Former President Jimmy Carter, suffering from motion sickness, is in good company

When former President Jimmy Carter was removed from a Delta Air Lines flight this morning with what was reported to be air sickness, he joined a long and venerable line of travelers who’ve succumbed to motion sickness.

The ancients got sick on boats -- the word nausea comes from the ancient Greek naus, for ship. Nineteenth-century artists depicted nauseous passengers on boat decks. Mid-20th-century tourists suffered dizziness as the travel industry boomed and they rode in cars and planes (and roller coasters!) in unprecedented numbers.

Even your dog gets queasy when he rides in the backseat, The Times recently reported. Shaky camera work in movies can bring on nausea, too.

Symptoms of motion sickness -- no matter how it’s brought on -- include queasiness, cold sweats, dizziness and sometimes vomiting. While there’s some question about what causes the churning feeling to come on, most believe it’s related to a disconnect between the visual signals coming in through your eyes and the motion signals perceived by your inner ear, muscles and joints.

Barf bags on airplanes exist for a reason -- this malady is common. A 2006 study in the journal International Maritime Health reported that motion sickness rates hovered around 30% in normal seas, and that “ninety percent of the general population have experienced motion sickness at some point in their lives.”

One good way to deal with air sickness -- or any kind of motion sickness -- is to sit in a place that will minimize the disconnect between what you see and what you feel. In a car, this means riding in the front seat and looking ahead. Over-the-counter medications such as Bonine, Antivert and Dramamine can help ward off motion sickness’s effects; doctors also prescribe a patch for serious cases.

There are also doodads to ward off nausea, like Sea-Bands. Some swear by the stomach-calming powers of ginger.

Presumably Carter is a seasoned traveler. Perhaps he sat in first class, which may not offer as smooth a ride as a seat above a wing. Some reports indicated that Carter suffered from a “stomach bug,” in which case it won’t matter where he sat on his flight to Cleveland on Tuesday.

But the next time he boards a plane he might consider reading up on motion-related illnesses here, here or here.

For more detailed information, various armed services have published materials to keep sailors and pilots feeling fit during onboard duty.

-- Eryn Brown/Los Angeles Times