Motion sickness while driving

placidjackal36 said:

I don't know what you're getting at with that one. It’s just a single word floating there without any context. Are we starting a debate, or did you just hit send by accident? If you have an actual point to make, lay it out. I'm all ears, but I can't exactly engage with a mystery. kaže:
Look, I’m really not talking about anything life-threatening here. No major medical crises or anything heavy like that. 😲
Why can't we just use a placebo to deal with motion sickness during long road trips? I’m tired of popping pills that leave me feeling like a complete zombie for the rest of the day. It feels like you're trading one problem for another—nausea for total brain fog. Honestly, if the mind can trick itself into feeling better, why aren't we leaning into that instead of relying on heavy-duty meds that knock you sideways? 🤷 I don't see anything wrong with that...

A placebo that costs as much as a gold-plated steak dinner? Give me a break, people. Seriously... 🙄
Why not just find another way to convince yourself? Something that doesn't drain your bank account for no reason. You could easily set up your own little ritual—something meaningful that costs next to nothing. But no, instead we’re all out here dropping serious cash on overpriced, glorified bottled water just because someone convinced us it's a "placeeeeeboooooo." 😲.
It feels like you guys aren't quite grasping the core of it: a placebo isn't some rare medical fluke. It’s basically just the psychological reaction that kicks in every single time someone hands you something and tells you, "Hey, this is going to make you feel better." Whether it's a pill or just a convincing sales pitch, if you're told it works, your brain starts doing its own thing to try and make it true.
If that’s really how things work—and let's be honest, it is—then why on earth would anyone blow a ton of cash on distilled water? Is it just because it's "modern" or something? I honestly don't get it. 🤷

Look, ginger is fine. Maybe some people can't stand it—whatever. But it’s "something." Beyond just the whole placebo effect thing, it actually triggers real chemical reactions in your system because you're consuming a tangible, physical substance. It has a scent, too. It's real food.

That red scarf really doesn't do anything for you. It’s just not your look. You’d be better off with something else—maybe just a simple jar of those classic sugar spheres. Which ones actually fetch a high price? Look, when people start throwing around terms like "miracle cure," they aren't talking about the same thing. It's not even in the same ballpark. 🤷

Honestly, I just feel bad watching people gather around just to start talking nonsense. They get together, lose all sense of logic, and just start blathering away. It’s like watching a group of people standing around a water cooler at a local office, thinking they’re making sense when they’re really just adding to the noise. support group And then she just starts piling on the misinformation. Honestly, what’s supposed to be good about that? It's like watching someone try to build a house out of wet cardboard—it looks okay from a distance, but the second you lean on it, the whole thing collapses into a mess. There's zero substance there.

I don't think this is being polite, and it definitely isn't how a decent debate should work.

Some folks are out there believing in "alternative facts," and you aren't going to enlighten them by hitting them with your overly negative—well, maybe realistic?—takes. Just let them believe what they want. Let them blow their money. Let them talk their trash.

And honestly? I don't even buy the idea that all this "trash talking" is actually dangerous enough to flip your own perspective.

If you already believe in something, you're probably going to stick to it, no matter how much someone tries to talk sense into you.

But if you don't believe it? All the "trash talking" in the world won't change your mind.

I’m going to speak my mind however I see fit, as long as I’m not taking direct shots at anyone. Just remember, my attempt to get a "swear jar" rule added to the moderator guidelines didn't fly. 😉

At the end of the day, I feel like it's my responsibility to keep people in the loop. If you look at the ratio of people who actually realize they're being scammed versus those who are totally clueless, it's easily 1 to 100. Someone has to act as a reality check in these discussions. This forum isn't some billboard for peddling idiocic "alternative" methods.

