Apoplexy is an outdated
medicalMedicine is the art and science of healing. It encompasses a range of health care practices evolved to maintain and restore health by the prevention and treatment of illness....
term, which can be used to mean '
bleedingBleeding, technically known as hemorrhaging or haemorrhaging is the loss of blood or blood escape from the circulatory system...
'. It can be used non-medically to mean a state of extreme rage or excitement. The word derives from the
GreekGreek , an independent branch of the Indo-European family of languages, is the language of the Greeks. Native to the southern Balkans, it has the longest documented history of any Indo-European language, spanning 34 centuries of written records. In its ancient form, it is the language of classical...
word for 'TO HAVE A STROKE',
apoplēxia
Historically, the word "apoplexy" was also used to describe any sudden death that began with a sudden loss of consciousness, especially one in which the victim died within a matter of seconds after losing consciousness.
Apoplexy is an outdated
medicalMedicine is the art and science of healing. It encompasses a range of health care practices evolved to maintain and restore health by the prevention and treatment of illness....
term, which can be used to mean '
bleedingBleeding, technically known as hemorrhaging or haemorrhaging is the loss of blood or blood escape from the circulatory system...
'. It can be used non-medically to mean a state of extreme rage or excitement. The word derives from the
GreekGreek , an independent branch of the Indo-European family of languages, is the language of the Greeks. Native to the southern Balkans, it has the longest documented history of any Indo-European language, spanning 34 centuries of written records. In its ancient form, it is the language of classical...
word for 'TO HAVE A STROKE',
apoplēxia
Historical meaning
Historically, the word "apoplexy" was also used to describe any sudden death that began with a sudden loss of consciousness, especially one in which the victim died within a matter of seconds after losing consciousness. Those reading historical documents should take into consideration the possibility that the word "apoplexy" may be used to describe the symptom of sudden loss of consciousness immediately preceding death and not an actual verified disease process.
Sudden cardiac deathThe term sudden cardiac death refers to natural death from cardiac causes, heralded by abrupt loss of consciousness within one hour of the onset of acute symptoms. Other forms of sudden death may be noncardiac in origin...
s, ruptured
cerebral aneurysmA cerebral aneurysm or brain aneurysm is a cerebrovascular disorder in which weakness in the wall of a cerebral artery or vein causes a localized dilation or ballooning of the blood vessel.- Locations :...
s, certain ruptured
aortic aneurysmAn aortic aneurysm is a general term for any swelling of the aorta, usually representing an underlying weakness in the wall of the aorta at that location...
s, and even
heart attackMyocardial infarction or acute myocardial infarction , commonly known as a heart attack, is the interruption of blood supply to part of the heart, causing some heart cells to die...
s may have been described as apoplexy in the past.
Hemorrhage
The term 'apoplexy' is used to describe bleeding within internal
organIn biology and anatomy, an organ is a collection of tissues joined in structural unit to serve a common function ....
s. In such usage it is coupled with an
adjectiveIn grammar, an adjective is a word whose main syntactic role is to modify a noun or pronoun, giving more information about the noun or pronoun's referent...
describing the site of the bleeding. For example, bleeding within the
pituitary glandThe pituitary gland, or hypophysis, is an endocrine gland about the size of a pea and weighing 0.5 g . It is a protrusion off the bottom of the hypothalamus at the base of the brain, and rests in a small, bony cavity covered by a dural fold...
is called
pituitary apoplexyPituitary apoplexy is an infarction or hemorrhage of the pituitary gland in the presence of a pituitary adenoma.-Symptoms:*Headaches are often associated*Vision problems like diplopia due to pressure on the oculomotor nerve...
, and bleeding within the adrenal glands can be called
adrenal apoplexy.
In both pituitary and adrenal apoplexy, the word apoplexy refers to both hemorrhage with the gland and to accompanying neurological problems such as confusion, headache, and impairment of consciousness.
Deaths attributed to apoplexy
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- Henri Beyle (Stendhal
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)
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- Catherine the Great
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- Robert Chilton
- Empress Dowager Cixi
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- Charles Francis Hall
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- Winfield Scott Hammond
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- Warren G Harding
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- Charles W. LeGendre
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- Toussaint Louverture
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- Moses Mendelssohn
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Non-medical usage
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, particularly in the adjective form
apoplectic, apoplexy means furious, enraged, or upset to the point of being unable to deal with a situation rationally or diplomatically.