Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
Pivot Concepts:   Target Concepts:
Query: UMLS:C0009676 (confusion)
 21,692 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

The history of eponyms for epilepsy in the lands of the Eastern globe present the portrait of the attitudes of both the laymen and skilled people towards the disease and patient, as well as to the Nature itself. As opposed to the West which during the Middle ages changed its concepts of epilepsy as the organic brain disease for the sublime 'alchemic' position, the people of the East were more prone to consider from the beginning of their civilization till the XIX century that epilepsy is the consequence of the evanescent spiritual and extracorporal forces which by themselves were out of their reach. As compared to the western civilization, the historical resources are, often as a consequence of a linguistic barriers, more scarce-as consequently is the number of eponyms, but are nevertheless picturesque. The medical science from Babylonian period presumed that epileptic manifestations are the consequence of the demonic or ill spiritual actions. There existed an attitude that at the beginning of an epileptic attack the patient was possessed by a demon (the Akkadic, i.e., Babylonian verb "sibtu" denoting epilepsy, had the meaning "to seize" or "to be obsessed"); at the end of the clonic phase the demon departed from the body. Different demons were responsible for different forms of epilepsy such as nocturnal and children epilepsy, absence epilepsy and pure convulsions, simple and complex automatisms, and gelastic epilepsy. Thus, the doctors from the period of Babylon aside from making primordial classification of epilepsies, knew about their clinical picture (prodromal symptoms and aura, Jackson's epilepsy. Todd's paralysis), postictal phenomena and intericatl emotional instability; provocative factors were also known (sleep deprivation, emotions, as well as alcohol, albeit in a negative sense-as a cure for epilepsy). There is no doubt than in the period of Babylon the clinical picture of serial fits and its progress to status epilepticus were clearly recognized and considered as life threatening events. Persian history of epilepsy, except from the 6th century Zoroastrian "Avesta" document, lacks the written or spoken medical heritage untill the 7th century A.D. and the Arabic conquest of the entire Moslem world. On the other hand, Islamic medicine should be freed from the simple prejudice that the Moslem authors were only the translators of Greek medicine; contrary to such a view, their work contains a high degree of individuality. Although Mohammed introduced a lot of novelty into medicine, Khoran and the Sayings do not explicitly refer to epilepsy. Of importance is to notice that Moslem medicine did not have demons in the "repertoire" of direct causes of epilepsy. The causes and the cures of epilepsy were more magic-mystical and occult in nature, which is reminiscent of the European, as well as Serbian Middle age attitudes. Avicenna recognized difference between children and adult epilepsy. He considered insomnia and afternoon siesta as well as intensive sounds and light to be a provocative factors, whereby we see that at least empirically he knew of sleep (deprivation), startle and reflex epilepsy. The XIII century invasion of Mongols brought about the recession in Moslem Medicine; it recovered only in the XVIII century under the strong influence of European medicine handed over to us through Jewish doctors of various nationalities. The story of the China history of epilepsy has its debut approximately in the 8th century B. C. Medical texts from this period name epilepsy "Dian" and "Xian" which meant "the falling sickness" and "convulsions", respectively. Chinese medical terminology often interchangeably used the words "mania", "madness" and "psychosis" for "epilepsy" which, aside from a prominent language barrier, brings additional confusion. Although Chinese documents gave the first description of the grand mal epileptic attack already in the 8th century B. C. (ABSTRACT TRUNCATED)
 ...
PMID:[Eponyms and epilepsy (history of Eastern civilizations)]. 910 52

There is relatively little information on the underlying parameters that affect clinical features of the postictal period. Age-related physiological changes, including alterations in cerebral blood flow and metabolism, neurotransmitter function, and responses of the brain to seizure activity may affect postictal clinical phenomena. Some conclusions can be drawn. Elderly adults and children, particularly in the presence of diffuse cerebral dysfunction, may have more prolonged postictal confusion. Postictal dysphasia strongly suggests a dominant hemisphere focus, more often temporal, and Todd's paralysis is always contralateral to the epileptogenic zone. Much additional information could be derived from the vast amount of video/EEG monitoring data available.
 ...
PMID:The postictal state: effects of age and underlying brain dysfunction. 2072 20

A 78-year-old man presented to hospital with new onset confusion and fever. The working diagnosis was of delirium due to an infection of unknown source, and empirical i.v. antibiotic treatment was given. Two days later, he deteriorated and developed clinical features in keeping with a total anterior circulation stroke. Brain imaging was unremarkable. Blood cultures grew an organism subsequently identified as Facklamia languida. Following treatment with broad-spectrum antibiotics, his condition improved. A diagnosis of F. languida septicaemia, leading to presumed (unwitnessed) seizure and Todd's paresis was made. The patient went on to make a full recovery and was discharged home. Stroke mimics are common and may be eminently treatable. Around a quarter of patients initially suspected to have a stroke are subsequently found to have an alternative diagnosis.
...
PMID:A very unusual organism causing stroke-like symptoms. 2507 39

We describe a case of a right-handed, 42-year-old, Caucasian female patient who manifested a set of unusual adverse effects during maintenance ultrabrief right-unilateral electroconvulsive therapy (ECT)-generalized myoclonic secondary seizure with lateralization nonresponsive to repeated intravenous diazepam application, deviation of the tongue and the head to the left, ping-pong gaze with nystagmoid jerks, postictal hypoactive confusion state lasting 15 minutes (with a total time to recovery 30 minutes), and likely Todd's paralysis after the procedure (subsided within 24 hours). These adverse effects led to a thorough clinical investigation and eventually the discovery of a brain tumor. In the article, we hypothesize about the possible interaction between the intracranial mass and ECT and provide a literature overview on the topic. Cases like this are likely underreported, and although several studies demonstrate that ECT can be applied safely to patients with an intracranial mass, this report demonstrates that brain tumor can interfere with ECT in an unpredictable way and have severe consequences (eg, unresponsiveness to diazepam when attempting to halt the seizure as our patient). Unusual symptoms after ECT, albeit reversible, such as in this case report, should be followed by a thorough neurological check-up to exclude any underlying organic pathology.
 ...
PMID:Unusual Set of Adverse Effects During Right-Unilateral Ultrabrief Electroconvulsive Therapy Led to the Discovery of a Brain Tumor: A Case Report. 3134 14