Signs of MdDS
- People with MdDS feel a rocking or swaying sensation. It is different from vertigo which causes spinning.
- It is typically triggered by passive motion: cars, trains, airplanes, ships, boats, and even fast elevators. Virtual reality, water beds and even swimming may cause it.
- What makes MdDS truly different, is that symptoms often disappear when in passive motion, e.g.: driving or riding in a car.
MdDS requires no diagnostic tests.
The answer to two questions determines the diagnosis:
- Did you recently ride on a ship, boat, train or other transportation?
- Do you still feel like you are rocking and swaying and the only time it stops is when you get back in a car, or boat or train?
ICD-10-CM Diagnosis Code
Dizziness and giddiness, R42. Included under syndromes.
On “dizziness”: While patients may complain of dizziness after air/land/water-based travel or even “spontaneously,” they don’t mean dizzy per se. For lack of a better word they mean to say, they feel as if they are on a boat.
Common Symptoms Include:
- a persistent sensation of rocking, swaying, and/or bobbing
- difficulty maintaining balance
- impaired cognitive function
- anxiety and/or depression
- fatigue
- headache (including migraine)
- Symptom intensity is highly variable among patients and may be quite disabling.
- Patients are usually relieved when in motion, e.g., riding in a car.
Treatment Challenges:
- There are many people walking around suffering from this condition who don’t know MdDS is the cause. They are undiagnosed.
- The average person with this condition sees a dozen doctors and has many tests without diagnostic findings.
- Treatments are trial and error. Some medications may reduce symptoms; they rarely stop the disorder completely.
- MdDS may persist for months to years.
- The cause of MdDS remains unknown.
Download our MdDS at-a-glance quick reference card or informative brochure (PDF). Complimentary printed copies are available by contacting us.
Diagnosing MdDS
MdDS Foundation
4:44 pm