Naked Science Forum
Life Sciences => Physiology & Medicine => Topic started by: nilmot on 22/06/2003 10:45:40
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Does anyone know why we get car sick?
It's just that ever since I've arrived in UK, I get car sick when I travel by car especially my mum's car[xx(]. I don't usually get car sick before and don't know why I do now.[?]
Tom
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I know I know I know I know!!!!!!!!!
You get dizzy when you stop spinning, because the signals from the balance mechanisms in your ear (like a leveler for buildings, like a bag of liquid, tells you if you're upside down or not) are different (the liquid keeps spinning round in the bag or whatever it is when you're still) to your eyes, which see the world as not spinning. The liquid tries to make your brain see that the world is spinning when it's not and ends up utterly confusing itself and you end up feeling very ill indeed. Small children often get more dizzy than adults because their balance mechanisms aren't working to full capacity yet and their brains get confused more easily.
Same thing with the car sickness, if you are looking at a book or a game boy or whatever, your ear's liquid bag sloshes around because you're moving, while your eyes tell you that you're perfectly still. Your brain confuses itself trying to work out how it could possibly be and you end up feeling really ill. If you look straight ahead, your eyes match what your ears feel and your brain is not confused, and you feel well again. Personally, I can't read in a car for more than half an hour without feeling like vomiting, so I take 5-minute staring-at-the-road breaks :)
You get seasick also because most people tend to stare at the horizon, which is a fixed line of course. It is perfectly straight and unmoving but their ears tell them they're bouncing up and down on waves. Also on little boats you often go up on one big wave/ripple thing while another bside you goes down, so your brain gets confused easily that way too.
I don't know exactly how sea/air/car sickness pills work, maybe they deaden the nerves in your balance liquid bag thing so it can't tell what's happening to your body.
Also a tip, if you're in a cabin in a ship and you can't see the waves but feel yourself going up and down, close your eyes and imagine exactly what is happening that causes the sensations and your brain is tricked into seeing it as your sight and doesn't get confused.
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Thanks Quantum[;)] that was a very clear explaination, I'll give it a try.
What I was wondering is how come I don't get car sick before and I'm getting car sick now? Does the road matters? I mean roads in UK have more slopes and hills, going up and down from time to time. Roads in Taiwan near where I lived were generally flat or flat...ish.
Tom
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Maybe because the car makes bumps more exaggerated and the differencebetwen what you see and feel is so different that your brain can't cope and you get sick.
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That might be it, when someone is driving a car going over a little speed bump, the bump is not high but that actual car moved a lot.
I don't think closing your eyes and trying to imagine what the roads should look like is going to help. I found that closing your eyes made you more aware of other senses, and I'll try to concentrate on getting rid of that crap vomitting feeling but ending up making it worse.
Tom
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Tom, do you like black licorice? Licorice can help settle a queasy stomach and I wonder if it would work for car sickness. Want to give it a try? You'd have to get the kind with real licorice in it and not just flavoring (Panda brand is good).
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How did we get those queasy stomach feeling? I know we get the feeling because our digestive system are moving like butterfly in the stomach when we have an adrenaline rush the blood moved away from the digestive system and the intestines relax and move which gave it that uncomfortable feeling but I don't think that's related to this topic.
Angel mentioned that when you are at the top of a rollercoster ride and rushing down. You get those feeling because your body moved so suddenly but your stomach stayed in it's original place for a short while. Almost as if your stomach have moved upward. Maybe it's the same with this car thing.
Ermm..what are licorice? Maybe I've tasted them before but I don't know what they were called in English.
Thanks for the advice anyway Donnah.
Tom
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licorice is a black sweet, a little chewy, sort of rubbery. Has a special taste. Some people like it some people absolutely hate it. It's made with this stuff that I think starts with A but I can't for the life of me remember its name.
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Mmm...I think I need to taste it to remember.
Tom
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You know what it is! You've tasted them before! You know one of them Basette sweets, a cube with black and white tripes?
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???????????
Nope can't remember.
Tom
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I think the flavoring is anise. I think it's also a base in root-beer / sasparila. Black "Twizzlers", if you have those there.
I hate when you get a white jelly bean and it's not that bubblegum flavor, but instead, licorice.
Licorice is a root and can be dried and chewed on. It looks like a cinnamon stick, but tastes like a tire.
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A root, licorice is a plant?
Mmm.. that might rings a bell.
Tom
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Yes, licorice is a root and I love the taste. But then I've never chewed on a tire, so I don't really know how they compare[;)].
Anise seeds do taste similar, but anise is related to the carrot. I think that stevia (a leaf used as a powerful sweetener, 32 X stronger than sugar) also tastes similar, but that's just my opinion.
I try to solve medical problems using nutrition and/or psychology first, and use allopathic medicine as a last (but vitally important) resort.
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Allopathic? Is that the same as homeopathic?
