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"MOTION SICKNESS!"--CHAP.2: IT'S PSYCHOSOMATIC! DFO831-2 12-5-77
1. FAITH AND FEAR CANNOT TOTALLY OCCUPY YOUR MIND, YOUR HEART AND YOUR SPIRIT AT THE SAME TIME. You either have one or the other, and if fear displaces faith, then you've got problems. But if you can cling to God, and the Lord and His Word, and replace fear with faith, then you've got solutions!
2. SO BELIEVE IT OR NOT, THIS IS THE PRINCIPAL CURE OF SEASICKNESS OR MOTION SICKNESS.--FAITH! Put your mind at rest, your heart at rest, your spirit at rest, in faith. "Rocked in the arms of Jesus, safe on His gentle breast."
3. WHEN THAT SHIP GOES TO ROLLING AND TOSSING AND PITCHING, and then that strange spiral motion, which is not only up and down, but around and around, and side to side, a strange curved spiral motion, it takes your whole body and your stomach on a strange curved spiral motion to which it's not accustomed. Don't worry about it, just relax and rest and claim Scriptures, and you'll have peace.
4. "LORD, THIS IS YOUR SEA, I AM YOUR CHILD, You're controlling this ship. It's in Your hands and everything's all right, I shouldn't worry, I'm just gonna rest."
5. "ROCKED IN THE CRADLE OF THE DEEP, I'll lay me down and go to sleep. Rocked in the cradle of the deep, I'll lay me down and go to sleep." That's the very best medicine you can possibly have.
6. REST AND JUST BE ROCKED IN THE CRADLE OF THE DEEP. Lay down and go to sleep, without fear, trusting the Lord, and just refuse to let your body make your mind worry.
7. WHAT HAPPENS PHYSIOLOGICALLY WHEN THE STRANGE MOTION OF YOUR BODY, INCLUDING YOUR STOMACH, BEGINS ON BOARD SHIP in a rough sea? All of a sudden, automatically, your stomach begins sending signals up to your brain that something is wrong, something's happened, "Help me, this is unusual, please stop it!"
8. IT YOU ARE AFRAID, AND YOU'RE NOT RELAXING AND RESTING, THEN YOUR MIND SENDS MESSAGES BACK TO YOUR STOMACH, "Well, I'm sorry, but I don't know what's going on; I'm afraid & I don't know what to tell you to do to overcome it. I guess something terrible must be happening!" Then your stomach gets all excited and sick and nauseated, and you're apt to throw up as a result. I'll never forget one of the longest boat rides I had in many years.
9. WHEN I WAS ISLAND-HOPPING DOWN IN THE CARIBBEAN, AMONGST THE BAHAMA ISLANDS, I TOOK A SMALL ISLAND BOAT. It was only about 80 feet long, carrying lumber and other things from Grand Bahama Island to Nassau, the capital of another island.
10. IT WAS A 16-HOUR JOURNEY, AND AS FAR AS I WAS CONCERNED, THE SEA WAS PLENTY ROUGH. It looked like those waves had about 8-foot troughs to me! I was staying in a little tiny cabin right off the little side deck and its railing.
11. THEY HAD LOADED THE BOAT SO HEAVY WITH LUMBER, THEY'D EVEN STACKED UP LUMBER ON THE DECK RIGHT OUTSIDE THE CABIN so it was halfway up the door! And to get into my cabin, thank God the door opened inward, I had to unlatch the door and crawl in on my hands and knees. And to get out, you had to crawl on your hands and knees on top of the lumber, because they'd stacked the lumber on the deck right up to the level of the railing!
12. REALLY, THE HEAVIER THE SHIP IS LOADED, THE BETTER OFF YOUR ARE, because then it has a better equilibrium and it rides deeper and more steadily. An empty boat is the worst thing you can be in, 'cause it just bobbles around on the surface like a cork.
