SAS, Car, Air and Sea Sickness

[TheGreenGoblin]

I have been reading 'Riding Rockets' by Mike Mullane (as kindly recommended by an ops-normaliser) and it is proving to be a cracking, honest, non PC and very irreverent look at the TFNG of space shuttle astronauts!

One factoid that is revealed is that about 50% of astronauts suffer from Space Adaption Syndrome which is characterised by vomiting, and seems to be caused a disruption of the vestibular system in space that is different to the syndrome associated with air, car and sea sickness. I have never suffered from car sickness and have never been air sick, despite having been thrown around by far more competent aerobatic pilots than I am on multiple occasions. I am however prone to sea sickness. No let me be honest, I am bound to get sick whenever I spend a day at sea and then settle down only to get land sick when I return to shore.

What are people's experiences with respect to these kinds of motion sickness?

[Hydromet]

Never felt sea- or air-sick, but used to feel nauseous when riding in the back seat of a car when I was a kid.
FWIW, a blind mate tells me that blind people don't suffer from any sort of motion sickness.

[Ex-Ascot]

+1 GG. I can throw an aircraft all around the sky pulling 6g or be chucked around the sky no probs. I can get into a speed boat and be thrown all over the place but put me on a rolling pitching ship and I feel as sick as a dog. I do not throw up just feel nauseous. I take tablets for it now and no problem. However as you say for at least a day afterwards the whole bloody ground is moving around. Our normal ship journey to Amorgos is eight hours. When I was diving the boat was all over the place getting to the dive site no problem. When it stopped and started rolling I had a problem. I had to get into the water straight away.

[TheGreenGoblin]

Our normal ship journey to Amorgos is eight hours. When I was diving the boat was all over the place getting to the dive site no problem. When it stopped and started rolling I had a problem. I had to get into the water straight away.

Exactly the case with me. Being active and focused on a task up on deck relieves the symptoms. Going down below on the first day at sea is an invitation to Professor Chunder down under for me.

With reference to SAS...

As with sea sickness and car sickness, space motion sickness symptoms can vary from mild nausea and disorientation to vomiting and intense discomfort; headaches and nausea are often reported in varying degrees. The most extreme reaction yet recorded was that felt by Senator Jake Garn in 1985. After his flight, NASA jokingly began using the informal "Garn scale" to measure reactions to space sickness. In most cases, symptoms last from 2–4 days. In an interview with Carol Butler, when asked about the origins of "Garn", Robert E. Stevenson was quoted as saying:

"Jake Garn was sick, was pretty sick. I don't know whether we should tell stories like that. But anyway, Jake Garn, he has made a mark in the Astronaut Corps because he represents the maximum level of space sickness that anyone can ever attain, and so the mark of being totally sick and totally incompetent is one Garn. Most guys will get maybe to a tenth Garn if that high. And within the Astronaut Corps, he forever will be remembered by that."

— Robert E. Stevenson

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_adaptation_syndrome

[sidevalve]

The nearest I ever got to up-chucking in an aeroplane was when we were taxying out in a Shack one summer's day (yes, even at Lossie!) with a couple of ATC cadets on board when one of them sitting in front of me suddenly projectile-vomited on my legs.
Being summer, I had a lightweight flying suit on. I think we might have stopped and dropped the lad off. However, that didn't solve my problem..
Can't remember ever being car sick or sea sick.
(Dining-In Nights are another story however!)

[Capetonian]

I've never been sea-sick although felt nauseous seeing, smelling, and hearing people upchucking around me. Went deep sea fishing off Cape Point once and when we stopped the boat was pitching and rolling in the swell and the diesel fumes were swirling around us and I felt pretty bad. The late and much respected Ian Smith was with us, an ex-pilot as most will know, and he didn't do too well. Packed himself off to bed as soon as we got back to the house in Hout Bay.

Was airsick once on a light aircraft on an air rally around Stellenbosch, very mountainous and lots of cold currents coming off the sea and warmer ones from inland making for pretty bumpy conditions. A big breakfast washed down by cold Castles before may not have helped (I was paxing, not flying).

Apparently carsickness is caused by your eyes having to constantly re-focus. I still sometimes get sick when paxing in the back of a car, but am always fine when I'm driving. When I was a child I hated car journeys as I was always sick and bored.

[ribrash]

Have never suffered any of the common sickness's other than those caused by beer or wine.

[ian16th]

The odour of other peoples up-chukking make me feel queasy, but without that stimulus, since childhood I've never suffered motion sickness.

