Jan 09 2016

Meraesthesia Aphonia – that phantom phone in pocket feeling

My phone vibrates in my thigh pocket, and reflexly I reach down to answer. But my phone isn’t there. Or if it is there, it isn’t ringing.

This has been happening to me frequently over the last few weeks. It is more common when I am ‘on call’, or if I am expecting a call.

I’m glad to know that at least I’m not the only one going crazy.

Research by Professor Michelle Drouin at Indiana University found that 89% of the 290 undergraduates that she surveyed had experienced what is known as ‘Phantom Vibration Syndrome’

I wonder if women and men have a different experience of phantom vibration syndrome as they tend to carry their phone in different places?

In the best medical tradition of having a fancy name for a simple problem, I hereby propose that the specific phantom vibration syndrome that occurs in the thigh be known by the greek name ‘Meraesthesia Aphonia’.

mer– related to thigh, as in meralgia paraesthetica, which is pain from pinching of the lateral cutaneous nerve of the thigh

-aesthesia meaning sensation (such as paraesthesia or anaesthesia)

aphonia meaning loss of voice. In this case, meaning absence of phone.

Are you also suffering from a case of Meraesthesia Aphonia?

One Response to “Meraesthesia Aphonia – that phantom phone in pocket feeling”

1. Maggie says:

   January 14, 2016 at 4:57 pm

   yes, but its not a syndrome….aliens have implanted a phome im my wrist!

   Reply