Seizures and Epilepsy

Medicine in the Middle Ages:

Falling Sickness Blessing (14th/15th century, translated from the German)

As convulse and bewitch are walking across the heath, they meet the Holy Virgin Mary
The Virgin Mary asks convulse and bewitch:
'convulse and bewitch, where are you going?'
convulse and bewitch say: 'We are going to him and him.'
The Virgin Mary asks: 'What are you going to do there?'
convulse and bewitch say
'We're going to tear flesh, drink blood and break legs.'
The Virgin Mary says: 'You must not do that:
you must go where there are bare rocks, there you can tear flesh, drink blood and break legs.'
May god the father, god the son and god the holy ghost help us. Amen.

Correct statement:
Confidence, optimism and courage are a good basis for the successful treatment of epilepsy.

Incorrect statement:
Epilepsy is a "bewitched" disease which can only be cured with divine aid. (Correct: Epilepsy is an organic disease which can be treated using rational means of therapy.)

Renaissance

(approx. from 1500) The Renaissance physician (from around 1500) gradually rejects the medical beliefs of the Middle Ages, which were influenced by the Christian faith and by superstition; he begins to make tentative steps towards practising natural "scientific" medicine.

Paracelcus 1493 - 1541

On ailments which rob us of our reason (1525)

'And such falling sicknesses have five seats ... One is in the brain, the second in the liver, the third in the heart, the fourth in the intestines, the fifth in the limbs ... and this is not only so in human beings but also in every living creature, in animals, which also fall down ... in the same form as in humans ... and the earthquake also has the same origin as the falling sickness ... We say that it is impossible to cure the root of the disease, but that it is possible to prevent the root from growing.

Correct statements:br /> Epilepsy is an organic (not an unnatural, mystical) disease. Animals can also have epilepsy. It is not always possible to cure the cause ("root") of the disease, but the symptoms can be treated ("prevent the root from growing"): the principle of symptomatic therapy.

Incorrect statements:
Epilepsy can have its seat in the liver, the heart, in the intestines or in the limbs. (Correct: Every epileptic seizure originates in the brain.) Earthquakes are also of an epileptic nature. (Correct: Epileptic activity is connected with the nerve cells.)

Medicine in the 18th century:

Samuel Auguste A. D. Tissot 1728 - 1797

Treatise on Epilepsy or the Falling Sickness (1771)

In order to be in a position to cure this disease, one must first take pains to examine whether there is any sympathetic cause which supports it, and what this could be; or whether it is an idiopathic one, that is to say whether it simply stems from an over-sensitivity of the brain...

At last, valerian has fortunately become the favourite remedy of all sensible physicians... I am convinced that, if this does not have an effect, then it is because the malady is incurable.

Correct statement:
Differentiation between "idiopathic" and "sympathetic" epilepsies.
Idiopathic: Epilepsy is mainly caused by an inherent tendency to the disease.
Sympathetic (symptomatic): The epilepsy is a symptom of a primary disease (e.g. brain tumour, metabolic disturbance, cerebral scarring after injury).

Incorrect statement:
Valerian is a good remedy for epilepsy. (Correct: Valerian can have a calming effect, but does not suppress seizures.)

John Hughlings Jackson (1835 - 1911)

A Study of Convulsions

The fit usually begins, it is to be observed, in that part of the face, of the arm, and oft the leg, which has the most varied uses. ... the fits which begin in the hand begin usually in the index finger and thumb; fits which begin in the foot begin usually in the great toe.

... it may be that the order of frequency mentioned point merely to an order of frequency in liability of parts to become diseased. ... Parts which have the most varied uses will be represented in the central nervous system by most ganglion cells.

All of Jackson's statements are correct!