Try and imagine disembarking from a fourteen-day cruise around the Caribbean islands only to immediately become ill with a sensation of swaying and rocking. As hours will become days and then days will become months, the sensation will most certainly persist. Many Mal the Debarquement Syndrome`s sufferers, which is a rare motion disorder, will often endure the symptoms for a lot longer than it is usually normal.

Identification

MdDS (Mal de Debarquement Syndrome) will translate as “disembarkation sickness” and is known as the clinical term for “land sickness.” It is practically the motion sickness individuals will normally feel once they are returned on land after a few days on their cruise vacation. MdDS has been reported after train, space or air travel. Having a similar a reactions similar to motion sickness, the vestibular system, which practically controls the balance of the body, is disrupted and will take a few hours to a couple of days to the human body to readjust to being again on land.

History and Theory

Neurologist Timothy C. Hain from Northwestern University has discovered out of twenty six patients that a large majority of MdDS sufferers were in fact women of middle age, according to the first published survey of MdDS in 1999. Although Timothy C. Hain was unable to explain why this syndrome only mostly affected women of middle age, he managed to theorize the cause of this syndrome might be rooted in the relationship that a certain individual had between the surrounding environment as well as his internal models of his patients. Timothy C. Hain`s theory has been supported by his observations of his patients who felt a lot less disoriented when they were in various moving vehicles such as planes or cars. These observations have been reported in a study from 2009 by Dr. Yoo-Hee Cha which has been published by the National Institutes of Health.

Additional Speculation

Other doctors, including Carlos Gordon, who was a neurologist at Meir Hospital in Kfar Saba, disagree with Timothy C. Hain`s theories and have found patients who suffer from head trauma or viral diseases to have rather identical MdDS symptoms, according to a New York Times article from 2007. A study which has been published in 2004 in the journal Laryngoscope theorized this condition might be related to the brain and not the vestibular system or the moving environment.

Symptoms

The basic symptom is the persistent sensation of rocking motion and a unnatural feeling of imbalance. In addition, other symptoms might include fatigue, depression, confusion, dizziness, migraines or nausea. Unlike motion sickness, MdDS`s symptoms lessen with motion like driving or walking. Normally, the condition will be more pronounced when the individual is lying down or sitting. For most of the people out there, the nausea subsides within a few hours or even a day after disembarking, but for those who suffer from MdDS, the symptoms will last even for six months or an entire year.

Treatment

There is not actual treatment for this condition since it normally subsidies eventually, according to the MdDS Balance Disorder Foundation. Various medications like scopolamine or meclizine, which are taken for motion sickness, will not be effective with MdDS. Instead, amitriptyline, klonopin or benzodiazepines might be helpful. In addition, light physical activity like yoga, walking or taking naps, and even alternative healing like acupuncture might help strengthen the vestibular system.