Analysis of 33 patients of mal de debarquement

Abstract

I analyzed 33 patients with mal de debarquement who visited my clinic in the past 7 years and 8 months. The ratio of female to male patients was 3: 1; 78.8% of the patients who became sick were in their 20 s to 40 s; 45.4% of the patients had suffered longer than a year. Symptoms were first provoked following travelling on ships in 10 patients, boarding airplanes in 5, taking trains in 3, getting on vehicles in an amusement park in 2, getting in high-speed elevators in 1 (all the above comprised 63.6% of the patients), huge earthquakes in 3, shaking in the building in 1, and giving shows with a grampus dolphin in an amusement aqua-park in 1. Excepting sensuous or visible continuous body sways, patients often complained of brain fatigue, photophobia, having sleepiness in the daytime, headache, and discomfort related with changes in the atmospheric pressure and temperature. Past histories such as dropping, falling down or heavy brows on the neck were found in 48.5% of the patients. Since 4 patients were finally diagnosed to have suffered from cerebrospinal fluid hypovolemia, patients who are suspected as having mal de debarquement should be examined to rule out this disease. The peculiar phenomena associated with the syndrome may be explained by supposing that the brain maintains the illusion of existing in a moving space even after the body has returned to a standstill, or to terra firma, because the brain had been in anomalous or exhausted states.