can understand that your brain receives conflicting signals from your eyes and vestibular system causing confusion to the brain, but why should the outcome of this be nausea? It doesn't seem to make much sense! --CharlesC 22:56, 21 May 2006 (UTC)
* Because the brain thinks one is hallucinating and that this is caused intoxication. Nausea is induced because it leads to vomiting an thus clearance of some of the hallucinogenic toxin. 70.22.58.75 21:51, 28 April 2007 (UTC)
So, uhm, what about those acupressure wristbands that purportedly prevent motion sickness? Any scientific background on that? -- Kimiko 19:24, 23 Jul 2004 (UTC)
These (along with tongue spray, some kind of hand shock therapy, ginger pills, placebo and a commercial product) were tested on a recent episode of MythBusters, the ginger pills seemed to work best, followed by the commercial product. The placebo also worked on one of the two test subjects. The rest of the products, including the wristbands, did not seem to have much effect. --GalFisk 13:40, 18 November 2005 (UTC)
The article itself quotes the ginger pills as "citation needed". Can we use the MythBuster episode as a 'field test' in the Treatment section? Jappalang 03:28, 29 October 2007 (UTC)
What about an explanation for how someone can experience motion sickness without having the endolymph (the fluid found in the semicircular canals of the inner ears) stirred up? Like when you watch a movie from the front row.
* See simulation sickness 70.22.58.75 21:51, 28 April 2007 (UTC)
In the Canadian 'Digital Living' journal HUB magazine's (March, 2006), Total Gamer column, writer Erin Bell refers to the American Academy of Pediatrics' explanation that motion sickness is caused by confusion between a range of sensors throughout the body. The liquid in the inner ear, actually provides a lot of information about depth and height as we look up and down; the eyes and neck help keep us oriented as we move around our bodies and our heads; and "nerves in the ankles, knees and other joints register information about the surface we are walking on." Bell approaches the subject in terms of a personal quest to avoid video game-induced nausea, and reports similar negative experiences between dramamine (Gravol), Bornine, and Transderm V in the form of drowsiness. Bell also reports better success with ginger and peppermint oil, and even dramatic results with Sea Bands, a type of accupressure wrist devices I believe Kimiko refers to above. Interestingly, after a period of using the bands to play formerly troublesome games with no ill effects, Bell inadvertantly indulged one day without the bands -- and felt just fine. One might suggest that this is an example of the placebo effect, but I would suggest it may instead be the result of systematic desensitization; perhaps the bands did work for the time they were used, and being free to play without ill effect permitted the author's metabolism to 'learn' to tolerate the conflicitng information. This would explain the phenomenon of 'getting your sea legs', usually earned by protracted nausea and vomiting. The gamer's experience suggests that the suffering may not be a necessary part of becoming acclimatized. The trick may be to find your cure, and to stick with the activity long enough to overcome it. As an aside, it would be interesting to see if a 'cured' motion sickness candidate is symptom free across other conducive environments. For example, if beside visual stimulation Bell also experienced motion sickness thorugh kinetic stimuli as in rocking below deck on a boat, would the desensitization achieved through video games cross over to the sea sickness as well? If not, my suggestion would be peanut butter. A rounded teaspoon of peanut butter does wonders to settle your stomach on the sea, Billy... --BK 07:24, 16 March 2006 (UTC)
Old Trials I participated in trials (with many other subjects - I think about 30 in all)investigating motion sickness at the institute of RAF medicine at RAE Farnborough around 1964 to 1965. Broadly, all subjects were presented with two situations of sensory conflict. They were subjected both to motion with no visual cues (a projected horizon which appeared to be static with reference to their bodies), and on another run they were subjected to a moving horizon with no real motion occurring. Several different frequencies of motion were tested for each subject in different sequencies. Several findings were clear. First, most subjects felt a degree of nausea, and each subject had their own critical frequency which induced nausea quickest. This was independent of whether the nausea was motion induced or visually induced. Second, most subjects slowly became less sensitive to motion as the experiments progessed. Third, those subjects already familiar with violent motion were least sensitive. Lastly, two subjects appeared to be immune. I'm sorry, I don't know whether the results were published, and therefore verifiable.
