Apoplexy
Encyclopedia
Apoplexy is a medical
term, which can be used to describe 'bleeding
' in a stroke
(formerly described as a cerebrovascular accident). Without further specification, it is rather outdated in use. Today it is used only for specific conditions, such as pituitary apoplexy
and ovarian apoplexy
. In common speech, it is used non-medically to mean a state of extreme rage or excitement. The word derives from the Greek
word apoplēxia meaning "a striking (or hitting) away".
s, ruptured cerebral aneurysm
s, certain ruptured aortic aneurysm
s, and even heart attack
s may have been described as apoplexy in the past.
s. In such usage it is coupled with an adjective
describing the site of the bleeding. For example, bleeding within the pituitary gland
is called pituitary apoplexy
, 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.
, 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.
Medicine
Medicine is the science and art of healing. It encompasses a variety of health care practices evolved to maintain and restore health by the prevention and treatment of illness....
term, which can be used to describe 'bleeding
Bleeding
Bleeding, technically known as hemorrhaging or haemorrhaging is the loss of blood or blood escape from the circulatory system...
' in a stroke
Stroke
A stroke, previously known medically as a cerebrovascular accident , is the rapidly developing loss of brain function due to disturbance in the blood supply to the brain. This can be due to ischemia caused by blockage , or a hemorrhage...
(formerly described as a cerebrovascular accident). Without further specification, it is rather outdated in use. Today it is used only for specific conditions, such as pituitary apoplexy
Pituitary apoplexy
Pituitary apoplexy or pituitary tumor apoplexy is bleeding into or impaired blood supply of the pituitary gland at the base of the brain. This usually occurs in the presence of a tumor of the pituitary, although in 80% of cases this has not been diagnosed previously...
and ovarian apoplexy
Ovarian apoplexy
Ovarian apoplexy is a sudden rupture in the ovary, commonly at the site of a cyst, accompanied by hemorrhage in the ovarian tissue and/or intraperitoneal bleeding.-Pathogenesis:...
. In common speech, it is used non-medically to mean a state of extreme rage or excitement. The word derives from the Greek
Greek language
Greek is an independent branch of the Indo-European family of languages. Native to the southern Balkans, it has the longest documented history of any Indo-European language, spanning 34 centuries of written records. Its writing system has been the Greek alphabet for the majority of its history;...
word apoplēxia meaning "a striking (or hitting) away".
Historical meaning
From the late 14th to the late 19th century, 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. The word "apoplexy" may have been used to describe the symptom of sudden loss of consciousness immediately preceding death and not a verified disease process. Sudden cardiac deathSudden Cardiac Death
Sudden cardiac death is 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 aneurysm
Cerebral aneurysm
A cerebral 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.- Signs and symptoms :...
s, certain ruptured aortic aneurysm
Aortic aneurysm
An aortic aneurysm is a general term for any swelling of the aorta to greater than 1.5 times normal, usually representing an underlying weakness in the wall of the aorta at that location...
s, and even heart attack
Myocardial infarction
Myocardial infarction or acute myocardial infarction , commonly known as a heart attack, results from the interruption of blood supply to a part of the heart, causing 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 organOrgan (anatomy)
In biology, an organ is a collection of tissues joined in structural unit to serve a common function. Usually there is a main tissue and sporadic tissues . The main tissue is the one that is unique for the specific organ. For example, main tissue in the heart is the myocardium, while sporadic are...
s. In such usage it is coupled with an adjective
Adjective
In grammar, an adjective is a 'describing' word; the main syntactic role of which is to qualify a noun or noun phrase, giving more information about the object signified....
describing the site of the bleeding. For example, bleeding within the pituitary gland
Pituitary gland
In vertebrate anatomy the pituitary gland, or hypophysis, is an endocrine gland about the size of a pea and weighing 0.5 g , in humans. 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 apoplexy
Pituitary apoplexy
Pituitary apoplexy or pituitary tumor apoplexy is bleeding into or impaired blood supply of the pituitary gland at the base of the brain. This usually occurs in the presence of a tumor of the pituitary, although in 80% of cases this has not been diagnosed previously...
, 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
- Georg AgricolaGeorg AgricolaGeorgius Agricola was a German scholar and scientist. Known as "the father of mineralogy", he was born at Glauchau in Saxony. His real name was Georg Pawer; Agricola is the Latinised version of his name, Pawer meaning "farmer"...
