New experience with the scopolamine patch

[hannahsmomtoo]

I tend to get very motion sick....

SO

Last year when we sailed the Splendor I used the scopolamine patch, and it worked like a charm.. no side effects, no illness.

 

I made sure to get a RX from my doctor for our recent Magic Cruise as well ( 10/6 )

 

Night one of the cruise I found myself stumbling - and yes, I had been drinking - but NOWHERE near enough to have lost normal function.

 

The next morning, I got out of the shower, threw on my comfy robe, and tried to sit on the bed... and completely MISSED... finding myself on the floor.

 

We called medical from the cabin and I was told to take the patch off immediately and scrub it's previous location behind my ear with soap and water. The medical staff said they never recommend the patch and that "very serious neurological effects" can occur.

 

I removed the patch and just popped a Bonine each night before bed and was fine...

 

Just thought I would share the experienc - having used the patch before withe GREAT success. I guess it is hit or miss?

[Lovefuninthesun]

Weird, because I had a similar experience!

Had used the patch many, many times, both cruising and flying. never had a problem. Then last year used it for our Freedom cruise and it made me feel super-loopy! I ended up taking it off.

Never could figure out the difference -- every time it had been the same dose. The only thing I could figure was that maybe it was a different manufacturer?

[hannahsmomtoo]

Weird, because I had a similar experience!

Had used the patch many, many times, both cruising and flying. never had a problem. Then last year used it for our Freedom cruise and it made me feel super-loopy! I ended up taking it off.

Never could figure out the difference -- every time it had been the same dose. The only thing I could figure was that maybe it was a different manufacturer?

 

I wondered the same thing. Yes, very odd. Good to know someone else had a similar experience though

[bradm77]

My DW used the patch with great success our 1st four cruises (2007-2010), then in January 2011, it gave her severe dry mouth and had her eyesight/vision all messed up.

 

Nothing but Bonine now and it works like a champ without knocking her out.

[cruisebunnies]

My wife used the patch some years ago and does not remember the excursion we took in KeyWest.Now she takes ginger capsules with no side effects.

[kangaand2roos]

I've never had a severe reaction to scopolamine, but after a number of times using it, it caused pretty bad dry mouth. My mouth tends to dry anyway, so I'm not using the patch anymore. Scopolamine has been used as a truth serum and can cause hallucinations, so I would recommend caution to anyone using it. I take Ambien now, so I don't think I'd use the patch for fear of interaction, even if I hadn't had the dry mouth.

[KPfromCT]

The ginger gum works WONDERS!!!! It's just like a card of Trident. Tastes fine and serves the purpose.....All of the sudden, out of NOWHERE, my now 15 year old get seasick, and airsick. She pops the gum in before the flight, and she's fine. WEIRD!!!!:rolleyes:

[FireMedT]

 

Night one of the cruise I found myself stumbling - and yes, I had been drinking - but NOWHERE near enough to have lost normal function.

 

quote]

 

I was just reading the website for Transdermal Scop and there's a whole list of warnings about interactions with medications and alcohol. Even though you think you didn't drink that much, the alcohol makes the side effects of the scopolamine stronger.

[Lovefuninthesun]

The ginger gum works WONDERS!!!! It's just like a card of Trident. Tastes fine and serves the purpose.....All of the sudden, out of NOWHERE, my now 15 year old get seasick, and airsick. She pops the gum in before the flight, and she's fine. WEIRD!!!!:rolleyes:

 

Cruisebug - where do you find the ginger gum?

 

 

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[FloridaMomma]

That is scary! I've used it twice now, with no problems. I hope I don't have any issues during our next cruise!

[Rainberry]

That's so weird. The last time I tried using the patch on my cruise in Dec 2011 I noticed that I had really bad dry mouth so the next one back in March 2013 I decided to skip the patch and just take non drowsy dramamine as I needed it and it was so much better.

 

I wonder if the body reacts after using it so many times? The one difference for me was I used to live in Canada and would just buy them over the counter and when I moved to the US I had to get a prescription so I thought maybe they were a different brand. Although I can't see how that would matter.

 

Anyways, I learned that I am mostly fine and it's usually just a couple bumpy nights that I needed to take something and that the patch made me sleeper and thirstier than I realized!

 

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[LindaJSteele]

Lovefuninthesun

I use ginger pills and they're great. You can get them at WalMart cheap.

 

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[RWolver672]

For our first cruise, some of our group wore the patch and on the second day they all had terriffic head aches. They took the patches off and the head aches disappeared and they found that they weren't getting sea sick anyway.

[lady_cruiser]

We've been using the patch since 2005 with no side effects. But I have friends who have suffered the same side effects as most of you described. One even lost her vision for a few days.

 

On our recent Conquest cruise both my sister and I lost our patches while when we washed our hair on the first night and didn't even noticed until the 4th morning when we went to replace it. Who knew that all this time we probably didn't even need it. We did feel a little unbalanced one night but on Bonine worked great.

 

No more patches for us.

[paradiselivin1]

I had my doctor prescribe these for our Alaska cruise a few years ago as I had read that some of the seas could get rough. For some reason, I researched after getting the prescription filled and was so terrified by some of the things that I read online, I immediately took them back to the pharmacy. Thankfully, I had not even opened the stapled bag and they agreed to take them back. Had no issue with motion sickness, anyhow!

[<3 2 Cruise]

We recently cruised with a first time cruiser wearing the patch. The last day of the cruise, she started having double vision. It took a week for it to clear up. No more patches for her!