Jimbaer 14:30, 19 April 2007 (UTC)jimbaer 19 April 2007
[edit] Relief bands
Removed from article as it sounds like quackery and no reference provided:
Another available treatment is Relief Band, a watch-shaped product worn on the wrist. It sends a painless electronic pulse through an acupuncture point. While it has been independently proven to relieve nausea caused by chemotherapy and other poison-induced forms of nausea, an independent study also found it provides no relief for nausea caused by motion sickness. (Miller and Muth 2004))
-- Dan100 (Talk) 11:00, 20 March 2006 (UTC)
Anything about why some people don't get motion sick? Maxwellstragedy
Hello, I usually never get car sick when we start traveling in the morning when I get up im usually fine. But for the last few years when we get up around 4 AM and before to leave in the car I always get motion sickness It usually right after I wake up. When we leave in the car I feel sick and nauseous. Does any Have any idea why this only happens in the morning and how to stop it?
[edit] 3D computer games
Anyone know how motion sickness when playing 3D computer games (like first person shooters) is caused? It happens to me sometimes. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 199.111.229.131 (talk) 23:33, 14 January 2007 (UTC).
* See simulation sickness 70.22.58.75 21:51, 28 April 2007 (UTC)
[edit] Merging - No
Motion sickness is not sea sickness and vice-versa. Each has its parameters that some are subject to which might not be induced on land, sea or air. Ronbo76 06:29, 17 January 2007 (UTC)
* Having two items on the same page does not mean they're synonymous, they would have their own sections. Vicarious 04:33, 21 February 2007 (UTC)
* According to "the most common theory" (see main article and 1 - the reference being a section of the Navy's General Medical Officer Manual and thus containing generally accepted theories) seasickness, carsickness, simulation sickness, airsickness and space sickness are all the same thing: a conflict between the motion perceived by the eyes and by the inner ear being interpreted by the brain as intoxication with a hallucinogenic substance. Consequently, merging is appropriate indeed. 70.22.58.75 21:51, 28 April 2007 (UTC)
[edit] Chinese version is completely wrong. Help!!!
The Chinese wikipedia entry for motion sickness is completely wrong. It's used by a pseudoscientist to promote his anti-science message. I have changed it back into the translation of the first sentence of the English version. How do I prevent this be changed back into the wrong content again? This guy is disrupting several chinese bbs's to promote his pseudosience. He will certainly come back and vandalize the wiki site again. I would also like help in translating the whole entry.
[edit] Imagined simulation motion sickness?
Am I the only person who doesn't get simulation sickness from viewing it on a screen but instead from imagining severe motion (in my case, waves of water or water beds, etc.) while laying with my eyes closed? I don't get too bad of motion sickness while in a pool but that night, hours and hours after swimming I'm kept awake by constantly feeling sick from dreaming of / picturing waves or feeling as if I'm in a body of water. I can't seem to find anything about this, though. I would assume it is the same as the simulation sickness mentioned in the article that is only contributed to video-games, but I have never once experienced this while playing any manner of first person video-game. Does anyone else get this? TealMan 11:19, 7 July 2007 (UTC)
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Usually the diagnosis is established on clinical grounds, but when suspicion exists, other potential sources of tremor (excessive caffeine consumption, recreational drug use, hyperthyroidism) should be excluded.
Essential tremor is often found in more than one member of a family (familial tremor), in which case it is usually dominant in inheritance, or it may occur with no family history. Tremors can start as any age, from birth through advanced ages (senile tremor). Any voluntary muscle in the body may be affected, though it's most commonly seen in the hands and arms and slightly less commonly in the neck (causing the patient's head to shake), eyelids, larynx, tongue, trunk, and legs. A resting tremor of the hands is sometimes present, despite the common misunderstanding that a resting tremor is proof of Parkinson's Disease.
