Motion Sickness from Public Transit

In My Humble Opinion
1

I’ve started riding the bus to work to save on gas money, and it is giving me intense motion sickness. I never had motion sickness as a child, so this is kind of catching me off guard. It is about a 25 minute ride. I’ve been in the office for almost four hours, and I still feel nauseous and have a headache. Is there anyway to fight this that doesn’t require medicine that will make me sleepy (like Dramamine)?

I would really like to keep taking the bus, so if you’ve had any experience with motion sickness on public transportation and dealing with the after effects at work, I’d really appreciate it.

2

Ok. I also get motion sickness. Do you already do the following things:

  1. Never read or even look down for too long.
  2. Sit some place where you have a clear view of the window, if possible. Look out the window a lot.
  3. Practice deep breathing exercises.
  4. Keep good posture. I find slouching makes it worse.
  5. Sometimes packing a water bottle and taking little sips helps, sometimes not.
  6. Get a music player and put your headphones on.
  7. Chew gum. (Just do it quietly and with your mouth closed so you don’t annoy people!)
3

Take care not to look at surfaces which reflect the outside going by.

4

Thanks for the tips, I will put some of them into play. The music, breathing, and posture ones are things I’ve never heard! It is definitely worse the farther back I sit on the bus, but my route is pretty crowded, so I don’t always have a choice.

5

Not sure if your buses have the pivot in the middle, but if they do, I’d recommend staying well away from it (ahead of or far enough behind that you can sort of ignore it). I rode an NYC bus a while back when the 6 train was having one of its occasional convulsions. I sat just behind the pivot point and found myself getting quite nauseous as a result. Had to move, which fixed it all up.

6

I find standing on the bus and looking out the windshield seems to help me. Your knees act like suspension so you’re not jolted back and forth quite as violently.

7

Don’t stand on top of the bus! :eek: :slight_smile: You might fall off and then motion sickness would be the least of your problems!

Anyway I hope it helps.

8

Ginger candy, ginger ale, even ginger snap cookies, will help.

9

I love all things ginger, so that won’t be a hard one to follow.

10

I’m the opposite. I get motion-sick in cars, but not usually on public transit.

When I do get motion-sick on public transit, sometimes I take Gravol, or try to think very hard about something else, anything but my current situation.

11

There are also ginger pills available, for convenience.

Eating a good breakfast before hand might help. Snacking on starchy things after can help.

12

As others said, keep looking out the window. Motion sickness happens because the visual cues of motion don’t agree with what your inner ears are telling you. So if you keep your eyes on things inside the vehicle, your eyes are telling your brain that you are perfectly still, but your inner ears are telling the brain that you are accelerating, or turning, or swaying side to side, etc.

13

Look out the FRONT window, not the sides. Looking out the sides makes things worse.

Dramamine makes a “less drowsy” version. I have yet to try it, but it may be worth a shot for you.

14

There are also non-drowsy motion sickness medications. They don’t work as well for me, but maybe you’ll be lucky.

-D/a

15

Ginger ale.

NEVER read anything.

Don’t bundle up. Even if I’m so sick I have sweat soaking my clothes, I don’t cover up. Keeping cool is the one thing that saves me.

I have thrown up in more planes and cars then…hoo boy.

16

I have thrown up in a plane once. We were flying back from Paris, and there was a lot of turbulence. I was doing OK, until other people started throwing up, and then the smell got to me, too.

I remember the kindest lady sitting next to me. She only spoke…German? Or something. But she was rubbing my back (I was only 15) and speaking soothingly to me and trying to comfort me. I couldn’t understand a word but it was so nice. I will never forget her kindness.

And then there was the time we were traveling with my mom’s best friend to the Golden Temple in W. Virginia. His sons were coming along, and I had a bit of a girlish crush on one of them. We were ten years apart, so it wasn’t like there was the remotest chance, and he treated me like a much-loved kid sister, but still.

Well, they put me in the middle of the car. And I threw up all over his lap. :smack:

He was so nice about it. I was humiliated!