It's a malady that can knock a grown man to his knees faster than a sucker punch, and it's the type of thing that can happen to anyone, at any time. It can strike young and old alike. It's called seasickness.
My buddy was deep in the throes of this marine illness. He was gut-wrenching seasick. Knee-walking ill. Puking his guts out. A feeling of dizziness overwhelmed him. His face was pale, perspiration dotted his forehead, and he was sucking air like a person having run 1,500 meters. He was in sad shape.
We were only 10 minutes out of port on Lake Erie, and the boat was bouncing and rolling in five-foot swells pushed by a stiff northwesterly wind that was blowing the foam off the top of the whitecaps. Five minutes after reaching open water, he was hanging over the rail while I kept him somewhat upright by grabbing his belt and hoping his buckle held.
All this didn't make him feel any better. In fact, it made him feel even worse but I was trying to keep him from pitching head-first into the rolling foam-flecked waves.
"Oh, God, I'm sick," he sputtered, vomit dripping off his chin. "How long will this last?"
The skipper, unsympathetic as most are to those people who are afraid others will think they are a wimp if they take medications to prevent getting ill, said: "It will last until I turn this boat around and drop you off on shore."
Bob's ongoing vomiting brings truth to an old saw often told by ancient and modern mariners -- when a person first get seasick, they are afraid they will die. After a prolonged bout with seasickness and dry heaves, they are more afraid they won't.
This is how Bob felt until we took him back to shore. Five minutes after his feet touched dry dirt, and he kneeled to kiss the ground, he experienced a miraculous five-minute recovery.
Seasickness can affect anyone, at any time, and its causes are many and varied. The only sure cure is firm ground beneath your feet, and even then, nausea or queasiness in your guts can linger for hours. That one sure cure would mean never going fishing on big water.
What is seasickness, and how can it be treated? I've never (the noise you hear is me knocking on wood) been seasick, although I've had a mighty upset stomach on several occasions. What causes the illness is hard to determine exactly although there are many guesses as to its causes.
Boating sickness is another name for this malady. Motion sickness is another. It can occur in a car, boat, bus, roller coaster, or Ferris wheel, airplane ride, to name just a few. Motion upsets the middle ear, which helps humans maintain their balance or equilibrium, and this sets up a feeling of exaggerated movement within the body. Rough water isn't the only thing that can make people feel ill.
One major triggering factor in seasickness is fear. Few people will readily admit to their friends that they fear the water, but deep down inside, they may be very uncomfortable being on big water, regardless of the boat size or the skill of the skipper. They subconsciously think about the boat tipping over, them being thrown overboard, and they become nauseous and ill.
This part of it is all in their head. They manage to talk themselves into getting sick, and this is the one thing over which they do have a certain amount of control. Put on a life jacket, tell your friends you are a weenie, and go fishing and quit thinking about the waves, the motion and the queasiness in their guts.
What an angler or boater eats or drinks also can trigger seasickness. What a person thinks or hears also can do a nasty job on those people who may be on the cusp of becoming ill.
Heavy drinking of alcoholic beverages before a trip or during a boating excursion is another cause. A booming morning hangover after a long bout on the juice also can lead to a naval disaster.
Certain foods are known to precipitate a bout of motion sickness. Orange, grapefruit or other citrus juices are high in citric acid, which can help trigger seasickness. Avoid tomato juice as well, and apple juice can make some people very sick.
Little or no sleep will do a number on most people prone to this problem. Too much coffee or soda pop are major factors that lead some folks to becoming sick on the water. Eating fried eggs, hash browns and bacon or sausage for breakfast, and then chasing it down with a large OJ, is a great recipe for on-the-water barfing.
Sometimes, even talking about motion sickness makes people ill, and some old salts who never get seasick seem to take savage delight in talking about the illness. I once watched a father talk about getting seasick, and he talked his son into leaning over the rail to upchuck his breakfast.
"I wouldn't do that if I were you," I told the father. "Sometimes that kind of comment will come back to haunt you."
His son recovered, and then the Old Man got sick. He got zero sympathy from his kid or me. Keep such comments to yourself, and it will make for a more pleasant fishing experience for everyone.
Impending seasickness is quite easy to spot. The victim usually begins to sweat and often feels nauseous. Gradually, skin color becomes pale or white, and cramps hit the abdomen.
Sucking noises are often heard as the victim tries to take in enough air through the mouth to offset hyperventilation and to ease stomach cramps. The next step -- nausea -- usually continues until the stomach is emptied and dry heaves set in.
It's not fun for the victim. And frankly, bystanders never enjoy watching the results of this malady in other people. It can be somewhat contagious, and if one person gets sick and throws up, that action often results in others doing the same.
What can be done to prevent seasickness? Numerous over-the-counter medications such as Dramamine are available. One or two pills should be taken the night before a trip and one should be taken at least 30 minutes before leaving the dock. Check with a doctor to see if Dramamine or any other motion sickness pill is right for you.
Don't take anti-motion pills after becoming ill. They may prolong the sickness. Scopolamine, an anti-motion sickness medicine, is released slowly into the skin through a behind-the-ear patch, and it works for many people when properly used. The patches are obtained with a doctor's prescription. It's recommended that a patch be applied the evening before a boating or fishing trip.
If you start feeling ill, start doing some boating chores. Don't sit motionless and hope the queasiness will go away. It won't. Don't go below and sit in the head (bathroom) because that will only aggravate the problem and make things worse.
Rig tackle, watch other boats, study the rods or look at the distant shoreline or the horizon. Stand in the fresh air, hopefully with the breeze in your face, and breathe deeply. Don't inhale gasoline or diesel exhaust fumes, and try not to sit or lay down. It will only make matters worse.
Avoid unpleasant odors. A lack of ventilation and close quarters can combine to trigger an attack. Never go below decks or lay in a V-bunk if seasickness strikes. Stay out in the fresh air, and remain upright if possible, and look at the horizon. Another trick is to never look down at the deck or down at the water.
Try eating dry bread, gingersnap cookies, lemon drops or mints. Eat slowly, try not to swallow air and concentrate on something other than a queasy stomach. Do not drink milk, alcoholic beverages or soft drinks. Bottled water and mints are good to rinse out a mouth after vomiting and the mints freshen the mouth and relieve some of the aftertaste of this sickness.
Seasickness can strike anyone, anytime. I've been lucky, but someday I'm sure my time will come. Hopefully I'll be able to follow my own advice, and conquer the problem before it overwhelms me.
Print this story
E-mail this story
