The Medicinal Herb Info site was created to help educate visitors about the often forgotten wisdom of the old ways of treating illnesses. Many of today's drugs and medicines were originally derived from natural ingredients, combinations of plants and other items found in nature.

We are not suggesting that you ignore the help of trained medical professionals, simply that you have additional options available for treating illnesses. Often the most effective treatment involves a responsible blend of both modern and traditional treatments.

We wish you peace and health!

Motion Sickness

Definition

Seasickness, airsickness, car sickness, swing sickness.
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Causes

Excessive motion causes the vestibular apparatus of the ear, the eyes, and the sensory nerves to send conflicting signals to the brain, where the brain then misinterprets them.
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Symptoms

Nausea, vomiting, and vertigo induced by irregular or rhythmic movements. Severe headaches may occur. If severe, an attack can make the sufferer completely uncoordinated. Women are affected more often than men. Children under the age of two and the elderly are generally unaffected by excessive motion.

Other symptoms may be loss of appetite, excess salivation, cold sweats, sleepiness, and dizziness.
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Nutrients

Charcoal tablets, 5 tablets 1 hour before the trip.

Ginger capsules, 2 tablets every 3 hours, beginning 1 hour before the trip, is good for nausea and upset stomach.

Magnesium, 500 mg. 1 hour before the trip, acts as a nerve tonic.

Vitamin B6 (pyridoxine), 100 mg. 1 hour before the trip, 100 mg. 2 hours later, relieves nausea.

Dimenhydrinate (trade name for Dramamine), taken as directed on the label, is an over-the-counter drug (not always effective).
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Herbs
  • Anise
  • Aspen, quaking
  • Balm of Gilead
  • Basil
  • Capsicum
  • Chamomile
  • Clover, red
  • Cloves
  • Colombo
  • Elderberry
  • Fumitory
  • Gentian
  • Ginger
  • Ginkgo
  • Goldenrod
  • Goldenseal (will stop nausea during pregnancy)
  • Hops
  • Horsemint
  • Lavender
  • Lemon Balm
  • Marjoram, sweet
  • Melilot, yellow
  • Mint
  • Origanum
  • Oswego tea
  • Patchouli
  • Peach, leaves
  • Pennyroyal (don’t’ take if pregnant)
  • Peppermint
  • Raspberry, red
  • Sage
  • Sanicle
  • Savory
  • Solomon’s seal
  • Spearmint
  • Sweet balm
  • Valerian
  • Wood sorrel, creeping
  • Yam, wild

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Recommendations

Prevention is the key word here. Do not eat heavily processed meals, consume alcohol, or eat junk foods. Take whole grain crackers with you and eat a few before and during the trip. Avoid smoke and food odors. Stay cool, if possible. If at sea, lie down and close yours eyes at the first sign of motion sickness.
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Suggestions

Over-the-counter Dramamine may possibly stop or prevent an attack but sleepiness is often a side effect.

Tea Blend for nausea and vomiting:

Chamomile flowers   .70
Peppermint leaves   .35
Lemon balm leaves   .35
Hop cones   .17

Pour 8 oz (1/4 L) of boiling water over 2 heaping tbsp. of mixture, let steep, covered, for 10 minutes, then strain.

Drink 2 to 3 cups per day, as needed.
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Bibliography

LiveStrong.com: How do I Take Ginger for Seasickness?

Buy It! Prescription for Nutritional Healing, Fifth Edition: A Practical A-to-Z Reference to Drug-Free Remedies Using Vitamins, Minerals, Herbs & Food Supplements, by James F. Balch, M.D. and Phyllis A. Balch, C.N.C., Avery Publishing Group, Inc., Garden City Park, NY

Buy It! Taber’s Cyclopedic Medical Dictionary, 15th Edition, F. A. Davis Company, 1915 Arch Street, Philadelphia, PA 19103

Buy It! The Herb Book, by John Lust, Bantam Books, 666 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY. copyright 1974.

Buy It! Back to Eden, by Jethro Kloss; Back to Eden Publishing Co., Loma Linda, CA 92354, Original copyright 1939, revised edition 1994

Buy It! Secrets of the Chinese Herbalists, by Richard Lucas, Parker Publishing Company, Inc., West Nyack, NY, 1987.

Buy It! Indian Herbalogy of North America, by Alma R. Hutchens, Shambala Publications, Inc., Horticultural Hall, 300 Massachusetts Avenue, Boston, Massachusetts 02115, 1973

Buy It! Earl Mindell’s Herb Bible, by Earl Mindell, R.Ph., Ph.D., Simon & Schuster/Fireside, Rockefeller Center 1230 Avenue of the Americas, New York, New York 10020

Buy It! Eastern/Central Medicinal Plants, by Steven Foster and James A. Duke., Houghton Mifflin Company, 215 Park Avenue South, New York, NY 10000

Buy It! The Complete Medicinal Herbal, by Penelope Ody, Dorling Kindersley, Inc, 232 Madison Avenue, New York, NY 10016, First American Edition, copyright 1993

Buy It! Planetary Herbology, by Michael Tierra, C.A., N.D., O.M.D., Lotus Press, PO Box 325, Twin Lakes. WI 53181., Copyright 1988, published 1992

Buy It!The Magic of Herbs, by David Conway, published by Jonathan Cape, Thirty Bedford Square, London, England. (Out of print)

Buy It! The Healing Plants, by Mannfried Pahlow, Barron’s Educational Series, Inc. 250 Wireless Blvd., Hauppauge, NY 11788, 1992

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