Travel and motion sickness

Travel or motion sickness is a common motion-related illness that can affect you when you travel. It can also affect you when you are on theme park rides, such as rollercoasters, or when you are watching action movies or video games.

Travel sickness is thought to be caused by a sensory mismatch between your eyes and your inner ears. Your inner ears are part of your body's vestibular system that regulates balance and spatial orientation. When you see motion but do not feel it, or vice versa, your eyes and inner ears send conflicting signals to your brain. Your brain becomes confused and can trigger the symptoms associated with travel sickness.

Travel sickness has a range of symptoms, and they tend to vary with each individual. Symptoms of travel sickness include:

• Dizziness
• Nausea
• Pale skin
• Vomiting
• Increased saliva production
• Cold sweats
• Headaches
• Migraines
• Rapid breathing
• Drowsiness
• Fatigue
• Stomach pain

Travel sickness is not a serious condition and in most cases the symptoms will pass once your trip has ended. If, however, your symptoms persist for a long period after your trip has ended, you should see your GP. These symptoms may be caused by an unrelated case of labyrinthitis, an inner ear infection.

Most people have experienced travel sickness at some point in their lives, but some groups of people tend to be more at risk than others:

• People prone to nausea or migraines
• Women, especially those who are pregnant, on their period, or taking hormone medications
• Children between the age of 2 and 12

Travel sickness can be prevented by using certain behavioural techniques or by taking travel sickness medication.

To prevent or alleviate travel sickness, try some of these common behavioural techniques:

• Before travelling:
  • Avoid large meals
  • Avoid greasy or spicy food
  • Avoid alcohol
  • Request specific seats (e.g. in the front seat of a car, in a forward-facing window seat on a train, in a front or middle cabin on a ship)

• During travelling:
  • Wear an acupressure band
  • Breathe fresh air deeply and slowly
  • Avoid reading or staring at a screen
  • Eat crackers or drink a carbonated beverage to settle your stomach

There are many options for travel sickness medication available. For children older than 2, antihistamines like dimenhydrinate can alleviate travel sickness symptoms. For adults, prescription travel sickness medication is often the best option.

121doc stocks some of the most popular prescription travel sickness medications:

• Avomine
• Scopoderm
• Kwells

These medications come in tablets and patches. Depending on the length of your travel, you may need to start taking some of them before your trip to ensure they have time to take effect.

You can buy motion sickness medication online at 121doc and have it delivered the next day. Simply fill in our partner Medical questionnaire and one of our doctors will write out your prescription and send it to our UK registered pharmacists.