I feel compelled to jump in here and just say that placidjackal36 is absolutely spot on! This whole situation is turning into a complete circus... especially with those guides they're using!

placidjackal36 said:I’m going to speak my mind however I see fit, as long as I’m not taking direct shots at anyone. Just remember, my attempt to get a "swear jar" rule added to the moderator guidelines didn't fly. 😉

At the end of the day, I feel like it's my responsibility to keep people in the loop. If you look at the ratio of people who actually realize they're being scammed versus those who are totally clueless, it's easily 1 to 100. Someone has to act as a reality check in these discussions. This forum isn't some billboard for peddling idiocic "alternative" methods.

placidjackal36, I really do admire how much you want to educate people. But, man, you tend to butt heads with people's personal beliefs quite often. I don't know what your style used to be, but it seems like you've decided that this Health section is where you're going to shine a light on everything possible. Look, I truly value your expertise and your drive to share it with everyone here. It's great! But sometimes, your tone just feels a bit... off. And I don't think we should all feel uncomfortable when browsing this forum. No matter how misguided someone might seem, nobody likes feeling belittled or looked down upon. Using phrases like "talking nonsense" or "get this trash out of here"... that’s still insulting, even if there aren't any curse words involved. I don't think it helps the flow of conversation at all. Especially in the Health section, where most people are just looking for advice rather than an argument. And let's face it, you get all kinds of advice here. It just seems like you jump in to critique almost anything that doesn't align perfectly with your specific knowledge or worldview. Honestly, whenever I see one of your posts, I can't help but think of Savonarola... And, well, as they say, God works in mysterious ways... and that goes for health, too. Maybe try having a little more faith in the people reading these threads, at least here in the Health section. Do you really think everyone just blindly follows every single thing they read online?

Anyway, back to me—motion sickness used to absolutely wreck me. Even with Dramamine, I couldn't handle a trip. Only difference was, it didn't make me sleepy like it does for most of you; if anything, I was the most energetic person on the road! The only thing it did was make me super hungry, so I always traveled with a massive pile of sandwiches.

But once I switched over to macrobiotics, I didn't need the Dramamine anymore. I managed to beat the nausea using umeboshi plums instead. I'd eat two before leaving and maybe five during the trip. They're pretty tough to eat at first because they're so salty, but after that, I felt wonderful for the whole ride.

Matthew Fox4 said:placidjackal36, I really do admire how much you want to educate people. But, man, you tend to butt heads with people's personal beliefs quite often. I don't know what your style used to be, but it seems like you've decided that this Health section is where you're going to shine a light on everything possible. Look, I truly value your expertise and your drive to share it with everyone here. It's great! But sometimes, your tone just feels a bit... off. And I don't think we should all feel uncomfortable when browsing this forum. No matter how misguided someone might seem, nobody likes feeling belittled or looked down upon. Using phrases like "talking nonsense" or "get this trash out of here"... that’s still insulting, even if there aren't any curse words involved. I don't think it helps the flow of conversation at all. Especially in the Health section, where most people are just looking for advice rather than an argument. And let's face it, you get all kinds of advice here. It just seems like you jump in to critique almost anything that doesn't align perfectly with your specific knowledge or worldview. Honestly, whenever I see one of your posts, I can't help but think of Savonarola... And, well, as they say, God works in mysterious ways... and that goes for health, too. Maybe try having a little more faith in the people reading these threads, at least here in the Health section. Do you really think everyone just blindly follows every single thing they read online?

Anyway, back to me—motion sickness used to absolutely wreck me. Even with Dramamine, I couldn't handle a trip. Only difference was, it didn't make me sleepy like it does for most of you; if anything, I was the most energetic person on the road! The only thing it did was make me super hungry, so I always traveled with a massive pile of sandwiches.

But once I switched over to macrobiotics, I didn't need the Dramamine anymore. I managed to beat the nausea using umeboshi plums instead. I'd eat two before leaving and maybe five during the trip. They're pretty tough to eat at first because they're so salty, but after that, I felt wonderful for the whole ride.

Hold on, what does interfering with someone's beliefs and convictions have to do with anything?
Why should I respect that? Even if it isn't causing direct harm, I don't see any reason to stay quiet. I'm standing on my right to free speech here.
But we aren't talking about abstract ideas; we're talking about actual harm. Financial harm and physical harm.

Why do I call those stupid pseudo-medical threads "garbage"? Because the Health subforum shouldn't be hosting that stuff. Honestly, it would be the moral thing to scrub it from the entire site, but hey, they created an "Alternative" subforum specifically for that kind of sandbox play. Fine, let them play there. They haven't even implemented a warning system yet, even though they promised they would when they were planning to turn the old NR wing into an "alternative center."

