List of people with epilepsy
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2008-07-11T16:21:12Z
Dupont Circle
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Vandalism [[WP:UNDO|Undid]] revision 225012900 by [[Special:Contributions/208.108.100.9|208.108.100.9]] ([[User talk:208.108.100.9|talk]])
{{Dynamic list}}
[[Image:PrinceJohnUK1905.jpg|thumb|[[Prince John of the United Kingdom|Prince John]] had epilepsy. His story was told in the acclaimed TV drama ''[[The Lost Prince]]''.]]
<onlyinclude> <!-- See [[Wikipedia talk:Featured lists]] for an explanation of this and other inclusion tags below -->
This is a list of notable people who have, or had, the medical condition [[epilepsy]]. Following from that, there is a short list of people who have received a speculative, posthumous diagnosis of epilepsy. Finally there is a substantial list of people who are often wrongly believed to have had epilepsy.</onlyinclude>
A possible link between epilepsy and greatness has fascinated biographers and physicians for centuries. In his ''"Treatise on Epilepsy"'', the French 17th century physician Jean Taxil refers to [[Aristotle]]'s ''"famous epileptics"''. This list includes [[Hercules]], [[Ajax (mythology)|Ajax]], [[Bellerophon]], [[Socrates]], [[Plato]], [[Empedocles]], Maracus of Syracuse, and the [[Sibyl]]s.<ref name="Taxil">{{cite web
| url = http://www.chez.com/asklepios/taxil/Livre1_Chap15.htm
| title = Traicté de l'Epilepsie
| accessdate = 2006-08-15
| author = Jean Taxil
| year = 1602
}}</ref> However, historian of medicine [[Owsei Temkin]] argues that Aristotle had in fact made a list of [[melancholia|melancholics]] and had only associated Hercules with the ''"Sacred Disease"''.<ref name="TemkinTaxil>{{cite book
| author = Owsei Temkin
| title = The Falling Sickness : A History of Epilepsy from the Greeks to the Beginnings of Modern Neurology (Softshell Books)
| publisher = The Johns Hopkins University Press
| year = 1994
| id = ISBN 0-8018-4849-0
| pages = 161
}}</ref> Taxil goes on to add his own names: [[Julius Caesar]] and Roman Emperor [[Caligula]], [[Marcus Livius Drusus (tribune)|Drusus (tribune of the Roman people)]], [[Petrarch]] and [[Muhammad]].
More recently, many saints and other religious figures have been suspected of having had temporal lobe epilepsy.<ref name="Dewhurst1970">{{cite journal
| author = Dewhurst K, Beard A
| title = Sudden religious conversions in temporal lobe epilepsy. 1970.
| journal = Epilepsy & Behaviour
| volume = 4
| issue = 1
| pages = 78–87
| year = 2003
| pmid = 12609232
| format = PDF
| url=http://www.uni-graz.at/~schulter/se04_religiosity.pdf
| doi = 10.1016/S1525-5050(02)00688-1
}}</ref> J.E. Bryant's book from 1953, ''"Genius and Epilepsy"'', has a list of over 20 people that combines the great and the mystical.<ref name="Bryant1953">{{cite book
| last = Ernest
| first = Bryant J.
| title = Genius and Epilepsy. Brief sketches of Great Men Who Had Both
| year = 1953
| publisher = Ye Old Depot Press
| location = Concord, Massachusetts
}}</ref> Recent scholars are more skeptical. Neuropsychiatrist Peter Fenwick is amongst those who question the widespread labeling of religious figures with temporal lobe epilepsy. He believes this may ''"owe more to the enthusiasm of their authors than to the true scientific understanding"''<ref name="Fenwick2006">{{cite web
| accessdate = 2006-08-15
| url = http://www.start.gr/user/symposia/fen4.htm
| title = Untitled
| author = Peter Fenwick
| date = [[1994-01-07]]
| publisher = 4th International Science Symposium on Science and Consciousness.
}}</ref> In a recent detailed review of the subject, neurologist John Hughes concluded that the majority of famous people alleged to have epilepsy did not in fact have this condition.<ref name="Hughes2005">{{cite journal
| author=Hughes JR
| title=Did all those famous people really have epilepsy?
| journal=Epilepsy & Behavior
| year=2005
| pages=115–39
| volume=6
| issue=2
| pmid=15710295
| doi=10.1016/j.yebeh.2004.11.011}}</ref><ref name="Martin">{{cite web
| author = Jenna Martin
| url = http://www.epilepsy.com/articles/ar_1107544697.html
| title = Rewriting History: Did All Those Famous People Really Have Epilepsy?
| work = Epilepsy.com
| accessdate = 2006-02-02
}}</ref>
==Certain diagnosis==
This categorised chronological list contains only those people with a firm and uncontested diagnosis made while still alive.
===Acting===
<onlyinclude>
{| class=wikitable
! width="17%" | Name
! width="13%" | Life
! width="65%" | Comments
! width="5%" | Reference
|- valign="top"
| '''[[Bud Abbott]]'''
| 1897–1974
| The straight man in the comedy team of [[Abbott and Costello]]. He had epilepsy all his life, and tried to control and hide it by drinking.
|<ref>{{cite web
| author = Tom Raymond
| url = http://www.clown-ministry.com/History/abbott-costello/bud-abbott-biography.html
| title = Bud Abbott Biography
| work = Clown Ministry
| accessdate = 2006-02-02
}}</ref>
|- valign="top"
| '''[[Ward Bond]]'''
| 1903–1960
| A film [[actor]]. His epilepsy meant that he was rejected from [[Conscription in the United States|the draft]] for [[World War II]].
|<ref>{{cite book
| author = Randy W Roberts
| title = John Wayne: American
| publisher = University of Nebraska Press
| date = [[1997-10-01]]
| id = ISBN 0-8032-8970-7
| pages = 232
| quote = Ward Bond, an epileptic 4-F, remained in the Hollywood
}}</ref>
|- valign="top"
| '''[[Danny Glover]]'''
| born 1946
| An actor and film director who had epilepsy from age 15 to age 35.
|<ref>{{cite web
| url = http://www.ibe-epilepsy.org/search_det.asp?CategoryID=Archive&ID=33
| title = Famous Star of the Big Screen steps out from the Shadows
| work = International Bureau for Epilepsy
| accessdate = 2006-02-02
}}</ref>
|- valign="top"
| '''[[Margaux Hemingway]]'''
| 1955–1996
| A film actress and model who had epilepsy from the age of 7. Her death was attributed to suicide by an intentional overdose of [[phenobarbital]], which is an [[anticonvulsant]], but see the footnoted article for an alternative explanation.
|<ref>{{cite web
| author = Hara Estroff Marano
| year = 1996
| url = http://cms.psychologytoday.com/articles/pto-1028.html
| title = What killed Margaux Hemingway?
| work = Psychology Today
| publisher = Sussex Publishers
| accessdate = 2006-02-02
}}</ref>
|- valign="top"
| '''[[Martin Kemp (actor)|Martin Kemp]]'''
| born 1961
| Actor and former [[bassist]] with the pop band [[Spandau Ballet]]. He has had epilepsy since having two brain tumours in the 1990s.
|<ref>{{cite web
| url = http://www.encephalitis.info/NewsEvents/News.html
| title = Encephalitis Information Resource News
| accessdate = 2007-03-20
| year = 2006
| publisher = Encephalitis Society
}}
</ref>
|- valign="top"
| '''[[Rik Mayall]]'''
| born 1958
| A comedian and actor who was seriously injured and put in a coma for five days after a [[All-terrain vehicle|quad bike]] accident in 1998. Initially prescribed [[phenytoin]] [[Prophylaxis|prophylactically]], he has since had two seizures, possibly due to not taking his medication.
|<ref>{{cite news
| first=Lynn
| last=Barber
| url=http://www.guardian.co.uk/Archive/Article/0,4273,4106707,00.html
| title=Forever young
| publisher=Observer
| date=[[2000-12-17]]
| accessdate=2006-02-08
}}</ref>
|- valign="top"
| '''[[Hugo Weaving]]'''
| born 1960
| An actor who has taken anticonvulsants for epilepsy since his first seizure age 13.
|<ref>{{cite visual
| crew=Anna Spencer and Linda Ray (writers)
| date=1995
| title=Portraits: People with Epilepsy
| medium=Video
| location=Australia
| distributor=[http://www.eqi.org.au/store/ Epilepsy Queensland Inc]
}}</ref>
|}</onlyinclude>
===Leadership, politics and royalty===
{| class=wikitable
! width="17%" | Name
! width="13%" | Life
! width="65%" | Comments
! width="5%" | Reference
|- valign="top"
| '''[[Michael IV the Paphlagonian]]'''
| 1010–1041
| A [[Byzantine emperor]] who had frequent tonic clonic epileptic seizures since adolescence. It was perceived to be demonic possession – punishment for his sins. His royal entourage were alert to signs of an impending seizure and tried to hide the emperor when ill.
|<ref>{{cite journal
| author = Lascaratos J, Zis P
| title = The epilepsy of Emperor Michael IV, Paphlagon (1034-1041 A.D.): accounts of Byzantine historians and physicians.
| journal = Epilepsia
| volume = 41
| issue = 7
| pages = 913–7
| year = 2000
| pmid = 10897168
| url = http://www.blackwell-synergy.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/j.1528-1157.2000.tb00264.x
| doi = 10.1111/j.1528-1157.2000.tb00264.x
}}</ref>
|- valign="top"
| '''[[Ivan V Alekseyevich]]'''
| 1666–1696
| Older half brother of Russian Tsar Peter the Great. Ivan V was feebleminded, epileptic, and half-blind. Would have never become Tsar except for the support of his sister Sophia, who wanted to become regent over him. His sister, with streltsy, made Ivan V rule as co-tsar with Peter I (Great) (who had already been tsar for a few weeks).
|<ref>{{cite book
| first = Miriam
| last = Greenblatt
| year = 2000
| title = Rulers and Their Times: Peter the Great and Tsarist Russia
| pages = 80
| publisher = Benchmark Books
| id = ISBN 0-7614-0914-9
}}</ref><ref>{{cite web
| url = http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ivan_V
| title = Ivan V of Russia
| accessdate = 2006-11-14
}}</ref>
|- valign="top"
| '''[[Martha Parke Custis]]'''
| 1756–1773
| The daughter of [[Martha Washington]] and step daughter of [[George Washington]]. She had seizures from early childhood and died during a seizure, aged 17. Unusually for the time, her parents did not hide her epilepsy and encouraged her to lead a normal life. They tried various treatments including [[mercury (element)|mercury]], [[valeriana]], factitious [[cinnabar]], bleeding, and spring waters.
|<ref name="DeToledo1999">{{cite journal
| author = DeToledo J, DeToledo M, Lowe M
| title = Epilepsy and sudden death: notes from George Washington's diaries on the illness and death of Martha Parke-Custis (1756-1773).
| journal = Epilepsia
| volume = 40
| issue = 12
| pages = 1835–6
| year = 1999
| pmid = 10612354
| url = http://www.blackwell-synergy.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/j.1528-1157.1999.tb01608.x
| doi = 10.1111/j.1528-1157.1999.tb01608.x
}}</ref>
|- valign="top"
| '''[[Pope Pius IX]]'''
| 1792–1878
| Had childhood epilepsy.
|<ref>{{cite web
| author = Terry H Jones
| url = http://www.catholic-forum.com/saints/saintp0l.htm
| title = Pius IX
| work = Patron Saints Index
| accessdate = 2006-02-02
}}</ref><ref>{{cite book
| first = Owen
| last = Chadwick
| year = 2003
| month = March
| title = A History of the Popes 1830-1914
| pages = 113
| publisher = Oxford University Press
| id = ISBN 0-19-926286-1
}}</ref><ref>{{cite web
| year = 2000
| url = http://www.vatican.va/news_services/liturgy/saints/ns_lit_doc_20000903_pius-ix_en.html
| title = Pope Pius IX
| work = L'Osservatore Romano
| accessdate = 2006-02-02
}}</ref>
|- valign="top"
| '''[[Francis Libermann]]'''
| 1802–1852
| A Jew who converted to Christianity and studied for priesthood. Epilepsy prevented his ordination for many years.
