|
At the frontiers
of epilepsy |
Nubor
Orlando
Facure |
Epilepsy
sufferers
such as
Dostoievski
e Machado de
Assis made use
of protagonists
in their
romances in
order to
describe their
own crises.
Renowned
figures of
History have had
epilepsy, but,
for the common
man, it is on
streets kerbs
that he normally
comes in contact
with it and
becomes
frightened with
the violence of
the convulsive
crisis.
Although
Hippocrates has
made in his
writings a
brilliant
description of
the crises of
the Great Mal,
indicating the
brain as being
responsible for
all this
symptomatology;
epilepsy was
seen as a mental
disease for
centuries and
only after the
emergence of
Neurology, in
the last
century, is it
that epilepsy
went on to be
understood as a
syndrome
resulting from
an organic
lesion in the
brain.
Today epilepsy
is understood as
an electrical
discharge which
reaches the
cerebral neurons
provoking
symptoms
correlated to
the affected
cerebral area.
Although the
mediumistic
accounts of the
size of In the
Greater World
and In the
Domains of
Mediumship,
dictated by the
Spirit known as
André Luiz, make
unmistakable
descriptions of
epileptic
symptomatology
in their main
characters, who
are compliant to
the frankly
obsessing
spiritual
interference and
present day
medicine rejects
any spiritual
presence in the
origin of
epileptic
crises,
especially
because of the
fear of seeing
the resurgence
of the harmful
participation of
“demons” from
biblical texts,
versions from
which the Middle
Age and
Inquisition knew
how to take
advantage.
Today’s
sophisticated
texts of
identify
traumas,
infection,
tumour and
degenerations
amongst several
other causes of
an organic
nature as
aetiology of
epilepsy.
However none of
these tests is
appropriate to
detect the vibes
of the spiritual
realm that would
make us
understand in
depth the
essential nature
of the problem
of epilepsy.
Not even
remotely do we
intend to
exclude the
cerebral origin
of the epileptic
manifestation,
but the
exclusivist
materialist view
of allopathic
medicine
surrounds
epilepsy in a
stupid obscurity
which does not
allow it to be
identified with
another universe
of interference
that is situated
within the
spirit dimension
which, as cause
or aggravation,
interferes in
the frequency
and in the
constellation of
symptoms which
the epilepsy
sufferer
manifests.
By denying the
interference
with the spirit,
medicine is
unable to see
that through the
study itself of
epilepsy, it
would have much
to learn, for
example, with
that which the
sufferers
experience
during the so
called “psychic
crises”, in
which one can
observe a
richness of
cognitive
clinical
expression which
the simple
disarrangement
of neurons in
“short-circuit”
does not offer
arguments to
justify.
On the
classification
of epileptic
crises,
Neurology
highlights a
type of crises
called Focal or
Partial Crises
in which there
is no impairment
of conscience
and the
symptomatology
will be the
result of the
area affected in
the brain by the
disorganised
neuronal
discharge. In
the motor area,
the patient will
present muscular
contractions in
the hand, arm,
leg or in any
other part of
the body
corresponding to
the motor region
of the affected
brain.
In a sensitive
area, the
symptoms are
referred as
numbness, odd
sensations or
deformations in
the affected
limb.
The psychical
crises are
included within
the focal crises
group, in which
the patient
reports
subjective
sensations
experienced
spontaneously
and with
variation of
duration from
minutes to hours
or days.
The classical
descriptions of
psychical crises
make more common
reference to the
crisis “Dejá
vu" and "Jamais
Vu". These two
pictures are
recognised as
resulting from
lesions on the
base of the
brain at the
temporal lobes
region.
The epileptic
person,
sometimes,
manifests an odd
sensation in
known places
During "Dejá
vu", the patient
reports a
sensation of
familiarity with
the environment
or with people,
even if they are
strange to the
patient and that
are seen by the
patient for the
first time. The
patient can have
his crisis in a
completely
strange place,
feeling a strong
impression that
the place is
known to him or
he has already
being there
before.