- Louisa May AlcottLouisa May AlcottLouisa May Alcott was an American novelist. She is best known for the novel Little Women and its sequels Little Men and Jo's Boys. Little Women was set in the Alcott family home, Orchard House in Concord, Massachusetts, and published in 1868...
- Ethan AllenEthan AllenEthan Allen was a farmer, businessman, land speculator, philosopher, writer, and American Revolutionary War patriot, hero, and politician. He is best known as one of the founders of the U.S...
- Isaac AmbroseIsaac AmbroseIsaac Ambrose was an English Puritan divine, the son of Richard Ambrose, vicar of Ormskirk, and was probably descended from the Ambroses of Lowick in Furness, a well-known Roman Catholic family....
- John Albion AndrewJohn Albion AndrewJohn Albion Andrew was a U.S. political figure. He served as the 25th Governor of Massachusetts between 1861 and 1866 during the American Civil War. He was a guiding force behind the creation of some of the first U.S. Army units of black men—including the famed 54th Massachusetts Infantry.-Early...
- William ApessWilliam Apessthumb|250px|William Apess' autobiographyWilliam Apess was a Native American writer, preacher, and politician of the Pequot tribe.-Early life:...
- Paul BaloffPaul BaloffPaul Baloff was an American singer, most notable for his time in thrash metal band Exodus.Paul was the second vocalist with Exodus replacing Keith Stewart in 1981 and singing on their 1982 Demo and their first official album Bonded by Blood in 1985. After the release, they started the...
- Nicolaus CopernicusNicolaus CopernicusNicolaus Copernicus was a Renaissance astronomer and the first person to formulate a comprehensive heliocentric cosmology which displaced the Earth from the center of the universe....
- Catharine BeecherCatharine BeecherCatharine Esther Beecher was an American educator known for her forthright opinions on women's education as well as her vehement support of the many benefits of the incorporation of kindergarten into children's education....
- Marie-Henri BeyleStendhalMarie-Henri Beyle , better known by his pen name Stendhal, was a 19th-century French writer. Known for his acute analysis of his characters' psychology, he is considered one of the earliest and foremost practitioners of realism in his two novels Le Rouge et le Noir and La Chartreuse de Parme...
(Stendhal) - Joachim du BellayJoachim du BellayJoachim du Bellay was a French poet, critic, and a member of the Pléiade.-Biography:He was born at the Château of La Turmelière, not far from Liré, near Angers, being the son of Jean du Bellay, Lord of Gonnor, first cousin of the cardinal Jean du Bellay and of Guillaume du Bellay.Both his parents...
- Sam BernardSam BernardSam Bernard was a renowned stage, film and vaudeville star. He also performed comic opera and burlesque....
- Jean de La BruyèreJean de La BruyèreJean de La Bruyère was a French essayist and moralist.-Ancestry:He was born in Paris, not, as was once thought, at Dourdan in 1645...
- Al CaponeAl CaponeAlphonse Gabriel "Al" Capone was an American gangster who led a Prohibition-era crime syndicate. The Chicago Outfit, which subsequently became known as the "Capones", was dedicated to smuggling and bootlegging liquor, and other illegal activities such as prostitution, in Chicago from the early...
- Catherine the Great
- Jean-François ChampollionJean-François ChampollionJean-François Champollion was a French classical scholar, philologist and orientalist, decipherer of the Egyptian hieroglyphs....
- Charles II of EnglandCharles II of EnglandCharles II was monarch of the three kingdoms of England, Scotland, and Ireland.Charles II's father, King Charles I, was executed at Whitehall on 30 January 1649, at the climax of the English Civil War...
- Robert Chilton
- Empress Dowager CixiEmpress Dowager CixiEmpress Dowager Cixi1 , of the Manchu Yehenara clan, was a powerful and charismatic figure who became the de facto ruler of the Manchu Qing Dynasty in China for 47 years from 1861 to her death in 1908....
- Menno van CoehoornMenno van CoehoornMenno, Baron van Coehoorn was a Dutch soldier and military engineer of Swedish extraction. He made a number of influential weaponry innovations in siege warfare and fortification techniques...
- John Frederic DaniellJohn Frederic DaniellJohn Frederic Daniell was an English chemist and physicist.Daniell was born in London, and in 1831 became the first professor of chemistry at the newly founded King's College London. His name is best known for his invention of the Daniell cell , an electric battery much better than voltaic cells...
