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When motion causes commotion

By Michelle Swartz

mswartz@monroenews.com

Family vacations are always fun, but the car ride could be anything but enjoyable.

For some people, traveling long distances in a car can be downright miserable. If your face turns pale, green, and every other color of the rainbow because you feel sick to your stomach when traveling, you probably aren’t coming down with the flu.

In fact, you’re most likely experiencing a brief, but unrelenting, case of motion sickness.

What is this powerful illness? Believe it or not, it all begins in your ear! The inner ear controls balance. When it receives mixed signals, we begin to feel queasy, dizzy and tired. It commonly happens when we are traveling, such as in a car, boat, airplane or train. It may even happen when riding a roller coaster.

As painful and miserable it may seem at the time, motion sickness usually goes away as soon as the motion, causing the sickness, stops. So if you show signs of motion sickness while traveling in a car, you’ll feel better soon after the car stops and you get some fresh air.

Motion sickness can happen to anyone but there are ways to prevent it and help ease the symptoms. You still can have a great summer vacation from beginning to end!

What is motion sickness?

Also known as car sickness, sea sickness or air sickness, motion sickness is a disturbance of the inner ear.

When this happens, your sense of balance is affected.

Motion sickness is a common, but not serious, condition people may get when traveling by car, boat, airplane or train.

It happens when the fluid found in your inner ears gets stirred up, causing confusion between the difference of perceived movement and actual movement.

Besides transportation, it also can be caused by motion in visual surroundings while standing still. For example, you can get motion sickness if you watch a large movie screen that has a lot of motion.

How it works

The inner ear controls balance. When the sense of balance is thrown off, motion sickness can occur.

Here’s how certain parts of our body affect our sense of balance:

Inner ears: Help you sense the directions of motion, such as up, down, side to side and forward-backward

Eyes: Determines which direction your body is moving

Skin receptors: Tells your brain which parts of your body are touching the ground

Muscle and joint sensory receptors: Reports what parts of the body are moving

Symptoms of motion sickness can appear when your body receives conflicting messages from these parts of the body.

For example, if you’re sitting in the back seat of a moving car and reading a book, your inner ear and skin receptors detect the car motion but your eyes only see the pages of the book. The conflicting signals can cause motion sickness

Symptoms

Dizziness

Nausea and/or vomiting

Fatigue

Loss of color

Cold sweat

(Symptoms usually stop when the motion causing the sickness stops.)

Treatment and prevention

While riding in a car, train, boat or airplane, face forward and look outside.

Distract your mind from the swaying environment by staying busy with an activity.

Focus at a distant, fixed object (like the horizon) when you begin to feel queasy.

Avoid greasy and spicy foods. Don’t overeat.

Keep your head still; rest your head against the back of the seat.

While in motion, avoid reading.

Getting fresh air may help reduce symptoms.

Apply cold compresses to your eyes and neck.

Eat dry crackers or have a carbonated beverage to help settle your stomach if you become ill.

Non-prescription products are available to prevent motion sickness. It is extremely important to talk to your mom and dad before taking any medication. You must get permission from your parents, or guardian, before taking preventative medication.

Any type of transportation can cause motion sickness. Here are some tips based on specific types of transportation:

By vehicle — Sit in the front passenger’s seat.

By ship — Stay in a cabin in the forward or middle of the ship, or on the upper deck.

By airplane — Reserve a seat over the front edge of the wing. Put the air vent toward your face.

By train — Sit near the front and next to a window. Face forward.

Source: www.RXinsider.com, www.MayoClinic.com and www.medicinenet.com

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