|<ref name="Dewhurst1970"/>
|- valign="top"
| '''[[Ida McKinley]]'''
| 1847–1907
| [[First Lady of the United States]] from 1897 to 1901. Her epilepsy started in adulthood and was to become quite disabling and inconvenient. As was normal for the time, great efforts were made to keep this secret. Her husband, [[William McKinley]] would cover her face with a napkin when she had symptoms at dinner parties.
|<ref>{{cite web
| author = Anne Adams
| url = http://www.historyswomen.com/1stWomen/idamckinley.htm
| title = Ida Saxton McKinley
| work = History's Women: The Unsung Heroines
| accessdate = 2006-02-02
}}</ref>
|- valign="top"
| '''[[Antônio Moreira César]]'''
| 1850–1897
| The brutal commander of the third Expedition in the [[War of Canudos]]. He had epilepsy since his 30s, which worsened on the way to [[Canudos]]. He was shot on the first day of battle and some blame the seizures for his military misjudgements.
|<ref name="Yacubian2003>{{cite journal
| author = Elza Márcia Targas Yacubian
| title = When epilepsy may have changed history: Antônio Moreira César as the commander of the third expedition in the war of Canudos.
| journal = Arquivos de Neuropsiquiatria
| volume = 61
| issue = 2B
| pages = 503–9
| year = 2003
| pmid = 12894295
| url = http://www.scielo.br/pdf/anp/v61n2B/16275.pdf
}}</ref>
|- valign="top"
| '''[[Vladimir Lenin]]'''
| 1870–1924
| First [[Premier of the Soviet Union]]. Lenin's final year was characterised by neurological decline and loss of function. In his last few months, he developed epilepsy. His seizures worsened and he died in [[status epilepticus]], which had lasted 50 minutes.
|<ref>{{cite journal
| author = Lerner V, Finkelstein Y, Witztum E
| title = The enigma of Lenin's (1870–1924) malady.
| journal = Eur J Neurol
| volume = 11
| issue = 6
| pages = 371–6
| year = 2004
| url = http://www.blackwell-synergy.com/doi/full/10.1111/j.1468-1331.2004.00839.x
| pmid = 15171732
| doi = 10.1111/j.1468-1331.2004.00839.x
}}</ref>
|- valign="top"
| '''[[Harry H. Laughlin|Harry Laughlin]]'''
| 1880–1943
| The director of the [[United States|American]] [[Eugenics Record Office]] from its inception in 1910 to its closing in 1939. In 1922, he drew up laws for the compulsory sterilization of various "degenerate" groups, which included those with epilepsy.
|<ref>{{cite book
| first = James D.
| last = Watson
| year = 2004
| month = April
| title = DNA: The Secret of Life
| chapter = Chapter One: Beginnings of Genetics: From Mendel to Hitler
| chapterurl = http://www.randomhouse.com/boldtype/0403/watson/excerpt.html
| publisher = Arrow
| id = ISBN 0-09-945184-0
}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal
| first = David
| last = Pfeiffer
| year = 1994
| title = Eugenics and Disability Discrimination
| journal = Disability & Society
| volume = 9
| issue = 4
| pages = 481–499
| url = http://www.independentliving.org/docs1/pfeiffe1.html
| doi = 10.1080/09687599466780471
}}</ref>
|- valign="top"
| '''[[Prince Erik, Duke of Västmanland]]'''
| 1889–1918
| The youngest son of [[Gustaf V of Sweden]].
|<ref name="Kiste1996>{{cite book
| author=John Van der Kiste
| title=Northern crowns: the kings of modern Scandinavia
| pages=52
| publisher=Sutton Pub
| year=1996
| id=ISBN 0-7509-1812-8}}</ref>
<!-- Thanks to Allan Raymond, owner of Monarchies of Europe Web Site at
http://www.btinternet.com/~allan_raymond/Monarchies_of_Europe.htm for the above information -->
|- valign="top"
| '''[[Prince John of the United Kingdom]]'''
| 1905–1919
| The youngest son of [[George V of the United Kingdom|King George V]], John had epilepsy from the age of 4 until his death after a seizure aged 13. The shame of his epilepsy, along with other neurological problems, meant he was kept from the public eye.
|<ref>{{cite visual
| crew=[[Stephen Poliakoff]] (writer, director)
| date=2005
| title=[[The Lost Prince]]
| medium=TV-Drama
| location=UK
| distributor=BBC
}}</ref>
|- valign="top"
| '''[[Lionel Blue|Rabbi Lionel Blue]]'''
| born 1930
| A rabbi and broadcaster, best known for his contributions to "[[Thought for the Day]]" on [[BBC Radio 4]]'s [[Today programme|''Today'' program]]. His epilepsy was diagnosed when he was aged 57 and is successfully controlled with medication.
|<ref>{{cite web
| author = Lionel Blue
| url = http://www.fundraisingdinner.com/index.pl/donate.html
| title = Donation Appeal
| work = fundraisingdinner.com (Epilepsy Research Foundation)
| accessdate = 2006-02-10
}}</ref><ref>{{cite news
| title = Celebrity Health - Rabbi Lionel Blue
| url = http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/5322880.stm
| publisher = BBC News
| date = [[2006-09-10]]
| accessdate = 2006-11-21
}}</ref>
|- valign="top"
| '''[[Dave Longaberger]]'''
| 1934–1999
| A businessman and founder of [[The Longaberger Company]], makers of handcrafted maple wood baskets and accessories. He overcame epilepsy and a [[stutter]], eventually graduating from high school aged 21.
|<ref>{{cite web
| year = 2005
| url = http://www.longaberger.com/ourStory/historyAndFamily.jsp?BV_UseBVCookie=Yes&channelID=-8012
| title = Longaberger: The Nation's Premier Maker of Handcrafted Baskets
| publisher = The Longaberger Company
| accessdate = 2006-11-21
}}
</ref>
|- valign="top"
| '''[[Neil Abercrombie]]'''
| born 1937
| A [[United States]] [[congressman]] who campaigns for increased funding for epilepsy research. He was diagnosed with epilepsy in his early thirties.
|<ref>{{cite web
| author = Natalie Frazin
| url = http://www.ninds.nih.gov/news_and_events/proceedings/conference_curing_epilepsy_summary.htm
| title = White House-Initiated Conference on Epilepsy
| work = National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke
| accessdate = 2006-02-07
}}</ref><ref>{{cite web
| url = http://www.epilepsyfoundation.org/epilepsyusa/congressbrief.cfm
| title = Congress Alerted to Critical Issues in Women's Health
| work = Epilepsy Foundation
| accessdate = 2006-02-07
}}</ref>
|- valign="top"
| '''[[Rudi Dutschke]]'''
| 1940–1979
| A prominent spokesperson of the [[left-wing]] [[German student movement]] of the 1960s. An assassination attempt in 1968, when he was shot twice in the head, left him partially blind and with frequent epileptic attacks. He drowned in the bathtub after suffering a seizure.
|<ref>{{cite news
|title = This Miserable Little Case
|url = http://www.time.com/time/magazine/printout/0,8816,909750,00.html
|publisher = Time Magazine
|date = [[1971-02-01]]
|accessdate = 2006-09-05
}}</ref><ref>{{cite news
|title = Milestones
|url = http://www.time.com/time/magazine/printout/0,8816,923870,00.html
|publisher = Time Magazine
|date = [[1980-01-07]]
|accessdate = 2006-09-05
}}</ref>
|- valign="top"
| '''[[Tony Coelho]]'''
| born 1942
| A former United States congressman who developed epilepsy aged 16, possibly as a result of an earlier head injury. This would lead to rejection by his family and the Jesuits for "possession by the devil". He has campaigned as a congressman for disabled rights and chairs the [[Epilepsy Foundation]]'s national board of directors.
|<ref>{{cite book
| first = B.T.
| last = McMahon
| coauthors = L.R. Shaw
| year = 1999
| month =September
| title = Enabling Lives: Biographies of Six Prominent Americans with Disabilities
| chapter = Chapter Six: Tony Coelho
| publisher = CRC Press
| id = ISBN 0-8493-0351-6
}}</ref>
|}
===Music===
{| class=wikitable
! width="17%" | Name
! width="13%" | Life
! width="65%" | Comments
! width="5%" | Reference
|- valign="top"
| '''[[Jimmy Reed]]'''
| 1925–1976
| An [[United States|American]] [[blues]] singer. His diagnosis of epilepsy in 1957 was delayed due to an assumption that these were attacks of [[delirium tremens]]. He died after an epileptic seizure aged 51.
|<ref name="Bogdanov2003">{{cite book
| editor = Vladimir Bogdanov, Chris Woodstra, Stephen Thomas Erlewine
| title = All Music Guide to the Blues
| date = [[2003-04-01]]
| publisher = Backbeat Books
| id = ISBN 0-87930-736-6
| pages = 464
| chapterurl = http://www.bluesharp.ca/legends/jreed.html
}}</ref><ref>{{cite web
| url = http://www.rockhall.com/hof/inductee.asp?id=178
| title = Jimmy Reed: performer
| accessdate = 2006-09-01
| year = 2005
| publisher = Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum
}}</ref>
|- valign="top"
| '''[[Neil Young]]'''
| born 1945
| Singer-songwriter, formerly of folk rock band [[Buffalo Springfield]]. Disliked the effects of his medication; seeking personal stability as an alternative means of control.
|<ref name="Young1997">{{cite book
| last = Young
| first = Scott
| authorlink = Scott Young
| title = Neil and Me
| date = [[1997-07-30]]
| publisher = Music Sales Distributed
| id = ISBN 0-9529540-2-8
| pages = 68
| chapter = Chapter 8: Buffalo Springfield and Epilepsy
| chapterurl =
| quote =he went on daily medication to control his epilepsy – and grew to dislike the medication's effect on him so much that a few years later he stopped using, feeling that in his case control had more to do with personal stability than medication.