Having homeopathy in the Health section makes about as much sense as reading tea leaves or praying to some Hawaiian deity.
And I have every right to react. At the very least.
I could sit here and write essays on why it's nonsense, but I don't feel like it. I don't have the time, and frankly, doing so just gives unearned credibility to homeopaths—who are essentially just scammers.

For me, motion sickness used to be a killer; even without Dramamine, I couldn't make a trip. Only difference was, it didn't make me sleepy like it does most of you. On the contrary, I was always the most upbeat person on the road. My only issue was that my appetite would spike, so I’d always carry a mountain of sandwiches.

But once I switched to macrobiotics, there was no longer a need for Dramamine. I successfully managed the nausea with umeboshi plums. I’d eat two before a trip, sometimes five. They're hard to eat at first because they're so salty, but after that, I felt great for the whole journey.

But you're comparing umeboshi plums, which are loaded with sodium chloride, to plain water.
Those plums have a—theoretically speaking—effect. At least, a theoretical effect. And of course, there's the placebo effect, which shows up everywhere. As a theoretical effect, besides certain ingredients in those plums that might be soothing, you also have the hypertonicity of the salt, which has a strong impact on the wet, acidic environment of the stomach.

A homeopathic remedy vial is just water. H2O. Or a sugar pill. There is absolutely nothing in there.
Substances dissolved in water and then removed from it don't leave a trace. Water doesn't have a memory. If it did, chemistry wouldn't even exist as a field because we wouldn't be able to run experiments using water as a solvent and get repeatable results.
Testing blood, soil, or rainwater would be completely pointless. Chemistry wouldn't be a science based on reproducible trials.

So, there's zero theoretical foundation, and there isn't a shred of evidence that any of it works. In two hundred years of this madness, not one piece of proof. Just anecdotes and tall tales. What drives people to believe this stuff? Ignorance.
People simply don't understand what they're looking at. Homeopaths fill their heads with garbage about "natural plant-based remedies" and sell them pure water, sugar, ethanol, wax, or whatever inert carrier they happen to be using. They think there are daisies and apples inside. 🤷

When someone pops onto a forum and claims, "homeopathy helped me beat pneumonia," you might as well swap out "homeopathy" for:

• praying to Zeus
• staring intensely at a AA battery
• tapping your hands on a stone table
• saying "la la la" three times a day
• having a chat with a stapler
• offering a lamb sacrifice to Yahweh
• licking the air
• ...

It all ends up in the same place.
I'm out of things to say. There’s really nothing to discuss regarding the medicinal properties of a teaspoon of pure hydrogen oxide.

Well... nausea during a bus ride can be partly psychosomatic—which means just carrying around a Sai Baba charm might actually help.

I struggle with motion sickness quite a bit, so I've become pretty well-acquainted with the whole ordeal. Taking Dramamine knocks me out, but it completely kills the nausea. Looking straight ahead in the direction of travel helps, too. Driving doesn't trigger it for me—and honestly, just visualizing myself behind the wheel helps keep the sickness at bay. Anticipating the vehicle's movements also makes a difference.

placidjackal36 said:Hold on, what does interfering with someone's beliefs and convictions have to do with anything?
Why should I respect that? Even if it isn't causing direct harm, I don't see any reason to stay quiet. I'm standing on my right to free speech here.
But we aren't talking about abstract ideas; we're talking about actual harm. Financial harm and physical harm.

Why do I call those stupid pseudo-medical threads "garbage"? Because the Health subforum shouldn't be hosting that stuff. Honestly, it would be the moral thing to scrub it from the entire site, but hey, they created an "Alternative" subforum specifically for that kind of sandbox play. Fine, let them play there. They haven't even implemented a warning system yet, even though they promised they would when they were planning to turn the old NR wing into an "alternative center."

Having homeopathy in the Health section makes about as much sense as reading tea leaves or praying to some Hawaiian deity.
And I have every right to react. At the very least.
I could sit here and write essays on why it's nonsense, but I don't feel like it. I don't have the time, and frankly, doing so just gives unearned credibility to homeopaths—who are essentially just scammers.

