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Strange Condition Causes Ethiopian Woman’s Stomach To Twist Naturally Like A Belly Dancer’s
- An Ethiopian woman has been diagnosed with belly dancer dyskinesia
- The rare phenomenon triggers strange and uncontrollable stomach movements.
- Since its first report in 1990, only a few cases of BDD have been recorded.
- The mother-of-eight’s symptoms began after gallbladder surgery six years ago.
Amazed doctors have shared images of an Ethiopian woman’s stomach twisting naturally, like a belly dancer’s.
The 54-year-old man, whose story was published in a medical journal, was plagued by unusual “squirming” movements for six years.
The doctors were originally perplexed by their strange involuntary movements and the drugs never helped calm them down.
Eventually, she was diagnosed with ‘belly dancer dyskinesia’, making her one of the few to ever be affected by this rare disorder.
The unidentified 54-year-old woman, from Ethiopia, is one of the few people in the world known to suffer from the rare stomach disorder (pictured above) that triggers painless but unrelenting abdominal movements.
Although the erratic movements alarmed the unidentified woman, they were not painful.
And the medication, in the form of benzodiazepines, finally helped eliminate the disorder.
The mother of eight, from Addis Ababa, she went to the hospital complaining of her abdominal movements, bloating and indigestion.
She traced her strange symptoms, which would go away after fasting, to a procedure to remove her gallbladder.
But test results from all routine physicals were normal, leaving doctors stumped.
A respiratory condition, which doctors later thought might be the culprit, was also ruled out because the movements were “unresponsive to respiratory maneuvers and distractions.”
writing on it International Journal of Medical Case Reportsdoctors diagnosed functional dyspepsia (recurring symptoms of upset stomach with no apparent cause) and BDD, a condition that has been reported in “only a few cases” since it was first reported in 1990.
BDD, also known as diaphragmatic flutter, is characterized by its abnormal rippling movements.
Experts say it is due to involuntary contractions of the diaphragm that trigger movement in the anterior abdominal wall.
According to Ethiopian doctors, BDD is an “extremely rare” and poorly understood “phenomenon” that significantly affects a patient’s quality of life.
It is unclear what caused the woman’s condition.
But surgical procedures, including appendectomy, laparoscopy and major surgery, or local trauma events are thought to trigger about half of all reported cases, and several other factors are also reported to cause BDD, the doctors said. .
Some antipsychotic drugs have also been shown to induce the condition, the experts said.
Patients with the condition often believe they have a digestive problem and may visit hospital gastroenterology services, doctors warned.
There is currently no evidence-based treatment recommendation.
However, benzodiazepines, or ‘benzos’, have been found to be effective in some cases. They work by slowing down the functions of the body and brain.
Botox injections and transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS) have also been reported to effectively treat BDD in some other cases.