}}</ref>
|- valign="top"
| '''[[Lindsey Buckingham]]'''
| born 1949
| The guitarist and singer in the music group [[Fleetwood Mac]] was taken to hospital after a seizure while on tour, aged 29. His epilepsy was successfully controlled by anticonvulsant drugs.
|<ref>{{cite journal
| first = Daisann
| last = McLane
| year = 1980
| title = Five Not So Easy Pieces
| journal = Rolling Stone
| issue = 310
| url = http://www.nicksfix.com/rs_issue310.htm
}}</ref><ref>{{cite book
| first = Bob
| last = Brunning
| year = 2004
| month = January
| title = The Fleetwood Mac Story: Rumours and Lies
| pages = 139
| publisher = Omnibus Press
| id = ISBN 1-84449-011-4
}}</ref>
|- valign="top"
| '''[[Chris Knox]]'''
| born 1952
| New Zealand indie musician ([[Toy Love]], [[Tall Dwarfs]]) has addressed his epilepsy in such songs as "Lapse", and it is also referenced in his album title "Seizure".
|<ref>{{cite book
| first = John
| last = Dix
| title = Stranded in Paradise: New Zealand Rock'n'Roll 1955-1988
| accessdate = 2007-01-11
| date = 1988
| publisher = Paradise Publications
| id = ISBN 0-473-00638-3
}}</ref>
|- valign="top"
| '''[[Ian Curtis]]'''
| 1956–1980
| The vocalist and lyricist of the band [[Joy Division]] was diagnosed with epilepsy aged 22. The cover of their album [[Unknown Pleasures]] resembles an [[electroencephalogram|EEG]] tracing, but is actually the tracings of the radio emissions of a [[pulsar]].
|<ref>{{cite web
| url = http://www.iancurtis.org/biography/
| title = Biography
| work = Ian Curtis and Joy Division Fan Club
| accessdate = 2006-02-02
}}</ref>
|- valign="top"
| '''[[Richard Jobson (television presenter)|Richard Jobson]]'''
| born 1960
| Formerly the lead singer with the punk rock group, [[The Skids]], now a television presenter and film maker. He has absence seizures.
|<ref>{{cite news
| first=Barry
| last=Didcock
| url=http://www.sundayherald.com/43416
| title=Ned, punk, male model, arthouse auteur, B-movie impresario, intellectual ... Just who does Richard Jobson think he is?
| publisher=Sunday Herald
| date=[[2004-07-18]]
| accessdate=2006-02-08
}}</ref>
|- valign="top"
| '''[[Edith Bowman]]'''
| born 1975
| [[Scotland|Scottish]] [[television presenter]] and a [[radio]] [[Disc jockey|D.J.]], who had epilepsy as a child.
|<ref>{{cite news
| first=Jon
| last=Wilde
| url=http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/live/live.html?in_article_id=454151&in_page_id=1889
| title=Festival Queen Edith Bowman gets down and dirty
| publisher=The Mail on Sunday
| date=[[2006-15-13]]
| accessdate=2007-05-16
}}</ref>
|- valign="top"
| '''[[Peter Jefferies]]'''
| born ca.1961
| New Zealand musician ([[Nocturnal Projections]], [[This Kind of Punishment]]).
|<ref>{{cite web
| url = http://www.geocities.com/zaaz813/jefferies.html
| title = Electricity
| work = Radio New Zealand interview, 1998
| accessdate = 2007-01-11
}}</ref>
|- valign="top"
| '''[[Hikari Oe]]'''
| born 1963
| A [[Japan]]ese [[composer]] who has [[autism]], epilepsy and [[mental retardation]] and has created two successful classical-music CDs. He is the son of [[Kenzaburo Oe]], the Japanese novelist who won the 1994 [[Nobel Prize in Literature]].
|<ref>{{cite book
| first = Lindsley
| last = Cameron
| title = The Music Of Light: The Extraordinary Story of Hikari and Kenzaburo Oe
| accessdate = 2006-11-28
| date = 1998-06-12
| publisher = Free Press
| id = ISBN 0-684-82409-4
}}</ref>
|- valign="top"
| '''[[Adam Horovitz]]'''
| born 1966
| Member of the music group [[Beastie Boys]].
|<ref>{{cite journal
| year = 1994
| month = June
| title = Interview with Adam Horovitz
| journal = Details Magazine
}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal
| year = 1994
| title = Interview with Adam Horovitz
| journal = [[Spin magazine|Spin Magazine]]
}}</ref>
|- valign="top"
| '''[[The Streets|Mike Skinner]]'''
| born 1978
| Also known as [[The Streets]], he had epilepsy between the ages of 7 and 20.
|<ref>{{cite news
| first=Ben
| last=Thompson
| url=http://www.guardian.co.uk/arts/features/story/0,11710,1200042,00.html
| title=Dead cert
| publisher=The Guardian
| date=[[2004-04-25]]
| accessdate=2006-02-02
}}</ref>
|- valign="top"
| '''[[Geoff Rickly]]'''
| born 1979
| A member of the band [[Thursday (band)|Thursday]], who discovered he had epilepsy while on tour.
|<ref>{{cite news
| first=James
| last=Montgomery
| url=http://www.vh1.com/news/articles/1493556/20041109/thursday.jhtml?headlines=true
| title=Despite Everything They Said, Thursday Aren't Breaking Up
| publisher=VH1 Music News
| date=[[2004-11-10]]
| accessdate=2006-02-02
}}</ref><ref>{{cite news
| first=Chris
| last=Harris
| url=http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1510427/20050927/story.jhtml
| title=Thursday Frontman Says He Doesn't Want To Exploit My Chemical Romance, But ...
| publisher=MTV News
| date=[[2005-09-27]]
| accessdate=2006-02-02
}}</ref>
|}
===Sport===
{| class=wikitable
! width="17%" | Name
! width="13%" | Life
! width="65%" | Comments
! width="5%" | Reference
|- valign="top"
| '''[[Grover Cleveland Alexander]]'''
| 1887–1950
| A [[major league baseball]] pitcher who tried to hide his epilepsy with alcohol, which was at the time considered to be a more socially acceptable problem. [[Ty Cobb]] said he "suffered hell on the field."
|<ref>{{cite book
| first = Rick
| last = Swaine
| year = 2004
| month = March
| title = Beating the Breaks: Major League Ballplayers Who Overcame Disabilities
| chapter = Chapter five: Neurological and Psychological Disorders
| pages = 159–167
| publisher = McFarland & Company
| id = ISBN 0-7864-1828-1
}} </ref>
|- valign="top"
| '''[[Tony Lazzeri]]'''
| 1903–1946
| A major league baseball player who probably died after seizure that occurred when he was alone at home.
|<ref>{{cite book
| first = Rick
| last = Swaine
| year = 2004
| month = March
| title = Beating the Breaks: Major League Ballplayers Who Overcame Disabilities
| chapter = Chapter five: Neurological and Psychological Disorders
| pages = 168–169
| publisher = McFarland & Company
| id = ISBN 0-7864-1828-1
}}</ref>
|- valign="top"
| '''[[Hal Lanier]]'''
| born 1942
| A major league baseball player and manager. He developed epilepsy after a severe beaning.
|<ref name="Swaine2004.6">{{cite book
| first = Rick
| last = Swaine
| year = 2004
| month = March
| title = Beating the Breaks: Major League Ballplayers Who Overcame Disabilities
| chapter = Chapter six: Other Disabilities
| pages = 203
| publisher = McFarland & Company
| id = ISBN 0-7864-1828-1
}} </ref>
|- valign="top"
| '''[[Tony Greig]]'''
| born 1946
| A former [[cricketer]] and commentator who is involved with Epilepsy Action Australia. He had his first seizure, aged 14, during a tennis game but has successfully controlled his epilepsy with medication.
|<ref>{{cite web
| url = http://www.epilepsy.org.au/our_board.asp#5
| title = Our Board
| work = Epilepsy Action (Australia)
| accessdate = 2006-02-02
}}</ref>
|- valign="top"
| '''[[Buddy Bell]]'''
| born 1951
| A major league baseball player and manager.
|<ref name="Swaine2004.6"/>
|- valign="top"
| '''[[Bobby Jones (basketball)|Bobby Jones]]'''
| born 1951
| A former pro [[basketball]] player who developed epilepsy and a heart problem as an adult, but persevered with his game.
|<ref>{{cite web
| url = http://www.aia.com/basketball/news.aspx?newsitem=30
| title = Bobby Jones: A Story of Perseverance
| work = Atheltes in Action
| accessdate = 2006-02-02
}}</ref><ref>{{cite web
| author = David Friedman
| year = 2005
| url = http://www.hoopshype.com/articles/jones_friedman.htm
| title = The ultimate team player
| work = Hoops Hype
| accessdate = 2006-02-02
}}</ref>
|- valign="top"
| '''[[Terry Marsh (boxer)|Terry Marsh]]'''
| born 1958
| A [[boxing|boxer]] who was [[International Boxing Federation|IBF]] world light-welterweight champion. His diagnosis of epilepsy in 1987, aged 29, forced him into retirement undefeated.
|<ref>{{cite news
| first=Phil
| last=Berger
| url=http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9B0DEFD91231F934A35753C1A961948260
| title=Boxing Notebook; Marsh Finds Profitable Life Out of Ring
| publisher=New York Times
| date=07-08-1987
| accessdate=2006-02-09
}}</ref><ref>{{cite book
| first = Terry
| last = Marsh
| year = 2005
| month = September
| title = Undefeated
| publisher = Terry Marsh Publishing
| id = ISBN 0-9549999-0-8
}}</ref>
|- valign="top"
| '''[[Greg Walker]]'''
| born 1959
| A major league baseball player who collapsed on field with a tonic-clonic seizure. He had a further seizure in hospital that night and took anticonvulsant medication for the next two years. Walker had a childhood history of seizures until the age of 4.
|<ref>{{cite news
| author = Steve Rosenbloom
| url = http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/baseball/whitesox/chi-0605090098may09,1,435776.story
| title = Greg Walker
| publisher = [[Chicago Tribune]]
| date = [[2006-05-09]]
| accessdate = 2006-08-11
}}</ref><ref>{{cite news
| author = [[Associated Press|AP]]
| url = http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=940DE2D7103AF932A3575BC0A96E948260
| title = Walker Suffers Second Seizure
| publisher = [[The New York Times]]
| date = [[1988-08-01]]
| accessdate = 2006-08-11
}}</ref>
|- valign="top"
| '''[[Florence Griffith Joyner]]'''
| 1959–1998
| An [[Athletics (track and field)|athlete]] with world records in the 100 m and 200 m. She developed seizures in her thirties, possibly due to a [[cavernous angioma]] that was discovered on autopsy. She died from [[asphyxia]]tion after a grand mal seizure while asleep.
|<ref>{{cite news
| first=Kristina Rebelo
| last=Anderson
| url=http://www.salon.com/news/1998/12/cov_04newsa.html
| title=The Uneasy Death of Florence Griffith Joyner
| publisher=Salon.com
| date=[[1998-12-04]]
| accessdate=2006-02-02
}}</ref>
|- valign="top"
| '''[[Wally Lewis]]'''
| born 1959
| One of Australia's greatest rugby league players, national team captain 1984-89. After retirement from the sport he became a television sports presenter, but became disoriented during a live-to-air broadcast in late 2006. Medical tests revealed that he had epilepsy.
|<ref>{{cite news
| author = not given
| url = http://www.theage.com.au/news/National/Wally-Lewis-reveals-he-has-epilepsy/2006/12/01/1164777790633.html
| title = Wally Lewis reveals he has epilepsy
| publisher = [[The Age]]
| date = [[2006-12-01]]
| accessdate = 2007-01-11
}}</ref>
|- valign="top"
| '''[[Paul Wade]]'''
| born 1962
| Former Australian national [[Football (soccer)|football]] player and television sports commentator. Wade had epilepsy all his life but was only diagnosed as an adult. He kept it secret until he had a seizure on live television in 2001. Drugs weren't controlling the seizures so, in 2002, he had surgery to remove a scar in his brain. He is now seizure free.
|<ref>{{cite news
|author = Matthew Hall
|url = http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2002/09/21/1032054999132.html
|title = Wade ready to kick on again
|publisher = The Age
|date = [[2002-09-22]]
|accessdate = 2006-08-12
}}</ref><ref>{{cite web
| url = http://www.epilepsy.org.au/home/headline/files/web2/04_winter/h62_insight2.asp
| title = Coaching With Surgical Precision
| accessdate = 2006-08-12
| year = 2004
| work = Australian Headlines (National Epilepsy Magazine)
| publisher = Epilepsy Action (Australia)
}}</ref>
|- valign="top"
| '''[[Maggie McEleny]]'''
| born 1965
| Four times British [[Paralympic Games|Paralympic]] swimmer, winning 3 gold, 5 silver and 7 bronze. McEleny has [[paraplegia]] and epilepsy. In 2000, she was made an [[Order of the British Empire|MBE]] and awarded a Golden Jubilee Award by the [[Epilepsy Action|British Epilepsy Association]].
