Land legs during port visits

[aussielozzie18]

Just back from my first cruise. Had a great time.

Took Avomine (seasickness meds) night before and during cruise which worked well as I only experienced 2 brief twinges of seasickness - once during a bumpy tender ride and once just before bed when the Captain was "speeding" to make up lost time.

 

Reading thru CC, I know that some people experience "land legs" on disembarking which can last for up to a week. I have experienced this and its getting better but I am concerned about experiencing "land legs" at ports.

 

Had 3 ports. First one I felt normal.

2nd one was Lifou. We had a short walk to Jinek Bay. When we arrived at Jinek Bay I had a dizzy spell. Felt fine snorkelling but then felt really unsteady walking back to the tender.

Port 3 - I got off the tender and felt unsteady. Just sat on the beach for half an hour (Champagne Bay - a pleasure to just sit) and get my equilibrium back.

 

Has anyone else experienced this whilst at ports? How do you deal with it?

 

I would like to cruise to New Zealand but this would be port intensive and involve a fair bit of walking. So given my experience,I feel a bit nervous.

[KarateMan]

Motion sickness is all in the mind. It is a psychological condition much like an optical illusion where the brain is tricked. A strong mind helps and a positive mental attitude is good enough to not need any medication at all. Unlike a virus or an illness, motion sickness is something that the mind is tricked into believing so it is fact possible to combat it by being positive and telling yourself you are not sick. Feeling nervous or having pre-cruise worries will not help. It takes time but you can train yourself to overcome it without medication. I have done it. It took a number of years to do it. I did stat off on the usual pills to begin with and now have no problems at all.

[wildweston]

Oh that's not nice to feel like that on land, though I have heard about this happening to others also. I have been on about eight cruises and not had seasickness, but on my last cruise a few weeks ago I definitely experienced it ! and it is not nice. I don't think there is any rhyme or reason to it.

[Pushka]

Motion sickness is a true health problem and not something conjured in the mind. You cannot simply talk yourself out of it.

 

I'm happy to say I don't get sea sickness. I don't take any medication. Yet. But when I'm on land after a cruise I do experience symptoms of swaying for quite a few days.

[ravie80]

We did a 19 day cruise around Tasmania from Melbourne to Sydney then out to the South Pacific I had the worst sea legs at port Arthur I was standing in a house walking up stairs and the whole house was swaying it was so bad I had to get out of the house sit and rest big drink of water and it subsided after that I was fine

 

 

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[Icerecon]

The most common hypothesis for the cause of motion sickness is that it functions as a defense mechanism against neurotoxins.[/url] The area postrema in the brain is responsible for inducing vomiting when poisons are detected, and for resolving conflicts between vision and balance. When feeling motion but not seeing it (for example, in a ship with no windows), the inner ear transmits to the brain that it senses motion, but the eyes tell the brain that everything is still. As a result of the discordance, the brain will come to the conclusion that one of them is hallucinating and further conclude that the hallucination is due to poison ingestion. The brain responds by inducing vomiting, to clear the supposed toxin.

[Pushka]

I find the land dizziness worse in confined spaces. I guess that's similar to stairs. If I want to check if I am still having episodes I walk towards the corner of a room. If no dizziness I know it's all gone.

[Aus Traveller]

Motion sickness is all in the mind. It is a psychological condition much like an optical illusion where the brain is tricked. A strong mind helps and a positive mental attitude is good enough to not need any medication at all. Unlike a virus or an illness, motion sickness is something that the mind is tricked into believing so it is fact possible to combat it by being positive and telling yourself you are not sick. Feeling nervous or having pre-cruise worries will not help. It takes time but you can train yourself to overcome it without medication. I have done it. It took a number of years to do it. I did stat off on the usual pills to begin with and now have no problems at all.

I am sorry, but I have to say "garbage". Some people (including myself) suffer motion sickness from problems in the inner ear. A positive attitude won't help a physical condition. It is rather medical so I won't go into details, but it is nothing to do with feeling nervous or worrying.

[Aus Traveller]

Two members of my family suffer from "land sickness" after a cruise. They have tried the various remedies - anti-histimines, seasickness meds, but nothing has helped. Only time has done it and it can take a couple of weeks.:)

[bazzaw]

I used to get severely seasick in the past -- but mostly so on smaller vessels with very violent movements. I believe that the mechanism that was involved then is different to the mechanism that makes us sick on large ships.

