Travel Sickness Medications

What is road sickness and what are its causes?

Travel sickness/Road sickness is a common condition defined by nausea, discomfort and dizziness when traveling in a vehicle. This condition is caused by a mismatch of sensory perception regarding motion between what your eyes see, what your inner ear can sense and what your body feels is happening. Travel sickness can affect people with different severities.

Travel sickness can be treated both by conservative measures and through the use of medicines.

At Meds For Less we have a range of prescription or over the counter travel sickness medication. You can now easily, conveniently and reliably order these medicines to your home address within the next 24 hours.

Road sickness or motion sickness is a condition characterised by a feeling of nausea, discomfort and dizziness when travelling in a vehicle, it’s quite a common occurrence and can affect people with different severities.

Road sickness is caused by a mismatch of sensory perception between what your eyes see, what your inner ear senses and what your body feels. Some of the main factors involved in causing road sickness include:

• Sensory mismatch – for example when looking at a stationary object like a phone or book while in a moving vehicle. Your inner ear will detect that you are in a moving object but because your vision is fixed on a phone or book, this can cause a mismatch which can lead to road sickness.
• Any disruption in the inner ear system can make you prone to motion sickness due to its role in balance and spatial orientation.
• Psychological factors such as stress or anxiety can make road sickness worse as it can increase susceptibility to motion sickness.
• Young children, being hungry or tired can make one more susceptible to experiencing motion sickness.

Road sickness can be managed both with conservative measures and pharmacologically. You can browse our range of motion sickness and medical pill for travel sickness options on our website.

What are the symptoms of travel sickness?

There are common several symptoms of travel/road sickness which include:

• Nausea
• Vomiting
• Dizziness or light-headedness
• Cold Sweats – excessive sweating accompanied by cold, clammy skin
• Fatigue- feeling unusually weak or tired
• A dull or throbbing headache
• Feeling confused or foggy or being unable to concentrate

These symptoms usually start when motion of a vehicle begins and stop when the vehicle stops moving.

How is travelers’ disease diagnosed?

Traveler’s disease/ Traveler’s diarrhea is typically diagnosed based on a patient’s symptoms, travel history and sometimes specific tests.

A healthcare provider will usually take a travel history from you about recent travel destinations, especially to high risk places (usually they provide a leaflet explaining where these are).

The healthcare provider will also ask about symptoms you are experiencing and whether they align with the key symptoms of traveler’s disease. These include:

• Loose or watery stools
• Abdominal cramping
• Nausea and vomiting
• Fever
• Occasionally, blood in the stool

You might also have a physical exam conducted on you to look for signs of dehydration, tenderness and bloating.

Some tests such as blood cultures or stool tests may also need to be done to confirm a suspected diagnosis.

Please speak to your healthcare provider if you have the core symptoms of traveller’s diarrhea and require a diagnosis.

Is there anything I can do to prevent travelers’ disease?

You can prevent yourself from getting traveler’s diarrhea by minimising exposure to contaminated food, water and environments as well as taking some preventive medication. Some simple steps you can take to protect yourself include:

• Practice food safety – including eating cooked foods and avoiding high risk foods such as uncooked meat or street food
• Practice water safety by drinking out of sealed bottled water, boiling water that isn’t available or using water purification tablets or filters
• Maintain good hygiene such as washing your hands regularly or using hand sanitiser
• You can also use preventive medicines such as Pepto-bismol to reduce the risk of traveler’s diarrhea, prophylactic antibiotics or have top up vaccinations against dangerous infections such as Hepatitis A and the cholera vaccine.

Please speak to a pharmacist or healthcare provider about personalised tips to avoid getting sick when travelling.

What helps with travel sickness?

You can help travel sickness/motion sickness with some conservative preventive measures but also pharmacologically through medications.

Some conservative solutions include:

• Choosing a good seat such as:
  • In a car, sit in a passenger seat
  • On a plane, choose a seat over the wings
  • On a boat, stay in the middle or below deck
  • On a train, try and sit facing forward or near a window
• Focus on the horizon outside the window – this helps both your eyes and inner ears match up the sensation of movement which can reduce motion sickness
• Avoid reading or screen time as looking at stationary objects can make motion sickness worse
• Stay hydrated by drinking water regularly
• Ensure good ventilation if you can by lowering windows and allowing fresh air to refresh you

Over The Counter (OTC) Medical options include Antihistamines, anti-nausea pills such as Dramamine or Bonine which can prevent nausea and dizziness on short to moderate length journeys.

Prescription medication like Scopolamine patches (Scopoderm) can help relieve motion sickness on longer journeys such as cruises.

Typical medications for travel sickness

There are a range of treatment medication for travel sickness, these include some of the following:

• Antihistamine Over the Counter travel sick pills such as Dramamine, Meclizine (Bonine) or Cyclizine. These can help relieve the nausea, dizziness and vomiting caused by motion sickness.
• Anti-diarrheal Over the Counter medicines such as Pepto-bismol or Imodium
• Prescription medicines such as Scopoderm patches which help relieve nausea and vomiting on longer journeys

There are also some natural or herbal remedies for travel sickness such as Ginger supplements or acupressure bands, which may help you relieve some discomfort

Please check out our full catalogue for travel sickness pills at our Meds For Less website.

Benefits of buying travel sickness medications on Meds For Less

Buying Travel sickness meds from Meds For Less allows you to conveniently, reliably and easily buy these essential medicines for your journey and have them delivered to your house the next day so they are there before you begin your travels.