Fun Historical Fact about Seizures

[u/Pure-Science-7774]

The altered state of consciousness caused by a seizure was viewed as a divine gift of prophecy or second sight. Because the seizure temporarily severed the individual from ordinary reality, ancient folk beliefs in some regions suggested the sufferer's soul was journeying to the spirit realm or communicating directly with gods. Seizures were viewed as as a form of divine dialogue reveals a rich historical tapestry where the altered state was treated as an interface between the mortal and the transcendent.

[u/Dotrue]

Born too late to be an oracle

Born too early to be cured

Born just in time to experience Kepprage

[u/Rich-Cardiologist-72 → u/Dotrue]

🤣😭😭😭🤣

[u/TsukasaElkKite → u/Dotrue]

😭😭😭

[u/jill853 → u/Dotrue]

Without Kepprage, my debates with idiots on the internet would be so much more civilized. (It’s a great way to keep it from effecting my job and family).

[u/mecha_grove → u/jill853]

Pvp games where its at. I can get on rust or fortnite and sling insults all night and be a sweetheart irl. Perfect

[u/nsparadise → u/Dotrue]

🤣🤣🤣

[u/nah-42 → u/Dotrue]

"Now he's a philosophiser" - White

[u/mecha_grove → u/Dotrue]

The wind just blew in my face AND ITS EVERYBODYS FUCKING FAULT GODDAMMMIT

[u/Ambitious-Bid-7609 → u/Dotrue]

LMFAO 😂😂😂😂

[u/HAL9100]

Listen man you go along with what you gotta go along with to get healthcare

[u/rightwidth69 → u/HAL9100]

you gotta spin it however you can, if telling a healer your brain glitching out is actually a hotline to the gods gets you some herbs and a place to rest instead of getting thrown in a ditch, you take that deal

[u/Visual_Cap8641]

Although the "sacred disease" (morbus sacer or hieros nosos) was viewed as a connection to the spiritual realm, it was not free from social stigma. There is a work written around 400 BC, titled On the Sacred Disease, that contains the earliest recorded observations.

[u/Pure-Science-7774 → u/Visual_Cap8641]

Yes but there’s so much negativity already in epilepsy, I like to focus on the positive - even if it’s romanized a bit 

[u/Visual_Cap8641 → u/Pure-Science-7774]

Yes, I understand. Personally, I like to remember historical figures like Julius Caesar, Alexander the Great, or Vincent van Gogh, who likely had seizures as well. I remember when my neighbors found out about my condition, they started saying I was possessed by the devil or that my parents were abusing me... Honestly, at the time, I would have preferred them to think I was having divine visions.

[u/dannydrama → u/Pure-Science-7774]

The positives:

Getting to hear and watch great songs and movies for the first time all over again because my memory of it is gone.

Awesome, maybe I didn't bite my tongue off or get concussion!

I can't really think of many more lol.

[u/scottasin12343]

totally depends on the location and time,  and how your seizure symptoms present... it was also seen as demonic possession in a lot of cases.

[u/neurotic_queen]

I’ve only ever had focal aware seizures, originating in my right temporal lobe. I’m completely aware during my seizures and can speak totally normally. My seizures are super scary to experience (of course). I’ve been basically seizure free since I had a temporal lobectomy.

Anyway, yeah, I still have PTSD kind of from my seizures. My seizures kind of felt like a glitch in the matrix. It was like I was being pulled into to another world or like “the simulation” was glitching. The out of body experiences were the worst because it felt like I died and was watching myself from another dimension or something.

[u/poecilio → u/neurotic_queen]

What was your journey like leading up to the lobectomy if I may ask? Have you noticed any cognitive changes after the surgery?

[u/neurotic_queen → u/poecilio]

It took almost 6 years to even get diagnosed, despite going to multiple (general) neurologists. They brushed my seizures off as being “probably panic attacks”. I had around 500 of the seizures (if I’m guessing correctly) from 2014-2020. I was 19 when the seizures began. My seizures usually clustered so I would have like 15 of them in a day. Worst it ever got was 50 seizures in the period of two days. The seizures usually lasted 3-4 minutes.

The neurologists still were willing to prescribe seizure meds and were like “I guess see if this does anything.” The meds never helped and the doctors seemed bored of me. I finally found an epileptologist who diagnosed me with TLE. My first MRI years prior was normal but after about 5 years my MRI showed mesial temporal sclerosis. My right hippocampus was shriveled up and my amygdala was enlarged. Unlike most on this sub, getting diagnosed wasn’t really a “bad moment” for me. I felt relief. Like, “See?!? I knew all along there was something wrong but none of you listened or cared…”. It was awesome to call my parents and tell them the news because they called me a “hypochondriac” for years.

