Motion Sickness Patch

I used the patch on a cruise and experienced temporary blindness (which is a side effect rarely talked about). I had just had LASIK surgery a few weeks before so I thought I really was going blind. It was scary! When we figured out what was going on, I removed the patch and my vision returned to normal within a day.

Unless you are very susceptible to motion sickness and/or you have very rough weather, you probably will find that you do not get sick on a cruise ship. They are very stable, and you probably won't even notice that you're on a boat when you are below deck.

That being said, the patches are effective. They do, however, have side effects... dry mouth is most common (almost 2/3 of people), and about 17% have drowsiness (I am a pharmacist, and I am citing this from a professional website).

The patch has not been studied in children and I DEFINITELY would not use it in a child. The dose if for an adult, not a child, and there is no way to cut it down even if you wanted to. The side effects would be magnified in a child. Safety is unknown.

Personally, I would get an OTC antiemetic with meclizine in it as the active ingredient. (There are several manufacturers, under different brand names... read the label for the active ingredient). You can actually take it just once a day for motion sickness and it is quite effective. The caveat is you would have to take it before you felt sick, but since you have to put the patch on at least 4 hours ahead of time, you were already planning on doing that. Ask your pediatrician what they would recommend for a 4 year old.

I would recommend Triptone and not a patch. Triptone can be purchased at Walmart, but you may have to have the pharmacy order it for you. The patch has bad success and I have lived on the water and been around the ocean with several people that get seriously sick. The sick part is kind of two fold - motion sickness and psychological!!! Much of it is psychological in thinking that you will or have the fear of getting sick. Anyway - triptone is the best you can find - I promise! This comes from years of captains in the family to prevent the vomitting on their deck! LOL!

In addition, you should start taking it or wearing the patch (if this is the method of choise for you) at least 2 days prior to the trip. You need to have it in your system so that it works. Otherwise you start feeling sick and then take it and that feeling will never really leave.

For your daughter - it is really rare for a small child to get sea sick, but if you are worried, I would talk to the pediatrician. I would say that if she is fine in the car and on rides then she is probably fine with the boat. Like I said, the majority of motion sickness (in those that don't get naturally motion sick - like in a car) is psychological (that would be me included when I get on a cruise ship).

Once you are on the ship and feeling fine, then don't take it as often. If you miss a pill and feel a bit on the sick side, then you know you need it.

Have fun and don't think about it!

Skip the patch, and buy Bonine for Kids. It may be behind the counter at the Rx, or may be OTC, just depends are where you buy it. My 5 year old and 2 year old did fantastic with this.

I used it and had a good experience. Did get the dry mouth. If you use it, just remember to bring a big load of mints. Sucking on mints helped with the dry mouth. My husband doesn't get motion sick, but the seas did get rough at one point (we were on the Disney cruise), and he ended up wearing one of my patches.

Well, I was raised in a boat almost.....never ever thought I would get sea sick, went on our first cruise for our 25th wedding anniversary........got sick as a dog!!! It was awful....... So, I would get them to be safe, because I can tell you, it's no fun.........

Second cruise I got one and it was GREAT.........no sickness and you don't even hardly notice they are on.........I was fine on short trips in the ocean.......what got me was the all day sailing days.....

So, you can get them and take them, but they take a few hours to kick in and I'm not sure once you are sick how they work, but I would suggest at least getting them for you.......don't know about the baby....that's pretty young.......I would talk to your doctor about that one..........you can only get teh patches from your doctor as well.

Good Luck and have a great time....