Motion Sickness

[cwgsusan]

Hi all,

I have been wondering if hypnosis can help motion sickness. I am extremely motion sick, airplane, train, car, or boat...and I can't make a trip without taking some sort of motion sickness medications such as Bonine or Dramamine. Dramamine knocks me out and Bonine, though supposedly less drowsy, still leaves me knocked out for almost a whole day. Is hypnosis something that might be able to help my brain not feel the need to be motion sick? I travel a LOT and am sick and tired of feeling horrible my first and last day of travel, let alone it is kind of dangerous to be out of it in new surroundings. Any help would be great...thanks so much!:)
Susan

[Merlin]

>I have been wondering if hypnosis can help motion sickness.

Yes

[cwgsusan]

Thanks for your answer.
I just started investigating hypnosis and am still wondering how exactly it would aleviate my motion sickenss? Does it take away the feeling of nausea? I suppose it depends on how the hypnosis is done? Sorry for all my silly questions, but I am new to all this and thought I should check it all out and ask people that would know.
Susan

[Simple Guy]

Susan,

Hypnosis can be very helpful. In years past, I've also personally found ginger
capsules (available in health foods stores) far better than dramamine for
some pretty turbulent deep-sea fishing trips. That's my personal experience.
I'm not recommending it to anyone and anyone considering using ginger should
check with their physician first.

[cwgsusan]

Thanks for the suggestion. I will check into Ginger capsules and see what information I can find on them. Thanks a bunch for your help.
Susan:)

[Simple Guy]

Susan,

"Thanks for the suggestion." Actually, I was only relating my personal
experience. :)

Also, the question you asked about how hypnosis works, in this regard, is
a good one. I didn't mean to give it short shrift by not responding to
it. (Time constraints.) The stomach is hard wired to the brain (vagus
nerve and other routes) so well that the stomach has been likened
by some early researchers as being a second brain. In an adaptive
(evolutionary sense, if you will) this serves a protective function in
that purging of some poisons and other noxious items is reflexive.
Hypnosis provides the mind with information readily transferrable
to various stomach processes: gastric secretions, muscular relaxation,
etc. It can harmonize the internal processes by providing new information
that the turbulence of motion is best responded to by maintaining internal
balance and harmony.

[mariah]

Susan, I'm not a hypno-therapist so I can't really give you any advices when it comes to hypnosis. All I can say is that I relate to you 100%, I used to be motion sick in boat and airplanes especially, but I also had a phobia for airplanes. My doctors said it was something about "paralells" in my ears, not sure if that explains it but anyway, my ears would make me sensitive to just about every move the plane made, this including every turn and "ups and falls". It would make me really dizzy at first, and than I would feel sick to my stomach. Anywayz, worst of all was take-offs. I hated it so bad I didn't even wanna step into the plane. What my dad did was that he gave me a pill for my "ears", thats how he said it. He said it would help my "ears" so that I wouldn't get dizzy. And he was right, I didn't get dizzy, didn't get motion-sick, in fact, the whole trip went alright. Then when we had landed, my dad admits to me, all he gave me was a vitamin-pill. Basically he was trying to "fool" me into thinking it would work, which in return, worked. Thats how I figured this was all going on mentally.. that's also how I can imagine hypnosis working well for motion sickness. It's something you tell your mind, isn't it? I actually quite enjoy the turns in air-planes now.. and I did this all just by changing my mind-set. Amazing! Good luck;)

I can imagine it working with hypnosis because at least for me, it was very much going on mentally

[Merlin]

Hi cwgsusan,

That's a good question!

The source of any feeling is our mind. It takes the input from the various senses and then decides how to respond.
For some reason your mind is responding with *motion sickness*
Now your mind has good intentions in doing this (minds always do) but for some reason your mind is not respoinding in a way you would like.

There are 2 possible ways to go about this.
1- ask the mind why it is responding this way and negotiate a different response.
2-don't ask the mind why it is responding this way but negotiate a different response.

I prefer the first method myself. The first option allows me to work with the the individual to possibly change the understanding of *why* the mind is responding in this way.
Maybe a misunderstanding or fear which could be resolved.

Others may prefer the second method. Many claim it's too invasive to find out why and the only answer is to change the response, leaving the why alone.

This is a wonderful forum with some of the best people posting here. You might get a 3rd or 4th possible method.

Hypnosis makes it easy to discuss responses with the deeper, inner mind (sub-conscious) without the conscious mind interfering. [This is of course metaphorical since there really is only one mind. dividing it up like this makes discussion easier].

Bottom line, and answer to your question, we just ask the mind to respond differently.

[cwgsusan]

Hello guys!

Well, I took the suggestion for the Ginger capsules and it worked amazingly well. I felt better with those than I have in trips in the past with bonine or dramamine. Best of all I didnt' have any side effects afterwards like the over the counter meds stated above.

As far as Mariah's response, I have looked at all those possibilities, unlike Mariah, I am not afraid to fly. I enjoy traveling so much that I find flying exciting to get to my new location. That is why I haven't figured out why my brain is choosing to feel ill when in the air. I can identify with you about the motion (turns, ups, falls, and dizziness). The ginger really helped keep my stomach where it belongs...and not jumping to my throat with every turn or turbulent.

I really have approached it as a mental thing, obviously it is controled by my brain...but that sensation still is there. I won't even go on a rollercoaster...not because I am afraid, but becasue my body reacts in a not very kind way, I will feel sick the rest of the day.

Thanks for all your helpful suggestions I will put them all to thought and see how I come out on my next trip. This last trip was from California to Louisiana...and it went all right. Next month is California to Pennsylvania and I can't wait!

Thanks,
Susan

[parsa]

I've had the same problem since I was a child. I've even successfully ruined an entire trip for my parents :D. I'll try the ginger capsules too.
In my case it's pretty clear that it's something mental, like if I doze off into some kind of a day dream I don't feel sick anymore but as soon as I'm snapped out of it, it's there again.

[HighFlight1985]

Susan,

Disclaimer: I'm not a doctor or nurse, or have any medical training past first aid and CPR. Seek a professional before taking my advice.

Okay, that said...one reason I think you get motion sickness on a plane, or any vessel, and especially large ones, is that you can't tell where you're going. That is, your brain and equilibrium (that liquid they talk about in your inner ear that helps you keep balance) has detected that you are moving, but is 'confused' as to which direction. This 'confusion' causes a kind of disorentation (spatial, I believe?), which in turn, *can* cause dizziness and motion sickness.

I am drawing this conclusion from a time when I had to cross the English channel on a farry (sp?); I was unable to see outside and determine which direction I was going. Now, this is just one way that I think motion sickness can occur. I'm sure other things (perhaps vibrations coupled with loud droning sounds) can cause motion sickness, which leaves me to wonder what causes your roller-coaster 'episodes.'

HighFlight

[HighFlight1985]

Ah ha! In trying to find something for another post, I found this:

http://www.nlpweekly.com/?p=109

HTH,

HighFlight

[Simple Guy]

Dear Susan,

I'm glad to read your positive report back to us. Again, I wasn't making
a specific suggestion to you (or anyone else) about the use of ginger
capsules and was only relating my own experience with it. People should
check with their physicians prior to using any supplements or making any
dietary changes.

Take care. :)

[Shlomo_NLP]

on my site we have a great article on this subject written by a hypnotherapist who does that work for a living.

in general, it's easy to be treated in Hypnosis, since it's just an automatic reaction to outside stimulus.