0
JackArcher

Sickness after jumping.

Recommended Posts

Did you do a tandem or a solo? Some degree of motion sickness is not uncommon on tandems. It can be mitigated by proper harness adjustment, but for some people it is unavoidable. I have 2000 total jumps and 500+ tandems as an instructor and riding on the front still gets my bile rising. I never get sick on the back of a tandem or when doing solos.

You can do a few things to help with motion sickness on any type of jump. Eat a solid meal before your jump, stay hydrated, and adjust the harness as best as possible. Dramamine can help. Before taking any type of medication, be sure to do your research and make sure that it won't affect your ability to perform on the skydive.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
I'm pretty sure that when they tested Dramamine on humans (in order to get Over-The-Counter-drug Certificate), they've never tested it on skydivers.

You should report it to them, they might change the 'side-effects- section in drug manual.
What goes around, comes later.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

As mentioned its probably the adrenalin or the motion. Being a relatively high time pilot, I always considered myself to be rather immune from motion sickness, however my stomach gets a little queasy after doing something exciting while jumping, especially after eating. But it only lasts for a minute or so.

I wonder how many tandem students lost their lunch during the ride. I bet its rather unpleasant for the tandem master, especially while holding into the wind.[:/]

You live more in the few minutes of skydiving than many people live in their lifetime

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
Did you skip eating/drinking before the jump due to nerves? If you don't keep hydrated/fed you can crash after an adrenaline rush.

Happened on one of my AFF jumps. Got sick on a tandem jump once too, but I think that was because of the harness being tight.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
In my case, I paid upfront for a 'license in a week" course that required 2 tandems before progressing to solo/instructor jumps. After 2 tandems in as many hours, I was seriously worried that motion sickness may be the one thing that keeps me out of something I've wanted to do for over 15yrs. I reluctantly went down the road of explaining to my wife about all the upfront $$$ i just dropped and ....."what have I done!!??" This was very discouraging as I’ve never had motion sickness before. My 1st tandem made me feel somewhat sick and the 2nd made my stomach churn for hours.

The next day I started my STP/AFF program with 6 jumps and have never looked back. Never once felt any motion sickness and I'm now at 21 jumps. I took dramamine the first day of instructor jumps and although it may have helped, I knew it couldn't hurt...just in case. Looking back on it now, I attribute the motion sickness to the tandem ride, no breakfast, and probably an overdose of adrenaline.

If you have similar aspirations to keep jumping, take some dramamine and go for it! I’m glad I didn’t let this first experience keep me from living my dreams.

Take care and take flight.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
Quote

I wonder how many tandem students lost their lunch during the ride. I bet its rather unpleasant for the tandem master, especially while holding into the wind.[:/]



The wind (speed) you feel under the canopy is the same whether you are holding or running. The only thing that changes is your ground speed.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

0