If you’ve noticed that you feel strangely better while riding in a car — and then worse again the moment you stop — you’re not imagining it. And you’re not alone.
This pattern is one of the hallmarks of Mal de Debarquement Syndrome (MdDS), and it reveals something important about how your sensory systems are supposed to work.
The Persistent Feeling of Motion
MdDS starts as that familiar feeling of still being on a boat after you’ve gotten off. Most people experience this briefly after a cruise or long car ride. But in MdDS, it doesn’t go away.
“In Mal de Debarquement, it’s that feeling but it persists... What becomes interesting though is that feeling like you’re on a boat or like you’re moving doesn’t go away. But if you’re in a car or you’re translating and you’re driving, a lot of times it feels better. And that can be a big differentiator for a lot of people.”
The motion of the car organizes the system in a way that standing still doesn’t.
Why Motion Helps
When you’re in a car, all your sensory systems are experiencing the same input — your inner ears feel the motion, your eyes see the motion, your body feels the motion. Everything matches.
“One of the main things people will notice is that they feel good in motion, but when the car stops, then they start to feel like they’re moving again. That motion helps to organize their senses so it’s all feeling the same way.”
The problem isn’t motion. The problem is what happens when the motion stops and the sensory systems have to recalibrate back to stillness — and can’t. Understanding the different types of vestibular dysfunction helps explain why this happens.
The Decoupling Problem
At the core of this is a loss of synchronization between your inner ears, your eyes, and your proprioceptive system.
“What is basically happening in a nutshell very simply is that the interaction between your inner ears and your eyes and your proprioceptive system become decoupled. So the normal waveforms that we experience with movement, they’re not as accurate anymore. And that separation or the difference between them gives us the feeling that we’re moving.”
Your brain expects these systems to produce matching signals. When they don’t, it creates a phantom sense of motion. You feel like you’re moving because your brain thinks you are.
When It Becomes An Autonomic Problem
Here’s where it gets relevant for the dysautonomia community. This sensory mismatch doesn’t stay isolated. It spills into the autonomic system.
“In some of those cases, we’ll see, especially those ones that affect that brain stem component, because we have that sense of motion, you’re going to get a ramp up of activity in the autonomic system, which may overfire or over mobilize energy in that system. So, we do look out for that for sure. And that is honestly one thing where some people will come in with MdDS and then we talk about dysautonomia as a secondary part and like — did you know you also have this?”
Many people with MdDS don’t realize they also have autonomic dysfunction. And many people diagnosed with dysautonomia may have an unrecognized vestibular problem driving their symptoms. This overlap is a key reason why understanding the brain-balance connection in POTS matters.
The Neck Compensation
This sensory mismatch also explains why many people with these conditions have a stiff, tight neck. The neck-brain connection plays a direct role.
“If I’m having problems in my vestibular system being able to organize where my eyes should be in space, what my brain will do is activate cervical collic reflexes that tighten my neck down and make it more stiff. So there’s less movement. And that less movement allows me to be able to adapt a little bit better when my eyes can’t hit their targets.”
The stiff neck is the brain’s solution, not the problem. It’s stabilizing a system that can’t coordinate properly.
Key Takeaways
- Feeling better in motion and worse when still is a hallmark of Mal de Debarquement Syndrome
- Motion organizes the senses so everything matches — that’s why the car feels good
- Sensory decoupling between eyes, ears, and body creates the phantom sense of motion
- MdDS and dysautonomia often overlap — the sensory mismatch can drive autonomic activation
- Neck stiffness is a brain compensation — don’t remove it without addressing the underlying cause
Feel Better Moving But Worse Standing Still?
If you feel better in motion but worse when you stop and nobody can explain why, a free consultation call can help determine whether a vestibular mechanism is driving your symptoms.
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