Medical Mystery: Disembarkment Syndrome
Their Planes Have Landed, Their Ships Have Docked, but They Still Feel as If
   They're in Motion 
From: ABC News Health - 01/24/2007
By: Kate Harrington and Erica Baumgart

Imagine that you go on a fun cruise and it becomes a cruise that transforms
your life. 

"When I got off the cruise, I knew that something was wrong," Kimberly
Johnson said. "And once I got off is when I realized that I felt like I was
still onboard. It didn't go away."  

Johnson has been diagnosed with a rare condition that goes by the French name
of mal de debarquement (MdDs), or disembarkment syndrome. MdDS is
characterized by that feeling of constant rocking or feeling off-balance
after prolonged exposure to motion, most typically but not exclusively, on a
boat. 

...

ABC's John Quinones met Kimberly Johnson at Massachusetts Eye and Ear
Infirmary, where she could try experimental devices in hope of finding
relief. Drs. Conrad Wall and Lars Oddsson are developing a biofeedback vest
and socks to help the elderly and others prone to falling.  

The devices vibrate to signal users to correct their balance when they tilt
off-course. They are still one-of-a-kind experiments, but they do seem to
help Johnson feel increasingly stable when using the vest and socks.  

View the narrative of this show at:
http://abcnews.go.com/Health/story?id=2817081&page=1

Watch the video:
http://www.wate.com/global/story.asp?s=1343812&displayHelp=true&displayHelp=true

ABC Message Board:
http://forums.go.com/abcnews/Health/thread?threadID=516407

Links:
MdDS Balance Disorder Foundation
http://www.nhffoundations.net/mdds/

Vestibular Disorders Association
http://www.vestibular.org/vestibular-disorders/specific-disorders/mal-de-debarquement.php

Mal de Debarquement Syndrome 
http://www.dizziness-and-balance.com/disorders/central/mdd.html

Conrad Wall
cwall@mit.edu

Balancing Act
http://www.boston.com/news/globe/magazine/articles/2005/12/04/balancing_act/

Lars Oddsson
http://nmrc.bu.edu/fac_staff/faculty/oddsson/index.html