 

I don't have that problem anymore -- but I personally believe that cruiseship seasickness is just a mild form of "spatial disorientation" http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/558427/spatial-disorientation

 

Basically - as Karateman said -- a case of conflicting physical senses.

 

In EXTREME cases, people simply do not know which way is up or which way is down - a case of extreme disorientation of the senses. There are ways to fight this -- but firstly it needs recognition and acceptance of what is happening to you. In the case of a spatially disoriented pilot , he/she MUST believe what they see on their instrument panel and ignore their other senses. In the case of cruiseship passengers, it is a case of forcing your mind to understand what is happening to your body -- and to attempt to eliminate the differences between what your eyes are seeing and what your body is feeling. In that regard, I believe that what Karateman says is essentially correct -- but I say so without the bluntness.:).

 

Barry

Edited December 30, 2013 by bazzaw

[KarateMan]

Motion sickness is a true health problem and not something conjured in the mind. You cannot simply talk yourself out of it.

 

I'm happy to say I don't get sea sickness. I don't take any medication. Yet. But when I'm on land after a cruise I do experience symptoms of swaying for quite a few days.

 

Wrong, you obviously skipped school and failed in this topic. I suggest you read up reference material before declaring something false that you have absolutely no knowledge on whatsoever.

[KarateMan]

I am sorry, but I have to say "garbage". Some people (including myself) suffer motion sickness from problems in the inner ear. A positive attitude won't help a physical condition. It is rather medical so I won't go into details, but it is nothing to do with feeling nervous or worrying.

 

I suggest you read up on it and learn a bit more about it.

 

Motion sickness is all in the mind. In your case you were slightly on a better track than the other poster mentioning the ear. The brain gets conflicting signals from the ear. The brain is a powerful tool that makes a lot of mistakes trying to correct something that it perceives as incorrect. As a result of the garbled signals you get sick.

 

Motion sickness becomes easier to understand if you are familiar with optical illusions. Look at this link here: http://news.ninemsn.com.au/technology/2013/12/28/12/41/t-rex-optical-illusion-explained

 

Motion sickness here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motion_sickness

 

It is not a real sickness in the sense that it is not a virus nor an illness that is picked up like the common cold. The brain induces the sickness because it has been tricked by the different signals coming in.

 

As it is a psychological (mind over matter) condition a positive mental attitude will help a great deal. You need to become the master over your brain and not let it rule you.

 

I could go on. It is a science and not everyone has the gift to understand it like some people are not good at maths (like myself).

[KarateMan]

I used to get severely seasick in the past -- but mostly so on smaller vessels with very violent movements. I believe that the mechanism that was involved then is different to the mechanism that makes us sick on large ships.

 

I don't have that problem anymore -- but I personally believe that cruiseship seasickness is just a mild form of "spatial disorientation" http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/558427/spatial-disorientation

 

Basically - as Karateman said -- a case of conflicting physical senses.

 

In EXTREME cases, people simply do not know which way is up or which way is down - a case of extreme disorientation of the senses. There are ways to fight this -- but firstly it needs recognition and acceptance of what is happening to you. In the case of a spatially disoriented pilot , he/she MUST believe what they see on their instrument panel and ignore their other senses. In the case of cruiseship passengers, it is a case of forcing your mind to understand what is happening to your body -- and to attempt to eliminate the differences between what your eyes are seeing and what your body is feeling. In that regard, I believe that what Karateman says is essentially correct -- but I say so without the bluntness.:).

 

Barry

 

Thanks that is a good explanation. I spent a lot of time growing up on the water and would never get sick in small craft. My first time at sea was only on a 4,000ton ship and I did get sick. I always knew the science from high school and you really do have to adjust and convince your brain that things are good and normal to avoid the sickness.

 

Basically it can be overcome with mind power alone and it may take several years but it can be done.

[Pushka]

Wrong, you obviously skipped school and failed in this topic. I suggest you read up reference material before declaring something false that you have absolutely no knowledge on whatsoever.

 

 

Goodness. You've been to manners school haven't you. And a medical expert on all matters human as well. . A shame that you haven't realised that the causes of seasickness are just hypotheses and there is no scientifically established cause. Which is why some medications work on some and not others.

 

Just an example.

 

http://www.nps.org.au/publications/consumer/medicinewise-living/2013/motion-sickness

 

Please take note of the words "thought to be due". Makes a world of difference to your assertions. ie there is no proof.