I'm very intrigued by the mind's ability to heal the body. I hate taking medications because it seems that I'm supersensitive to most chemicals. I do prefer the natural way if at all possible.
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Tires are not very tasty. But then I guess it would depend on the tire.
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What do you call a tyre made from 365 condoms ?
Goodyear !
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Hahahaha....[:)]
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quote:
Originally posted by pat
What do you call a tyre made from 365 condoms ?
Goodyear !
For extra grip you can use ribbed ones! [;)]
Resident Tour Operator - The Naked Scientists
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Sure, if you need to get a grip.
Ronnie, allopathic medicine is what your doctor practices.
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<impression of hysterical laughter, pounding the floor with my fists.> You guys crack me up.
Tom
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quote:
Originally posted by Donnah
Sure, if you need to get a grip.
Ronnie, allopathic medicine is what your doctor practices.
Pah, I never need to get a grip, pirelli is my middle name! [:p][;)]
Resident Tour Operator - The Naked Scientists
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Feel sorry for your girlfriend. Unless friction is her middle name...
"I never forget a face, but in your case I'll make an exception"
- Groucho Marx
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Ha ha ha!!!!
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This conversation has taken an extremely unpleasant turn o_O
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Damn right, from talking seriously about car sickness, which I thought was quite sensible and then got me confused about licorice. Somehow the topic was turned again to joke about tyre and tyre made from 365 condoms!!!
We never stay on topic do we?
Tom
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It's inevitable. No matter how inteligent the topic or conversation, given enough time, we will always revert back to sex. It dominates thought and creeps it's way into all discussions in due time. Which, in my case, is all too often. Same reason fart jokes are still funny at any age or rank in life.
Just a thought.
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Could our car sick friend recently have experienced an inner ear infection that makes him more susceptible to motion sickness? On any medicine?
I experienced severe motion sickness all my life, and then finally I saw an MD who practiced hypnosis. Believe it or not, the hypnosis vastly improved the motion sickness, and as time goes on, it decreases more and more.
Just a curious quesion, because I used to do a lot of flying. Do people who have severe motion sickness have less spatial disorientation when flying? Would they be less likely to land the plane upside down in zero visibility?
Bezoar
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You're right bezoar about ear infections. The inner ear (which apart from hearing is also involved in balance) shares a very close relationship with the middle ear which can sometimes become infected (otitis media). The pressure and irritation caused by the infection can disturb the function of the inner ear causing it to send mixed up signals to the brain about your posture and movement. These can lead to dizziness and sickness which is why people with earache can be sick.
With respect to travel sickness there is almost certainly a huge psychological component. People literally think themselves into being sick. Our brains are programmed to learn and become better at what we do. If I say to you "don't think about kangaroos", what's the first thing that goes through your mind, despite the negative instruction ? Similarly people say "don't worry" or "don't panic" and are then surprised when the person they seek to reassure throws a fit. In the context of travel sickness people programme themselves into chucking up whenever they travel.
If you start to feel a bit sick, as we all do when reading for too long in the back of the car, but then spend the next half an hour saying to yourself "I must not be sick" hey presto you promptly hurl. There's a huge mind-over-matter aspect to this, you just have to work out what works for you. Anti-sickness remedies probably work chiefly via the placebo effect because you are in a stronger psychological position after taking them.
Chris
"I never forget a face, but in your case I'll make an exception"
- Groucho Marx
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I used to use the mind over matter issue to keep myself from throwing up. I would tell myself, "Swallow, swallow, swallow..." Kept me from hurling, but not from feeling miserable. So the next time someone panics, I shouldn't say, "Don't panic," but rather, "Remain calm." A positive suggestion, huh?
Bezoar
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I believe Dianetics teaches that the brain doesn't hear the word "don't". So rather than saying "don't forget", try saying "remember"...works for me.
It's like driving. If the road is slick and you see a big rock you don't want to hit, you will hit it if that's what you're looking at. Look for your opening instead.
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I know why, you're going backwards now. You know, driving on the wrong side of the road!! Haha, just kidding, don't bash me for it.
Anyway, I have had some inner ear infections and when the humidity changes, and air pressure changes, I get car sick. Usually if I can see out the front I am okay. If I am in the back seat and can't see the turns and hills, I feel like I'm in a barrel being tossed around. When there is no alternative, I try to sleep.
McGee
Teachers don't make a lot of money, but they make a lot of difference.
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Sharon, in Canada we drive on the right side of the road...literally.
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We drive on the left side of the road in Australia too.
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One point I wanted to raise about the psychological component to being sick [xx(] is the anticipatory nausea and vomiting seen amongst people receiving courses of chemotherapy - anyone ever experienced this (first or second hand) ?
Chris
"I never forget a face, but in your case I'll make an exception"
- Groucho Marx
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See it all the time with the oncology patients. See it with my cats too. They get motion sick from riding in the car to the vets office. Now, they run whenever they see me take out the pet carrier.