Teleporter's Cravings

With the abundance of Neo-Medicines in the public sphere, it was only a matter of time before the complications came in. One complication was a disease simply called Teleporter's Cravings, which turned out to be just as bad as Teleporter's Sense.
Teleporter's Cravings is a disease that arose as a side effect of a certain neo-medicine being used to treat Teleporter's Sense. Unfortunately, the treatment didn't work, despite apparent testing beforehand. In fact, it made the original disease worse and gave the afflicted new symptoms to deal with. Teleporter's Sense is a condition where people have uncontrollable Teleportation powers, meaning they will jump anywhere in space. The neo-medicine caused these symptoms to worsen, and also gave people some interesting physiological features. Unlike Teleporter's Sense, this is a chronic disorder and can also cause Teleporter's Sense to be permanent if not treated.

Symptoms

"If you think Sense was bad, you better count yourself lucky you don't have to deal with the Cravings."

— A doctor to their patient

The main symptoms of Teleporter's Cravings are mood dysregulation and strong cravings. These stem from the hormonal imbalance caused from the neo-medicine. The cravings can range from a need to bite onto a certain food or material to a full on craving of biting other people (at this point, the symptom is called autocannibalism). These cravings are known to last a full month, and can often stop and start again throughout the year. Most people are known to crave some kind of seafood or sea plant, like seaweed.
The other defining feature is that the afflicted get features from the dimensions they visit when teleporting. Many people say they end up teleported in some kind of marine dimension, and when they return, they have flippers as a replacement for their arms and legs. Some people have even grown fins or developed gills. These changes often force people to the water as they can no longer function properly on land.
Since the neo-medicine does not actively treat Teleporter's Sense, the original disease's symptoms just get worse. People will get longer, more frequent hallucinations and will teleport more frequently. Many will experience worse migraines and they will persist over a longer term. Most of the severe symptoms will worsen over time. Some other symptoms will be less frequent, because the medicine can stop some individual symptoms. But most will just get worse over time, unless treated early.

Treatment

"Treatment is often difficult, because the patient has most likely lost faith in modern medicine by the time we find them."

— Suzanna Rizzari of the DSI

Treating Teleporter's Cravings is similar to treating Teleporter's Sense, since they are both from the same branch. Although it is a chronic disorder, it can be mostly be combatted if identified early enough. The affected person would be isolated from their peers, as they can often bring other people with them when teleporting. They are put in a place where their teleportation powers are blocked so they cannot teleport anymore. They are also isolated to ensure their cravings do not end up harming others. The affected patients are given tested medicines to reduce their extreme hunger. Less severe symptoms can be treated with over-the-counter medication.
As for the more severe symptoms, modern medicine has not found a cure for Teleporter's Cravings. Most of the medicines around exist simply to manage existing symptoms, but even they are not that effective. The person will often need to be isolated for a few weeks at a time until their teleportation comes under control. For the rest of the symptoms, the DSI is still investigating the disease to find good medicines to treat it.

Type

Physiological

Parent

Teleporter's Sense

Origin

Magical

Cycle

Chronic, Acquired

Rarity

Rare

Affected Species

• Humanoids