Review of pathophysiology, epidemiology, diagnosis and treatment methods in motion sickness; a special issue

Motion sickness (MS) is a syndrome characterized with nausea and vomiting, pallor, cold sweating, headache, dizziness, increased salivation, apathy, hyperventilation, and stomach awareness. Nausea is one of the most prominent symptoms of MS and very little known about the neural substrate of this sensation. There is no abrupt accepted explanation about why people get motion sickness. It has long been suspected that genetic and /or evoluntary factors govern motion sickness susceptibility. The prevalence is higher among the female gender. The main causes in adulthood are still unknown, but it has been suggested that this condition can be related to the hormonal cycle. Patients with migraine and Meniere’s disease are prone to experience MS especially in female patients. MS is a common physiological response to real or virtual motion. Numerous studies have investigated the neurobiological mechanism and the control measures of MS. The sensory conflict hypothesis is the most widely accepted theory for MS. Questionnaires, hearth rate variability and electrogastrogram are useful for diagnosis and evaluating MS. Habitual training and drugs are the treatment modalities. The drugs can be divided into the categories: antimuscarinics, H1 antihistamines, and sempathomimetics. The aim of this review is to remind the current knowledge about pathogenesis, epidemiology, diagnosis and treatment methods of the special issue: motion sickness.