Travel Sickness!?

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I have a 10 year old daughter who has AS and am fairly confident that I have it to, although I have remained undiagnosed and probably will remain so.

I LOVE to travel & see new places. The sites, the people, the culture, the food... everything appeals to me! Well, almost everything.

My job has provided me with the opportunity to travel a little more frequently. So far this year, I've been on 3 trips. One by train, two by car. On all three trips, I got sick. Physically ill. In bed for the day. Unable to work... I even missed a very important presentation after the train trip.

I have taken Gravol in the past... which helps with what I thought was just motion sickness. It knocks me out and I sleep for most of the ride.

However, I'm starting to believe that this isn't about motion sickness at all. After the train trip, I was absolutely fine for the remainder of the evening. I woke up in the morning sick to my stomach. After my 6 hour car trip I was fine... for two whole days... then I spent a day in bed sick & actually lost my voice!

This has happened to me all of my life and while I know that I have a sensitive stomach and have been car sick/motion sick in the past, it really seems to go beyond just that. On a trip to Paris France many, many moons ago, I was sick on my 2nd day there. We often would travel several hours to major cities when I was a young girl and I would be sick on most of these trips.

Could this be a stress thing? Could I just be so completely overwhelmed by everything that goes along with the traveling (compounded by the fear/stress of worrying about getting sick AGAIN) that I end up being sick!?

Has anyone had a similar experience? What solutions have you found?

I'm due for a trip to San Francisco (from Canada) in April. I'm absolutely terrified and have already tried to talk myself out of going because I'm just so terrified I'll be sick again. I've been on a plane once in my life, so I'm feeling rather anxious about that on its own.

My job is essentially at risk as I've already not been able to perform my duties while traveling on the previous trips. What can I DO!?

I'd love to hear some suggestions/ideas/similar experiences!

The very best thing I've ever found for motion sickness is ginger pills. You can get then at any health store, usually. No drowsiness, no side effects, and zero nausea.
I can ride roller coasters on those things, otherwise there's no chance in hell.

As for the rest, I would assume it's stress related.
I hope you don't find this insulting, but in the horse world it's well documented that shipping horses somewhere weakens their immune system. Most people give boster vaccines before long trips for this rerason.
Of course that wouldn't quite work for you, unless maybe get a flu shot?
Since (in horses) it seems to be a stress related thing, perhaps some low dose valium or anti-axiety meds something like that?
Talk to a professional.

My mom CAN'T fly without low dose valium.

Not sure what Gravol is, but I swear by Bonine (aka Antivert, meclazine). I was always very prone to motion sickness, but since a brain aneurysm/stroke 20 years ago, I am utterly crippled by it. However Bonine is the magic bullet for me. Rarely experience any drowsiness. I have taken it to travel to mountain races (getting there is the big problem), then done decent half marathons at altitude, with no affect on my performance. But I would give ginger a try also. It works pretty well for me too. Good luck!

Could be stress.

As for regular motion sickness, what helps for me is to try not to look inside the vehicle if I can help it (definitely no reading in the car)...just keep my eyes out the window, maybe crack it a little and get some fresh air if I need.