13. BUT I'LL NEVER FORGET THAT FIRST LONG SHIP RIDE--16 HOURS! When I got finished with that ship ride, I felt like Paul when he was describing all of his terrible adventures. He said,
14. "I SPENT A DAY AND A NIGHT IN THE DEEP!" Well, I certainly had been a day and a night in the deep! That was an 8-hour night and an 8-hour day in the deep!
15. I GOT SO SEASICK! I threw up all there was to throw up in my little cabin bowl. And oh, the first mate, he was enjoying it! Here was this landlubber suffering from the sea. Well, I guess he was a little concerned about me, to see if I was still alive.
16. HE'D GET DOWN ON HIS HANDS THROUGH THE DOOR, uninvited, without even knocking, and grin at me like a leering devil: "How are ya? Are ya seasick? Aw, that's too bad, sorry!" And he'd giggle and chuckle like he was enjoying it immensely!
17. I FELT LIKE THE STORY ABOUT THE GUY WHO WAS SO SEASICK ON BOARD THE OCEAN VESSEL. He said at first he was so seasick he thought he was gonna die, but by and by he got so seasick, he was afraid he wasn't gonna die! I'm telling you, you can be pretty miserable.
18. IT CAN MAKE YOU PRETTY SICK, SO DON'T LAUGH AT THE PEOPLE WHO GET SEASICK. It's no joking matter! It's very real, and the physical reaction is very real, and the throwing up of everything you put down is very real.
19. BUT ONE OF THE WORST THINGS YOU CAN DO IS TO GIVE UP EATING JUST BECAUSE YOU'RE THROWING UP ALL THE TIME. One of the best things you can do is stuff it down! That's why they give you four to five meals a day on most ships, because if you keep your stomach full of solids, believe it or not, it really helps to relax your stomach and keep it from throwing up.
20. BUT AN EMPTY STOMACH WHO CAN BEAR? Especially if you get foolish enough to just drink a lot of liquids! That is the worst possible thing you can do, is drink liquids! Try to forgo drinking much liquids.
21. DRINK AS LITTLE LIQUID AS YOU POSSIBLY CAN so that that mass in your stomach doesn't slosh around too much, because that is one of the things that causes you to get nauseated. The body feels all of this unusual motion of all this gook slopping around in your stomach, from side to side and up and down, and around and around, and your stomach doesn't know how to handle it, so it finally just decides to "give up the ship" and throw it up!
22. SO THE BEST THING YOU COULD DO IS TO EAT AS MUCH BREADY STARCHY SOLID FOODS AS YOU CAN and drink as little liquid as possible. Keep your tummy full, because even if you keep throwing it up, you'll still get some nourishment out of it before you throw it up. It'll keep your strength up, keep you alive, and help you to survive. PTL!
HERE'S JUST A FEW LITTLE PRACTICAL THINGS TO REMEMBER:
23. THE FIRST THING I WOULD ADVISE YOU TO DO, IS DON'T EVEN GO ON A SHIP UNDER 10,000 TONS, and even that's a pretty small ship. Preferably, pick a big ocean-going liner of 25-30,000 tons, or even the Q.E.II, which I think is about 45,000. The Canberra which is an Australian ship, is another one up in that class.
24. THE LARGEST SHIPS IN THE WORLD ARE THE GIANT SUPER-TANKERS, oil tankers. That's why they make such a mess when they break up somewhere and spill it all out, hundreds of thousands of tons of oil!
25. ONE OF THOSE BIG SUPER TANKERS, AS I RECALL, IS OVER 200,000 TONS! Why, the average good size passenger liner is only about 20,000 tons! Did you get the difference?--One-tenth the size of a 200,000-ton tanker.
26. OF COURSE A LOT DEPENDS ON WHAT SHIPS ARE AVAILABLE, AND YOU CAN'T ALWAYS CATCH THE RIGHT SHIP AT THE RIGHT TIME AT THE RIGHT PRICE. For example, from where we are now to another destination abroad on a small freighter with a capacity of 12 passengers the price is only 800 each, all meals included. But on a big fancy oceanliner for the same distance from the same port to the same port, it was 4,000 each! So it can make a big difference according to your pocket book what size ship you can afford, and according to your schedule what time it's available.