- Gabriel Dumont
- Leonhard EulerLeonhard EulerLeonhard Euler was a pioneering Swiss mathematician and physicist. He made important discoveries in fields as diverse as infinitesimal calculus and graph theory. He also introduced much of the modern mathematical terminology and notation, particularly for mathematical analysis, such as the notion...
- Félix FaureFélix FaureFélix François Faure was President of France from 1895 until his death.-Biography:Félix François Faure was born in Paris, the son of a small furniture maker...
- Johann Christian FischerJohann Christian FischerJohann Carl Christian Fischer was a German composer. Employed as a music copyist and theatre director for the Duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin at Ludwigslust, Fischer is now credited with the unique Symphony with Eight Obbligato Timpani, formerly attributed to Johann Wilhelm Hertel, court composer at...
- Gustave FlaubertGustave FlaubertGustave Flaubert was a French writer who is counted among the greatest Western novelists. He is known especially for his first published novel, Madame Bovary , and for his scrupulous devotion to his art and style.-Early life and education:Flaubert was born on December 12, 1821, in Rouen,...
- Jacob FrankJacob FrankJacob Frank was an 18th century Jewish religious leader who claimed to be the reincarnation of the self-proclaimed messiah Sabbatai Zevi and also of the biblical patriarch Jacob...
- Andrew FreedmanAndrew FreedmanAndrew Freedman was the owner of the New York Giants of the National League from through . He also served as a director of the Wright Company, established in 1909 to market the Wright brothers' airplanes in the United States. In 1895 Freedman purchased the franchise from Cornelius C. Van Cott...
- Émile GaboriauÉmile GaboriauÉmile Gaboriau , was a French writer, novelist, and journalist, and a pioneer of modern detective fiction.- Life :Gaboriau was born in the small town of Saujon, Charente-Maritime...
- Orlando GibbonsOrlando GibbonsOrlando Gibbons was an English composer, virginalist and organist of the late Tudor and early Jacobean periods...
- George Gordon, 4th Earl of HuntlyGeorge Gordon, 4th Earl of HuntlyGeorge Gordon, 4th Earl of Huntly was a Scottish nobleman.-Biography:He was the son of John Gordon, Lord Gordon, and Margaret Stewart, daughter of James IV. George Gordon inherited his earldom and estates in 1524 at age 10...
- Sir Thomas Gresham
- Cemal GurselCemal GürselCemal Gürsel , was a Turkish army officer, and the fourth President of Turkey.- Early life :He was born in the city of Erzurum to the Turkish parents as the son of an Ottoman Army officer, Abidin Bey, the grandson of Ibrahim and the great-grandson of Haci Ahmad...
- Charles Francis HallCharles Francis HallCharles Francis Hall was an American Arctic explorer. Little is known of Hall's early life. He was born in the state of Vermont, but while he was still a child his family moved to Rochester, New Hampshire, where, as a boy, he was apprenticed to a blacksmith. In the 1840s he married and drifted...
- Winfield Scott HammondWinfield Scott HammondWinfield Scott Hammond was an American politician. He was a Democrat.Born in 1863 in Southborough, Massachusetts, he served from Minnesota in the United States House of Representatives in the 60th,...
- Warren G. HardingWarren G. HardingWarren Gamaliel Harding was the 29th President of the United States . A Republican from Ohio, Harding was an influential self-made newspaper publisher. He served in the Ohio Senate , as the 28th Lieutenant Governor of Ohio and as a U.S. Senator...
- John Haviland
- Matthew HenryMatthew HenryMatthew Henry was an English commentator on the Bible and Presbyterian minister.-Life:He was born at Broad Oak, a farmhouse on the borders of Flintshire and Shropshire. His father, Philip Henry, had just been ejected under the Act of Uniformity 1662...
- Johann Frederich Herbart
- Alois HitlerAlois HitlerAlois Hitler was an Austrian civil servant who was the father of Adolf Hitler.-Early life:...
- Leopold of Hohenzollern
- Kwan Hoi SanKwan Hoi SanKwan Hoi San was a Hong Kong actor. Kwan started off as a Cantonese opera actor in street theatre before joining New Voice Opera Troupe . He also started singing for early Hong Kong film soundtracks and moved on to act in films, mostly adaption of opera in Cantonese. He became famous and acted in...
