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List of All Topics
Carsickness
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Introduction
Anatomy Of Balance
Car Sickness in Children
Causes
What you can do
When to call the pediatrician
What Can I Do For Motion Sickness?
Your brain senses movement by getting signals from your inner ears, eyes, muscles and joints. When it gets signals that do not match, you can get motion sickness. For example, down below on a boat, your inner ear senses motion, but your eyes cannot tell you are moving.
Where you sit can make a difference. The front seat of a car, forward cars of a train, upper deck on a boat or wing seats in a plane may give you a smoother ride. Looking out into the distance - instead of trying to read or look at something in the vehicle - can also help.
Anatomy Of Balance
Dizziness, vertigo, and motion sickness all relate to the sense of balance and equilibrium. Researchers in space and aeronautical medicine call this sense spatial orientation, because it tells the brain where the body is "in space:" what direction it is pointing, what direction it is moving, and if it is turning or standing still.
Your sense of balance is maintained by a complex interaction of the following parts of the nervous system:
- The inner ears (also called the labyrinth), which monitor the directions of motion, such as turning, or forward-backward, side-to-side, and up-and-down motions.
- The eyes, which monitor where the body is in space (i.e. upside down, rightside up, etc.) and also directions of motion.
- The skin pressure receptors such as in the joints and spine, which tell what part of the body is down and touching the ground.
- The muscle and joint sensory receptors, which tell what parts of the body are moving.
- The central nervous system (the brain and spinal cord), which processes all the bits of information from the four other systems to make some coordinated sense out of it all.
For example, suppose you are riding through a storm, and your airplane is being tossed about by air turbulence. But your eyes do not detect all this motion because all you see is the inside of the airplane. Then your brain receives messages that do not match with each other. You might become "air sick."
Or suppose you are sitting in the back seat of a moving car reading a book. Your inner ears and skin receptors will detect the motion of your travel, but your eyes see only the pages of your book. You could become "car sick."
Or, to use a true medical condition as an example, suppose you suffer inner ear damage on only one side from a head injury or an infection. The damaged inner ear does not send the same signals as the healthy ear. This gives conflicting signals to the brain about the sensation of rotation, and you could suffer a sense of spinning, vertigo, and nausea.
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Car Sickness in Children
A young child may not be able to describe queasiness, but will demonstrate it by becoming pale and restless, yawning, and crying. Later she will lose interest in food (even her favorite ones), and finally she will vomit.
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Causes
We do not know why motion sickness happens more often in some children than others, but it is most likely due to an increased sensitivity to the brain’s response to motion. This response can be affected by previous car trips that made them sick, but it usually improves over time.
Motion sickness occurs most often on a first boat or plane ride, or when the motion is very intense, such as that caused by rough water or turbulent air. Stress and excitement also can start this problem or make it worse.
Not infrequently, children with a history of motion sickness go on to develop migraine headaches.
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What you can do
If your child starts to develop the symptoms of motion sickness, the best approach is to stop the activity that is causing the problem. If it occurs in the car, stop as soon as safely possible and let her get out and walk around. If you are on a long car trip, you may have to make frequent short stops, but it will be worth it. If this condition develops on a swing or merry-go-round, stop the motion promptly and get your child off the equipment.
Since "car sickness" is the most common form of motion sickness in children, many preventive measures have been developed. In addition to frequent stops, try the following.
- Place your young child in an approved car safety seat, facing forward if over 20 pounds (9 kg) and over one year old. Do not let her move around in the car. (You should not let her do this for safety reasons, anyway.)
- If she has not eaten for three hours, give your child a light snack before the trip- which also helps on a boat or plane. This relieves hunger pangs, which seem to add to the symptoms.
- Try to focus her attention away from the queasy feeling. Listen to the radio, sing, or talk.
- Have her look at things outside the car, not at books or games.
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When to call the pediatrician
Although it does not happen often, dehydration can occur from the vomiting and poor fluid intake that may accompany motion sickness. If you feel that your child is becoming dehydrated, take her to the nearest physician’s office or to an emergency room.
If your child has symptoms of motion sickness at times when she is not involved with a movement activity-particularly if she also has a headache; difficulty hearing, seeing, walking, or talking; or if she stares off into space-tell your pediatrician about it. These may be symptoms of problems other than motion sickness.
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What Can I Do For Motion Sickness?
Always ride where your eyes will see the same motion that your body and inner ears feel, e.g. sit in the front seat of the car and look at the distant scenery; go up on the deck of the ship and watch the horizon; sit by the window of the airplane and look outside. In an airplane choose a seat over the wings where the motion is the least.
- Do not read while traveling if you are subject to motion sickness, and do not sit in a seat facing backward.
- Do not watch or talk to another traveler who is having motion sickness.
- Avoid strong odors and spicy or greasy foods immediately before and during your travel. Medical research has not yet investigated the effectiveness of popular folk remedies such as soda crackers and & Seven Up® or cola syrup over ice.
- Take one of the varieties of motion sickness medicines before your travel begins, as recommended by your physician.
Remember: Most cases of dizziness and motion sickness are mild and self-treatable disorders. But, severe cases and those that become progressively worse, deserve the attention of a physician with specialized skills in diseases of the ear, nose, throat, equilibrium, and neurological systems.
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Information obtained from National Institute of Health