Mal
de Debarquement Syndrome (MdDS) or disembarkment syndrome is a rare
disorder of perceived
movement that
most often develops following an ocean cruise, other type of water
travel, or motion experience including plane flights and train
travel. For a few, there is no known motion event; the onset
appears to be spontaneous. MdDS
persists for months to
years.
Common symptoms include
a persistent
sensation of motion
such as rocking, swaying, tumbling, and/or
bobbing. This sensation of
motion is often associated with anxiety, fatigue, difficulty
maintaining
balance, unsteadiness, and difficulty concentrating (impaired cognitive
function). Often, the motion sensation seems to disappear when
riding in the car or participating in other motion experience.
December 2011
Thanks
to the hard work of supporters and the generosity of friends, families,
and interested donors, the Foundation has achieved the end-of-year fund raising goal.
Research for MdDS will now go forward in the New Year. Thank you.
At
UCLA, Yoon-Hee Cha,
MD, seeks subjects who suffer from a motion perception problem such as
mal de debarquement syndrome for advanced brain imaging studies.
Additional details and contact information are available here.
At
the
University of East
London, Professor Christine Dancey seeks to understand ways in which
chronic illness affects the lives of those with MdDS.
Brian
Clark, PhD, Director of the Ohio Musculoskeletal and Neurological Institute, published a study in the Journal of Neurology
that documents the social and economic impact of MdDS. He plans further
research studies on the neural basis for MdDS. Contact
information is available
here.