|<ref>{{cite web
| url = http://www.sisport.com/sisport/sis_noindex.jsp?pContentID=626
| title = Swimming (Disability) / Margaret McEleny MBE
| accessdate = 2006-08-14
| publisher = Scottish Institute of Sport
}}</ref><ref>{{cite web
| url = http://www.sisport.com/sisport/sis_noindex.jsp?pContentID=2393
| title = News / Swimmers Continue Medal Haul
| accessdate = 2006-08-14
| date = [[2005-10-01]]
| publisher = Scottish Institute of Sport
}}</ref>
|- valign="top"
| '''[[Jonty Rhodes]]'''
| born 1969
| A cricketer who is involved with Epilepsy South Africa.
|<ref>{{cite web
| url = http://www.epilepsy.org.za/did.html#jonti
| title = Did You Know: Jonty Rhodes
| work = Epilepsy South Africa
| accessdate = 2006-02-02
}}</ref>
|- valign="top"
| '''[[Tom Smith (rugby player)|Tom Smith]]'''
| born 1971
| Former Scottish international and Northampton Saints [[rugby football|rugby]] player. Has had epilepsy since the age of 18. His seizures occur only at night, during sleep. He is a patron of the Scottish epilepsy charity Enlighten.
|<ref>{{cite news
| year = 2005
| url = http://www.epilepsy.org.uk/node/1076
| title = Survey Reveals Impact Of Epilepsy On Men
| publisher = Epilepsy Action
| accessdate = 2007-09-04
}}</ref><ref>{{cite news
|author = David Ferguson
|url = http://sport.scotsman.com/rugby.cfm?id=83312000
|title = Smith tries to put illness in perspective
|publisher = The Scotsman
|date = [[2000-10-24]]
|accessdate = 2006-08-13
}}</ref>
|- valign="top"
| '''[[Alan Faneca]]'''
| born 1976
| An [[American Football]] [[Guard (American football)|guard]] who currently plays for the [[Pittsburgh Steelers]]. He was diagnosed with epilepsy at the age of 15 and takes the anticonvulsant [[carbamazepine]], which successfully controls his seizures.
|<ref>{{cite web
| url = http://www.efa.org/aboutus/pressroom/pr20060202.cfm
| title = Epilepsy Foundation Salutes Steelers' Alan Faneca on Super Bowl Sunday
| work = Epilepsy Foundation
| accessdate = 2006-02-15
}}</ref><ref>{{cite web
| author = Adam Modzelesky
| url = http://www.epilepsyfoundation.org/epilepsyusa/faneca.cfm
| title = Not Faster than a Speeding Bullet, but More Powerful than a Locomotive, this Man of Steel is an Inspiration for Everyone
| work = Epilepsy USA
| accessdate = 2006-02-15
}}</ref>
|- valign="top"
| '''[[Samari Rolle]]'''
| born 1976
| An [[American Football]] [[Cornerback (American football)|cornerback]] who currently plays for the [[Baltimore Ravens]].
|<ref>{{cite web
| url = http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=3122595
| title = Ravens Cornerback Rolle Reveals He Has Epilepsy
| work = ESPN.com
| accessdate = 2007-11-22
}}</ref>
|- valign="top"
| '''[[Chanda Gunn]]'''
| born 1980
| A goalie in the [[American national women's hockey team|US 2006 Winter Olympic women's hockey team]]. Gunn was diagnosed with juvenile absence epilepsy at the age of 9, which was treated with [[valproic acid]]. Epilepsy meant that she had to give up her childhood sports of swimming and surfing, but these were soon replaced with [[hockey]].
|<ref>{{cite web
| author = Peggy Peck
| year = 2006
| url = http://www.cnn.com/2006/HEALTH/02/07/profile.gunn/
| title = Epilepsy can't stop U.S. Olympic goalie
| work = MedPageToday.com
| publisher = CNN.com
| accessdate = 2006-02-16
}}</ref>
|}
===Art and writing===
{| class=wikitable
! width="17%" | Name
! width="13%" | Life
! width="65%" | Comments
! width="5%" | Reference
|- valign="top"
| '''[[Edward Lear]]'''
| 1812–1888
| An artist, illustrator and writer known for his nonsensical poetry and limericks. His epilepsy, which he developed as a child, may have been inherited (his elder sister Jane had frequent seizures and died young). Lear was ashamed of his epilepsy and kept it a secret. He did, however, record each seizure in his diary.
|<ref>{{cite web
| url = http://www.charge.org.uk/htmlsite/lear.shtml
| title = Edward Lear
| work = Charge - The experience of Epilepsy
| accessdate = 2006-02-02
}}</ref>
|- valign="top"
| '''[[Fyodor Dostoyevsky]]'''
| 1821–1881
| A Russian writer whose epilepsy was probably inherited (both his father and his son had seizures). He incorporated his experiences into his novels – creating four different characters with epilepsy. Dostoyevsky's epilepsy was unusual in that he claimed to experience an ecstatic [[aura (symptom)|aura]] prior to a seizure, whereas most people experience unpleasant feelings.
|<ref>{{cite web
| url = http://www.charge.org.uk/htmlsite/dost.shtml
| title = Fyodor Dostoevsky
| work = Charge - The experience of Epilepsy
| accessdate = 2006-02-02
}} </ref><ref>{{cite journal
| author=Hughes JR
| title=The idiosyncratic aspects of the epilepsy of Fyodor Dostoevsky
| journal=Epilepsy & Behavior
| year=2005
| pages=531–8
| volume=7
| issue=3
| pmid=16194626
| doi=10.1016/j.yebeh.2005.07.021}}</ref>
|- valign="top"
| '''[[George Inness]]'''
| 1825–1894
| An American painter who had epilepsy from childhood.
|<ref>{{cite web
| url = http://virtualology.com/GEORGEINNESS.NET/
| title = George Inness
| accessdate = 2006-08-14
| author = Stanley L. Klos
| year = 2001
| publisher = Virtualology.com
}}</ref>
|- valign="top"
| '''[[R. D. Blackmore]]'''
| 1825–1900
| Author of [[Lorna Doone]].
|<ref>{{cite book
| last = Dunn
| first = Waldo Hilary
| title = R. D. Blackmore: The Author of Lorna Doone, a Biography
| year = 1956
| publisher = R. Hale
| pages = 19,74,253
}}</ref>
|- valign="top"
| '''[[Charles Altamont Doyle]]'''
| 1832–1893
| Artist and father of [[Arthur Conan Doyle]]. His alcoholism and a violent outburst led him to be detained in an asylum. Whist there, he developed epilepsy and severe memory problems.
|<ref>{{cite journal
| last = Beveridge
| first = Allan
| year = 2006
| title = What became of Arthur Conan Doyle’s father? The last years of Charles Altamont Doyle.
| journal = Journal of the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh
| volume = 36
| pages = 264–270
| url = http://www.rcpe.ac.uk/publications/articles/journal_36_3/U_Beveridge2.pdf
| accessdate = 2006-11-21
}}</ref>
|- valign="top"
| '''[[Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson]]'''
| 1832–1910
| [[Norway|Norwegian]] writer and a 1903 [[Nobel Prize in Literature]] laureate. Developed focal epilepsy following a stroke in the final year of his life.
|<ref name="Aarli1995">{{cite journal
| author = Aarli J
| title = [Medical treatment abroad. Why Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson died in Paris 1910]
| journal = Tidsskr Nor Laegeforen
| volume = 115
| issue = 30
| pages = 3740–4
| year = 1995
| pmid = 8539743
}}</ref>
|- valign="top"
| '''[[Ion Creangă]]'''
| 1837–1889
| A [[Romania]]n [[Children's literature|children's writer]] and [[memoir]]ist who had epilepsy for the last six years of his life.
|<ref>{{cite web
| url = http://www.ici.ro/romania/en/cultura/l_creanga.html
| title = Ion Creangă
| publisher = National Institute For Research & Development In Informatics
| accessdate = 2006-11-28
}}</ref>
|- valign="top"
| '''[[Joaquim Maria Machado de Assis]]'''
| 1839–1908
| A [[Brazil]]ian [[Literary realism|realist]] novelist, poet and short-story [[writer]]. He had epilepsy all his life, but was ashamed to mention it, using euphemisms when writing to friends. It is believed he had complex partial seizures, with secondary generalisation.
|<ref name="Guerreiro1992">{{cite journal
| author = Guerreiro C
| title = Machado de Assis's epilepsy.
| journal = Arquivos de Neuropsiquiatria
| volume = 50
| issue = 3
| pages = 378–82
| year = 1992
| pmid = 1308419
}}</ref><ref name="Chapman2000">{{cite journal
| author = Chapman A, Chapman-Santana M
| title = Machado de Assis's own writings about his epilepsy: a brief clinical note.
| journal = Arquivos de Neuropsiquiatria
| volume = 58
| issue = 4
| pages = 1153–4
| year = 2000
| url = http://www.scielo.br/pdf/anp/v58n4/3418.pdf
| pmid = 11105089
}}</ref>
|- valign="top"
| '''[[Dmitri Sinodi-Popov]]'''
| 1855–1910
| A Russian artist, whose epilepsy interrupted his studies at the [[St. Petersburg Academy of Arts]].
|<ref>{{cite web
| url = http://www.taganrogcity.com/sinodi-popov.html
| title = Dmitri Sinodi-Popov
| publisher = Official Website of the City of [[Taganrog]]
| accessdate = 2006-11-21
}}</ref>
|- valign="top"
| '''[[Minakata Kumagusu]]'''
| 1867–1941
| A Japanese writer and naturalist. He had tonic-clonic seizures, with an aura that caused [[déjà vu]]. Postmortem [[MRI]] showed right [[Hippocampus|hippocampal]] atrophy, consistent with temporal lobe epilepsy.
|<ref name="Murai1998">{{cite journal
| author = Murai T, Hanakawa T, Sengoku A, Ban T, Yoneda Y, Fujita H, Fujita N
| title = Temporal lobe epilepsy in a genius of natural history: MRI volumetric study of postmortem brain.
| journal = Neurology
| volume = 50
| issue = 5
| pages = 1373–6
| year = 1998
| pmid = 9595989
}}</ref><ref name="Sengoku2006">{{cite journal
| author = Sengoku A
| title = [Kumagusu Minakata with temporal lobe epilepsy: a pathographic study]
| journal = Seishin Shinkeigaku Zasshi
| volume = 108
| issue = 2
| pages = 132–9
| year = 2006
| pmid = 16562514
}}</ref>
|- valign="top"
| '''[[Vachel Lindsay]]'''
| 1879–1931
| A poet who took [[phenobarbital]] for his epilepsy.
|<ref>{{cite book
| first = John Hall
| last = Wheelock
| year = 2002
| month =May
| title = The Last Romantic: A Poet Among Publishers: The Oral Autobiography of John Hall Wheelock
| pages = 97
| publisher = Univ of South Carolina Press
| id = ISBN 1-57003-463-X
}}</ref>
|- valign="top"
| '''[[Laurie Lee]]'''
| 1914–1997
| A poet, novelist and screenwriter, most famous for his autobiographical trilogy (which includes Cider with Rosie). His epilepsy probably developed after he was knocked down by a bicycle at the age of 10. He kept it secret and it only surfaced when his papers were read by biographers after his death.
|<ref>{{cite journal
| first = John
| last = Knight
| year = 2000
| title = Laurie Lee: Myth And Reality - Book Review
| journal = Contemporary Review
| issue = June 2000
| url = http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m2242/is_1613_276/ai_63668452
}}</ref>
|- valign="top"
| '''[[Kyffin Williams]]'''
| 1918–2006
| A landscape painter. His epilepsy ended his army career and may have prevented him marrying.
|<ref>{{cite news
| first = Rian
| last = Evans
| date = [[2006-09-04]]
| title = Obituary: Sir Kyffin Williams
| publisher = The Guardian
| url = http://arts.guardian.co.uk/news/obituary/0,,1864138,00.html
}}</ref>
|- valign="top"
| '''[[Max Clifford]]'''
| born 1943
| A [[publicist]] known for representing controversial clients. He developed epilepsy at the age of 46.