- Edward JennerEdward JennerEdward Anthony Jenner was an English scientist who studied his natural surroundings in Berkeley, Gloucestershire...
- Fred JonesFred Jones (footballer born 1867)Frederick William "Fred" Jones was a Wales international footballer who played in the Football League for Small Heath and Lincoln City.-Career:...
- Robert William LawrenceRobert William LawrenceRobert William Lawrence , first-born son of William Effingham Lawrence, was born and educated in England. In 1825 he arrived in Van Diemen’s Land...
- Carl Friedrich Wilhelm Emich, Prince of LeiningenCarl, 3rd Prince of LeiningenCarl Friedrich Wilhelm Emich, Prince of Leiningen was a German nobleman and the elder half-brother of Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom.-Biography:...
- Charles W. LeGendre
- Harry Ward Leonard
- Toussaint Louverture
- Henry LucasHenry LucasThe Reverend Henry Lucas was an English clergyman and politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1640 to 1648.-Life:...
- William Lyon MackenzieWilliam Lyon MackenzieWilliam Lyon Mackenzie was a Scottish born American and Canadian journalist, politician, and rebellion leader. He served as the first mayor of Toronto, Upper Canada and was an important leader during the 1837 Upper Canada Rebellion.-Background and early years in Scotland, 1795–1820:Mackenzie was...
- Marcello MalpighiMarcello MalpighiMarcello Malpighi was an Italian doctor, who gave his name to several physiological features, like the Malpighian tubule system.-Early years:...
- William Marsden
- Pope Martin VPope Martin VPope Martin V , born Odo Colonna, was Pope from 1417 to 1431. His election effectively ended the Western Schism .-Biography:...
- Felix MendelssohnFelix MendelssohnJakob Ludwig Felix Mendelssohn Barthóldy , use the form 'Mendelssohn' and not 'Mendelssohn Bartholdy'. The Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians gives ' Felix Mendelssohn' as the entry, with 'Mendelssohn' used in the body text...
- Moses MendelssohnMoses MendelssohnMoses Mendelssohn was a German Jewish philosopher to whose ideas the renaissance of European Jews, Haskalah is indebted...
- Stephen NehméStephen NehméStephen Nehmé was a Lebanese Maronite Catholic monk in the Lebanese Maronite Order. He was beatified on 27 June 2010 by Pope Benedict XVI.-Life:...
- Ethelbert Woodbridge NevinEthelbert Woodbridge NevinEthelbert Woodbridge Nevin was an American pianist and composer.-Biography:Nevin was born in 1862, at Vineacre, on the banks of the Ohio River, in Edgeworth, Pennsylvania. There he spent the first sixteen years of his life, and received all his schooling, most of it from his father, Robert P...
- Michel OrdenerMichel OrdenerMichel Ordener was a general of division and a commander in Napoleon's elite Imperial Guard. Of plebeian origins, he was born 2 September 1755 in L'Hôpital and enlisted as private at the age of 18 years in the Prince Conde's Legion. He was promoted through the ranks; as warrant officer of a...
- Samuel ParkesSamuel ParkesSamuel Parkes may refer to:* Samuel Parkes , British manufacturing chemist* Samuel Parkes , British soldier and recipient of the Victoria Cross...
VC - Jan PatočkaJan PatockaJan Patočka is considered one of the most important contributors to Czech philosophical phenomenology, as well as one of the most influential central European philosophers of the 20th century...
- Dr. Emlen Physick
- PetrarchPetrarchFrancesco Petrarca , known in English as Petrarch, was an Italian scholar, poet and one of the earliest humanists. Petrarch is often called the "Father of Humanism"...
- Stamford RafflesStamford RafflesSir Thomas Stamford Bingley Raffles, FRS was a British statesman, best known for his founding of the city of Singapore . He is often described as the "Father of Singapore"...
- William Leman RedeWilliam Leman RedeWilliam Leman Rede was one of the many prolific and successful playwrights who composed farces, melodramas, burlettas , and travesties, primarily for theatres such as the Olympic, Strand, and Adelphi, in the early nineteenth century. He proudly proclaimed himself a follower of Thomas Frognall...
