On the relation of the 'aura' giddiness to epileptic seizures / by Charles E. Beevor.

  • Beevor, Charles, E. (Charles Edward), 1854-1908.
Date:
[1884?]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: On the relation of the 'aura' giddiness to epileptic seizures / by Charles E. Beevor. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

    3/10 (page 489)
    to wliicli tli6 ol)jGcts soGin to liini to movG. In Giglit casGS tliGy complain of feeling tliemselves and also external objects rotating round from right to left, and nine feel themselves and objects moving in a similar way from left to right. I have endeavoured to ascertain whether the direction of the apparent rotation of objects and of the patient himself could be found to have any relation to the side on which the initial spasm of the epileptic seizure took place, or, in other words, to find out, in those cases, where the fit begins by giddiness and the feeling of revolution of the patient and objects in one direction—say to the right,—whether the attack begins with actual rotation of the patient’s head to the right or to the left side, and whether the spasm begins in the right or left hand. I think that great stress is to be put on this point (the initial rotation of the head) as a means of determining the starting-point of the fit, for in ordinary bi-lateral epileptic fits it is often quite impossible to find out from the friends, which side of the body is the more convulsed during the clonic stage, whereas the rotation of the head, which is usually present, can be more easily recognised by the friends, especially if they are requested to observe it. In the above cases in which the vertigo occurred from left to right, in five the fits have commenced on the right side. Of these one patient, who complains of giddiness with apparent rotation of herself and objects towards the right, was an in-patient in the hospital, so that the nature of the attacks was carefully noted, and it was seen that the fit began with turning of the head and eyes towards the right; she was then convulsed on both sides of the body, and I noted immediately after the fit that the right knee-jerk (patellar tendon reflex) was more marked than the left, and that ankle-clonus w^as obtained better on the right than on the left (see “ Knee-jerk after Epilepsy,” ‘ Brain,’ April 1882), thus showing that the right side of the body was more affected than the left. In another case with a similar warning of giddiness (this patient after another fit has said that she alone seemed to move to the right, and not objects), the friends state that the head turns to the right, the right arm is drawn up, and the patient is convulsed on the right