8. Travel Sickness is a Symptom

The staff at the Dore Centre say that Travel Sickness is a classic symptom of ADHD and Dyspraxia. Because the cerebellar function is under developed and the messages within the brain take longer, co-ordination and balance are heavily affected.

Travel Sickness, like Vertigo, is an imbalance in the ears that causes dizziness – NOT fear of heights (Thank you for that misconception Mr Hitchcock!) But you wouldn’t want to be up a tall ladder when you’re feeling dizzy now, would you?

The effects of the balance disorder for me are quite devasting when the condition is in full swing. I cannot be in a room with floors that are unlevel. In fact I’ve become a human spirit level, and can tell straight away.

I become so dizzy that the only cure is to lie down and go to sleep – wherever I am! In fact I once had to refloor a whole house with hand made wedges underneath the false floor, because the original floor was not level.

It turned out that one room was only one inch lower than the opposite end, and most people couldn't tell, but I was made exrtremely ill if I had to spend more than an hour in there. So it took me six weeks to do the whole house, because I could only manage two hours at a time, with a sleep in between!

The more common symptom is travel sickness, so I cannot read whilst in transit, as I have to keep my eyes on the road ahead, or on the horizon if it’s a boat. I once had to have two weeks off work due to severe travel sickness because I’d stayed in the lounge below deck on the cross channel ferry from Belgium to England; a one hour journey.

I learned that the Dore Centre can improve cerebellar function, enabling me to think quicker, and in a more logical way! I don’t know if they can rid me of my balance disorder. That would be fantastic though.

On the Tonight programme featured on the free DVD from www.Dore.co.uk they state that one of the balance machines people use at the Dore Centre ‘holds the clue to how the balance disorder might be treated’ and within six weeks most participants’ learning difficulties show improvement. I’m not quite sure whether that means my travel sickness can be eliminated completely, but I’m going to a Dore Centre presentation meeting next week, so I’ll ask them.