- Jean-Jacques RousseauJean-Jacques RousseauJean-Jacques Rousseau was a Genevan philosopher, writer, and composer of 18th-century Romanticism. His political philosophy influenced the French Revolution as well as the overall development of modern political, sociological and educational thought.His novel Émile: or, On Education is a treatise...
- Elizabeth Singer Rowe
- Edward RutledgeEdward RutledgeEdward Rutledge was an American politician and youngest signer of the United States Declaration of Independence. He later served as the 39th Governor of South Carolina.-Early years and career:...
- John RyleJohn RyleJohn Alfred Ryle was a British physician and epidemiologist.He was born the son of Brighton doctor R J Ryle and brother of the Oxford philosopher Gilbert Ryle. He was educated at Brighton College and Guys Hospital where he qualified in 1913. He served in the military during WWI and afterwards...
- Francis de SalesFrancis de SalesFrancis de Sales was Bishop of Geneva and is a Roman Catholic saint. He worked to convert Protestants back to Catholicism, and was an accomplished preacher...
- Swami Saradananda
- Mary SeacoleMary SeacoleMary Jane Seacole , sometimes known as Mother Seacole or Mary Grant, was a Jamaican nurse best known for her involvement in the Crimean War. She set up and operated boarding houses in Panama and the Crimea to assist in her desire to treat the sick...
- Dionysios SolomosDionysios SolomosDionysios Solomos was a Greek poet from Zakynthos. He is best known for writing the Hymn to Liberty , of which the first two stanzas, set to music by Nikolaos Mantzaros, became the Greek national anthem in 1865...
- Pope-elect StephenPope-elect StephenStephen was a priest of Rome elected Pope in March of 752 to succeed Pope Zachary; he died of stroke a few days later, before being ordained a bishop...
- Robert Louis StevensonRobert Louis StevensonRobert Louis Balfour Stevenson was a Scottish novelist, poet, essayist and travel writer. His best-known books include Treasure Island, Kidnapped, and Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde....
- Thomas Noon TalfourdThomas Noon TalfourdSir Thomas Noon Talfourd, SL , was an English judge and author.The son of a well-to-do brewer, he was born at Reading, Berkshire ....
- Jerry Thomas
- ValentinianValentinian IValentinian I , also known as Valentinian the Great, was Roman emperor from 364 to 375. Upon becoming emperor he made his brother Valens his co-emperor, giving him rule of the eastern provinces while Valentinian retained the west....
- Horace Vere, 1st Baron Vere of Tilbury
- Swami VivekanandaSwami VivekanandaSwami Vivekananda , born Narendranath Dutta , was the chief disciple of the 19th century mystic Ramakrishna Paramahansa and the founder of the Ramakrishna Math and the Ramakrishna Mission...
- Joseph WeizenbaumJoseph WeizenbaumJoseph Weizenbaum was a German-American author and professor emeritus of computer science at MIT.-Life and career:...
- Louis WigfallLouis WigfallLouis Trezevant Wigfall was an American politician from Texas who served as a member of the Texas Legislature, United States Senate, and Confederate Senate. Wigfall was among a group of leading secessionists known as Fire-Eaters, advocating the preservation and expansion of an aristocratic...
- Isaac Wilson
- Woodrow WilsonWoodrow WilsonThomas Woodrow Wilson was the 28th President of the United States, from 1913 to 1921. A leader of the Progressive Movement, he served as President of Princeton University from 1902 to 1910, and then as the Governor of New Jersey from 1911 to 1913...
- John WycliffeJohn WycliffeJohn Wycliffe was an English Scholastic philosopher, theologian, lay preacher, translator, reformer and university teacher who was known as an early dissident in the Roman Catholic Church during the 14th century. His followers were known as Lollards, a somewhat rebellious movement, which preached...
- Frederick T.B. Young
- William ZieglerWilliam ZieglerWilliam Ziegler was an American industrialist who was one of the founders of the Royal Baking Powder Company. He ended up suing his partners in a bitter legal battle. His other interests were organizing Arctic expeditions and yachting.-Biography:He was born in Beaver County, Pennsylvania, of...
- Captain William Fowler
Non-medical usage
ColloquiallyColloquialism
A colloquialism is a word or phrase that is common in everyday, unconstrained conversation rather than in formal speech, academic writing, or paralinguistics. Dictionaries often display colloquial words and phrases with the abbreviation colloq. as an identifier...
, 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.