Ondine's curse: myth meets reality

Abstract

Ondine's curse is one of the most enchanting mythical tales in the field of Medicine. The nymph Ondine was an immortal water spirit who became human after falling in love for a man, marrying him, and having a baby. In one of the versions of the tale, when she caught her husband sleeping with another woman, she cursed him to remain awake in order to control his own breathing. During the 19th century, the rare syndrome characterized by loss of autonomic breath control, while voluntary respiration remains intact, was cleverly named "Ondine's curse". Nowadays, the term Ondine's curse is usually associated with congenital central hypoventilation syndrome; however, in medical literature, it also designates several respiratory disorders. Here, we present a review of the myth focused on history, arts and medicine.

Keywords: Central sleep apnea; Hypoventilation; Infratentorial neoplasms; Postoperative complications; Sleep apnea syndromes; Sleep wake disorders.

Fig. 1

Sculpture titled “Undine Rising from the Waters” (1880) by Chauncey Bradley (1849–1917) [28] [from: https://artgallery.yale.edu/collections/objects/2729. Accessed March 4, 2019, with permission of Yale University Art Gallery].

Fig. 2

Painting titled “Hylas and the Nymphs” (1896) by John William Waterhouse (1849–1917) [31] [from: http://manchesterartgallery.org/collections/search/collection/?id=1896.15. Accessed June 1, 2019. Image courtesy of Manchester Art Gallery].

Fig. 3

Painting titled “In the Waves (Ondine)” (1889) by Paul Gauguin (1848–1903) [32] [from: http://www.clevelandart.org/art/1978.63. Accessed March 1, 2019, with permission of Cleveland Museum of Arts, Cleveland USA].

Fig. 4

Painting titled “Undine at the Window” (1915) by Arthur Rackham (1867–1939) [34] [from: https://artgallery.yale.edu/collections/objects/15548. Accessed March 4, 2019, with permission of Yale University Art Gallery].