MEDICAL: CONDITIONS: EPILEPSY : MUSIC: CLASSICAL: COMPOSERS : DISABILITIES : MUSIC: HISTORY: Chopin May Have Had Epilepsy
David P. Dillard
.
MEDICAL: CONDITIONS: EPILEPSY :
MUSIC: CLASSICAL: COMPOSERS :
DISABILITIES :
MUSIC: HISTORY:
Chopin May Have Had Epilepsy
Chopin May Have Had Epilepsy
By Todd Neale, Staff Writer,
MedPage Today
Published: January 24, 2011
Reviewed by Zalman S. Agus, MD; Emeritus Professor
University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine.
http://www.medpagetoday.com/Neurology/Seizures/24506
The hallucinations of Polish composer and pianist Fric Chopin may have
been the result of temporal lobe epilepsy, two researchers proposed.
Chopin died in 1849 at age 39 following a life filled with health problems
-- including respiratory complaints, nasal blockage, pulmonary infections,
and recurrent coughing, hemoptysis, and fever -- that would confine him to
his bed for long periods of time.
In addition, he developed dyspnea, limb edema, and severe headaches in the
years leading up to his death, according to radiologist Manuel Vquez
Caruncho, MD, and neurologist Francisco Bras Ferndez, MD, of Complexo
Hospitalario Xeral-Calde in Lugo, Spain.
The exact cause of the composer's death remains unknown, and the results
of his autopsy were lost, the Spanish researchers noted online in Medical
Humanities.
That uncertainty has fueled speculation about what killed Chopin. A list
of proposed diagnoses includes pulmonary tuberculosis, mitral stenosis,
cystic fibrosis, pulmonary emphysema, Churg-Strauss syndrome, and allergic
bronchopulmonary aspergillosis.
24 January 2011 Last updated at 20:57 ET
Chopin 'probably had epilepsy'
By Michelle Roberts
Health reporter,
BBC News
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-12265573
In her memoirs, his lover George Sand recalled various times when Chopin
experienced visual hallucinations, including during a trip to a monastery
that was "full of terrors and ghosts for him".
In a letter written to the daughter of George Sand, Chopin himself
describes a moment, during a performance of his Sonata in B flat minor in
England in 1848 at a private salon, when he saw creatures emerging from
his piano which forced him to leave the room to recover himself.
Hallucinations occur with several medical and psychiatric disorders,
including schizophrenia, but they usually take the form of voices rather
than visions.
The most likely explanation for Chopin's visions, say the Spanish doctors,
is a type of epilepsy called temporal lobe epilepsy.
With seizures of this kind it is common to experience strange visions and
intense emotions, such as those described by Chopin.
Music news
Chopin was plagued by epilepsy, researchers claim
Terrifying visions which haunted composer Chopin and convinced him that
strange creatures were crawling out of his piano were caused by epilepsy,
research suggests.
7:30AM GMT 25 Jan 2011
The Telegraph
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/music/music-news/8278808/
Chopin-was-plagued-by-epilepsy-researchers-claim.html
A shorter URL for the above link:
Frederic Chopin regularly suffered through hallucinations, and his frailty
and bouts of melancholy had been put down to bipolar disorder or clinical
depression.
He often appeared wild eyed or with his hair on end, spoke of a "cohort of
phantoms" tormenting him and once described a monastery where he had
stayed as 'full of terrors and ghosts'.
Plagued by poor health, and dying of lung disease at the age of 39 in
1849, he became the epitome of the Romantic artist.
Now research in journal Medical Humanities suggests that temporal lobe
epilepsy, which can produce complext but brief hallucinations, are the
likely cause for Chopin's visions.
Chopin's hallucinations were probably caused by epilepsy
January 24, 2011
Phys.org
http://www.physorg.com/news/2011-01-chopin-hallucinations-epilepsy.html
A sculpture of Polish composer Fryderyk Chopin is seen in front of a
cottage in Zelazowa Wola, 40 km from Warsaw, which was Chopin's birth
place. In the great Polish composer, towering genius combined with a
wasted frame and a pallid face behind which lurked melancholy, a brooding
over death, a disconnection from ordinary life and sometimes horrifying
hallucinations.
While his well documented bouts of melancholy have been attributed to
bipolar disorder or clinical depression, the hallucinatory episodes to
which he was also prone have tended to be overlooked, suggest the authors.