|<ref>{{cite web
| url = http://www.bbc.co.uk/pressoffice/commercial/worldwidestories/pressreleases/2003/01_january/radio_times_lost_prince.shtml
| title = What would they do now? - Max Clifford on how today's monarchy might handle Prince John
| work = BBC Worldwide Press Releases
| accessdate = 2006-02-07
}}</ref>
|- valign="top"
| '''[[Karen Armstrong]]'''
| born 1944
| An author, feminist and writer on Judaism, Christianity, Islam and Buddhism. Her temporal lobe epilepsy went undiagnosed for many years. She wrote in her autobiography that when (in her early thirties) she was finally given the diagnosis, it was "an occasion of pure happiness".
|<ref>{{cite news
| first=Karen
| last=Armstrong
| url=http://www.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,,1488221,00.html
| title=I'm no freak, so don't treat me like one
| publisher=The Guardian
| date=[[2005-05-20]]
| accessdate=2006-02-06
}}</ref><ref>{{cite book
| first = Karen
| last = Armstrong
| year = 2005
| month = January
| title = The Spiral Staircase
| publisher = Harper Perennial
| id = ISBN 0-00-712229-2
}}</ref>
|- valign="top"
| '''[[Thom Jones]]'''
| born 1945
| Author of short stories, many of which include characters with epilepsy.
|<ref>{{cite news
| author = Natalie Angier
| url = http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?sec=health&res=9F0CEEDC123FF931A25753C1A965958260
| title = In the Temporal Lobes, Seizures and Creativity
| publisher = [[The New York Times]]
| date = [[1993-10-12]]
| accessdate = 2006-08-21
}}</ref>
|- valign="top"
| '''[[Stephen Knight]]'''
| 1951–1985
| An author who was known for his books criticising the [[Freemasonry|Freemasons]]. He started having seizures in 1977 and in 1980, agreed to take part in a [[BBC]] documentary TV program ''[[Horizon (BBC TV series)|Horizon]]'' on epilepsy. The producers arranged for a brain scan, which showed up a tumour. This was removed but returned in 1984 and despite further surgery he died in 1985.
|<ref>{{cite journal
| quotes =
| last = Whittington-Egan
| first = Richard
| year = 2002
| month = June
| title = Stephen Knight
| journal = Ripperologist
| volume = 41
| url = http://casebook.org/authors/obituaries/knight.html
| accessdate = 2006-11-24
}}</ref>
|- valign="top"
| '''[[DeBarra Mayo]]'''
| born 1953
| Fitness and health author and writer.
|<ref>{{cite news
| title = Out of the Shadows
| publisher = [[Fayetteville Observer]]
| date = [[1999-11-29]]
}}</ref>
|- valign="top"
| '''[[Jago Eliot]]'''
| 1966–2006
| [[Lord|Aristocrat]], [[Surfing|surfer]] and cyber artist. He died in his bath due to an epileptic seizure, which was recorded as a [[Sudden Unexpected Death in Epilepsy]] (SUDEP).
|<ref>{{cite news
| author = Heathcote Williams
| title = Obituary: Jago Eliot
| url = http://www.guardian.co.uk/obituaries/story/0,,1764867,00.html
| publisher = The Guardian
| date = [[2006-05-01]]
| accessdate = 2006-11-20
}}</ref><ref>{{cite news
| title = Aristocrat widow tells how she found cocaine peer dead in the bath
| url = http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=401828&in_page_id=1770
| publisher = Daily Mail
| date = [[2006-08-23]]
| accessdate = 2006-11-20
}}</ref>
|- valign="top"
| '''[[Kathy Sierra]]'''
| born 1957
| A [[Computer programmer|programming]] instructor and game developer who co-created the ''Head First'' series of books on computer programming. She had her first tonic-clonic seizure aged four. These were frequent and severe but greatly diminished by adulthood and were always preceded by an [[aura (symptom)|aura]].
|<ref>{{cite web
| first = Kathy
| last = Sierra
| date = [[2005-04-11]]
| url = http://headrush.typepad.com/creating_passionate_users/2005/04/whos_in_chargey.html
| title = Who's in charge - you or your brain?
| publisher = Creating Passionate Users
| accessdate = 2006-11-21
}}</ref>
|}
===Miscellaneous===
{| class=wikitable
! width="17%" | Name
! width="13%" | Life
! width="65%" | Comments
! width="5%" | Reference
|- valign="top"
| '''[[Jean Clemens]]'''
| 1880–1909
| The youngest daughter of [[Mark Twain]]. She had epilepsy from age fifteen, which her father attributed to a childhood head injury. Her epilepsy was not successfully controlled and at one point she was sent to an epilepsy colony in [[Katonah, New York]]. She was found dead on Christmas Eve in her bath aged 29. The cause of death was reported as drowning due to epilepsy.
|<ref>{{cite news
| title = Miss Jean Clemens Found Dead in Bath
| url = http://www.twainquotes.com/19091225.html
| publisher = The New York Times
| date = [[1909-12-25]]
| accessdate = 2006-11-21
}}</ref><ref>{{cite web
| first = Laura Skandera
| last = Trombley
| url = http://www.pitzer.edu/offices/president/speeches/jean_clemens.htm
| title = ‘She Wanted to Kill’: Jean Clemens and Postictal Psychosis
| publisher = Pitzer College
| accessdate = 2006-11-21
}}</ref>
|- valign="top"
| '''[[Derek Bentley]]'''
| 1933–1953
| Hanged, aged 19, for a crime his partner committed, Bentley had epilepsy and a mental age of 11. He was pardoned after a 45 year campaign, which included the film ''[[Let Him Have It]]'', starring [[Christopher Eccleston]].
|<ref>{{cite news
| author=Chris Taylor
| url=http://www.time.com/time/nation/printout/0,8816,14247,00.html
| title=Peace at Last for the Hanged Man
| publisher=Time Magazine
| date=[[1998-07-31]]
| accessdate=2006-09-07
}}</ref>
|- valign="top"
| '''[[Dionne quintuplets|Emilie Dionne]]'''
| 1934–1954
| The third of the Dionne [[quintuplet]]s. Emilie's epilepsy was only made public after her death at a convent in Sainte Agathe, Quebec. She died from the complications of a series of epileptic seizures. These were recorded at noon the previous day, 11pm, 3am, and 5am, but no doctor was called until after her death. Her death from epilepsy caused alarm, leading [[H. Houston Merritt]] to inform the public that ''"the mortality rate among epileptics is no greater than among non-sufferers"''.
|<ref>{{cite news
|author = [[United Press International|United Press]]
|title = Frailest Of 5 Dionnes Found Dead In Convent
|publisher = Statesville Record & Landmark
|date = [[1954-08-07]]
|accessdate = 2006-09-05
}} Read via NewspaperArchive.com</ref><ref>{{cite news
|author = (unknown)
|title = Emilie Dionne Laid To Rest Amid Bitter Sobs Of Surviving Quintuplets
|publisher = The Newport Daily News
|date = [[1954-08-09]]
|accessdate = 2006-09-05
}} Read via NewspaperArchive.com</ref>
|- valign="top"
| '''[[Virginia Ridley]]'''
| 1948–1997
| A woman who had [[agoraphobia]], [[hypergraphia]] and [[epilepsy]]. Her eccentric husband Alvin was charged with her murder but cleared after the jury accepted that she may have suffocated during a seizure. She had not been seen outside her home for 25 years.
|<ref>{{cite news
| first = Jack
| last = Warner
| title = The Village Eccentric on Trial
| url = http://jack-warner.com/village_eccentric_on_trial.htm
| publisher = Atlanta Journal-Constitution
| date = [[1999-01-16]]
| accessdate = 2006-11-21
}}</ref>
|- valign="top"
| '''[[Don Craig Wiley]]'''
| 1944–2001
| A protein-structure biochemist. He kept his epilepsy secret, did not treat it, and died under mysterious circumstances, possibly owing to a seizure.
|
|- valign="top"
| '''[[Barry George]]'''
| born 1960
| Convicted of [[murder]]ing the [[United Kingdom|British]] [[television presenter]] [[Jill Dando]]. Has epilepsy and mental health problems.
|<ref>{{cite news
|author = Nick Hopkins
|coauthors = Steven Morris
|title = Life and times of Barry George
|url = http://www.guardian.co.uk/jilldando/story/0,,515874,00.html
|publisher = The Guardian
|date = [[2001-07-02]]
|accessdate = 2006-09-01
}}</ref>
|- valign="top"
| '''[[Daniel Tammet]]'''
| born 1979
| An [[autistic savant]] who is gifted with a facility for [[mathematics]] problems, [[sequence]] [[memory]], and [[natural language]] learning. He had temporal lobe epilepsy as a child.
|<ref>{{cite web
| url = http://www.optimnem.co.uk/charity.php
| title = Charity
| accessdate = 2006-11-28
| author =Daniel Tammet
| publisher = Optimnem (official web site of Daniel Tammet)
}}</ref><ref>{{cite news
|author = Richard Johnson
|title = A genius explains
|url = http://www.guardian.co.uk/weekend/story/0,,1409903,00.html
|publisher = The Guardian
|date = [[2005-02-12]]
|accessdate = 2006-11-28
}}</ref>
|}
==Retrospective diagnosis==
The following people were not diagnosed with epilepsy during their lifetime. A retrospective diagnosis is speculative and, as detailed below, can often be wrong.
{| class=wikitable
! width="17%" | Name
! width="13%" | Life
! width="65%" | Comments
! width="5%" | Reference
|- valign="top"
| '''[[Socrates]]'''
| 470–399 BC
| [[Ancient Greece|Ancient Greek]] [[Philosophy|philosopher]]. It is speculated that his ''[[Daemon (mythology)|daimonion]]'' was a simple partial seizure and that he had [[temporal lobe epilepsy]].
|<ref>{{cite journal
| author = Muramoto O, Englert W
| title = Socrates and temporal lobe epilepsy: a pathographic diagnosis 2,400 years later.
| journal = Epilepsia
| volume = 47
| issue = 3
| pages = 652–4
| year = 2006
| pmid = 16529635
| url = http://www.blackwell-synergy.com/doi/full/10.1111/j.1528-1167.2006.00481.x
| doi = 10.1111/j.1528-1167.2006.00481.x
}}</ref>
|- valign="top"
| '''[[Julius Caesar]]'''
| 100–44 BC
| Roman military and political leader. He had four documented episodes of what were probably complex partial seizures. He may additionally have had [[absence seizure]]s in his youth. There is family history of epilepsy amongst his ancestors and descendants. The earliest accounts of these seizures were made by the biographer [[Suetonius]] who was born after Caesar's death.
|<ref name="Hughes2004Caesar">{{cite journal
| author = Hughes J
| title = Dictator Perpetuus: Julius Caesar--did he have seizures? If so, what was the etiology?
| journal = Epilepsy Behav
| volume = 5
| issue = 5
| pages = 756–64
| year = 2004
| pmid = 15380131
| doi = 10.1016/j.yebeh.2004.05.006
}}</ref><ref name="Gomez1995">{{cite journal
| author = Gomez J, Kotler J, Long J
| title = Was Julius Caesar's epilepsy due to a brain tumor?
| journal = The Journal of the Florida Medical Association
| volume = 82
| issue = 3
| pages = 199–201
| year = 1995
| pmid = 7738524
}}</ref><ref name="epilepsiemuseumCaesar">{{cite web
| url = http://www.epilepsiemuseum.de/alt/caesaren.html
| title = Gaius Julius Caesar
| accessdate = 2006-08-10
| author =H. Schneble
| date = [[2003-01-01]]
| publisher = German Epilepsy Museum
}}</ref>
|- valign="top"
| '''[[Elizabeth Monroe]]'''
| 1768–1830
| The wife of [[James Monroe]], fifth [[President of the United States]]. Some historians believe her illness was epilepsy. She is reported to have been prone to convulsions and was once seriously burnt after falling into a fireplace.