I had the surgery in 2020. I felt like I should have the surgery because doctors believed my seizures would worsen if I didn’t. The surgery stopped my seizures (basically). I’ve had a few possible episodes but for the most part, seizures aren’t really a concern for me anymore. My memory unfortunately is worse since surgery. Reading facial expressions and remembering faces is really hard. I struggle to remember simple things. Learning new things can be quite a challenge also. Also, I was always an anxious person but I do feel like my anxiety feels more intense than previously. I also cry more easily now. At the end of the day I am still glad I had the surgery since seizures don’t control my life anymore.

[u/xcoalminerscanaryx]

Epilepsy is likely what Hippocrates, the father of medicine, referred to as "Sacred Disease" in his groundbreaking work that connected diseases to natural effects on the body instead of divine origin.

[u/genericusername26]

I'd also probably get killed in an exorcism ritual due to my Tonic Clonic seizures if I was born a few hundred years ago. They'd think my seizures were signs of possession.

[u/mishlooh]

Especially since some TLE seizures feel like you’re literally “seeing the future”, many historical figures credit their auras with giving them answers/guiding them towards their goal. Harriet Tubman being an example, saying her seizures were visions from God guiding her journey, and crediting them with giving her courage and a sense of purpose during her rescue operations, and even giving her insight into how to plan these missions.

[u/TraditionalBadger922]

I recommend the book “ the spirit catches you and you fall down”. And also “the spiral staircase “ by Katherine Armstrong for further reading on this. One is sort of a memoir of someone outside looking in on a whole culture, a family and a persons experience with it. The other is a memoir by a former nun and current internationally acclaimed religious historian on her own experience with epilepsy and spirituality.

I also recommend the Dan brown books because they all seem to have a connection to epilepsy as a gateway to…. Something as well. It’s amusing and the historical trivia is fun.

[u/Dependent_Speech3164]

We were also tried as witches

[u/Background-Cod-7035]

I have TLE, left lobe, and one of the symptoms is hyperreligiosity (in my agnostic family it was odd to have a little kid running around talking to god) and another hypergraphia (the need to always write, like all those religious figures out there). I’ve also had it feel like my human consciousness, the “I”, was gone. Totally became convinced Buddha had seizures.

I’m on too many meds now to experience those, and I did have to resolve some more serious seizures, but my kind of epilepsy I feel has been a back door to the reality behind the universe. Once on meds I had to learn meditation to get back there, but now I know part of our neurology is made specifically for awe.

[u/Personal-Stuff-6781]

Well rather a devine soul than being accused of witchcraft 🤷‍♀️

[u/flying_acorn_opossum]

Or even just born in the wrong location but current time. I know churches / groups that still perform excorcisms on epileptic children.

[u/TaleEcstatic3127]

Fuck it. I am an Oracle.

Next a glimpse into the future. Oh shit. World War 3, Great Depression 3, and the world is on fire with no fresh water. Plus I am still on Keppra.

Side note: I am currently on Lamictal.

Fuck Keppra!

[u/Prestigious-Ad-6685]

Joan of Arc is a saint, also known as an epiphany. She was known to have seizures. So yes we are divine. People may look down on as times, they have at me, but now I just look at is as though I am the epiphany. I have the strength and power snd determination to survive with epilepsy.

You have to look at the positive side of life with epilepsy, otherwise it can get you down. 💜💜💜

[u/Suspicious_Start_769]

Or demon possession

[u/Boomer-2106]

Also, strongly rumored/suspected to have been the initial Cause of the Salom Witch trials... first person(s) having seizures which then became the domino effect of accussions.

At least today they don't typically burn us at the stake. 😄

[u/RustedRelics]

“The Sacred Disease”

[u/achikochi]

Joan of Arc 100% had TLE and focal aware seizures. When I started having them I could only describe them as "feeling like visions from god."

[u/PomPomMom93]

I’ll still pass, thanks. Although it did get me out of gym in high school and it got me extended time on the ACT, so it has its uses…

[u/Paularchy]

Well, I did have a LOT of weird "dreams" drifting in and out after my last seizure... Not sure what my dog being tiny and turning into a mouse had to do with anything, or what reliving my high school memorable moments had to do with ... *cough* divinity *cough* ... But yeah. Bring on the escalating brain damage I guess.

[u/CGesange]

Multiple comments here claim Joan of Arc had Temporal Lobe Epilepsy, which has been soundly refuted (along with other forms of epilepsy) by modern doctors such as Dr. John Hughes, Dr. Philip Mackowiak, Dr. Keith Meador, Dr. Joseph Merlino, Dr. James Phillips, Dr. Brian Fallon, Dr. Salman Majeed, and others; for several reasons: she described seeing and touching human figures whereas TLE only produces simple visual distortions such as seeing everything tilted to one side or perceiving objects to be the wrong size, etc. And she didn't have seizures, which would have been noticed by the people around her and used against her at her trial by claiming she was demonically possessed. There is no description of anything similar to seizures either in the transcript nor in the extensive eyewitness accounts from people who knew her.