They draw on the composer's own descriptions of these hallucinatory
episodes, and accounts of his life, given by friends and pupils.
Chopin, who was plagued by poor health throughout his life, died at the
age of 39 as a result of chronic lung disease in 1849, which has recently
been attributed to cystic fibrosis, based on the composer's family
history.
snip
In her memoirs, George Sand recalled a trip she and the composer took to
Spain in 1838. She describes the monastery where they stayed as being
"full of terrors and ghosts for him," and various incidents in which
Chopin appeared pale, or with wild eyes, and his hair on end. She also
recounts the vivid descriptions he gave her of the visions he had had.
Fric Chopin's 'Madness' Diagnosed
by Sara Reardon on 24 January 2011, 6:30 PM
Science Now
http://news.sciencemag.org/sciencenow/2011/01/
frederic-chopins-madness-diagnos.html?ref=hp
A shorter URL for the above link:
In their analysis, Caruncho and his co-author, neurologist Francisco Bras
Ferndez, drew heavily from descriptions of Chopin's behavior by his
friends and pupils and from his own writings. Their vivid recollections
report finding the composer late at night, "pale in front of the piano,
with wild eyes and his hair on end," unable to recognize them for short
periods. He spoke often of a "cohort of phantoms" that haunted him, of
seeing his friends as the walking dead, and feeling "like steam."
Only a handful of neurological disorders produce the phantasmagoria that
tormented Chopin, who didn't abuse drugs or alcohol. The visions he
described, such as demons crawling out of his piano, are now known as
Lilliputian hallucinations: detailed visions of people or objects that are
much smaller than they are in life. The authors rule out schizophrenia and
other common psychoses because Chopin's hallucinations were visual, not
auditory, and because he lacked other telltale symptoms such as eye
problems or migraines. His short hallucinatory episodes are a hallmark of
temporal lobe epilepsy, the team reports online today in Medical
Humanities.
The complete articles may be read at the URLs provided for each.
WEBBIB1011
Sincerely,
David Dillard
Temple University
(215) 204 - 4584
jw...@temple.edu
http://daviddillard.businesscard2.com
Net-Gold
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/net-gold
http://listserv.temple.edu/archives/net-gold.html
Index: http://tinyurl.com/myxb4w
http://groups.google.com/group/net-gold?hl=en
General Internet & Print Resources
http://guides.temple.edu/general-internet
COUNTRIES
http://guides.temple.edu/general-country-info
EMPLOYMENT
http://guides.temple.edu/EMPLOYMENT
TOURISM
http://guides.temple.edu/tourism
DISABILITIES
http://guides.temple.edu/DISABILITIES
INDOOR GARDENING
http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/IndoorGardeningUrban/
Educator-Gold
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Educator-Gold/
K12ADMINLIFE
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/K12AdminLIFE/
The Russell Conwell Learning Center Research Guide:
THE COLLEGE LEARNING CENTER
http://tinyurl.com/yae7w79
Nina Dillard's Photographs on Net-Gold
http://tinyurl.com/36qd2o
and also http://gallery.me.com/neemers1
http://www.flickr.com/photos/neemers/
Twitter: davidpdillard
Bushell, R. & Sheldon, P. (eds),
Wellness and Tourism: Mind, Body, Spirit,
Place, New York: Cognizant Communication Books.
Wellness Tourism: Bibliographic and Webliographic Essay
David P. Dillard
http://tinyurl.com/p63whl
http://tinyurl.com/ou53aw
INDOOR GARDENING
Improve Your Chances for Indoor Gardening Success
http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/IndoorGardeningUrban/
http://groups.google.com/group/indoor-gardening-and-urban-gardening
SPORT-MED
https://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/lists/sport-med.html
http://groups.google.com/group/sport-med
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/sports-med/
http://listserv.temple.edu/archives/sport-med.html
HEALTH DIET FITNESS RECREATION SPORTS TOURISM
http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/healthrecsport/
http://groups.google.com/group/healthrecsport
http://healthrecsport.jiglu.com/
http://listserv.temple.edu/archives/health-recreation-sports-tourism.html
Please Ignore All Links to JIGLU
in search results for Net-Gold and related lists.
The Net-Gold relationship with JIGLU has
been terminated by JIGLU and these are dead links.
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Net-Gold/message/30664
http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/healthrecsport/message/145
.