About Scopace...

[Jedmo]

Hello folks,
 
I just called kaiser today to have my motion sickness medicine change to pill
instead of the patch. I have asked for the Scopace that fishshim and FisHunter
had highly recommended but kaiser ask a nurse had never heard of the brand.
Can you buy this particular medicine over the counter? Or does it have to be
prescribe by a doctor? If I am not mistaken, I think ChuckE also takes this
medicine as well (Scopace). Can anyone please help of how I should go about
obtaining this pill?

Thanks in advance,
Jed

[Danglin]

I have had different experinces,

 one Dr. had no problem and wrote a script for .25mg pills, #20 pills, cost arond $20 bucks at longs,

worked Great...

another Dr. had no idea what i was talking about and wrote a script for .4mg, I have not tried to get this filled yet.

You do need a script and PAL had said something about these pills being " Habbit forming "

 Not sure why...

[fishshim]

Scopace is a perscription drug. It's the oral form of Scopalomine, there is a lot of info on the web. ChuckE recommended it to me and I just had my Doc call a script in to Raleys pharmacy.

[PAL]

For someone who must be on the water a lot - and often staring through a camera lens - anti-seasickness meds are key.

The over the counter stuff works for me but causes an awful energy crash, leaving me feeling ill, so I avoid it.

I now use both the Transderm Scop patch and the Scopace pill depending on the situation.

The patch lasts 3 full days. My doc loves this form of medication delivery - when you no longer need it, just pull it off and you're done.

The Scopace pill is good for 8 hours. You get the full dose immediately. I use it for shorter trips when a patch would be wasted.

For me, both meds cause a dry mouth, although the effect is sometimes negligible - other times it is significant. It can also cause difficulty with fine focus of your eyes - really! I've only experienced this during long-term use of the patch.

I once asked my doc why these are prescription meds - he told me they are habit forming. I can't say I've ever craved the stuff - can't imagine it really. It's not like it causes a rush, but it sure is effective at preventing motion sickness. Highly recommended.   

[Northern Boy]

It's not really "habit forming" but it can be "abused".

Basically it's very potent stuff. You only need a tiny amount to attain the desired effects on motion sickness.

A little more and your memory starts to be affected. A lot more and hallucinations, psychosis and even death can result. Some people like this apparently. Especially in some parts of latin america.

I would guess that it is thus prescription-only because if not, some folks might buy a lot of it to achieve the aforementioned effects (it would be very cheap as well).

(Don't worry; stick to the prescribed amounts and you will be perfectly fine!).

[yakhopper]

Scopace, like dramamine has always made me drowsy and gave me a major power drop after a short time.
A friend of mine has turned me on to Mechlazine which has worked for me over the last 6 years without any energy drop or drowsy feeling. This has worked for me on the 5 and 6 day trips in some nasty weather as well as the one day outings on our local coast. The best part is you can get it without a perscription however you have to ask the pharmacist as it's not kept on the shelf.
100 pills for about $13.00 / 1-2 pill per 24hours / no side affects.
Each person reacts different to each med. so i would suggest to try diff. med,s till you find the best for you than stick with it.
Eric

[Northern Boy]

Scopace, like dramamine has always made me drowsy and gave me a major power drop after a short time.
A friend of mine has turned me on to Mechlazine which has worked for me over the last 6 years without any energy drop or drowsy feeling. This has worked for me on the 5 and 6 day trips in some nasty weather as well as the one day outings on our local coast. The best part is you can get it without a perscription however you have to ask the pharmacist as it's not kept on the shelf.
100 pills for about $13.00 / 1-2 pill per 24hours / no side affects.
Each person reacts different to each med. so i would suggest to try diff. med,s till you find the best for you than stick with it.
Eric

Meclizine is the active ingredient in drammamine non-drowsy. It's also in various other generic over the counter "non-drowsy" motion sickness medications. Just look on the back of the packet under "active ingredients".

It's currently my medication of choice although is does still make me drowsy (tho' less than regulaar drammamine) and doesn't work particularly well.

I think the advice about trying them all until you find one that works is really the key. There is tremendous inter-person variation with these medications.

[KZ]

I don't get seasick on the water, but I do get motion sickness if I'm riding with someone up the winding coastal highway 1.  Ok if driving... sick as a dog if riding. 

Shimmy and I recently carpooled up the coast and he was driving.  I took a scopace when we left... I felt as good after an hour and a half of winding road as I did when I left.  I've used dramamine and bonine in the past and both made me feel "hazy"... didn't like it at all.  I didn't notice any adverse affect from Scopace.

I know that it worked because on the way home, I didn't take another one and I was about ready to barf by the time we got to Jenner.

So that's my own little controlled study... Erik likey!