During "Jamais
vu" (never seen)
crisis, the
patient
manifests an odd
sensation in
places or with
people known to
him.
Both situations
described here
can occur with
any normal
person, but
these sensations
are commonly
repeated and
lasting in the
epilepsy
sufferer.
However many
epileptic
sufferers
present frequent
psychical crises
that have
deserved little
emphasis for
being
commonplace such
as sudden mood
changes, a
sudden sorrow or
an unmotivated
and out of
proportion
aggressiveness
bordering on
violence.
In this article
I am interested
in reporting
other types of
psychical
crises. They are
relatively rare
and the patients
themselves have
much difficulty
in finding
adequate terms
to describe
them. In my
opinion they
deserve a
meticulous
study,
attempting to
value the true
sensations of
these subjective
experiences,
which the
patient tries to
convey to us,
even to the
point of
frequently
feeling the
incredulity
manifested by
the majority of
doctors on
listening to
their accounts.
The reports of
these crises at
a first sight
seem to be
inconsistent,
untruthful,
superficial,
getting mixed up
with the
patient’s
symptoms of
anxiety
exhibited by
them when also
having to live
with this type
of crisis. They
can be very
lengthy and not
have the
character of
suddenness that
is a part of
convulsive
crises. The
consciousness is
not affected,
but perception
of complex
functions are,
such as
perception of
time, space,
reality,
movement, notion
of Self and even
of thought.
These several
sensations at a
level of
psychological
experience of
the individual
seem to provide
precious
observation of
the frontier
between physical
or spiritually
lives
experiences by
these patients.
There are cases
in which the
patient has the
constant
sensation of
living in a
dream
A few accounts
taken from these
patients have
helped me to
confirm that the
mental world of
each one of us
moves in a
spiritual
dimension which
transcends
physical
experience.
One of them is a
doctor. He has
frequented my
clinic since
childhood due to
having
convulsions
resulting from
neurocysticercosis
and, recently he
and his wife
visited me with
certain
restlessness,
intending to
report that in
the last few
days prior to
his visit, he
had lost the
capacity of
following the
passing of
time. It was
not to do with
the
identification
of time, of
hours or day and
night. He
reported having
a loss of the
“notion of
time”. Events
took place in
his mind and
when he
realised, these
events had
already finished
happening. On
driving to my
clinic, he was
riding his car
along the
motorway,
following the
road’s curves,
but always with
the idea that
this did not
take his time
because it
occurred in his
mind, literally
speaking, before
happening
physically. That
which he had in
mind, of the
trajectory that
he took, was not
imagination, but
the event
itself. He
reported that
before and
afterwards did
not make sense
because
everything that
took place in
sequence he had
experienced
taking place
simultaneously.
His wife helped
him as an
anaesthesia
assistant and
during the
interview she
told me that
despite having
these sensations
he described all
the time, he
carried on
normally whilst
anesthetising
his patients and
said that all
the attitude he
had already
taken seemed to
me to have
already occurred
not as a
premonition but
as a event
“already carried
out”; if we can
so say; by him
and on finishing
anaesthesia, to
his mind the
facts seemed to
carry on taking
place.
Neurology
describes it
also a state of
psychical crisis
in which the
patient has the
constant
sensation of
living a dream.
It is called
“Dream States”
by the classical
authors.
We have had two
patients that
reported
episodes in
which they felt
an alteration of
what they called
“reality.”A
Young lady told
that these
sensations
disturbed her
for years,
mainly at night
and if she was
near to many
people. This
made her feel
insecure. She
seemed to carry
things out by
instinct. She
insisted on
saying that
during the
crises she had
the sensation of
being living in
a “step before
reality”.
There are
patients that
feel they are
outside the
body, which
Neurology gives
the name of
“depersonalisation”
Another patient
with similar
crises added
that he also had
the impression
of “not living
in reality” and
that everything
he did “felt
that for him it
did not have any
emotional
content”.
