Why do I feel nauseous even before my plane ride? + Any tips?

Question

This has only started occurring in the past 4-5 years and I'm 16. On one plane ride, I just didn't eat the right things and there was some heavy turbulence so I ended up throwing up many times. After that, plane rides scared me since I thought that I'd get nauseous on all of them and this lead to me feeling nervous and sick/nauseous even before the plane ride e.g. the terminal, on the way there.

In the past year, that "fear" has passed and I've had a few successful trips where I haven't felt nauseous either on or before the plane. But it also has been happening and I'm not sure why since I'm not one to get motion sick easily on any sort of transport, I don't eat any (large amounts) of greasy, salty etc. food beforehand either. I'm also not worried about my safety when on the plane ride, I just inevitably feel nauseous.

P.S. This is not something I've associated with airports themselves since I can go to airports to drop friends and relatives off.

Please help explain why and what I could possibly do about it since I'm going on a 24+ hour plane ride in 3 days.

Answer 1

Same story, same problem.

I have an unfortunate affinity for motion sickness. My first trip to the USA was ok, the second one was...a bit rough...This triggered exactly the same symptoms you are describing, getting tense when I am near the airport (and await flying) which is also triggering the slight nausea you mentioned. Like you I do not fear flying.

I thought about it and I suspect it is not motion sickness, but anticipating the involuntary loss of control which causes stress for our bodies. On trains I never experienced motion sickness, in cars I know I can get out if necessary and recover, on ships I can at least walk around, breathe fresh air and relax lying (cabin), but on airplanes you cannot escape. Worse, I am quite large and this &/%# seats are small and cramped for me. I cannot get in my favorite lying position, the movements are going down and up without visual warning which I find worse than ship movements.

This fear is mitigated if I know that the trip is short (knowing that I can resist some time) and if the aircraft is landing (meaning it is all over). That you mentioned a long flight means that you do not like non-stop long trips either.

I handle it with my seasickness repository and accept that the feeling is there. For your flight it also means that you are using a long-distance ride which means fortunately a big plane which is quite robust against turbulences.