COMPARISON OF MAREZINE AND DRAMAMINE IN PREVENTING SYMPTOMS OF MOTIONSICKNESS

Background: The most common pharmacological agents for alleviating sym ptoms of motion sickness in the U.S. are over-the-counter antihistamin es. Two example are dimenhydrinate (Dramamine) and cyclizine (Marezine ). Hypothesis: Dramamine and Marezine suppress overall motion sickness symptoms with equal effectiveness, but Dramamine affects the central nervous system (CNS), while Marezine affects the stomach directly. Met hods: This study employed a double-blind, within-subject design to com pare the effectiveness of Marezine (50 mg) and Dramamine (50 mg), in p reventing subjective symptoms and gastric dysrhythmias associated with motion sickness. The sedative effects of the two drugs were also comp ared. Electrogastrograms (EGGs) were recorded from 23 subjects during 2 counterbalanced sessions For 3 trial periods: an 8-min pre-drug base line, an 8-min pre-rotation baseline, which began 30 min after drug in gestion, and a 16-min period of exposure to a rotating optokinetic dru m. Subjects reported any subjective symptoms of motion sickness (SSMS) and drowsiness before and during induction of motion sickness. Result s: There were no statistically significant differences between the two drug conditions for the overall mean SSMS scores. However, when the s cores were divided into symptom groups, Marezine was associated with s ignificantly lower scores than Dramamine for gastrointestinal (GI) sym ptoms. Also, Marezine was associated with significantly less drowsines s than Dramamine 30 min after ingestion. Power in both the normal (3 c pm) and tachyarrhythmia (4-9 cpm) ranges of the ECC increased signific antly more during rotation compared to baseline in the Dramamine condi tion than in the Marezine condition. Conclusions: Marezine and Dramami ne are similarly effective in preventing the overall subjective sympto ms of motion sickness. While Dramamine's effectiveness may be related to its sedative properties, Marezine may work more directly on the sto mach and thus be more effective in preventing gastric dysrhythmias and reports of GI symptoms.