For me, motion sickness used to be a killer; even without Dramamine, I couldn't make a trip. Only difference was, it didn't make me sleepy like it does most of you. On the contrary, I was always the most upbeat person on the road. My only issue was that my appetite would spike, so I’d always carry a mountain of sandwiches.

But once I switched to macrobiotics, there was no longer a need for Dramamine. I successfully managed the nausea with umeboshi plums. I’d eat two before a trip, sometimes five. They're hard to eat at first because they're so salty, but after that, I felt great for the whole journey.

But you're comparing umeboshi plums, which are loaded with sodium chloride, to plain water.
Those plums have a—theoretically speaking—effect. At least, a theoretical effect. And of course, there's the placebo effect, which shows up everywhere. As a theoretical effect, besides certain ingredients in those plums that might be soothing, you also have the hypertonicity of the salt, which has a strong impact on the wet, acidic environment of the stomach.

A homeopathic remedy vial is just water. H2O. Or a sugar pill. There is absolutely nothing in there.
Substances dissolved in water and then removed from it don't leave a trace. Water doesn't have a memory. If it did, chemistry wouldn't even exist as a field because we wouldn't be able to run experiments using water as a solvent and get repeatable results.
Testing blood, soil, or rainwater would be completely pointless. Chemistry wouldn't be a science based on reproducible trials.

So, there's zero theoretical foundation, and there isn't a shred of evidence that any of it works. In two hundred years of this madness, not one piece of proof. Just anecdotes and tall tales. What drives people to believe this stuff? Ignorance.
People simply don't understand what they're looking at. Homeopaths fill their heads with garbage about "natural plant-based remedies" and sell them pure water, sugar, ethanol, wax, or whatever inert carrier they happen to be using. They think there are daisies and apples inside. 🤷

When someone pops onto a forum and claims, "homeopathy helped me beat pneumonia," you might as well swap out "homeopathy" for:

• praying to Zeus
• staring intensely at a AA battery
• tapping your hands on a stone table
• saying "la la la" three times a day
• having a chat with a stapler
• offering a lamb sacrifice to Yahweh
• licking the air
• ...

It all ends up in the same place.
I'm out of things to say. There’s really nothing to discuss regarding the medicinal properties of a teaspoon of pure hydrogen oxide.

🙄
Now you're just talking nonsense!
I don't buy any of that junk myself, so I guess nothing is going to work for me, but hey, if it actually helps someone else, why shouldn't they go for it? 🤷

I’m getting so frustrated that I almost want to wish my own old heartache onto you, just so you can experience it firsthand and realize why someone would try absolutely anything to feel better!

velvetgull9 said:Back when everyone was mass migrating from America to far-off lands at the turn of the century, doctors on those long ocean voyages noticed something weird—mostly adults were getting seasick, while kids seemed totally fine. Turns out, those folks coming from the northern and western parts of the US were packing plenty of gingerbread cookies, which the kids were snacking on constantly. And hey, ginger is still a super legit way to fight nausea today!

Maybe give it a shot. 😉

P.S: placidjackal36, go take a stroll! If people want even less nausea, they can just tie a red bandana around their big toe, so I guess you should try to be happy about that 😉

🙏🙏🙏 Way to go, Cats!

I feel like this thread has veered off course...
If someone claims that wearing a red scarf helps with their nausea—no matter how ridiculous that sounds—then clearly, it "works" for them. They aren't feeling sick anymore. Whether it was actually the scarf or just a placebo effect in their head doesn't really matter... what matters is that they aren't throwing up, period.
It’s the same thing if someone wants to believe in something—whether it’s red scarves, homeopathy, God, or whatever else—there isn't enough force in the world or enough evidence to convince them otherwise...
So, I honestly don't think these kinds of arguments belong here...

jadesailor14 said:🙄
Now you're just talking nonsense!
I don't buy any of that junk myself, so I guess nothing is going to work for me, but hey, if it actually helps someone else, why shouldn't they go for it? 🤷

I’m getting so frustrated that I almost want to wish my own old heartache onto you, just so you can experience it firsthand and realize why someone would try absolutely anything to feel better!