|<ref>{{cite web
| url = http://www.historyswomen.com/1stWomen/elizabethmonroe.html
| title = Elizabeth Monroe: Elegance in the White House
| accessdate = 2006-09-01
| last = Adams
| first = Anne
| publisher = History's Women
}}</ref>
|- valign="top"
| '''[[Napoleon I of France]]'''
| 1769–1821
| French military leader and emperor. A paper by [[William Osler]] in 1903 stated "''The slow pulse of Napoleon rests upon tradition; it has been suggested that his epilepsy and attacks of apathy may have been associated features in a chronic form of [[Stokes-Adams attack|Stokes-Adams disease]]''", which implies the seizures were not epileptic in origin. However, in 2003, John Hughes concluded that Napoleon had both [[Psychogenic non-epileptic seizures|psychogenic]] attacks due to stress and epileptic seizures due to chronic [[uremia]] from a severe [[urethral stricture]] caused by [[gonorrhea]].
|<ref name="Osler1903">{{cite journal
| author = Osler W
| title = On the so-called Stokes-Adams disease (slow pulse with syncopal attacks, &c.)
| journal = The Lancet
| volume = 2
| pages = 516–524
| year = 1903
| doi = 10.1016/S0140-6736(00)66180-9}}</ref><ref name="Hughes2003">{{cite journal
| author = Hughes J
| title = Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte: did he have seizures? Psychogenic or epileptic or both?
| journal = Epilepsy Behav
| volume = 4
| issue = 6
| pages = 793–6
| year = 2003
| pmid = 14698723
| doi = 10.1016/j.yebeh.2003.09.005}}</ref>
|- valign="top"
| '''[[Harriet Tubman]]'''
| 1820-22 – 1913
| An African-American [[abolitionist]]. Developed what was probably epilepsy as a result of a head injury.
|<ref name="Larson2004">{{cite book
| author = Kate Clifford Larson
| title = Bound for the promised land: Harriet Tubman, portrait of an American hero
| publisher = Ballantine
| year = 2004
| id = ISBN 0-345-45628-9
| url = http://www.virginia.edu/uvanewsmakers/newsmakers/larson.html
}}</ref>
|- valign="top"
| '''[[George Gershwin]]'''
| 1898–1937
| American composer. The first symptoms of his [[glioblastoma multiforme]] tumor were probably olfactory-uncinate simple partial seizures. He noticed the smell of burnt rubber at the same time as dizziness or, occasionally, brief blackouts. His condition deteriorated and he died six months later, despite surgery to remove the tumor.
|<ref name="Teive2002>{{cite journal
| author = Teive H, Germiniani F, Cardoso A, de Paola L, Werneck L
| title = The uncinated crisis of George Gershwin.
| journal = Arq Neuropsiquiatr
| volume = 60
| issue = 2-B
| pages = 505–8
| year = 2002
| pmid = 12131961
| url = http://www.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0004-282X2002000300033
}}</ref>
|- valign="top"
| '''[[Philip K. Dick]]'''
| 1928–1982
| A [[science fiction]] [[writer]]. One biographer suggests temporal lobe epilepsy as a possible cause of his visions, but also regards such speculation as futile and unverifiable.
|<ref>{{cite book
| first = Lawrence
| last = Sutin
| date = [[2005-08-09]]
| origyear = 1989
| title = Divine Invasions: A Life of Philip K. Dick
| publisher = Carroll & Graf
| accessdate = 2006-11-24
| id = ISBN 0-7867-1623-1
| pages = 231-232
}}</ref><ref>{{cite web
| first = Lawrence
| last = Sutin
| year= 1989
| title = Confessions of a Philip K. Dick Biographer
| work = The Palm Tree Garden of Philip K. Dick
| publisher = Willis E. Howard
| accessdate = 2006-11-24
| url = http://www.alphane.com/moon/PalmTree/sutin.htm
}}</ref>
|}
===Religious figures===
Many religious figures have been suspected of having had temporal lobe epilepsy. Looking for physical explanations of mystical experiences is controversial.<ref name="Fenwick1980">{{cite web
| accessdate = 2006-08-21
| url = http://scienceandreligion.com/b_myst_2.html
| title = The Neurophysiology of the Brain: Its Relationship to Altered States of Consciousness (With emphasis on the Mystical Experience)
| author = Peter Fenwick
| year = 1980
| publisher = Wrekin Trust
}}</ref> Sudden religious conversion, together with visions, has been documented in a small number of individuals with temporal lobe epilepsy,<ref name="Dewhurst1970"/> but the association between epilepsy and intense religious feelings is rare.<ref name="Fenwick1980"/> Aspects of the [[Geschwind syndrome]] have been identified in some religious figures, in particular – extreme religiosity and [[hypergraphia]] (excessive writing). Many neurologists strongly question the presence of a link between any personality profile and epilepsy.<ref name="Barr2003">{{cite web
| accessdate = 2006-08-21
| url = http://www.epilepsy.com/articles/ar_1064250059.html
| title = Is there an epileptic personality?
| author = William Barr
| date = [[2003-09-22]]
}}</ref> The presence of an entry in the following list does not indicate a scholarly consensus in favour of a diagnosis of epilepsy; merely that such a diagnosis has been suggested.
{| class=wikitable
! width="17%" | Name
! width="13%" | Life
! width="65%" | Comments
! width="5%" | Reference
|- valign="top"
| '''[[Priestly source|The Priestly source of the Pentateuch]]'''
| c700 BC
| According to one researcher, the writing has a pendantic and aggressive style, shows extreme religiosity, verbosity and redundant style. These are said to be evidence of Geschwind syndrome, though there is no evidence of any seizures since we have no personal information regarding the author.
|<ref name="Altschuler2004">{{cite journal
| author = Altschuler E
| title = Temporal lobe epilepsy in the priestly source of the Pentateuch.
| journal = South African Medical Journal
| volume = 94
| issue = 11
| pages = 870
| year = 2004
| url = http://blues.sabinet.co.za/WebZ/Authorize?sessionid=0:autho=pubmed:password=pubmed2004&/AdvancedQuery?&format=F&next=images/ejour/m_samj/m_samj_v94_n11_a3.pdf
| pmid = 15587438
}}</ref>
|- valign="top"
| '''[[Ezekiel]]'''
| 622BC – ?
| Fainting spells, occasions of speechlessness, compulsive writing, extremely religious, pedantic speech.
|<ref name="Altschuler2002">{{cite journal
| author = Altschuler E
| title = Did Ezekiel have temporal lobe epilepsy?
| journal = Archives of General Psychiatry
| volume = 59
| issue = 6
| pages = 561–2
| year = 2002
| pmid = 12044200
| doi = 10.1001/archpsyc.59.6.561
}}</ref><ref name="Motluk2001">{{cite news
| first=Alison
| last=Motluk
| url = http://www.newscientist.com/channel/health/mental-health/dn1565.html
| title = Old Testament prophet showed epileptic symptoms
| publisher = New Scientist
| date = [[2001-11-17]]
| accessdate = 2006-07-21
}}</ref>
|- valign="top"
| '''[[Paul of Tarsus]]'''
| 3-10 – 62-68
| Epilepsy is one of many suggestions regarding his "[[thorn in the flesh]]". [[F.F. Bruce]] says "''Many guesses have been made about the identity of this "splinter in the flesh"; and their very variety proves the impossibility of a certain diagnosis. One favourite guess has been epilepsy ... but it is no more than a guess''". Researchers are quite dividied on the cause of his [[Road to Damascus|Damascus]] conversion and vision. In addition to a seizure, heat exhaustion, the voice of conscience together with a migraine, and even a bolt of lightning have been suggested.
|<ref name="Dewhurst1970"/><ref name="Bruce2000">{{cite book
| author = Frederick Fyvie Bruce
| title = Paul Apostle of the Heart Set Free
| publisher = Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company
| year = 2000
| id = ISBN 0-8028-4778-1
}}</ref><ref name="Bullock1994">{{cite journal
| author = Bullock J
| title = Was Saint Paul struck blind and converted by lightning?
| journal = Survey of Ophthalmology
| volume = 39
| issue = 2
| pages = 151–60
| year = 1994
| pmid = 7801224
| doi = 10.1016/0039-6257(94)90161-9
}}</ref>
|- valign="top"
| '''[[Muhammad]]'''
| 570–632
| [[Byzantine Empire|Byzantine]] Christian historian [[Theophanes the Confessor|Theophanes]] claimed Muhammad had epilepsy. Many modern historians reject this and consider it to have been slanderous propaganda; though some researchers consider temporal lobe epilepsy to be a possible cause of his inspirational spells.
|<ref name="TemkinMuhammad>{{cite book
| author = Owsei Temkin
| title = The Falling Sickness : A History of Epilepsy from the Greeks to the Beginnings of Modern Neurology (Softshell Books)
| publisher = The Johns Hopkins University Press
| year = 1994
| id = ISBN 0-8018-4849-0
}}</ref><ref name="Rodinson2002">{{cite book
|author=Rodinson, Maxime
|title=Muhammad
|publisher=Tauris Parke Paperbacks
|year=2002
|pages=56
|isbn=1-86064-827-4
|quote=However that may be, the Prophet certainly suffered from attacks of some kind in adult life. Hostile Christians put it down to epilepsy. If this were so, it was a benign form. What is much more probable is that Muhammad's psycho-physiological constitution was basically of the kind found in many mystics.
}}</ref><ref name="isbn0-7486-0597-5">{{cite book
|author=Watt, W. Montgommery; Bell, Richard H.
|title=Introduction to the Qur'an
|publisher=Edinburgh U.P
|location=Edinburgh
|year=2001
|pages=17–18
|isbn=0-7486-0597-5
|quote=It is incredible that a person subject to epilepsy, or hysteria, or even ungovernable fits of emotion, could have been the active leader of military expeditions, or the cool far-seeing guide of a city-state and a growing religious community; but all this we know Muhammad to have been.
}}</ref><ref name="Freemon 1976">{{cite journal
| author = Freemon F
| title = A differential diagnosis of the inspirational spells of Muhammad the Prophet of Islam.
| journal = Epilepsia
| volume = 17
| issue = 4
| pages = 423–7
| year = 1976
| pmid = 793843
| doi = 10.1111/j.1528-1157.1976.tb04454.x
}}</ref>
|- valign="top"
| '''[[Bridget of Sweden|Saint Birgitta]]'''
| 1303–1373
| Her skull shows evidence of a meningioma, which is a cause of epilepsy and may explain her visions. However, it is not in the temporal lobe and other researches suggest psychogenic non-epileptic seizures, or a combination.
|<ref name="Landtblom2004">{{cite journal
| author = Landtblom A
| title = Did St Birgitta suffer from epilepsy? A neuropathography.
| journal = Seizure
| volume = 13
| issue = 3
| pages = 161–7
| year = 2004
| pmid = 15010053
| doi = 10.1016/S1059-1311(03)00160-2
}}</ref><ref name="Landtblom2001">{{cite web
| url = http://www.ilae-epilepsy.org/Visitors/Archive/pdfs/epigraph1_2001.pdf
| title = Was St. Birgitta suffering from epilepsy?
| year = 2001
| accessdate = 2006-08-21
| author = Anne-Marie Landtblom
| work = Epigraph
| publisher = Internation League Against Epilepsy
}}</ref>
|- valign="top"
| '''[[Joan of Arc]]'''
| 1412–1431
| Experienced religious messages through voices and [[Vision (religion)|visions]] which she said others could sometimes experience simultaneously. Some researchers consider the visions to be ecstatic epileptic auras, though more recent research may implicate idiopathic partial epilepsy with auditory features. Epileptic seizures with clear auditory and visual hallucinations are very rare. This, together with the extreme length of her visions, lead some to reject epilepsy as a cause.
