Word: nystagmus
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...days, almost exactly, a nightmarish experience occurs. They have been thoroughly warned, and the prisoners await the moment with great alarm. They are struck by something called nystagmus, a loss of muscular control due to severe vitamin deficiency. If they look sideways, their eyes begin to gyrate wildly and uncontrollably, first horizontally and then vertically. The prisoners struggle to stare straight forward, even cupping their hands against the sides of their heads, but they cannot help themselves. Francis Hughes, 25, the second striker to die, even constructed cotton gauze blinders around his eyes...
...Nystagmus also causes spells of constant vomiting and dizziness. The whole experience is terrifying and no amount of advance description can begin to prepare the strikers for the ordeal. When it ends, usually right on schedule after four or five days, they are enormously cheered up and for about a week go through a physical and psychological revival...
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