When the Bolt Touches Flesh: Living with Epileptic Seizures

10/12/22 • 47 min

What can it be like to have epileptic seizures? We draw from four sources—a memoir, two novels, and a movie. In particular, we the cover how these sources depict convulsive seizure events as people may experience them, the physical and mental harm they can produce, and the adaptations to daily activities and life plans they motivate. We compare these renderings with a description from classic biomedical text, and offer thoughts on how they can expand the understanding of the ways epileptic seizures affect the lives of those who suffer from them, and reveal possibilities for better lives they could achieve.
Bibliographic information on featured episode sources:
Eichenwald K. A Mind Unraveled. New York, Ballantine Books, 2018.
Dostoevsky F. The Idiot. Oxford, Oxford World Classics, 1992.
Harding P. Tinkers. New York, Bellevue Literary Press. 2009.
Higgins B. Electricity. Stone City Films. 2014.
Harrison’s Principles of Internal Medicine, 21st ed, New York, McGraw Hill, 2022.

Additional text on the comparison between literary and biomedical text covering generalized tonic-clonic seizures, including a mapping of literary and biomedical texts for the different components of a seizure, is posted here at According to the Arts.
Other books to consider on the topic of how people experience epileptic seizures:
David B. Epileptic. New York, Pantheon Books, 2005. (graphic novel)
Fadiman A. The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down. New York, Farrar, Straus and Geroux, 1997. (nonfiction)
Send us comments, recommendations, and questions at: [email protected].
Executive producer: Anne Bentley
Subscribe to The Clinic & The Person at wherever you get your podcasts, or visit us at https://www.theclinicandtheperson.com.

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Previous Episode

Holes and Lobotomies: Seeing and Feeling Migraine

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We examine excerpts from Siri Hustvedt’s novel, The Blindfold, and from Joan Didion’s essay, In Bed, for the perspectives they offer on what people experience when migraines strike them. We discuss how Hustvedt’s and Didion’s renderings of migraines add to classic biomedical descriptions, and consider the implications of migraine prevalence on the degree of suffering, functioning, and health care consumption. We muse about how these literary texts and others like them can be applied in helping people who suffer migraines and in helping people who care for them.
Additional background on the excerpts we cover, and excerpts from other books describing the effects of migraine are in Russell Teagarden’s blog, According to the Arts. An expanded analysis of the physical effects of migraine as depicted in The Blindfold can also be found on the blog here.
Some migraine prevalence data available from open-source publications are here and here.

Bibliographic information:
The Blindfold, Siri Hustvedt, Picador, New York, 1992
In Bed: In The White Album, Joan Didion, Farrar, Straus and Giroux, New York, 1979
Thanks to Alexis Teagarden, PhD, for bringing Joan Didion's essay to our attention.
Executive producer: Anne Bentley
Subscribe to The Clinic & The Person at wherever you get your podcasts.

Send us comments and questions at: [email protected].

Next Episode

Sweet Sand of Time: James Dickey’s poem Diabetes with Guest Dr. Jack Coulehan

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We feature James Dickey’s poem, Diabetes, with our guest, the renowned physician-poet Dr. Jack Coulehan. We discuss insights the poem offers about the trajectory of type 2 diabetes from the time of symptom onset until the time a balance is achieved between maximum compliance with disease management requirements and the compromises an acceptable lifestyle can necessitate for many individuals. In addition to providing his perspectives on how the poem expands on the biomedical components of diabetes in recognizing effects such as fear, anxiety, frustration, and oppression, Dr. Coulehan recounts how he has used this poem and others in teaching medical students and residents. He also tells stories of particular instances in which he used poetry as part of the care he provided certain patients, and as a way to connect with them.
Links:

Dr. Jack Coulehan’s bio at Stonybrook University is here.

The poem, Diabetes, and the comparative biomedical text discussed can be seen here in Russell Teagarden’s blog, According to the Arts.

Dr. Coulehan’s poem, I’m Gonna Slap Those Doctors, which was central to one of the stories he told, can be accessed here. And, his poem, The Man with Stars Inside Him, which was central to another story he told, can be accessed here.

In this episode, we make a distinction between illness as the subjective perceptions of a health problem and disease as the pathological basis of a health problem. This distinction is explained in much greater depth here in According to the Arts.

The Literature, Arts and Medicine Database at the New York University Grossman School of Medicine, a great source for Humanities works related to disease, illness, and health care, is found here.
Please send us comments, recommendations, and questions to [email protected].
Thanks for listening, and please subscribe to The Clinic & The Person wherever you get your podcasts, or visit us at our website.

Executive producer: Anne Bentley