|<ref name="Hughes2005"/><ref name="JoanOfArc">{{cite web
| url = http://www.yale.edu/lawweb/avalon/treatise/jean_darc/title.htm
| title = The Trial of Jeanne D'Arc
| accessdate = 2006-08-10
| author =W. P. Barrett
| date = [[2006-11-08]]
| work = The Avalon Project
| publisher = Yale Law School
}}</ref><ref name="FooteSmith1991">{{cite journal
| author = Foote-Smith E, Bayne L
| title = Joan of Arc.
| journal = Epilepsia
| volume = 32
| issue = 6
| pages = 810–5
| year = 1991
| pmid = 1743152
| doi = 10.1111/j.1528-1157.1991.tb05537.x
}}</ref><ref name="Orsi2006">{{cite journal
| author = d'Orsi G, Tinuper P
| title = "I heard voices...": From semiology, a historical review, and a new hypothesis on the presumed epilepsy of Joan of Arc.
| journal = Epilepsy & Behavior
| volume = 9
| issue = 1
| pages = 152–7
| year = 2006
| pmid = 16750938
| doi = 10.1016/j.yebeh.2006.04.020
}}</ref>
|- valign="top"
| '''[[Catherine of Genoa|Saint Catherine of Genoa]]'''
| 1447–1510
| No specific details available.
|<ref name="Dewhurst1970"/>
|- valign="top"
| '''[[Teresa of Ávila|Saint Teresa of Ávila]]'''
| 1515–1582
| Visions, chronic headaches, transient loss of consciousness and also a four-day coma.
|<ref name="Dewhurst1970"/><ref name="Garcia2003">{{cite journal
| author = Garcia Albea E
| title = [The ecstatic epilepsy of Teresa of Jesus]
| journal = Revista de Neurologia
| volume = 37
| issue = 9
| pages = 879–87
| year = 2003
| pmid = 14606057
}}</ref>
|- valign="top"
| '''[[Catherine of Ricci|Saint Catherine of Ricci]]'''
| 1522–1590
| Visual hallucinations. Loss of consciousness for 28 hours.
|<ref name="Dewhurst1970"/>
|- valign="top"
| '''[[Marguerite Marie Alacoque|Saint Marguerite Marie]]'''
| 1647–1690
| No specific details available.
|<ref name="Dewhurst1970"/>
|- valign="top"
| '''[[Jeanne Marie Bouvier de la Motte Guyon|Mme. Guyon]]'''
| 1648–1717
| No specific details available.
|<ref name="Dewhurst1970"/>
|- valign="top"
| '''[[Emanuel Swedenborg]]'''
| 1688–1772
| Swedish scientist, philosopher, seer, and theologian.
|<ref name="FooteSmith1996">{{cite journal
| author = Foote-Smith E, Smith T
| title = Emanuel Swedenborg.
| journal = Epilepsia
| volume = 37
| issue = 2
| pages = 211–8
| year = 1996
| pmid = 8635433
| url = http://www.blackwell-synergy.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/j.1528-1157.1996.tb00014.x
| doi = 10.1111/j.1528-1157.1996.tb00014.x
}}</ref>
|- valign="top"
| '''[[Joseph Smith, Jr.]]'''
| 1805–1844
| Seized with a strange power, rendered speechless and fell on his back. Visions of darkness and light.
|<ref name="Dewhurst1970"/>
|- valign="top"
| '''[[Ellen G. White]]
| 1827–1915
| Severe head injury followed by three weeks of limited consciousness. Her visions involved loss of consciousness, upward eye deflection, visual hallucinations, affective changes, gestural automatisms, preservation of speech, a post-ictal-like period. Further, she meets several criteria for the Geschwind syndrome: extreme religiosity, hypergraphia (100,000 pages in 4,000 articles), repetitiveness, hypermoralism, and hyposexuality.
|<ref name="Hodder">{{cite web
| url = http://www.ellenwhite.org/seizures.htm
| title = Ellen G. White and the Seventh-day Adventist Church: Visions or Partial-Complex Seizures?
| accessdate = 2006-08-10
| author = Delbert H. Hodder, Gregory Holmes
| work = Abstract of presentation at the American Academy of Neurology
| publisher = The Ellen White Research Project
}} Note: This web site may not be considered a neutral source.</ref><ref name="Couperus1985">{{cite web
| url = http://www.ellenwhite.org/headinjury.htm
| title = The Significance of Ellen White's Head Injury
| accessdate = 2006-08-10
| author = Molleurus Couperus
| month = 06
| year = 1985
| work = [[Adventist Currents]]
| publisher = The Ellen White Research Project
}} Note: This web site may not be considered a neutral source.</ref><ref>[http://www.whiteestate.org/issues/visions.html Visions or Seizures: Was Ellen White the Victim of Epilepsy?] by Donald I. Peterson, MD</ref>
|- valign="top"
| '''[[Thérèse de Lisieux|Saint Thérèse de Lisieux]]'''
| 1873–1897
| Seized with "strange and violent tremblings all over her body". Visual hallucinations and celestial visions.
|<ref name="Dewhurst1970"/>
|}
==Misdiagnosis==
Many famous people are incorrectly recorded as having epilepsy. In some cases there is no evidence at all for a diagnosis of epilepsy. In others, the symptoms have been misinterpreted. In some, the seizures were provoked by acute illness or alcohol withdrawal, for example.<ref name="Sander2003">{{cite web
| author = J.W. Sander
| authorlink = Ley Sander
| year = 2003
| url = http://www.e-epilepsy.org.uk/pages/articles/show_article.cfm?id=106
| title = Fits, faints and funny turns - the differential diagnosis of epilepsy
| work = e-epilepsy
| publisher = [[National Society for Epilepsy]]
| accessdate = 2006-02-02
}}</ref>
===No evidence===
The following people are often reported to have had epilepsy but there is no evidence that they had any attacks or illnesses that even resembled epilepsy.
{| class=wikitable
! width="17%" | Name
! width="13%" | Life
! width="65%" | Comments
! width="5%" | Reference
|- valign="top"
| '''[[Cambyses II]]'''
| ?–521 BC
| [[Herodotus]], writing eighty years after the kings death, is responsible for repeating what are now regarded as slanderous remarks that Cambyses was mad and had epilepsy.
|<ref name="HerodotusCambyses">{{cite book
| editor = A. D. Godley (English Translation)
| title = Herodotus, The Histories
| url = http://perseus.uchicago.edu/hopper/text.jsp?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0126:book=3:chapter=33
| accessdate = 2006-09-03
| date = 1920
| publisher = Harvard University Press
| id = ISBN 0-674-99133-8
| chapter = Book 3, Chapter 33
| chapterurl = http://perseus.uchicago.edu/hopper/text.jsp?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0126:book=3:chapter=33
| quote = he is said to have been afflicted from his birth with that grievous disease which some call "sacred." (Epilepsy)
}}</ref><ref name="York2001">{{cite journal
| author = York G, Steinberg D
| title = The sacred disease of Cambyses II.
| journal = Archives of Neurology
| volume = 58
| issue = 10
| pages = 1702–4
| year = 2001
| pmid = 11594937
| doi = 10.1001/archneur.58.10.1702
}}</ref>
|- valign="top"
| '''[[Pythagoras]]'''
| 582–507 BC
|
|<ref name="Hughes2005"/>
|- valign="top"
| '''[[Aristotle]]'''
| 384–322 BC
|
|<ref name="Hughes2005"/>
|- valign="top"
| '''[[Hannibal]]'''
| 247–183 BC
|
|<ref name="Hughes2005"/>
|- valign="top"
| '''[[Hermann von Helmholtz]]'''
| 1821–1894
|
|<ref name="Hughes2005"/>
|- valign="top"
| '''[[Agatha Christie]]'''
| 1890–1976
|
|<ref name="Hughes2005"/>
|}
===Misdiagnosis by association===
Many individuals have been mistakenly recorded as having epilepsy due to an association with someone (real or fictional) who did have epilepsy, or something similar.
{| class=wikitable
! width="17%" | Name
! width="13%" | Life
! width="65%" | Comments
! width="5%" | Reference
|- valign="top"
| '''[[Dante Alighieri]]'''
| 1265–1321
| In his fictional ''[[The Divine Comedy|La Divina Commedia]]'', he falls into a "dead faint".
|<ref name="Hughes2005"/>
|- valign="top"
| '''[[Isaac Newton]]'''
| 1643–1727
| In 2000, a paper was published comparing Newton's psychosis with that of a patient with psychosis, who additionally happened to have generalised tonic-clonic seizures. It is possible that ambiguities in the introduction to this paper led readers to associate the epilepsy with Newton rather than the patient.
|<ref name="Jeste2000">{{cite journal
| author = Jeste D, Harless K, Palmer B
| title = Chronic late-onset schizophrenia-like psychosis that remitted: revisiting Newton's psychosis?
| journal = Am J Psychiatry
| volume = 157
| issue = 3
| pages = 444–9
| year = 2000
| pmid = 10698822
| doi = 10.1176/appi.ajp.157.3.444
}}</ref><ref name="Hughes2005"/>
|- valign="top"
| '''[[Ludwig van Beethoven]]'''
| 1770–1827
| His acquaintance [[Antonie Brentano]] had a son, Karl Joseph, who had epilepsy.
|<ref name="Hughes2005"/>
|- valign="top"
| '''[[Alfred Tennyson]]'''
| 1809–1892
| Close family had epilepsy and [[mental illness]], which led Tennyson to fear this in himself.
|<ref name="Hughes2005"/>
|- valign="top"
| '''[[William Morris]]'''
| 1834–1896
| His daughter, May, had epilepsy and this caused Morris to question if his temper rages were related to this.
|<ref name="Hughes2005"/>
|- valign="top"
| '''[[Patrick Dempsey]]'''
| born 1966
| Played a boy with epilepsy in the 1986 [[Disney]] [[Television movie|TV Movie]] "A Fighting Choice". He won an award from the Epilepsy Foundation for his convincing portrayal.
|<ref>{{cite web
| url = http://www.tv.com/patrick-dempsey/person/5966/biography.html
| title = Patrick Dempsey Biography
| accessdate = 2006-08-13
| year = 2006
| work = [[TV.com]]
| publisher = [[CNET]]
}}</ref>
|}
===Provoked seizures===
The following people may have had one or more [[epileptic seizure]]s but since the seizures were provoked, they do not result in a diagnosis of epilepsy:
{| class=wikitable
! width="17%" | Name
! width="13%" | Life
! width="65%" | Comments
! width="5%" | Reference
|- valign="top"
| '''[[Edgar Allan Poe]]'''
| 1809–1849
| Poe abused drugs and alcohol. If he had any seizures, they were most likely due to alcohol withdrawal. One author has suggested Poe may have had complex partial seizures.
|<ref name="Hughes2005"/><ref name="Bazil1999">{{cite journal
| author = Bazil C
| title = Seizures in the life and works of Edgar Allan Poe.
| journal = Archives of Neurology
| volume = 56
| issue = 6
| pages = 740–3
| year = 1999
| pmid = 10369317
| doi = 10.1001/archneur.56.6.740
}}</ref>
|- valign="top"
| '''[[Leo Tolstoy]]'''
| 1828–1910
| "Fits of spleen" and anguish attacks. Had seizures while dying of [[pneumonia]].
|<ref name="Hughes2005"/>
|- valign="top"
| '''[[Algernon Swinburne]]'''
| 1837–1909
| Alcohol withdrawal attacks.
|<ref name="Hughes2005"/>
|- valign="top"
| '''[[Lewis Carroll]]'''
| 1832–1898
| [[Migraine]] and a possible seizure that was probably due to the effects of drug withdrawal.
|<ref name="Hughes2005"/>
|- valign="top"
| '''[[Alfred Nobel]]'''
| 1833–1896
| [[Febrile seizure]]s in infancy.
|<ref name="Hughes2005"/>
|- valign="top"
| '''[[Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky]]'''
| 1840–1893
| Seizures in the hours before death. Possible family history of epilepsy.
|<ref name="Hughes2005"/>
|- valign="top"
| '''[[Truman Capote]]'''
| 1924–1984
| Alcohol withdrawal seizures.
|<ref name="Hughes2005"/>
|- valign="top"
| '''[[Richard Burton]]'''
| 1925–1984
| Alcohol withdrawal seizures.
|<ref name="Hughes2005"/>
|}
===Similar conditions===
There are many conditions that produce [[paroxysm]]al attacks or events. These events (especially in historical, non-medical literature such as biographies) are often called fits, seizures or convulsions. Those terms are not exclusive to epilepsy and such events are sometimes categorised as [[non-epileptic seizures]]. When studied in detail, the attacks were more fully described as "fits of spleen", "seized by pain", "convulsed with anguish", etc.
