The borderland of epilepsy : faints, vagal attacks, vertigo, migraine, sleep symptoms and their treatment.

  • Gowers, W. R. (William Richard), 1845-1915.
Date:
1907
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Licence: In copyright

Credit: The borderland of epilepsy : faints, vagal attacks, vertigo, migraine, sleep symptoms and their treatment. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by UCL Library Services. The original may be consulted at UCL (University College London)

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    louder for an hour or more after each attack. Slighter forms, equally brief, were attended by a sensation that he himself was turning to the left. Such a variation in char- acter is not uncommon. The impression that objects are coming on to or over the person is usually a feature of severe attacks, and often causes a fall. Many of the cases I shall have to mention in connection with other symptoms will afford further illustrations of the brevity of attacks. Loss of Consciousness.—Momentary giddiness may cause a sudden fall and be mistaken for epilepsy, but the resemblance is much closer when the attack is accom- panied by definite brief loss of consciousness. It is not generally known that such loss occurs in purely aural vertigo, and the symptom is often regarded as unequivocal evidence of epilepsy. But the cases to be described afford clear demonstration of its occurrence in vertigo. The fact that this is not generally known, renders it necessary to mention sufficient detail to make the evidence of their nature conclusive. As already said, the condition in any attack of intense vertigo is one of imperfect perception of the surroundings and of their relation to the sufferer, a condition which itself involves imperfect consciousness. We can understand that vertigo, coming on with sudden- ness and momentum, may for a moment sweep con- sciousness completely away. A man, aged 61, had suffered for ten years from bilateral labyrinthine deafness, greater on the right side, with tinnitus louder on the left, and also from attacks of giddi- ness. They were severe, with a whirling sensation. Eight years before, he had consulted Sir Samuel Wilks, who diagnosed Meniere's disease. The attacks had continued, but had become much briefer, lasting only a 4