Epilepsy historical perspective
|
Epilepsy Microchapters |
|
Diagnosis |
|---|
|
Treatment |
|
Case Studies |
|
Epilepsy historical perspective On the Web |
|
American Roentgen Ray Society Images of Epilepsy historical perspective |
|
Risk calculators and risk factors for Epilepsy historical perspective |
Editor-In-Chief: C. Michael Gibson, M.S., M.D. [1] Associate Editor(s)-in-Chief: Fahimeh Shojaei, M.D.,Vishnu Vardhan Serla M.B.B.S. [2]
Overview
Historical Perspective
Discovery
- The word epilepsy is derived from the Greek epilepsia, which in turn can be broken in to epi- (upon) and lepsis (to take hold of, or seizure)[1]
- In the past, epilepsy was associated with religious experiences and even demonic possession.
- In ancient times, epilepsy was known as the "Sacred Disease" because people thought that epileptic seizures were a form of attack by demons, or that the visions experienced by persons with epilepsy were sent by the Gods.
- Among animist Hmong families, for example, epilepsy was understood as an attack by an evil spirit, but the affected person could become revered as a shaman through these otherworldly experiences.[3]
- However, in most cultures, persons with epilepsy have been stigmatized, shunned, or even imprisoned.
- In the Salpêtrière, the birthplace of modern neurology, Jean-Martin Charcot found people with epilepsy side-by-side with the mentally retarded, those with chronic syphilis, and the criminally insane.
- In Tanzania to this day, as with other parts of Africa, epilepsy is associated with possession by evil spirits, witchcraft, or poisoning and is believed by many to be contagious.[2]
- In ancient Rome, epilepsy was known as the Morbus Comitialis ('disease of the assembly hall') and was seen as a curse from the gods.
- Stigma continues to this day, in both the public and private spheres, but polls suggest it is generally decreasing with time, at least in the developed world.
- Hippocrates remarked that epilepsy would cease to be considered divine the day it was understood.[3]
- Claudius Galen was the first person who described epilepsy as a brain disease.
- Boerhaave was the first person who differentiate petit mal epilepsy, grand mal epilepsy and hysteria.
- Marshall Hall described reflex theory in which paroxysmal nervous discharges are responsible for epilepsy seizures.[4]
- Important Investigators of Epilepsy:
Landmark Events in the Development of Treatment Strategies
- The very first evidence of epilepsy treatment goes back to 10,000 years ago when making holes in skull bones was done in order to treat epilepsy.[4]
- In the past three decades anti-epileptic drugs are used widely for symptomatic control of epileptic patients.[5][6]
Famous Cases
The following are a few famous cases who are said to have had epilepsy:[7]
- Pythagoras (582–500 BC)
- Aristotle (384–322 BC)
- Hannibal (Barca) (247–183 BC)
- Alfred the Great (849–899)
- Dante Alighieri (1265–1321)
- Johanne la Pucelle (Joan of Arc) (1412–1431)
- Leonardo da Vinci (1452–1519)
- Michelangelo Buonarroti (1475–1564)
- Armand-Jean du Plessis (Cardinal Richelieu) (1585–1642)
- King Louis XIII of France (1601–1643)
- Jean-Baptiste Poquelin-Molie´re (1622–1673)
- Blaise Pascal (1623–1662)
- Sir Isaac Newton (1642–1727)
- William of Orange (1650–1702)
- Jonathan Swift (1667–1745)
- George Frideric Handel (1685–1759)
- William Pitt, Earl of Chatham (1708–1778)
- Samuel Johnson (1709–1784)
- Jean Jacques Rousseau (1712–1778)
- James Madison (1751–1836)
- Ludwig von Beethoven (1770–1827)
- Sir Walter Scott (1771–1832)
- Niccolo Paganini (1784–1840)
- George Gordon, Lord Byron (1788–1824)
- Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792–1822)
- Louis Hector Berlioz (1803–1869)
- 3.27. Edgar Allan Poe (1809–1849)
- Alfred Lord Tennyson (1809–1892)
- Robert Schumann (1810–1856)
- Charles Dickens (1812–1870)
- Søren Aabye Kierkegaard (1813–1855)
- Hermann Ludwig Ferdinand Von Helmholtz (1821–1894)
- Gustave Flaubert (1821–1880)
- Leo Tolstoy (1828–1910)
- Charles Lutwidge Dodgson, Lewis Carroll (1832–1898)
- Alfred Nobel (1833–1896)
- William Morris (1834–1896)
- Algernon Charles Swinburne (1837–1909)
- Henri-Rene´-Albert Guy de Maupassant (1850–1893)
- Agatha (Miller) Christie (1890–1976)
- Truman (Streckfus Persons) Capote (1924–1984)
- Richard Burton (1925–1984)
Many studies demonstrated that there are doubts about diagnosis of epilepsy in these patients.
References
- ↑ Harper, Douglas (2001). "epilepsy". Online Etymological Dictionary. Retrieved 2005-06-05.
- ↑ Morbus sacer in Africa: some religious aspects of epilepsy in traditional cultures. Jilek-Aall L. PMID: 10080524 Retrieved 8 October 2006.
- ↑ Hippocrates quotes
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 Hassell, Thomas (1981). Epilepsy and the oral manifestations of phenytoin therapy. Basel New York: Karger. ISBN 978-3-8055-1008-0.
- ↑ Löscher W, Schmidt D (April 2011). "Modern antiepileptic drug development has failed to deliver: ways out of the current dilemma". Epilepsia. 52 (4): 657–78. doi:10.1111/j.1528-1167.2011.03024.x. PMID 21426333.
- ↑ Schmidt D (June 2012). "Is antiepileptogenesis a realistic goal in clinical trials? Concerns and new horizons". Epileptic Disord. 14 (2): 105–13. PMID 22977896.
- ↑ Hughes JR (March 2005). "Did all those famous people really have epilepsy?". Epilepsy Behav. 6 (2): 115–39. doi:10.1016/j.yebeh.2004.11.011. PMID 15710295.