Question:
Recently someone posted an article about motion sickness drugs, and
recomended a particular product. I lost the article, but would appreciate
it if someone would send me another copy, or if the original author would
give me a brief run down of his recomendations.
Answer:
The patch may well stay on if it has been on for some time, and
especially (I think) if you happen to be wearing a hood. I have
had patches stay on for the full 3 days of 2-4 dives per day. I
have indeed also had them fall off.
There has been at least one randomized test of cognitive performance
of divers with and without transdermal scopolamine. I don't
have the reference immediately at hand, but it was a naval study
and I believe it was actual tests at depth.
For a personal anecdote, I have a mild-moderate propensity for
motion sickness but have found trandermal scopolamine to be
extremely effective. While on a live-aboard west of Thailand/Burma
we encountered pretty rough conditions for 36 hours while at a
deepwater site (Burma Banks I think they were called). Every
diver on the boat was sick pretty much except for me (thankfully
and with patch) and my wife (without patch). I gave away a few
patches that day too (I'm an M.D. so I feel comfortable
prescribing them on the spot.)
Transdermal scopolamine has been extensively tested on sailors and
is extremely effective. It also seems to be OK for post-operative
nausea and vomiting, although there are a lot of alternatives
that may be more effective and easier to utilize.