Edited December 30, 2013 by Pushka

[Aus Traveller]

Motion sickness or sea sickness is a disorder, not a sickness or illness - but don't blame me, I didn't name it. :)

 

One line in the quoted article on Motion sickness:

(quote) Removal of the outside visual stimuli may work in some affected by motion sickness or car sickness, however it is not known to help those with sea sickness, which is most often associated with inner ear conflict. (end quote)

 

There is more to motion sickness than "mind over matter" or an optical illusion. I have been quite sick on planes when I am nowhere near a window and therefore only able to see my stationary surroundings - not the moving ground or clouds.

[KarateMan]

I have been quite sick on planes when I am nowhere near a window and therefore only able to see my stationary surroundings - not the moving ground or clouds.

 

That is why you got sick in your case. Very simply put your eyes noticed everything as stationary yet the sensors in your ears were telling your brain that you were moving. Your brain was receiving "still" from your eyes and was receiving "movement" from your ears. Your brain was confused and induced sickness to fight off what it perceived as an attack on the body.

[bazzaw]

That is why you got sick in your case. Very simply put your eyes noticed everything as stationary yet the sensors in your ears were telling your brain that you were moving. Your brain was receiving "still" from your eyes and was receiving "movement" from your ears. Your brain was confused and induced sickness to fight off what it perceived as an attack on the body.

 

Yes -- there are different senses involved - ears, eyes and even the sense of physical movement from G forces. I said that I believed that my sickness in small boats (and 4000 tonne Destroyers) came from a different "mechanism" than that involved with larger cruiseships. This is where the G forces come into play (also on aircraft) and even centripetal forces in cars causing car sickness. Sudden and extreme changes to the position of our body causes disorientation and definitely makes us physically ill. Why?? I don't really know - but I can attest to being sick on a roller coaster when I was young -- and drugs would not have been a cure for that.

 

It certainly is complex -- but these days most of us do look to drugs of some kind from the Medical fraternity for a quick fix to all our ailments.

 

Barry

Edited December 30, 2013 by bazzaw

[Pushka]

It would be interesting to know if those who don't experience sea "sickness" are the only ones who experience land "sickness".

[aussielozzie18]

It would be interesting to know if those who don't experience sea "sickness" are the only ones who experience land "sickness".

 

Yes I would be very interested. As I said in my original statement, seasickness on board wasn't a problem, it was "land sickness" that I had to deal with - is it the same thing?

[Pushka]

Well, if it's about the brain receiving different signals for sea sickness then I'm wondering what different signals are involved in land sickness. And yes, it's only the land dizziness that gets me too!

[bazzaw]

I think that the land "movement" that you are describing is another thing entirely -- and basically nothing to do with being the opposite of seasickness, but everything to do with being upon the moving sea.

 

I have read that our brains have certain expectations of how things "should" be. And if reality does not conform to what the brain expects, then there is conflict and the brain will attempt to make things as it thinks they should be. Hence, after an extended period upon the sea, our brains become accustomed to the movement and becomes the new "norm" for the brain. When we go ashore, there is no longer any physical motion, so the brain attempts to make the land move as it thinks that it should. :) Something like that :)

 

http://vestibular.org/mal-de-debarquement

 

Our brains are quite weird things -- and some of us are weirder than others :)

 

Barry

Edited December 30, 2013 by bazzaw

[Aus Traveller]

It would be interesting to know if those who don't experience sea "sickness" are the only ones who experience land "sickness".

I suspect this could be so. :)

[keagle]

I tend to get to get sea legs fairly quickly, which makes walking on land, for me, a fun experience. It can take me up to 3 or 4 days to completely get past them, but I don't get land sickness (or seasick for that matter).

[Pushka]

That makes sense about the land issue Barry. We adapt quickly to the motion so we don't get seasick but don't adapt as quickly (for some obscure reason) to being back on land. One trip my husband was quite ill with seasickness and needed the Drs visit and shot, but I was happy as Larry. We get to the land part of the holiday and I was weaving around the place. Not sick just kind of, well looking like I was drunk. And hubby had perked up no end being back on land.

[bazzaw]

Not being a Doctor -- I do not know "HOW" these various seasickness drugs work - or perhaps , I should say , the exact mechanism of how they act on the body and mind. So I can only guess! Does anybody know??

 

I always feel uncomfortable with the thought of using mind-altering drugs ( of a sedatory nature) for things like this -- very much including the use of drugs on so-called "difficult" children. They all seem to be much the same thing to me.

 

Having said that, of course, I still enjoy my Gin and Tonics :) They are certainly "mind altering" :)

 

Barry