{| class=wikitable
! width="17%" | Name
! width="13%" | Life
! width="65%" | Comments
! width="5%" | Reference
|- valign="top"
| '''[[Alexander the Great]]'''
| 356–323 BC
| Collapsed after taking strong medicine for pneumonia.
|<ref name="Hughes2004Alexander">{{cite journal
| author = Hughes J
| title = Alexander of Macedon, the greatest warrior of all times: did he have seizures?
| journal = Epilepsy & Behavior
| volume = 5
| issue = 5
| pages = 765–7
| year = 2004
| pmid = 15380132
| doi = 10.1016/j.yebeh.2004.06.002
}}</ref>
|- valign="top"
| '''[[Charles the Fat]]'''
| c.839–888
| Commonly regarded as a sickly king, with epilepsy, who had a "fit" in Frankfurt in 873. One author's recent detailed investigations cast doubt on the accuracy of certain reports, or their common interpretation. Instead, headache, malaria and a stroke are suggested.
|<ref name="Schutz2004">{{cite book
| last = Schutz
| first = Herbert
| title = The Carolingians in Central Europe, Their History, Arts, and Architecture
| accessdate = 2006-08-31
| date = [[2004-01-01]]
| publisher = Brill Academic Publishers
| pages = 129
| quote = Charles suffered seriously from epilepsy
| id = ISBN 90-04-13149-3
}}</ref><ref name="MacLean2003">{{cite book
| last = MacLean
| first = Simon
| title = Kingship and Politics in the Late Ninth Century: Charles the Fat and the End of the Carolingian Empire
| accessdate = 2006-08-31
| date = [[2003-09-25]]
| publisher = Cambridge University Press
| pages = 39–41
| id = ISBN 0-521-81945-8
}}</ref>
|- valign="top"
| '''[[Alfred the Great]]'''
| 849–899
| Acute [[pain]].
|<ref name="Hughes2005"/>
|- valign="top"
| '''[[Leonardo da Vinci]]'''
| 1452–1519
| Nervous shaking and spasms when furious.
|<ref name="Hughes2005"/>
|- valign="top"
| '''[[Michelangelo]]'''
| 1475–1564
| A [[fainting|faint]] due to working in very hot weather.
|<ref name="Hughes2005"/>
|- valign="top"
| '''[[Martin Luther]]'''
| 1483–1546
| In [[John Osborne]]'s play ''[[Luther (play)|Luther]]'', his visions are the result of epileptic seizures. Luther had many documented illnesses, but any recurrent attacks were probably due to [[Ménière’s disease]].
|<ref name="Ozer2006">{{cite web
| url = http://www.abilitymaine.org/breath/June06/ozer.html
| title = Epilepsy in Literature and Its Reflection in Society
| accessdate = 2006-08-23
| author = Irma Jacqueline Ozer
| year = 2006
| month = 06
| work = Breath & Shadow
}}</ref><ref name="Feldmann1989">{{cite journal
| author = Feldmann H
| title = [Martin Luther's seizure disorder]
| journal = Sudhoffs Arch
| volume = 73
| issue = 1
| pages = 26–44
| year = 1989
| pmid = 2529669
}}</ref>
|- valign="top"
| '''[[Cardinal Richelieu]]'''
| 1585–1642
| Bouts of tears.
|<ref name="Hughes2005"/>
|- valign="top"
| '''[[Louis XIII of France]]'''
| 1601–1643
| Episodes of violence, moodiness and fearfulness.
|<ref name="Hughes2005"/>
|- valign="top"
| '''[[Molière]]'''
| 1622–1673
| A coughing fit.
|<ref name="Hughes2005"/>
|- valign="top"
| '''[[Blaise Pascal]]'''
| 1623–1662
| [[Breath-holding spells]] as a child.
|<ref name="Hughes2005"/>
|- valign="top"
| '''[[William III of England]]'''
| 1650–1702
| Fainting and coughing fits.
|<ref name="Hughes2005"/>
|- valign="top"
| '''[[Jonathan Swift]]'''
| 1667–1745
| Severe fits of giddiness due to Ménière’s disease.
|<ref name="Hughes2005"/>
|- valign="top"
| '''[[George Frideric Handel]]'''
| 1685–1759
| A [[stroke]].
|<ref name="Hughes2005"/>
|- valign="top"
| '''[[William Pitt, 1st Earl of Chatham|William Pitt the Elder]]'''
| 1708–1778
| Attacks of [[gout]].
|<ref name="Hughes2005"/>
|- valign="top"
| '''[[Samuel Johnson]]'''
| 1709–1784
| [[Tourette syndrome]].
|<ref name="Hughes2005"/>
|- valign="top"
| '''[[Jean-Jacques Rousseau]]'''
| 1712–1778
| [[Dizziness|Dizzy]] fits and agitation.
|<ref name="Hughes2005"/>
|- valign="top"
| '''[[James Madison]]'''
| 1751–1836
| Psychogenic non-epileptic seizures.
|<ref name="Hughes2005"/>
|- valign="top"
| '''[[Walter Scott]]'''
| 1771–1832
| Seizures of [[cramp]] due to [[kidney stone]]s and, later, a stroke.
|<ref name="Hughes2005"/>
|- valign="top"
| '''[[Niccolò Paganini]]'''
| 1784–1840
| Repeated collapsing due to weakness.
|<ref name="Hughes2005"/>
|- valign="top"
| '''[[Lord Byron]]'''
| 1788–1824
| [[Psychogenic non-epileptic seizures]].
|<ref name="Hughes2005"/>
|- valign="top"
| '''[[Percy Bysshe Shelley]]'''
| 1792–1822
| Fits of pain and nervous attacks.
|<ref name="Hughes2005"/>
|- valign="top"
| '''[[Hector Berlioz]]'''
| 1803–1869
| "Fits of spleen".
|<ref name="Hughes2005"/>
|- valign="top"
| '''[[Robert Schumann]]'''
| 1810–1856
| [[Clinical depression|Depression]] and hallucinations.
|<ref name="Hughes2005"/>
|- valign="top"
| '''[[Charles Dickens]]'''
| 1812–1870
| [[Renal colic]].
|<ref name="Hughes2005"/>
|- valign="top"
| '''[[Søren Kierkegaard]]'''
| 1813–1855
| Collapsing due to weakness.
|<ref name="Hughes2005"/>
|- valign="top"
| '''[[Gustave Flaubert]]'''
| 1821–1880
| In 1984, [[Henri Gastaut]] proposed a very specific retrospective diagnosis of a particular form of complex partial epilepsy. More recent biographical information led John Hughes, in 2005, to conclude that Flaubert had psychogenic non-epileptic seizures, and migraine.
|<ref name="Hughes2005"/><ref name="Gastaut1984">{{cite journal
| author = Gastaut H, Gastaut Y, Broughton R
| title = Gustave Flaubert's illness: a case report in evidence against the erroneous notion of psychogenic epilepsy.
| journal = Epilepsia
| volume = 25
| issue = 5
| pages = 622–37
| year = 1984
| pmid = 6383791
| doi = 10.1111/j.1528-1157.1984.tb03472.x}}</ref>
|- valign="top"
| '''[[Guy de Maupassant]]'''
| 1850–1893
| Mental illness and hallucinations caused by inhaling [[ether]].
|<ref name="Hughes2005"/><ref name="Alvaro2005">{{cite journal
| author = Luis-Carlos Álvaro
| title = Hallucinations and pathological visual perceptions in Maupassant's fantastical short stories--a neurological approach.
| journal = Journal of the History of the Neurosciences
| volume = 14
| issue = 2
| pages = 100–15
| year = 2005
| pmid = 16019655
| doi = 10.1080/096470490523399
}}</ref>
|- valign="top"
| '''[[Vincent van Gogh]]'''
| 1853–1890
| Over 150 physicians have produced nearly 30 different diagnoses for van Gogh's illness. [[Henri Gastaut]]'s posthumous diagnosis was "''temporal lobe epilepsy precipitated by the use of absinthe in the presence of an early limbic lesion''". This agrees with that of van Gogh's own doctor, Felix Rey, who prescribed [[potassium bromide]]. That van Gogh's personality closely matches the [[Geschwind syndrome]] is seen as further evidence by some. Not everyone agrees – a recent review by John Hughes concluded that van Gogh did not have epilepsy. He certainly was mentally ill at times and had "fainting fits" after heavy drinking.
|<ref name="Blumer2002">{{cite journal
| author = Blumer D
| title = The illness of Vincent van Gogh.
| journal = The American Journal of Psychiatry
| volume = 159
| issue = 4
| pages = 519–26
| year = 2002
| pmid = 11925286
| url = http://ajp.psychiatryonline.org/cgi/content/full/159/4/519
| doi = 10.1176/appi.ajp.159.4.519
}}</ref><ref name="Hughes2005Gogh">{{cite journal
| author = Hughes J
| title = A reappraisal of the possible seizures of Vincent van Gogh.
| journal = Epilepsy & Behavior
| volume = 6
| issue = 4
| pages = 504–10
| year = 2005
| pmid = 15907745
| doi = 10.1016/j.yebeh.2005.02.014}}</ref>
|- valign="top"
| '''[[Graham Greene]]'''
| 1904–1991
| Greene was diagnosed with epilepsy as a young man, after several episodes of loss of consciousness. His impending marriage was at risk and he considered suicide. Treatment consisted of good walks and Kepler's Malt Extract. Greene eventually distrusted the diagnosis and it is now considered likely that the episodes were fainting spells.
|<ref name="Reynolds2001">{{cite journal
| author = Reynolds E
| title = The impact of epilepsy on Graham Greene.
| journal = Epilepsia
| volume = 42
| issue = 8
| pages = 1091–3
| year = 2001
| pmid = 11554900
| url = http://www.blackwell-synergy.com/doi/pdf/10.1046/j.1528-1157.2001.0420081091.x
| doi = 10.1046/j.1528-1157.2001.0420081091.x
}}</ref>
|- valign="top"
| '''[[John Berryman]]'''
| 1914–1972
| Diagnosed with ''petit mal'' epilepsy, now reckoned to have been nervous exhaustion. Berryman suffered from depression and alcoholism.
|<ref name="Mariani1996">{{cite book
| last = Mariani
| first = Paul L.
| title = Dream Song: Life of John Berryman
| accessdate = 2006-08-31
| date = [[1996-03-01]]
| publisher = University of Massachusetts Press
| id = ISBN 1-55849-017-5
| pages = 116
| quote =Dr Gene Shafarman … told Berryman that he had been diagnosed as having a mild form of epilepsy called petit mal.
}}</ref><ref name="">{{cite web
| url = http://www.english.uiuc.edu/maps/poets/a_f/berryman/life.htm
| title = John Berryman's Life and Career
| accessdate = 2006-08-31
| last = Athey
| first = Joel
| year = 1999
| work = Modern American Poetry
| publisher = Department of English, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
}}</ref>
|}
==Notes and references==
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