extreme motion sickness

[gailsteeden]

Hi all, I'm at my wit's ends, my DD has had carsickness since age 1 but now at age 3.5 it's got extreme, including a short 4 minute train ride, and we only managed getting to the next street before she was wailing in distress, now she is even saying she's feeling sick when I push the buggy too fast.

I've tried most things - from the totally ineffectual (looking out of the window/at the horizon, wrist bands, fresh air and ginger) through to the 'it might work for a moment' (phenargan elixir, kwell's kids). It's not always the case she is actually sick as she gets so distressed we tend to stop the journey pretty quickly but she has certainly been very productively sick on some recent short journeys. Her balance is very good and her hearing is good. The doctor has no more ideas and we are now stuck unable to travel beyond where we can walk to.

Has anyone had experience of this, I can't believe it's normal, I know all kids feel a bit 'off' sometimes but this is an extreme! I don't get to see friends or family or go on holiday and I just desperately need to find a solution or a source of hope.

Sort of, though mine has never been a screamer over it, if anything she's coped with it too well, even from tiny she was embarrassed by it & insisted on dealing with things herself - makes you feel awful

There's 2 possibilities here - given her age & reaction, it could be an attention seeking thing - they are very good at this sort of age & younger at picking up on what pushes your buttons & push, push, pushing away just because they can & it gets your attention.

The other possibility is of course that there is a genuine health condition & the first thing that comes to mind is what my own DD later went on to be diagnosed with - though she never complained of motion sickness in her buggy though, or had much problem on trains & often vomits during/after even quite short car journeys, or sometimes bus journeys if they are winding roads or round a outs - even now at almost 12

She has Ehlers Danlos Hyoermobility, aka Joint Hypermobility Syndrome - Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome (POTs) is a symptom of that - this causes the motion sickness for her, sometimes even when walking or standing up - check the STARs or PoTsUK websites for more info

If your DD sits with her legs folded out sideways in a W shape, or seems bendy in other ways, then this is a possibility for her too - though it's hereditary, so it might seem normal to you, as it find for me

POTs can be a condition in its own right, but I "think" that's less likely in kids

HTH

Thanks so much RockinHippy I'll certainly look into it - I genuinely can't tell if it's about attention although the thought has crossed my mind... but she's quite an attention indulged child (she's an only child) - she does however seem to be quite flexible in that she can proudly suck her toes (yuck) something I can't imagine doing - beyond for the obvious reasons!

Attention indulged can sometimes mean they expect it 24/7 - mine in an OC too & she ran me ragged with attention seeking behaviour over food

That said though - if she can suck her toes - she is Hypermobile - mine used to do that too - lol, it's gross - it used to suck our friends with same age DCS

Though Hypermobile doesn't always mean health problems, it certainly can & the POTs symptom would fit with the nausea & travel sickness

There's lots of EDS parents on here, so keep coming back & ask questions if you find your GP isn't helpful, lots don't know the condition so it can be a bit if a battle to get diagnosed

Thanks again Rockin Hippy, I'm looking into my DD and hypermobility / POTS but seems quite scary stuff. In the short term how did you deal with the sickness on trips or did you just stay put (are you a local Brightonian BTW as I think I saw you on another thread!)

Yes, I'm local to you :) - I will pm you a localish Facebook group that you might want to join, lots with Hypermobile kids on there, so a good place for advice for you

It is scary stuff when you first start looking into it, but it differs for everyone & lots of kids grow out of the worst of it post puberty - it can get worse on the run up to puberty though, which has happened with my own DD, but knowing what it is, means they can be helped & therefore avoid problems when older, so not all bad. The POTs symptom I've read us uncommon in kids, often triggered by trauma, pneumonia at 5 in my DDs case - but I've read that when the get it young, they grow out of that post puberty too

We've avoided a lot of car travel, go by train where possible TBH, but sometimes it's necessary - things that have helped DD have been...

the travel sickness accupressure wrist bands - you will find these in boots & they come in kids sizes too

Distraction such as music to listen too on headphones - reading, video games etc will make it worse, but we found a portable DVD player helped when DD was small

Ginger sweets to suck - infinity foods have them, they are in a yellow box & have a yellow old fashion wrapper - sorry I forget the name though

No air freshener - my dad always had these in his car, the real strong chemical ones & DD was violently sick every time she got into his car

You can use lavender oil or rosemary aromatherapy oil as air freshener instead & they help with nausea

Small bucket & lots of bags to line it in the car, along with baby wipes & kitchen roll - DD used to help herself to these & became really adept at sorting herself out from a young age - she preferred to do this, she was embarrassed by it.

Avoid milky drinks, milky foods etc fir 1,1/2 hours before travelling - this made a huge difference to how often DD was actually sick - she still felt ill, but didn't vomit

Avoid bumpy or windy roads where possible - especially roundabouts

As soon as tall enough - let them sit in the front seat - this helped DD a lot

HTH

PS I should have said - diagnosis is good for you too - they are accident prone & bruise easily - our hospital is very hot on child abuse & I've been quizzed & quizzed over DDs frequent injuries - thankfully bar 1, it all happened at school, or I don't doubt they would have put SS onto us before now - now I just tell them she has EDSH on arrival - & the difference in how they treat me & lay off quizzing her is massive - it used to be really stressful

Thanks again RockinHippy - and good point about the bruises... I get terrible bruising too and my husband is always worried about how it looks for him as well!

I'm going to start trying to get her to be a bit more self sufficient in the car, it's become a bit of a vicious cycle that she is now terrified of travelling anywhere - which doesn't help!

Again thanks for all your support and advice.