Also, what are some “cures” or preventative measures. Aside from the obvious don’t ride anything on a full stomach and if nauseated, don’t ride for a while. I remember seeing a mythbusters where ginger pills stopped them from getting motion sickness, do those work on rides, and if so, where can you find them? (I’m in Canada)
Well it’s obviously due to the middle ear and equilibrium. Beats me what you can do about it. I love rides and have never had motion sickness. My wife feels ill if she reads in the car. The kids are a weird hybrid of both.
There are over-the-counter things that address motion sickness (Dramamine, etc.) They may help. I have no idea how they work. Maybe it’s the sleepiness. If that’s the case, they probably reduce the effectiveness of a theme park effect anyway. If a ride makes you side, why would you bother to ride it in the first place?
What are you talking about, exactly? Is this the stomach-dropping sensation you get on the first hill of a coaster, or the dizziness/nausea you get with the sorts of old-school rides that spin you around in circles a lot?
In my own limited and entirely non-generalizable experience, the former sorta goes away with experience. Living nearby to Kings Island, there’s not a coaster there which’ll give me that drop in the stomach on the first hill, except for the son of beast to some extent. Give me enough times riding the SoB, and I promse that I’ll get over it with that as well; I’ve only ridden the “Drop Zone”–a simple(!) 300’ tower free-fall twice, and I was noticably more comfortable with it the second time than the first. A few more times and I should be chatting on the way down.
The other sort–mostly old-fashioned Coney Island style carnie rides, at least hereabouts–I’m not so sure about. I generally stay away from them myself; I don’t care for the dizziness that they give me. Dramamine might be indicated for these, but I’m not at all certain.
I get the stomach drop on coasters. But I’m talking about the woozy/dizzy feeling after going on any rides really. And I want to go on such ride for quite obvious reasons, to have fun with my friends. It really sucks being the one waiting outside the line while your friends go on rides, and you’re still recovering.
Don’t feel bad. I’m the guy waiting for my friends at the exit of ALL big rides because I just can’t stomach them. I also get that “stomach drop” feeling when I ride in a car, even in the passenger seat. If I’m not in control, I get nauseated. Same thing in airplanes; when I’m PIC, I can do stalls, whatever. When I’m not (even if I have my hands lightly on the yoke) I’m very sick to my stomach.
Just something I guess we have to deal with. I’ve not found anything that helps. Dramamine helps some, in as much as it makes you sleepy and keeps the vomit down, but it doesn’t take away the stomach feeling.
My daughter used to play a computer game called Roller Coaster Tycoon where you can build a theme park. You can see all the individual park guests walking around, and you try build your park to please them. If the rides are too crazy the guests will get sick, and actually throw up on the walkways (the barf is tiny, like 10 pixels.) That also grosses out other guests and makes them unhappy.
At one point I walked up to see how she was doing and saw a bunch of people walking around inside a small fenced-in area separate from the rest of the park. I asked her why the people were in there, and just about died laughing when she told me; she had built the fenced- area and dropped the sick guests into it so they wouldn’t bother other people!
That’ll teach them to get sick.
If it’s any comfort to you, the older you get, the more likely it is you will get nauseous (the inner ear seems to deteriorate), so as you get older, you will have more company on the sidelines. I used to think my dad was just refusing to have fun. Now I know better.
Nautious? Is that the feeling that one has become a seafarer?
Sailboat
BTW, the word is nauseated. The thing that makes you sick is nauseous. When something is nauseous, it makes you nauseated. [/nitpick]
Yep. I used to love the swings when I was a kid and now just looking at them makes me sick. I get motion sickness in a hammock. If a ride goes in a straight line, OK, but spinning or rocking, no go.
As I’ve learned on these boards, the descriptive camp would disagree.