Homeopathy and Travel Sickness. Give yourself an easier time!

With school holidays now underway, it is inevitable that many families will be taking to their vehicles for their annual ‘car journey’ to the seaside, grandparents or campsite over the

coming months. Memories of previous trips may have you reconsidering the length of your journey and, unfortunately, even homeopathy can’t help with pacifying backseat drivers, occupying squealing impatient children with car games or dealing with that infamous line “are we nearly there yet?”

However, we appreciate that travel sickness is a prominent problem among many families on long-haul trips and hence hope that the remedies described here may alleviate at least one extra worry that your family will have to endure during the holiday season. It is suspected that motion sickness, known as kinetosis, affects around one third of the population in mild circumstances, such as a boat in calm water, but about two thirds in more severe conditions. 

It is also generally more prevalent amongst children. The condition arises when there is a conflict between the visually perceived movement and the balance systems of the inner ear and symptoms include nausea, sweating, dizziness, headaches and vomiting. Any of these symptoms can be brought on by air, boat or car travel, as well as the smell of petrol and even watching 3D films!

§ Cocculus – use when you want to lie down and when food or the thought of food brings on a feeling of nausea

§ Petroleum – use if headache is overriding symptom but there’s a feeling of hunger

§ Tabacum – use when the slightest motion causes extreme nausea and you are pale,

sweat a lot and feel better in cool, fresh air

§ Zingiber – use when there’s a sense of vertigo and limbs being heavy

In addition to the above, there are a number of over-the-counter therapies such as wrist bands, Kwells and other travel-sickness relief pills which may help ease the symptoms, although, we recommend that for a more individualised remedy, please consult a homeopathic.

This article was first published in the ARH Newsletter, "Homeopathy Healthy Medicine".