This included being bounced about the Indian Ocean, at mega knots in an RAF launch off Gan, and a rather rough crossing with North Sea Ferries, from Rotterdam to Hull in winter.

The most unpleasant was across the channel in a hovercraft. The beast had been stopped because of the weather, and I was on the 1st crossing after it was deemed to have abated sufficiently to be safe. We bounced about quite a bit.

[Archer]

That’s funny, I’m reading the exact same book. Perhaps I saw it here...

Car or seasickness don’t ever cause any problems for me. I can deal with aerobatics but there will be a point where my inner ear will say ‘enough’. I don’t get sick but I end up feeling a bit ‘scrambled’ for want of a better word. I should practice more as your body does get used to it over time. Mullane states that performing aerobatics before a space flight didn’t seem to influence the tolerance for SAS, but many astronauts did try this.

[Capetonian]

When I was in my teens I went on a Cross Channel hovercraft, Hoverspeed I think it was, from Ramsgate to Calais, with a few schoolfriends. Two of us had the ability to make extremely authentic vomiting and retching noises, which we did, into the sick bags. It certainly cleared the area.
We also did it one night in a room at Varsity after a night out. Next day we heard someone in the corridor saying : "I wonder who the poor bastard was who was so sick last night."

[Ex-Ascot]

Ian:

The most unpleasant was across the channel in a hovercraft. The beast had been stopped because of the weather, and I was on the 1st crossing after it was deemed to have abated sufficiently to be safe. We bounced about quite a bit.

I did exactly the same, 1st out, but as you say just bouncing. No problem. It is the pitching and rolling which affects me. Nice vessels though. I think that the channel tunnel was their demise.

[PHXPhlyer]

As an air tour pilot (Grand Canyon) in my early flying days, it was nor uncommon on rough days to have all pax (6-19) using yak sacks, esp. Japanese. Not unusual to hear on radio "Mine had pizza for lunch, what did yours have?"

PP

[Ex-Ascot]

As an air tour pilot (Grand Canyon) in my early flying days, it was nor uncommon on rough days to have all pax (6-19) using yak sacks, esp. Japanese. Not unusual to hear on radio "Mine had pizza for lunch, what did yours have?"

PP

Done it in a VC10 a few times but I think they limited us to 5,000' agl. We didn't allow Japs on board. Walked down it once and stayed overnight down there. Phantom Lodge?

[TheGreenGoblin]

As an air tour pilot (Grand Canyon) in my early flying days, it was nor uncommon on rough days to have all pax (6-19) using yak sacks, esp. Japanese. Not unusual to hear on radio "Mine had pizza for lunch, what did yours have?"

PP

Thermals and rotors over the canyon walls at low level must make for an interesting ride down there!

[ian16th]

Anyone else remember the Cinarama movie that opened with a camera shot from the front turret of a B-26 or similar, that was flying along the Grand Canyon?

It started in B&W and 4x3 screen, and progressed to ultra wide 3 screen/projector, colour and stereo sound.

It must have been in the 1950's.

[llondel]

I've always been susceptible to motion sickness, I remember doing some stomach exercises in the car as a child. The closest I think I've come to it in the air was on approach to Dulles when I'd gotten as far as extracting the sick bag from the seat pocket, but fortunately didn't need it. My comment about that to one of the cabin crew on the way out provided enlightenment that I'd done better than some. I don't go out on the water that much, but definitely cause for alarm. Once I had an inner ear problem and I managed to get motion sickness without having to leave the bedroom - got out of bed, kept going as I had no reference points and ended up on the floor. Crawled to the bathroom to take a call on the great white telephone.

[ian16th]

Been doing some searching, I think the movie was 'Cinerama Holiday', and I see that it was made in 1955.

[boing]

Similar. No air or car sickness. Big ships no problem, fishing boats not much problem when in motion but as soon as the boat stops to fish and it is simply bobbing around in the water it hits me and I am useless for an hour.

.

[k3k3]

The only time I got close to throwing up was on the way to Trapani in the galley section of an E3A, they front end decided to do 21 touch and goes before the full stop.

...and once down they wanted us to start work straight away!

[G-CPTN]

My first 20 hour trip across the North Sea (in Winter) turned into hell.
If there had been an island halfway I would have willingly disembarked.
Once at my destination the 'land-sickness' continued for 12 hours.

Subsequently, regular crossings became acceptable - even extremely rough weather (with the waves breaking over the upper decks) were no problem.
The worst were gentle regular rhythmic rolling and pitching (corkscrew motion) with diesel odours.