ET does sometimes occur in combination with other neurological disorders such as dystonia and benign fasciculation syndrome. However, there is no clear evidence that having ET predisposes a person to one of these diseases.
Symptoms
Essential tremor (ET) generally presents as a rhythmic tremor (4-12 Hz) that is present only when the affected muscle is exerting effort (i.e., it is not present at rest). Any sort of physical or mental stress will tend to make the tremor worse, often creating the false impression that the tremor is of psychosomatic origin. It is typical for the tremor to worsen in "performance" situations, such as when making out a check at a checkout stand. This is probably due to the increased anxiety that a tremulous person experiences in such situations. ET-related tremors do not occur during sleep, but patients sometimes complain of an especially coarse tremor upon awakening that becomes noticeably less coarse within the first few minutes of wakefulness.
It is commonly assumed among researchers that tremors are not the only symptom of ET.
In disabling cases, ET can interfere with a person's ability to perform tasks of daily living, including feeding, dressing, and activities of personal hygiene.
ET is usually painless, although in some cases tremor of the head or neck causes pain, and writing can become painful quickly for a person with hand tremors who grips a pen tightly in a struggle to maintain control over penmanship.
In 1994, J.L. Izquierdo-Alonso and P. Martínez-Martín, et al, reported in the European Respiratory Journal that some ET patients exhibit tremor-related symptoms that mimic bronchial asthma. These patients have involuntary tremors, contractions, and other abnormal phasic activity in the musculature of their upper airway (at a rhythmic frequency of 7-8 Hz), including their glottal structures and laryngeal muscles. The abnormal movements close their airways partially and they exhibit paroxysmal attacks of wheezing, coughing, and dyspnoea that are worsened, not improved, by asthma medications.
Sometimes people with ET develop a raspy speaking voice while their ET symptoms worsen over time. When this dysphonia occurs, it is true even in cases where the person's tremor symptoms were first noticeable during early childhood and, so, is unlikely to be related to commonplace reductions in quality that can gradually affect the speaking voices of some elderly people.
People with ET often report a progressive decline in their sense of balance and their fine motor skills; published research does suggest that an impaired sense of balance might prevent ET patients from walking normally.
Conflicting research results have so far made it difficult for medical researchers to say with certainty that people with ET are more likely than the general population to experience hearing loss and a reduction or complete loss of olfaction, among a wide assortment of other non-tremor symptoms, but credible researchers have published findings that support claims of progressive hearing loss and progressive loss of olfaction in people with ET.
Some hard research reports suggest people with ET frequently experience mild mental symptoms that include difficulty with "word finding" (remembering an intended word when speaking) and simple short-term memory loss. However, because such symptoms are common with normal aging, it's difficult to determine if these reports are significant.
Other published reports suggest that people with ET experience personality changes that leave them pessimistic, fearful, shy, anxious, and easily fatigued.
While ET is clearly progressive in some cases (sometimes rapidly, sometimes very slowly), and can in severe cases be disabling, it is apparently not life-threatening and does not appear to shorten lifespan. (Some research suggests that people with ET actually live longer than average.)
On April 13, 2005, researchers Julián Benito-Leon and Elan D. Louis presented their findings at the American Academy of Neurology 57th Annual Meeting in Miami Beach that people with ET are more than twice as likely to develop dementia than people who do not have ET. Dr. Benito-Leon told journalists at that time, "We don’t yet know whether the dementia is due to the same underlying problem that is causing the essential tremor or whether it is caused by another problem." In their research, 7.4 percent of people with ET went on to develop dementia, compared to just 3.5 percent in a control group.
Among the recent and provocative peer-reviewed research regarding non-tremor symptoms of ET, these papers are especially noteworthy:
- A Chatterjee, E C Jurewicz, L M Applegate, and E D Louis. Personality in essential tremor: further evidence of non-motor manifestations of the disease. J. Neurol. Neurosurg. Psychiatry, Jul 2004; 75: 958 - 961.