[Fish 'n Brew]

A tip on the trans derm scop:  Cutting a patch in half provides adequate relief for most people.  Scopalamine is a very powerful drug and there's no reason to use more than it takes to get the job done. 

[amphibian]

I get sea sick very easy. I started using scope patches and have never been sick while using them. I have Kaiser and they call in my scrip without me having to go in. I couldn't fish on the open ocean without it. I've never been sick on the bay but the ocean is an entirely different ride.

[Marmite]

Not surprising that scopolamine is not over the counter.  It is a potent medication with a wide range of pharmacologic effects and is the same medication anesthesiologists administer intravenously to dry the airway during general anesthesia.  It's anticholinergic effects generally cause a drying effect and can result in acute urinary retention in men with prostatic hypertrophy and can cause significant constipation.  Besides causing blurred vision, it can cause acute worsening of glaucoma in susceptible individuals.  Because it reduces sweating and therefore one's ability to keep cool, it can result in dangerous hyperthermia if used during high levels of exertion.  As mentioned, it can also have prominent central nervous system side effects.  When I was a medical officer on a ship, an elderly passenger was brought to me who was hallucinating.  He was wearing he patch and is the only person I have ever seen who really was seeing "pink elephants".

I don't get seasick on the water, but I do get motion sickness if I'm riding with someone up the winding coastal highway 1.  OK if driving... sick as a dog if riding.

I have the same experience on winding roads; OK if I'm driving and readily sick if I am not.  I believe it's because of the different attitude of the head of the driver compared with passengers.  Because the driver is focused on the road and leaning in the direction of turning the steering wheel, his head is always tilted toward the inside of any curves.  In comparison, a passenger's head is naturally moved in the opposite direction, i.e. toward the outside of a curve, because of centrifugal force.  Thus, the driver's head is typically 90 degrees off from that of the passengers.  Motion sickness is the result of a missmatch between the inputs from the eyes, semicircular canals and proprioceptors in the neck and elsewhere.  Since the driver visually anticipates the upcoming movement and changes his head and neck position accordingly, he is much less likely to get sick.  But the focus of the passenger is usually not glued to the road and as the car turns, the fluid in his vestibular apparatus says he's going one way when his head and eyes say he's going in another direction.  Barfing is the end result. 

So if you are ever caught on a windy road as a passenger without motion sickness meds, make a focused effort to turn your head in the same direction as wheel turns.  It's a bit tiring to keep it up but it can make the trip much more bearable.

[piski]

When I was a medical officer on a ship, an elderly passenger was brought to me who was hallucinating.  He was wearing he patch and is the only person I have ever seen who really was seeing "pink elephants".

Haha, wouldn't be my idea of a good time on a kayak in the Pacific Ocean! 

Thanks for this thread - good info here. Ocean and car passenger are my weak points for motion sickness as well. Reading in a car - fuggedaboutit.

[Marmite]

Reading in a car - fuggedaboutit.

Yeh, close up work really gets me sick pretty quick.  Once had to perform a vasectomy while en route from Greece to Malta cuz the Director was flying out from Malta.  The seas were pretty calm, but just enough movement to make it real hard to nail that little bugger.  I was ready to puke by the end of it!

[Jedmo]

Thanks to all who have shared their experiences to all sorts of different
types of meds. for the motion sickness. I greatly appreciate it. I just
hope that I can try get my hands on this Scopace pill to try it out. I hope
it works this time around. Not fun going over your kayak involuntary
because of hurling on the side of the yak.

Thanks again,
Jed

[Marmite]

Jed,

Have you already tried and failed with Meclizine?  As mentioned earlier, it's safe and very cheap since it's over the counter.  You can get them as chewable tablets in bottles of 100 as mentioned.

I am very motion sensitive, but as long as I take Meclizine I'm OK.  Sailing out of Wellington New Zealand to Fiji, we hit force 8 galeforce winds.  The waves were breaking over the bridge (this is a 525 foot long ship) and passangers were lining the stairways getting sick.  But I had heard the weathercast, taken my Meclizine, and was just fine.

The key to side effects is how you generally respond to antihistamines.  Sedation (drowsiness) is the comon complaint with this class of medications though it is less prominent with Meclizine than many others.  If comon meds like chlortrimaton and benadryl totally wipe you out, then this probably won't be good for you.  But if you usually can take cold/allergy meds, it's worth a try.  It's also important to prep with Meclizine well in advance of your activity.  I take one the night before I go and then on the morning of my fishing trip.  I'm pretty used to antihistamines cuz I have hayfever, so it really doesn't tire me.

If you try it on just a normal weekend day and you are not overly tired, it may work well for you.  If you are too tired than try the scopolamine.