Ski Nausea?

Rparr

Rparr

Active member
So I experienced something very strange today. It was a total whiteout at Brighton, I could hardly see 30 feet in front of me. The longer I skied the more nauseous I got. I thought I was just sick or something until I started googling. Apparently this happens when there is whiteout conditions and your brain can't read the slope at all. Now I've skied in some flat light and heavy snow, but this was crazy. I couldn't see shit.

It got so bad that I had to call it a day early. It felt exactly like sea sickness. I have never experienced this in 20 years of skiing. Does anybody else get this? Is there anything I can do?
 
It looks like your problem could just be genetic.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ski_sickness

"Ski sickness or Häusler's disease is a form of motion sickness which is suffered by some skiers when weather conditions are bad. Poor visibility in heavy fog can bring on the condition....Symptoms are similar to other sicknesses brought about by motion and include: dizziness, headaches and nausea and in more extreme cases vomiting.

In whiteout conditions the brain is unable to accurately determine orientation or movement. The condition is caused by the rhythmic turning motion of skiing and other effects such as a reduction in sensory feedback from constrained feet. Ski sickness could affect up to 10% of skiers. Professor Häusler found that over-the-counter prescription medicines for motion sickness relieved the symptoms for most sufferers."

Since it hasn't been a problem to you in the past maybe just buy and otc anti nausea like dramamine if you are going to go up in whiteout conditions again. I get migraines with pretty bad nausea and Zofran will stop the nausea immediately but i believe its prescription.
 
Altitude might have also been a factor. Pretty high up there IMO. Sometimes the affects are different depending on what a person eats or drinks, the air pressure, level of exertion and lots of other stuff too.
 
Sounds like altitude sickness. If you're coming up from sea level to 8-9k ft that can happen. Just drink a ton of water leading up to skiing. Should help
 
Something crazier than that is bw is actually building a real jump this week apparently. We will see how that goes.
 
13771962:The.Fish said:
Something crazier than that is bw is actually building a real jump this week apparently. We will see how that goes.
Click to expand...

The table they pushed looks decent on the webcam, but I will be flabbergasted if it is bigger than 10 ft lip to knuckle
 
prolly altitude sickness. i went skiing with my sister at bachelor this weekend and she started throwing up could remember her name. she didnt fall or anything but the paramedics said it was probally related to alltitude sickness and dehydration.
 
Try and drink a lot more water in the morning. Most importantly try and have a huge hearty breakfast. Whenever, I dont feel so good its because of those two things.
 
It was definitely motion sickness/vertigo, felt a million times better today I'm assuming bc it wasn't a whiteout
 
13772069:addie. said:
vertigo. my dad has it helllllla bad when he skis in whiteouts
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Yup, just gonna say my mom gets vertigo if she looks straight up. Also just a weird thing about vertigo, you can go through random sort of "bouts" of it ranging in seriousness, and sometimes it's never a problem until one specific situation.

It could also be sorta like motion sickness, your senses get confused and several systems will tell you that your body is in motion while one or two others try to counteract and tell your brain that you're stationary. In this case, I think your balance related systems in the inner ear signaled to you that your body was in motion, yet your visuals (in this case the none due to the white out) signified that there was nothing around that should indicate that your body was in motion at all. Your inner ear and muscles told your brain "we're moving" but your eyes said "no man, we're not" which in layman's terms, fucked you up big time. The human body is weird!

I think I'd try going out and skiing on a regular day and seeing if it comes back, kinda monitor how you feel over the next few days and if it's worse or comes back even when you're not doing anything, call your GP.
 
Trefin nailed it.

its not fucking altitude sickness.

Vertigo like this is usually transient. could have been made worse by a cold, or blocked eustachian tube. If the symptoms only exist in these conditions I wouldn't sweat it.
 
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