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What is Motion Sickness?
Motion sickness occurs when your eyes, inner ear, and body send conflicting signals to your brain. When you’re on a boat or in a car, your body can be still, but you’re being moved by the vehicle.
There are some people who get motion sickness when playing video games or virtual reality games (virtual motion sickness or VMS).
You may feel nauseated, break out in a cold sweat, or experience headaches. However, there are ways to alleviate the symptoms of motion sickness or prevent it from happening altogether.
What causes Motion Sickness?
The main cause of motion sickness is the brain’s ability to interpret signals from various parts of the body.
The brain tries to maintain equilibrium by interpreting signals from 3 main sources:
Vestibular System:
This is situated in the inner ear. The fluid-filled regions in the inner ear are responsible for detecting movement and equilibrium fluctuations.
Vison:
Our eyes detect our surroundings, the space we are in, and track our direction of displacement.
Proprioception:
The sensory nerves in our joints and muscles transmit signals to the brain about the body’s posture.
Motion sickness is a byproduct when these 3 signals collide, confusing the brain.
For the same reason, some people might feel vomiting after due to this “sensory conflict” during long travels. This vomiting or other symptom is a counter-stress mechanism by the body.
How to diagnose Motion Sickness?
There are no special diagnoses or checkups needed for motion sickness. No blood test, ultrasound, or MRI is needed at all.
The checkup is purely based on your medical history and the current symptoms you are facing.
In very rare situations, symptoms like dizziness or nausea will be experienced even after the motion has stopped. In these situations, an Otolaryngologist, or a specialist of the inner ear, will execute vestibular function tests.
These tests are undertaken to ensure that the symptoms are solely due to motion sickness and not due to any impending illness like vertigo, ear infection, or Meniere’s disease, etc.
What is the treatment of Motion Sickness?
Treatments include behavioral changes and medications prescribed by doctors.
Behavioral Changes:
Focus on Horizon: To stabilize the vision, look at a point in the distance; this helps your inner ear signals to stabilize.
Strategic Seating: Find a place to sit where you will experience negligible motion. For example, the front seat in a car or the middle seat in a boat.
Fresh Air: Proper air flow by ventilation and cool air will resist the urge to vomit.
Prescription Options:
Scopolamine Patches: Apply these behind the ear several hours before a long journey. This works by preventing the functionalities of acetylcholine, which is a neurotransmitter responsible for sending motion signals to the nervous system.
Alternative Remedies:
Ginger: Some reports suggest ginger root as a highly effective treatment for stomach problems.
Acupressure: Acupressure treatments have been found highly successful in suppressing nausea.
What are the limitations of the treatment?
The treatments come with their own limitations.
Interaction:
Scopolamine and specific antihistamines interact poorly with antidepressants and sleeping tablets. Any of these medications is prescribed to teenagers and children due to the high chances of increased heart rate.
Timing Constraints:
Motion sickness treatments are mostly preventive; they are hard to use once the symptoms start showing.
Hence, always take the specified medicine before going for travel. For example, if you start vomiting, the medicine will not be able to reduce the urge.
Side Effects:
The most common side effect is excessive drowsiness and sleepiness. Antihistamines, especially, can cause intense fatigue, blurred vision, and dry mouth. Hence, people who need to drive or undertake heavy machinery tasks are not allowed.
Conclusion
Motion sickness is a common but manageable condition caused by a mismatch in sensory signals during movement. While it can cause discomfort, simple preventive steps, lifestyle adjustments, and medications can help control symptoms effectively.