- Lacritz LH, Dewey R, Giller C, et al. Cognitive functioning in individuals with "benign" essential tremor. J Int Neuropsychol Soc 2002;8:125–9.
- Gasparini M , Bonifati V, Fabrizio E, et al. Frontal lobe dysfunction in essential tremor: a preliminary study. J Neurol 2001;248:399–402.
- Lombardi WJ, Woolston DJ, Roberts JW, et al. Cognitive deficits in patients with essential tremor. Neurology 2001;57:785–90.
- Duane DD, Vermilion KJ. Cognitive deficits in patients with essential tremor. Neurology 2002;58:1706 discussion: 1706,.
- Vermilion K , Stone A, Duane D. Cognition and affect in idiopathic essential tremor. Mov Disord 2001;16:S30.
Treatment
Treatment of ET may or may not be attempted, depending on the severity of the tremor and the physical and social handicaps that implies. Drug treatment may include tranquilizers, beta-blockers, and antiepileptic drugs. Surgical treatments (which are generally reserved for the most severe cases) include botulism toxin injections into the affected muscles, thalamotomy, pallidotomy, and deep brain stimulation – the insertion of a "pacemaker" into the brain.
The two medications that are prescribed most commonly for control of ET symptoms are the anticonvulsant Primidone (Mysoline®) and the beta-blocker propranolol (Inderal®).
Support groups
The International Essential Tremor Foundation (IETF) provides information, services and support to individuals and families affected by essential tremor (ET). The organization encourages and promotes research in an effort to determine the causes, treatment and ultimately the cure for ET. The IETF is a worldwide organization dedicated to meeting the needs of those whose daily lives are challenged by ET. IETF, an international non-profit 501(c)(3) organization that derives its support entirely from its membership and the general public, was founded in 1988 and is guided by a board of directors and a medical advisory council. The organization's membership consists of patients, physicians, educators, parents, relatives and volunteers who provide education, community services and funding to help support tremor research.
The US-based Tremor Action Network (TAN) describes itself as "the first volunteer only 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization created by people diagnosed with essential tremor." This volunteer-run organisation provides a website with forums, FAQs, and recently started carrying a newsletter on its website.
The National Tremor Foundation (NTF), founded in 1992, is a British friendly organisation based in Essex, England, an affiliate of the International Tremor Foundation, which was founded in 1988. The organisation's primary work is production of a quarterly informational newsletter. The NTF also maintains a list of ITF medical advisors, and facilitates the formation of self-help groups. NTF was granted charitable status in 1994.
WE MOVE http://www.wemove.org (Worldwide Education & Awareness in Movement Disorders) is a comprehensive resource for movement disorder information and education (including essential tremor)and the only organization of its kind. Since 1991, this 501(c) 3 not-for-profit organization has been educating and informing patients, professionals, and the public about the latest clinical advances, management, and treatment options for neurologic movement disorders. At WE MOVE, we believe that increasing knowledge and understanding promote timely, accurate diagnosis, and up-to-date treatment, resulting in a better quality of life for individuals affected by these often devastating conditions. Professional education for healthcare professional is also available at the Movement Disorder Virtual University at http://www.mdvu.org.
Help with computers
Tunic Software has released software to help people with essential tremor, Parkinson's Disease, and other causes of hand tremor control their computer mouse. Called 'MouseCage', the software automatically smoothes mouse cursor motion to reduce the effects of unsteady or shaky hands. MouseCage anti-tremor mouse software
IBM created a peripheral device that filters out tremoring movements of the hand. The hardware adapter, termed AMA, is connected between the computer and the input device. It is switched on or off and adjusted for tremor severity right on the device.
IBM also offer a free smoothing mouse driver for windows 2000 and XP which uses the same technology that helps steady the image in a hand held camcorder. Free IBM Mouse smoothing software
Other tools have also been adapted for people with tremors; for example, eating utensils which are weighted to help damp out tremor.
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