Motion sickness can affect anyone, though women seem to have more trouble with it than men. It happens when your brain gets mixed signals from your body (movement), eyes (what you see), and ears (which tell your brain how your head is moving). Dizziness, an increased amount of saliva (spit), lower appetite, and pale skin can all happen with motion sickness. However, nausea and vomiting are the most common symptoms linked to motion sickness.
Nereus is an FDA-approved prescription medicine to prevent vomiting from motion sickness. Continue reading to learn more about Nereus (tradipitant) for motion sickness.
How Does Nereus Work for Motion Sickness?
One of the chemicals involved in brain signals that may lead to motion sickness is called substance P. Nereus is thought to prevent substance P from binding to specific proteins in your brain, called the neurokinin-1 (NK-1) receptors. Nereus may be more effective at reducing vomiting than nausea. Blocking the activity of substance P at the NK-1 receptors seems to help prevent vomiting from motion sickness.
How Should I Take Nereus?
Nereus comes as an oral capsule. The recommended dosage is either one or two capsules taken as a single dose about an hour before an event that may cause motion sickness. Your health care provider will tell you how much to take.
For Nereus to work, there are two very important things to remember. First, you should take it about an hour before an activity that’s likely to cause motion sickness. This allows the medicine to get into your system so it can work. Second, you should take Nereus on an empty stomach. You should not take it with food because the medicine may take longer to start working. Food seems to slow down how quickly Nereus gets into your blood. Food can also increase your blood levels of the medicine, which may increase your risk for side effects.
Nereus is not meant to be taken every day or regularly. Usually, you will take it only as needed, about an hour before an activity that may cause motion sickness (for example, an hour before a boat trip). You should not take more than one dose in a 24-hour period (unless you are given different instructions by your health care provider).
How Was Nereus Studied?
There were two studies done to see how well Nereus worked to prevent vomiting from motion sickness. Neither the people in the studies nor the investigators knew who was taking Nereus or a placebo (containing no medicine). People were randomly assigned to take either Nereus 85 mg, Nereus 170 mg, or a placebo. The dose was taken about one hour before a boat trip that was expected to last about two to five hours. Study participants were told to take the medicine on an empty stomach. No one in the study was allowed to take other medicines to prevent nausea and vomiting.
These studies looked only at preventing, not treating, vomiting. Nereus was not tested to see how well it could stop nausea or vomiting that had already started. A total of 681 adults took part in the studies. Here is a breakdown of the study participants:
- The average age of participants was 48 years (range, 18-75 years).
- Most were women (62%).
- Most participants were White (81%), followed by Asian (9%), Black or African American (5%), and other groups (4%).
- About 12% identifed as Hispanic or Latino.
Each study participant was to answer if they had vomited in the last 30 minutes every half hour during the boat trip.
What Benefits Were Seen?
In both studies, people who took Nereus, regardless of the dose, were less likely to vomit on the boat ride than the people who took the placebo. You can see the results from these two studies in the table below.
Study 1 | Study 2 | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Treatment taken about 1 hour before the boat trip | Nereus (123 people) | Nereus (120 people) | Placebo
(122 people) | Nereus (104 people) | Nereus (106 people) | Placebo
(106 people) |
| People who vomited during the boat trip | 24 (19.5%) | 22 (18.3%) | 54 (44.3%) | 19 (18.3%) | 11 (10.4%) | 40 (37.7%) |
| Difference from placebo | -24.8% | -26% | -19.4% | -27.3% | ||
The study results show that Nereus lowers the risk of vomiting from motion sickness better than a placebo.
Your results may differ from what was seen in studies. Talk to your health care provider about what to expect while taking Nereus.
How Long Does It Take for Nereus to Work?
You should take Nereus on an empty stomach, at least one hour before or two hours after eating. When you do this, it then takes about one and a half to two hours for it to reach peak blood levels. This is why you need to take it about 60 minutes before any activity that is likely to cause you to vomit because of motion sickness.
How Can I Prevent and Manage Side Effects?
In studies, most people tolerated Nereus well, and any side effects were mild. If you think Nereus is causing a side effect, talk with your health care provider. Continue reading to learn more about some common side effects that are possible with Nereus.
The most common side effects you may have after taking Nereus include:
Because Nereus can affect your alertness by making you feel sleepy or tired, you should not drive or do other activities that require alertness or coordination until you know how Nereus affects you. Rest, fluids, or warm/cold compresses may help if you get a headache after taking Nereus. Your pharmacist may be able to suggest an over-the-counter (OTC) pain medicine that is safe for you to take.
This is not a complete list of side effects. Tell your health care provider about any side effects you have after taking Nereus.
What Kinds of Drug Interactions May Happen?
Always tell your health care provider about any prescription or OTC medicines, vitamins/minerals, herbal products, and other supplements you are using.
If you take other medicines that make you either tired or sleepy, such as certain prescription pain medicines, medicines to help you sleep, or certain medicines for anxiety, your risk of having tiredness or sleepiness with Nereus may be higher.
Nereus interacts with certain medicines that affect how your body processes medicines. Specifically, it interacts with medicines that affect certain cytochrome P450 (CYP) enzymes in your body. These medicines can reduce how quickly your body gets rid of Nereus, which increases the amount of the medicine in your system and may increase your risk of side effects. Ketoconazole (an antifungal medicine) is an example of a medicine that does this. Taking ketoconazole or other CYP3A4 inhibitors may increase your risk of side effects with Nereus.
This is not a complete list of interactions. Other medicines may alter the blood levels of Nereus. Tell your pharmacist or other health care provider about all the prescription or OTC medicines, vitamins/minerals, herbal products, or other supplements you take or have recently taken. This will help them know if there are any interactions with Nereus.