I completely agree with that...
At the same time, I haven't given up hope on finding something that actually works for me, which is why I'm willing to try just about anything. I'd even be willing to try the red scarf thing—maybe I'll end up pleasantly surprised 😁...

I just picked up some ginger tablets at CVS—a pack of 20, $11, they weren't expensive, so I have nothing to lose...
If those don't work, I'll move on to homeopathic remedies or magnetic bracelets and see what happens (personally, I don't believe they do anything, but I'm going to try them anyway)...

Personally, I’ve never really struggled with motion sickness. It doesn't matter if I'm driving, riding a bus, or even out on a cruise—nothing ever seems to bother me. Even during one particular trip where the weather turned nasty and we dealt with massive waves and constant tossing all night and through the next morning, I felt fine. I suppose those large cruise ships have built-in stabilizers to help with that.

Everyone always says you should pick a cabin right in the middle of the ship to minimize the swaying, and I guess that part is true since you do feel the movement less there. But, strangely enough, we had a cabin with a window toward the back of the ship, and for me, that actually felt much better than being in the middle. The vibrations from the engines were just so intense in the center of the vessel; it wasn't just happening on the bottom deck where most of the cabins are, either. You could really feel those engine tremors two or three decks up in the restaurant area too.
Honestly, it felt so bizarre the evening I finally got home after a long ten-hour bus ride from Italy. When I walked into my place, I almost felt like I was still out at sea—it was as if my apartment was swaying just like a cabin does during a voyage. Maybe it was just pure exhaustion, I suppose. That sensation didn't last very long, though; by the next day, it had completely faded and everything felt normal again.

Personally, I find it works much better if I just close my eyes and visualize myself possessing the kind of overwhelming love Madonna radiates, combined with the physical grace of Seve and that razor-sharp intellect of Adlešićka🤣🤣🤣
it really does the trick for me🤷
now, is that technically considered homeopathy?
but honestly, it works....

You can find ginger capsules or those little ginger tablets specifically for nausea at any drugstore... they work wonders for me, so I don't have to rely on 🙂
anymore.

Does anyone know how much those ginger chews cost and what they’re actually called? I’ve been wanting to give them a shot. At least those tablets actually contain something useful, unlike some of those placebo pills people try to defend—I honestly don't get how they can justify using stuff that clearly does nothing. It sounds absolutely ridiculous to me.
There’s ginger.

Yikes... looks like you've got it pretty bad here. I mean, I get motion sickness myself when I'm riding the bus or driving, but I usually just pop some Dramamine and crack a window for some air. Seems like what you're dealing with is on a whole different level, though. Heh 😉

I'm the same way—staring straight ahead is the only thing that keeps me steady. God forbid I try to turn my head or lean over even an inch. I just sit there like a statue the whole trip, eyes locked on the road ahead.🙂

Let’s circle back to the main topic for a second..

The symptoms described by the person in the first post really sound like claustrophobia, you know? That intense fear of being in tight spaces.

My mom actually deals with claustrophobia too, so she can't stand getting on a bus or a subway or anything like that. It's even worse if the room is technically big but just feels super cramped because it's packed with people... she gets the exact same symptoms then, too!

They call those little ginger pills something, and honestly, I can't even keep track of how much they run me at the drugstore, but if you look under $17

I’ve heard about those ginger tablets too—Dramamine never works for me anyway; it just makes me feel totally drugged out 😬 (though I still can't sleep while I'm driving)
. I don't travel all that much, but whenever I'm behind the wheel for more than two hours, I start feeling sick
. I really want to give the ginger a shot—does it actually stop the nausea? How are you supposed to take them? 🙂

I can't speak for everyone, but personally, I never feel groggy or wiped out from taking Dramamine, even though it's a staple for me on long road trips...

restlessorca15 said:I can't speak for everyone, but personally, I never feel groggy or wiped out from taking Dramamine, even though it's a staple for me on long road trips...

Must be nice. 🙏

A couple of days ago—just a quick trip down to the coast and back—I felt like I could've tossed the whole bottle straight in the trash. 😢

But hey, I finally figured out what works for me. 😉