Health

ReliefBand

End motion sickness

I have always been prone to motion sickness. Going out in a boat meant that I would be sick; the only question was how long it would take before I was hanging over the edge. My wife really wanted to go on a cruise, so I looked to see if there was anything that modern science could do for me. Dramamine puts me to sleep, so that was out, and I feared the patch would be just as bad. Then I ran across the ReliefBand. After reading a number of reviews I tried it, and the results for me were amazing. I went on a seven-day cruise and never had a moment’s illness, not even when we were on a small fishing boat with several people bringing back their lunch right near me.

The ReliefBand uses small pulses of electricity on pressure points in the wrist that relieve nausea. It’s approved by the FDA for morning sickness, but it certainly works for motion sickness as well. You can adjust the strength of the tingling from 1 (very mild) to 5 (strong enough to make my fingers curl a bit, involuntarily).

The ReliefBand needs to be worn tightly, and I’m often adjusting the band to make sure the electric pulses fall in the right place on my wrist. I adjust the setting according to the level of ship’s motion; sometimes I’ve set it on 5, mostly I leave it on 2 or 3. The most severe test I put it to was on my most recent cruise, where one evening we had 15-foot swells and Force 7 winds. Half the crew was seasick, and most of the passengers, too. I didn’t feel so good, myself, but I never felt like throwing up; I just went to bed early.

I don’t know why this device isn’t better known or sold more widely because it does the job exceptionally well with no drugs and no side effects. I’ve run into a couple of people on cruises wearing the ReliefBand, and they all have stories similar to mine. Yes, it’s expensive (if you hunt around you may be able to find it for around $110), but if you’re planning to spend a lot of money on a cruise it pays for itself in the first sickness-free day.

-- Steve Peterson 09/16/09

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