27. BY ALL MEANS, WHATEVER YOU DO, TRY TO GET A CABIN AS NEAR THE CENTER OF GRAVITY OF THE SHIP AS POSSIBLE. Now the exact center of gravity of the ship is usually about halfway between the prow, that's the front end of the ship, and the stern, that's the back end of the ship.--And exactly halfway between the port side, that's the left side, and the starboard side, that's the right side of the ship. I'm going to make a sailor out of you yet, you'll know a few nautical terms!
28. IF YOU'LL GET YOUR CABIN NEITHER TOO FAR BACK NOR TOO FAR FORWARD, and neither too far to one side or too far to the other side, you'll find out that it will have less motion and therefore much less possibility of upsetting your stomach than even the so-called outside cabins which are so much in demand and higher priced, where you have your own porthole and you can look out.
29. BELIEVE IT OR NOT, THOSE OUTSIDE CABINS ARE THE WORST TO BE IN FOR SEASICKNESS! Even if you're right in the middle of the ship from stem (prow) to stern, if you're on the outside of the ship left or right, the boat has a definite rolling motion in a troubled sea.
30. THE OUTSIDE WILL GO UP AND DOWN AND AROUND AND ABOUT MUCH MORE in a porthole cabin, an outside cabin, for which you pay sometimes double, than you will in an inside cabin in the center or the heart of the ship. And believe it or not, sometimes a cabin which is on a 2nd or 3rd deck down is closer to the center of gravity than the fancier higher priced cabins on the upper decks which are above the center of gravity and therefore roll around more.
31. SO YOU'LL FIND THAT THE MEDIUM PRICED CABINS ARE THE ONES THAT ARE USUALLY IN THE CENTER OF THE SHIP near the center.--Oh yes, from top to bottom too, don't forget.--Side to side, stem to stern, and top to bottom. Get as close to that center of gravity as you can and you'll have as little motion as you can.
32. THAT'S WHY WHENEVER I GET ON A PLANE I ALWAYS SIT DIRECTLY OVER THE CENTER OF THE WING. If you can, get directly over the center of the wing and next to the aisle. Everybody always wants to get a window seat so they can see out. But if you're prone to air sickness, the thing to do is by all means get a seat on the aisle directly over the center of the wing.
33. AS YOU GO DOWN THE AISLE KEEP LOOKING OUT THROUGH THE LITTLE WINDOWS OF THE PLANE TO SEE WHERE THE WING IS. I'll tell you how to recognize almost the exact center of the wing. It's usually right where the little emergency door is. So when you see that little sign, "Emergency Exit", or whatever language it's in, that's the center. If somebody's already there, find some other place as close to it as you can, but that's the best place.
34. THE FORWARD FIRST CLASS SEATS AND THE TAIL SEATS ARE THE WORST THERE ARE FOR MOTION SICKNESS. Never sit in those if you can help it, if you have a problem with motion sickness.
35. OF COURSE SOME PEOPLE DON'T HAVE AS MUCH TROUBLE WITH MOTION SICKNESS AS OTHERS. They seem to have stronger stomachs or more phlegmatic nerves or something, so that they are not as nervous and worried and fearful as others. Some people are just naturally that way, just like a lump of lead or a lump of clay, and they don't feel nuttin', so they're normally not as subject to motion sickness as others.
36. THE HYPER-TENSE, VERY NERVOUS, EXTREMELY SENSITIVE, FRAIL LITTLE BIRDS WHO ARE ALWAYS TWITTERING ABOUT AND WORRYING about something, are usually the ones that get the sickest. Big tough burly seamen are usually the ones that are not too bothered with it, they don't feel much of anything.
37. BUT YOU LITTLE FRAIL SENSITIVE FOLKS WHO ARE INCLINED TO BE EXTREMELY NERVOUS ANYHOW and your stomach is already extremely sensitive, you're the ones that have to really try to follow this advice, because I'm a little that way myself.
Copyright (c) 1998 by The Family
