Motion sickness medications aim to prevent or relieve symptoms of nausea and dizziness caused by real movement or that you perceive when playing a video game.
Motion sickness can affect your stomach and your central nervous system. Medications for motion sickness include over-the-counter (OTC) and prescription drugs. These can help prevent the symptoms or treat them when they occur.
Sex and gender exist on spectrums. This article uses the terms “women,” “men,” or both when discussing people assigned female or male at birth to reflect language that appears in source materials.
While gender is solely about how you identify yourself, independent of your physical body, you may need to consider how your personal circumstances will affect diagnosis, symptoms, and treatment. Learn more about the difference between sex and gender here.
Causes and symptoms
Motion sickness can happen due to movement that can be real or perceived. You can develop motion sickness when you’re in motion, for example, traveling in a car, plane, boat, or train. But you can also have motion sickness while watching a movie or playing a video game.
Motion sickness happens when there’s a disconnect between what you see and what your inner ear feels, sending mixed messages to your brain.
This leads to symptoms of motion sickness, which include:
- nausea
- dizziness
- vomiting
- headache
- feeling cold
- going pale
- sweating and cold sweats
- yawning
- sleepiness
Some people are more likely to experience motion sickness than others. For example, women tend to have motion sickness more than men, and motion sickness tends to affect children and pregnant people.
Prescription options
Several prescription medications can help prevent or treat motion sickness symptoms.
Promethazine
Promethazine (Phenergan) is an antihistamine that’s available by prescription. Promethazine can prevent motion sickness. It helps suppress the feelings of nausea and vomiting. It reduces the stimulation that signals your brain that you need to vomit.
For motion sickness, you can take a promethazine tablet 30 minutes to 1 hour before traveling. Promethazine tablets come in doses of 12.5–50 milligrams (mg). Talk with a healthcare professional about what’s the right dose for you.
Promethazine can cause side effects like dry mouth, dizziness, constipation, and blurred vision.
Promethazine is available in generic form and in brand names like Phenergan.
Scopolamine
Scopolamine is a medication that blocks the substances that signal your brain to vomit. Doctors prescribe scopolamine to treat nausea, vomiting, and motion sickness.
Scopolamine is available as a patch in generic form and under the brand name Transderm Scop. To prevent motion sickness, place the patch behind your ear at least 4 hours before traveling. You can leave it there for up to 3 days.
The side effects of scopolamine include:
- dry mouth
- dizziness
- confusion
- sweating
Talk with a healthcare professional if you experience these adverse effects.
If you need help covering the cost of medications, the free Optum Perks Discount Card could help you save up to 80% on prescription drugs. Follow the links on drug names for savings on that medication, or search for a specific drug here.
