
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Mary, Proud Mom of Nick on -
Aren't you the wealth of knowledge today Kelly!! Looks like ginger pills it is!
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Permalink Reply by Nancy (aka nwig) on -
I thought I'd include my response from the general thread here, in answer to how crystalized ginger tastes, so it's in this section as well.
Crystalized ginger tastes ok - sort-of a combo of a start with a sweet taste and then a following spicey taste. I'm not one who really likes spicey stuff, but if it kept sea-sickness away, I could deal with it.
I don't know if it's more effective than pills or supplement form; but since it seems that Sailors can't even have so much as a cough drop without it being dispensed by a Navy medical person, I didn't want to take a chance with my son having anything that could be considered "medicinal" without it being "issued" to him (especially with him being new on a ship and not knowing what is/is not allowed). Granted, I'm probably a bit more paranoid with that than necessary, but what I found were individualized packets that are essentially "candies" that will carry very nicely in one's pocket. Ginger supplement pills are not nearly as convenient. So that's why I went with what I did.
I'll see if I can make my way by the health food store that I got them at to get the brand name, as it's the only crystalized ginger I've found that's packaged the way it is. I'll post the info here when I get it.
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Permalink Reply by Mary, Proud Mom of Nick on
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Do you work with one of the large health food chains Nancy? We love ginger and I actually just sent my son some ginger candy in his care package this week. Ironically I was at Target and they had these small boxes of individually wrapped ginger candy and I had to get a couple...you know impulse items!!! I just don't see if that often unless I go to Whole Foods. Don't know if this would work the same of not but it is labeled ginger "candy".
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Permalink Reply by Kelly Kyle's Mom on -
The Whole Foods near me sells Candied Ginger Gelado. I never tried it but now, I am going to.
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Permalink Reply by Kelly Kyle's Mom on
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Nancy, I think you are right in that the crystalized ginger packets are more convenient than the pills. I'll be waiting eagerly for that link ;-)
Shell, I heard the same thing about looking at the horizon not the sky or water. I do not know if it works though.
Kelly
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Permalink Reply by Carolyn M on -
Thanks for sharing this. I'll have to tell Steven about the ginger pills - although he'll probably say that he doesn't need them.
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Permalink Reply by Nancy (aka nwig) on
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No, I don't work with any health food store; I'm just familiar with many herbal remedies and frequent health foods stores often. And also, about a year ago on N-P there was a good deal of discussion re: ginger, so that's where it really got my attention.
Anyway, the website for the Ginger chews that I got (I guess they are "chews" as opposed to "crystalized", but I don't think there's too much of a difference) is:
www.gingerpeople.com
The product that I got was the "Original Ginger Chew".
But alot of their products show as "out of stock", so you might want to go to their "store finder" feature to find what stores near you carry their products. And then I also found an interesting comment on the amount of ginger in the chews. It says "one Ginger Chew contains around 480mg or 1/2 gram ginger. In comparison, dry ginger capsules contain around 550mg". So I'm guessing that these chews should have the potential of being as effective as the supplement capsules.
And if my son ends up needing to use them, I'll let you know what he reports as to their effectiveness.
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Permalink Reply by Nancy (aka nwig) on
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Well, so far I won't be able to report on the effectiveness of the ginger for my son.
He's been out "underway" for the first time now for a few days, and I've just gotten my first couple of emails from him. So far, he's doing well with not getting sick. He says he can still feel the ship motion (eventhough he's on a carrier sized ship) and that he's had a bit of queasiness, but it's passed quickly. So I guess until they go thru rough seas, he may not need to use them. But he's still keeping them handy, just in case.
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Permalink Reply by Carolyn M on
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I just talked to Steven. They're in a Mideast country right now on a port visit. He said that they had very rough seas on the way there. They went between 2 typhoons and had 12+ foot waves. He said that he didn't get seasick but got knocked to the deck a couple of times by the motion. He says that he never takes anything for seasickness.
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Permalink Reply by Mary, Proud Mom of Nick on
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Carolyn, what kind of ship is Steven on? My husband used to be on GC - guided cruisers.. Your posting today reminds me of his old ship, he had a captain at one point that LOVED to be out with the typhoons!
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Permalink Reply by Carolyn M on
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He's on a LSD (Landing Dock Ship) - a Marine amphibious transport ship.
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Permalink Reply by Mary, Proud Mom of Nick on
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Finally, remembered to ask my husband about seasickness - he personally never had a problem but one of his good friends used to get sick ever time they pulled out of port. He said draminine (sp) or saltine crackers were the options that the ship gives.
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