I am in the very early stages of private pilot flight training, and I am a little concerned about becoming motion sick while practicing some of the maneuvers (steep turns, stalls, etc.). Dramamine is out of the question because it causes me extreme drowsiness, and I’m not sold on the effectiveness of ginger in preventing problems. I’ve heard in various places of a device called the Relief Band, which is supposed to work by using electrical pulses or something. I am by no means an expert on these sorts of things, but this device has my bs-ometer needle twitching. Does anyone have any insight or experience to offer about this product?
Yes! I’ve used one myself with good results, and I do recommend at least a trial of the thing to anybody under similar conditions. It doesn’t always help, but it’s cheaper than meds and far fewer side effects. YMMV, of course. 
Thanks very much for your input, Ragiel.
I am a pilot in training too and I have heard that it really does work although not for everyone. I have never used one but my impression is that it is not pure quackery and may be worth a shot.
Also, you are going to have to see if you really do get motion sick from those maneuvers. They only time I got queasy was when my instructor made me do S-turns for half an hour solid. You get used to those things over time.
Thanks, Shagnasty. I don’t really have much of a history of motion sickness, and it hasn’t been a problem yet. But I have such an aversion to nausea that I’d rather head it off at the pass if possible. I’ll probably stick it out for a while to get a better idea before taking action – just curious about the product.
I tried “sea bands” for seasickness. They’re supposed to work on that same accupressure point. They did absolutely nothing for me. However, they didn’t have five fancy LED settings, so clearly they weren’t as technically advanced.
Given that the product costs $127, you might want to check if it has a money-back guarantee. Otherwise, I’d say trust your BS-ometer.
I’ve never used one, but my meter starts beeping every time I see one. They supposedly work on principles of acupressure, but I don’t believe that’s ever been proven to be effective either. There may be anecdotes but to my knowledge, no hard evidence.
Plus, when you’re the one controlling the motion, you may be less likely to get queasy. I never get motion sickness when I’m driving on windy roads, but I do get a little oogy tummy when I’m the passenger.
Have you tried OTC pills, like Bonine?
Ginger does work very well ( it is great for pregnant mom’s) or those with queasy stomachs. You can get ginger drops called Gin-Gin at just about any asian market place for under $3 to give it a whirl.
Also, ginger ale settles queasiness as well.
I saw something at Walmart the other day about being a homeopathic smelling thing to calm motion sickness. I think what it probably does is divert your attention to something that makes one nauseus to something that smells purty.
As someone who use to puke everytime I flew ( when I was a wee lass) my mother swears by bonine. You wouldn’t dis my ma, would you?
Thanks again to all for your input.
Wouldn’t dream of it!
I’ve been in the exact same position as you, and I did get motion sickness after about a half hour in the plane. My instructor kept telling me it would pass and that I’d get used to the sensations, and I did. It took 10-15 flights, but eventually I became totally immune to motion sickness, even when doing stalls and steep turns. Just keep at it and you’ll eventually be fine. Until that happens, keeping your eyes on the horizon as much as possible helps a lot, and I found that flying on an empty stomach was more likely to make me feel the effects of motion sickness.
As for the ReliefBand, I’ve read in quite a few places (including AVweb, the huge aviation-related web site) that they do work really well (which kinda surprised me). I never tried one myself, but many people who have swear that they’re worth the money.
Gee, this seems like a safe topic for my very first post (I’ve been afraid that I’m going to get sucked into one of the political threads and brand myself for life as some sort of lunatic). I first heard about the relief band when chatting with an anesthesiologist about post-anesthesia nausea – he said studies showed it worked very well for that and also for morning sickness. At that time, my sister was suffering terrible morning sickness. Nothing helped, not even the drugs they finally gave her. She could keep nothing down and her doctor was talking about hospitalizing her so that she could be fed intravenously. So I decided the reliefband was worth a try – had one overnighted to her (I think it cost about $80). She wore it 24/7 for the next several weeks, and, although still ill, she immediately felt improvement and was able to keep enough food and drink down to keep out of the hospital.
When the morning sickness ended, she passed the relief band on to me, since I am a lifelong sufferer of motion sickness on airplanes (it’s the subtle motion that gets me). Bonine and dramamine have helped, but they make me sleepy and they don’t work 100% – I could pretty much count on being sick at least once per flight, especially if I turned my head too much or let myself doze off. Since using the reliefband – I’ve flown 16 times, all pretty substantial flights, and have not felt a single twinge of motion sickness (knock on wood), although I’ve been turning my head and napping with wild abandon. So, to sum up: worked for my sister, works for me, and a third-hand report of some medical study that shows it has real effects.
Crystallized ginger works wonders, it’s basically candy, and it’s a hell of a lot cheaper.
Several different products that may or may not work.
My sister also swears by her accupressure wristbands (I think hers are magnetic). She makes jewellery for a living, and travels a lot to shows, so she makes a lot of jewellery while travelling. Without the wristbands, she can’t work while in the car due to nausea; with them, no problem.
As for accupressure points being quackery, in my personal experience, there is definitely something to it. I get these intense, stabbing outer-ear twinges - putting hard pressure on the webbing of my thumb makes them go away instantly. There is no obvious reason why pushing on my hand should help my ear, but it does.
I would suggest getting a cheaper version of an accupressure point bracelet to try it. All you need to do is activate the pressure point - it doesn’t need to have bells and whistles, as far as I know.