Ask Your Doctor: Should I Be Worried About ‘Cloverfield’ Barf Syndrome?

With the secret of Cloverfield now out, legions of American thrill-seeking moviegoers are emerging from theatres with one finger pressed to their puckered mouths, trying to make it to the cineplex restroom before succumbing to the effects of CBS, or Cloverfield Barf Syndrome. Theatres have taken to posting warnings about the film’s side-effects (see photo), and some have even gone so far as to set up [spoiler alert] plastic-tarp containment zones, where suspected victims are quickly herded by ushers in HAZMAT suits before they can detonate into a splat of green liquid. With panic over the quickly spreading condition increasing, CNN.com approached some physicians for advice:

“This is a classic case of vertigo,” said Dr. Michael G. Stewart, chairman of otorhinolaryngology (ear, nose and throat medicine) at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Weil Cornell Medical Center. “You can look around and feel like things are moving, when they aren’t.”

“People have different levels of susceptibility, similar to how some people cannot ride on a small boat without getting sick,” Stewart said. “It’s just a natural variation.”

So if you are itching to see “Cloverfield” but are worried you might get sick, experts recommend taking a dose of over-the-counter anti-vertigo medicine, sold under such brand names as Bonine and Dramamine II. “It might not protect you from all the symptoms, but it could, and it certainly can’t hurt,” Stewart said.

Another strain of the outbreak, which similarly causes dizziness, light-headedness, and violent vomiting, seems to be limited thus far only to the producers and stars of Mad Money. Doctors warn that the same motion sickness drugs used to combat the wider strain will do little for those symptoms, which are likely to relapse every time they consider how the Godzilla-sized release trampled their small comedy at the box office.

• Scary movie making viewers sick [CNN]