Joy Rides Chewable Travel Sickness Tablets – 12

Prevent travel sickness, For children and adults fruit flavoured tablets

How does it work?

Joy-rides tablets contain the active ingredient hyoscine hydrobromide, which is a type of medicine called an antimuscarinic (or anticholinergic). It is used to prevent travel sickness.

Travel sickness is believed to be a result of the brain receiving conflicting information about what the body senses is happening and what the eyes see is happening.

In the inner ear are three fluid filled canals called the vestibular system. These detect changes in the body’s position. Motion sickness is thought to occur when the vestibular system sends messages to the brain telling it that the body is being moved around, while the eyes send messages that the body is stationary.

Hyoscine hydrobromide is thought to prevent motion sickness by stopping the messages sent from the vestibular system from reaching an area of the brain called the vomiting centre. This area of the brain co-ordinates the vomiting reflex. Hyoscine blocks receptors called muscarinic (or cholinergic) receptors that are found in the vomiting centre. This prevents the vomiting centre from sending nerve messages to the stomach that would normally cause vomiting.

Hyoscine needs to be taken before travel to be most effective, as once feeling sick or vomiting has started it is more difficult to control, particularly with tablets that need to be kept down.

Joy-rides tablets should be taken around 20 minutes before travel to be most effective at preventing sickness, however they can also be taken once a journey has started if you begin to feel sick. For long journeys the dose may need repeating.

Adults over 13 years should take two tablets 20 minutes before start of the journey and no more than four tablets in 24 hours. Children aged 7 to 12 years should take one to two tablets before the start of the journey and no more than two tablets in 24 hours. Children aged four to seven years should be given one tablet before the start of the journey and no more than two tablets in 24 hours. Children aged three to four years should be given half a tablet before the start of the journey and no more than one tablet in 24 hours.

Joy-rides tablets can be sucked, chewed or swallowed whole.

What is it used for?

• Preventing travel sickness.

Warning!

• This medicine may cause drowsiness, blurred vision and other side effects that may affect your ability to drive. You should not drive or operate machinary if you experience these symptoms. Alcohol should be avoided as it can worsen these side effects. If your child is affected in this way they should avoid potentially hazardous activities such as riding bikes. You should not leave your child unattended after giving them this medicine.

Use with caution in

• Elderly people.
• Down’s syndrome.
• Epilepsy.
• Disease involving the heart and blood vessels (cardiovascular disease).
• Kidney disease.
• Liver disease.
• Disease affecting the stomach or intestines.
• Ulcerative colitis.
• Narrowing of the outlet of the stomach making it difficult for food to pass into the intestines (pyloric stenosis).
• Failure of function of part of the gut, causing an obstruction in the intestines (paralytic ileus).
• Diarrhoea.
• People with difficulty passing urine.
• Enlarged prostate gland (prostatic hypertrophy).
• Fever.
• Abnormal muscle weakness (myasthenia gravis).

Not to be used in

• Children under three years of age (except on medical advice).
• Glaucoma.

This medicine should not be used if you are allergic to one or any of its ingredients. Please inform your doctor or pharmacist if you have previously experienced such an allergy.

If you feel you have experienced an allergic reaction, stop using this medicine and inform your doctor or pharmacist immediately.

Pregnancy and breastfeeding

Certain medicines should not be used during pregnancy or breastfeeding. However, other medicines may be safely used in pregnancy or breastfeeding providing the benefits to the mother outweigh the risks to the unborn baby. Always inform your doctor if you are pregnant or planning a pregnancy, before using any medicine.

• The safety of this medicine for use during pregnancy has not been established. It should only be used during pregnancy, particularly in the first trimester, if the expected benefit to the mother outweighs any potential risk to the developing foetus. Seek medical advice from your doctor before taking this medicine if you are pregnant.
• Small amounts of this medicine may pass into breast milk. Seek medical advice from your doctor before taking this medicine if you are breastfeeding.

Side effects

Medicines and their possible side effects can affect individual people in different ways. The following are some of the side effects that are known to be associated with this medicine. Just because a side effect is stated here does not mean that all people using this medicine will experience that or any side effect.

• Drowsiness.
• Dizziness.
• Blurred vision.
• Dry mouth.
• Dilated pupils.
• Reduced sweating.
• Restlessness.
• Confusion.
• Hallucinations.
• Difficulty passing urine.

The side effects listed above may not include all of the side effects reported by the drug’s manufacturer.

For more information about any other possible risks associated with this medicine, please read the information provided with the medicine or consult your doctor or pharmacist.

How can this medicine affect other medicines?

If you are taking any other medicines, including those bought without a prescription and herbal medicines, it is important to check with your doctor or pharmacist before taking this medicine as well. Similarly, check with your doctor or pharmacist before taking any new medicines in combination with this one, to ensure that the combination is safe.

There may be an increased risk of drowsiness if this medicine is taken with any of the following (which can also cause drowsiness):

• alcohol
• antipsychotic medicines, eg chlorpromazine
• barbiturates, eg phenobarbital
• benzodiazepines, eg diazepam, temazepam
• sedating antihistamines, eg chlorphenamine, brompheniramine, hydroxyzine
• sleeping tablets, eg zopiclone
• strong opioid painkillers, eg morphine, codeine, dihydrocodeine
• tricyclic antidepressants, eg amitriptyline.

There may be an increased risk of antimuscarinic side effects, such as dry mouth, blurred vision or difficulty passing urine, if this medicine is taken with other medicines that have antimuscarinic effects, such as the following:

• amantadine
• antiarrhythmic medicines for irregular heartbeats, eg disopyramide, propafenone, quinidine
• antihistamines, eg promethazine, brompheniramine, chlorphenamine, diphenhydramine, triprolidine (some of these are often found in over-the-counter cough and cold remedies)
• antimuscarinic medicines for Parkinson’s symptoms, eg procyclidine, orphenadrine, trihexiphenidyl
• antimuscarinic medicines for urinary incontinence, eg oxybutynin, trospium, tolterodine
• antipsychotics, eg chlorpromazine, clozapine, thioridazine
• antisickness medicines, eg meclozine, cyclizine
• antispasmodics, eg atropine, propantheline, hyoscine butylbromide
• MAOI antidepressants, eg phenelzine
• muscle relaxants, eg baclofen
• tricyclic antidepressants, eg amitriptyline, clomipramine.

If you experience a dry mouth as a side effect of this medicine you may find that medicines that are designed to dissolve and be absorbed from under the tongue, eg sublingual glyceryl trinitrate (GTN) tablets, become less effective. This is because the tablets do not dissolve properly in a dry mouth. To resolve this, drink a mouthful of water before taking sublingual tablets.

This medicine may oppose the effect of domperidone or metoclopramide. This is because metoclopramide and domperidone increase the motility of the gut, whereas hyoscine may reduce it.