Myth versus medicine

What a nice break from school. During my interim break between the spring and summer semester, we went on a nice Caribbean vacation. It was our first time in St. Thomas, and I must say it was breathtaking. If you ever get the chance or opportunity be sure to take the trip. The overall experience was beyond description.

During our trip we got to swim with the sea turtles as well as take a nice sunset cruise. Both were enjoyed via a Catamaran boat – another first. I, for one, have been on other boats, but my wife has not. This was quite the gamble since my wife can get nauseous quite easily (she has been known to get car sick).

The irony of it all is that my wife is a fellow nurse. So you’d think she has the cast iron stomach that is pretty much a requirement to do our job. Somehow she only gets the ‘motion’ sickness. And like I said, the boat trips were a gamble.

It was recommended by the local staff that we seek out the boat crew to have her take some ginger (Ginger?? Really??). They claimed it calmed the stomach (we weren’t buying it).

We knew she needed medication. Some sort of anticholinergic would do the trick. We got lucky and found an OTC medication that had meclizine in it. We thought we were set. We had a plan: Take some before, take it right when she boards and then possibly during the trip. They were chewable which of course helped.

The trip out for the turtle swim went without incident. We got in the water and saw some amazing turtles and other marine life (honestly I’m really downplaying how truly amazing it was!). Once she got out of the water and back on the boat she got the ‘wave’ of nausea that everyone hates. She immediately took another dose of that OTC med.

She spent the next 15 minutes battling through it like a trooper — watching the land, keeping her eyes off the water and anything that moved. She did the purse-lip breathing. She did everything shy of standing on her head (as if that would have helped).

During the entire ‘wave of nausea’ episode the boat crew and captain wouldn’t stop talking about the darn ginger! Take the ginger ‘concoction’ — it’s the spice mixed in with some ginger ale (and up until I typed this sentence I never realized it was ‘ginger’ in ginger ale – go figure that one out?). They swore up and down it will get rid of the nausea.

Since her nausea was not going away, she caved in and took the ginger concoction. She had to ‘chug’ the stuff, which she tells me was not the most tasty.

Within 15-20 minutes her nausea disappeared…

…

…as if she never got nauseous in the first place!!

…

????

We were THE BIGGEST skeptics about this ‘natural’ remedy. And had I not seen it with my own two eyes and had it not been my wife, I probably would still tell you your full of it.

This trip made us believers.

Needless to say the next day when we took our sunset cruise, the boat crew had her ‘ginger’ waiting for her and she never once got nauseous.

This was one of those instances where all your education and experience don’t mean squat and you just have to go on faith and believe those who just ‘know better.’

We are both still laughing at how shocked we were at the results.

Anyone else have any mythical remedies that work better than our standard western medicine practices?