I suffer from BPPV and am going on a cruise, will I be more susceptible to seasickness, can you recommend any preventative measures? I am leery of the patches as they seem to have so many side effects. What do you think of the acupuncture bracelets?
Having BPPV does not necessarily make you more prone to motion sickness. Some people naturally tolerate a great deal of movement without getting sick, and others tolerate very little. Most people do learn to adapt to regular rocking motions while boating, but even very good sailors can get sick if the weather gets rough enough. Having the boat move in many directions rather than with a repetitive rhythm makes this worse.
To adapt quickly, spend a lot of time walking on deck where you can focus on the horizon. This helps your brain calibrate and understand the amount of movement you are detecting with your inner ears. Your inner ears and eyes need to be perfectly coordinated with the rocking, and this is difficult if you are inside looking at the walls around you that move with the waves. The horizon does not move with the waves, so it allows your eyes to calibrate properly. Your body also learns quickly how to adjust to the up-and-down motion of the deck while walking, and this helps your overall balance.
It takes an average of three days for people to adapt to the rocking motion of the cruise. During this time, taking meclizine (over the counter as Bonine) will reduce the amount of rocking you feel and so make it less likely you will get sick. Patches also are effective, but as you point out, have more side effects. Acupuncture bracelets work only by the placebo effect, so they work best for people who don’t have much of a motion-sickness tendency.
BPPV can recur during a cruise because the rocking of the boat can occur in multiple directions while you are in bed. If the top of your head becomes lower than your body during wave movement, this is very effective in moving particles into the wrong part of your ear. The remedy is simple: if there is a lot of wave action, keep your head elevated. Sleep propped on several pillows, so your head stays more upright. If there is little or no rocking motion, then you can avoid BPPV like you do at home by keeping your head propped on one or two pillows, so it is just slightly elevated.