A British woman has been feeling constantly seasick for four years — even on dry land — following a holiday cruise around the Mediterranean, press reports said on Wednesday.
Jane Houghton (41) developed Mal de Debarquement syndrome (MdDS) or Disembarkment Sickness during a week-long trip from the Spanish island of Majorca in 2001 with her husband Neil (42) and 16-year-old son.
She told newspapers she first noticed the problem — a form of motion sickness which can last from hours and days to years — when having a meal on dry land.
”I continued to feel as if I was out at sea,” she was quoted as saying in a number of newspapers.
”In restaurants, the tables would bob and weave about. I felt like I was constantly walking on a trampoline.”
The former office manager continued to feel dizzy and nauseous after returning to her home in Warrington, Cheshire, northwest Britain, but anti-motion sickness tablets prescribed by her doctor failed to help.
The condition became so acute that it left her unable to complete daily tasks such as ironing or vacuuming and she was forced to work part-time.
A brain scan and other tests also proved negative, leaving her feeling suicidal.
She eventually discovered the American Vestibular (balance) Disorders Association while frantically scouring the internet for clues. They wrote back and suggested she had MdDS.
But she said that four years on there had been no improvement.
”If anything, I’m worse,” she stated, adding: ”I naively thought there would be some miracle cure, some tablet I could take and make it all go away, but there isn’t.”
Houghton — who says she now wants to raise awareness of the condition — is being treated at the Leicester Balance Centre in central Britain, under the guidance of consultant ear, nose and throat surgeon Peter Rea.
He told newspapers the condition was not widely recognised by doctors and often misdiagnosed. Some believed it was psychological while others suggest it could be caused by a virus.
Studies published on some internet medical websites state that the condition mainly affects women in their 40s and 50s, suggesting that hormones could be another possible cause. – Sapa-AFP