I just got done watching Mythbusters and they showed an episode where they were testing out different non-pharmasutical seasick/motion sickness remedies. They did 6 tests on Adam and Grant? who both suffer from sea/motion sickness.  They tried the under the tongue spray, the electrical impulse, the magnetic bracelet, gingerroot pills, a placebo for pharmacutical and finally actual pharmacutical. 

The point was to be able to find something non-pharmacutical so that there would be no side effects....afterall, you don't want to spend the entire time sleeping or feeling loopy.

Anyway, their findings were the gingerroot pills. 

Anybody else tried he ginger pills??? And if so, what has been your experience?

great info...thanks...i think i am going to take a few different remedies with me on my 1st cruise...just in case...

I use the ginger root pills.  They help me more when I get back from the cruise so I don't get land sick also.  I didn't use them on our first cruise, and a month later I was still feeling the movement of the ship!  Now, it only takes a few days to get my land legs back.

Denise

I am wondering about the dosage for the ginger root pills. On the  550 mg bottle, they recomend 1 to 2  pills several times a day.

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I haven’t been on a cruise yet. (First time this Jan/2010)....but I only get sea......or well lake sickness when I sleep on our boat. I’m pretty worried about getting sea sick, but I heard that there is something over the counter that you can buy that works pretty good also; I just can't remember the name of it right now. I usually have a problem with medications, I react differently too them than most people and I prefer not to take anything that I don’t have to take. 1 regular strength Tylenol makes me sleepy, 1 relaxer kind of medication knocks me out for 2 days but alcohol wakes me up! ??????      Thanks for the info, I will take some Ginger root pills too just incase and forego any remedy that involves the words electrical.....and if all else fails I will just drink alcohol until I’m as drunk as I am dizzy....Just kidding!

I'm leaving today for our cruise and i plan on getting the pills into my system this morning before i leave and taking 2 pills with every meal. i have patches on standby just in case but they won't go to waste if i don't use them as i have several family members who cruise often and use the patches.

I actually put the gingerroot pills to the test a few weeks ago on land and now i have even greater confidence that they will work. Here is what happened:

I am unable to drive b/c of some meds i am on b/c of my back so my mother was taking me to a dr appt. 2 hours away from where i live and i got a bad case of motion sickness...and had not taken anything for it. So i know i am prone to motion sickness.

The next weekend, I knew we would be making the same trip and I had gotten a new magazine in the mail. I got up that morning and had a bowl of cereal, took 2 gingerroot pills before leaving and then i read the magazine the entire time i was in the car...never once had even a thought that i should stop reading or anything. i have never been able to read in the car. i was sold at that moment.

i figure the worst that can happen is if it doesn't work, i put on a patch when i start feeling it and go to bed if possible.  i loose maybe 4 hours....it will be in the evening anyway-so 1 night tops.

i'll try to remember to post when i return and let everyone know how it went.

I don't mean to get too technical here but I thought I'd share my experience.  I've been a pilot and been on the water for 30 plus years in everything from my 30 footer to an aircraft carrier.  Motion sickness (plane/boat/car) otherwise known as Vertigo is caused by your brains inability to correlate what it's feeling your orientation is (from your inner ear) with what it's seeing with your eyes.  The brain gets confused signals and you get nausea.

I've only been seasick once, as a kid, in 10-12 foot seas in a small boat (36 feet).  My mother made me wear a coat cause it was cold out and she was afraid I'd get sick.  What happened...I got hot and sweaty, my body temp rose and I was over the side for hours, so I learned what triggers it in me and have never repeated those conditions.  The best thing you can do is learn what triggers it in you.  Given the right conditions, we can ALL get vertigo.

How to prevent it.  Technically you can't, but you can minimize the likelyhood you will get it.  I've listed the ways below I know of and how they work.

Trans Scop patch (Scopolamine) - interferes with the signals from the inner ear - in a strong enough dose it's a psychedelic drug. 

Bonine and it's ilk - It's an antihistamine - Thought to interfere with the bodies histamine response when vertigo sets in, get all sweaty, etc.  This can knock you out so be careful.

Wristbands - They put pressure on a nerve in the wrist that's thought to interfere with the nerve signals from the inner ear.  I know, weird that a nerve in the wrist will interfere with signals from the ear.  Other people (mostly western doctors) will tell you it's the psychological value that you THINK it's working that it does. 

Not sure about the Ginger root.  First I've heard of that. Will have to look into that.

If you feel yourself getting woozy, get to a railing or a porthole you can see the horizon from and focus on whats not moving as opposed to what is.

I took ginger capsules (powdered ginger in a gelatin capsule) on my last cruise and they really helped my friend who had never cruised before. I tried them once, and other than burping up ginger in a fine powder about 20 minutes later, they helped settle my tummy when I ate too much at dinner (what else would you do on a cruise?)...

Ginger is long known for helping settle your stomach- that's why your mom would give you flat ginger ale when you were sick to your stomach!

capntom:

Trans Scop patch (Scopolamine) - interferes with the signals from the inner ear - in a strong enough dose it's a psychedelic drug. 

Bonine and it's ilk - It's an antihistamine - Thought to interfere with the bodies histamine response when vertigo sets in, get all sweaty, etc.  This can knock you out so be careful.

ok, i got this post when i was on my way to galveston...and i actually laughed at this part....me and everyone in the truck with me. Two of us now owe you an apology as we are now living proof of this statement.

None of us had any problem on the patch. It has been a week since i have been back and i took the patch off on tuesday. no problem tuesday, but on wednesday...i felt like i was 20 again and coming off of an acid trip and i am still feeling this way. i had to go to the dr. on thursday and get a prescription which the warning about the prescription given was just as bad as the trip i have been on and have only taken it once. It's starting to get better but my boat still rocks from time to time and the dreams are vivid and very strange and i find myself still going through periods of very heavy fatigue/drowsiness to the point of having no choice but to sleep. I'm not functioning much at all since wednesday and i don't know how long this will last. it's a good thing i'm not working right now.

Ginger pills work great. Last cruise we took several of us had to use ginger pills.  They work great and no side effects.  I think someone said they even have lollipops for kids.  Good luck!

Ginger cookies and with a cup of tea, made a nice snack and settle the stomach.  Ginger ale helps too, just like when we were kids and grandma or mom gave us ginger ale when we had the flu. (flattend with a spoon full of sugar).

My wife has been using Ginger pills for the past 4-5 cruises ever since we saw that episode.  She did take some Bonine and Ginger when we had 30 ft seas on a return from Castaway Cay.

She usually takes 2 (250 mg I beleive) capsules in the morning and at night.  Biggest thing she enjoys is being able to have a drink if she would like without getting tired from the Bonine/ Alcohol combo.

 Sean