Two children and
two young adults
who we have been
following up for
a while due to
past
convulsions,
reported to us
episodes of
perception that
was altered in
the movement of
objects and of
one’s own
thought. I heard
from them
expressions of
the type: “the
movement of
things and of
people seemed to
be accelerated”;
“when reaching
out to pick up
an object, his
gestures seem to
be very quick”;
“people crossed
the streets very
quickly”; “it is
difficult to
cross the street
with cars flying
by all the
time”;
“everything
around me seems
to be in
accelerated
mode”; “people
seem to speak
too quickly”.
One of the boys
reported being
woken up by the
crisis. To one
of them, during
the crises, his
own growth
seemed
accelerated.
In these times
he avoided
dialogue with
people for fear
of showing his
disturbance to
others. One of
these patients,
a 23 year old,
is a painter and
said that during
the crises he
felt everything
passing slowly,
his own gestures
on dealing with
the paint brush
seemed to take
place in slow
motion, even
though his
friends did not
confirm such
slowness. He
felt in such way
for longer than
a week, however
entering and
coming out of
the crises
without any
apparent reason.
A lady, who was
attending follow
up appointments
due to fainting
episodes, had an
ECG with focal
alterations in
the left
hemisphere and
brain
scans typical of
neurocysticercosis.
She reported
that she had had
episodes in
which she felt
to be shifted;
she felt to be
very far away,
“as if in
another world”,
“occupying
another space”.
These episodes
lasted 20
minutes and she
kept herself
lucid during
them and felt
her head empty,
felt herself
going pale and
panting. Other
more complex,
and sometimes
more elaborated
accounts have
been branded as
hallucinatory
and commonly
related with
dysrythmias of
temporal lobe or
pathologies of
sleep.
Some patients
tell of feeling
outside of their
body, a
sensation that
neurology names
“depersonalisation”.
To others, the
objects that
they see or the
sounds that they
hear are
increased,
diminished and
distorted.
Sometimes there
is a
concentration of
scenes and
accounts that
are memorised
and the patient,
in glimpses,
recapitulated
all his
existence. This
is called a
“panoramic view”
of life.
The accounts
described would
not surprise a
neurologist
who
is used to
seeing epileptic
sufferers
We have had,
amongst other
cases, the case
of a 9 year old
girl who
consulted us due
to
manifestations
common to
epilepsy.
She reported
that during some
occasions, while
being totally
awake, she felt
herself getting
out of her body
in complete
lucidity. In one
of these last
crises she was
sitting on a
sofa, watching a
TV program when,
suddenly, she
saw herself,
beside her
physical body. I
questioned her
as to her fears
during this
episode and what
her attitude was
on seeing
herself in this
duplication. She
answered simply
that, scared,
she tried to
direct herself
near to the TV
to see if her
body that was
sitting on the
sofa would
follow her.
The accounts we
have described
would not
surprise any
neurologist who
is used to
seeing epilepsy
cases. Surely
they are
attributed to
the presence of
disturbances of
neuronal
activity,
especially of
the temporal
lobe, and the
majority of them
will get rid of
crises of these
kinds with
medication
available to act
specifically on
dysrythmias of
these regions.
It is curious
that in these
descriptions,
the accounts of
how these
patients
experience or
“codify” the
notion of sense
of time, of
apprehension of
reality, of
space-time
relationship in
object
displacement, of
synthesis and
projection of
thought, allow
us to suspect,
without
presumption a
series of
similarities
with certain non
academic
descriptions
within
spiritualist
literature.
The texts that
are specialised
in describing
techniques of
meditation for
example; reveal
that the “great
masters” and
“mystics” who
reach the most
profound depths
of
interiorisation
of consciousness
make interesting
descriptions in
relation to
meaning of time,
to space
occupied by
matter, to the
speed of
particles of
matter/energy
that are attuned
and as well as
the swirling flow
of thought,
descriptions
that in my
opinion, are
very connected
to the ones
related here by
the epilepsy
sufferers.
For us,
spiritists, the
concepts of time
in the spiritual
world, of space
in the
extra-physical
dimension, of
thought
projection, of
spiritual body
displacement can
be easily
recognised in
this series of
accounts
registered here.
The objective
lesions evidence
by the cerebral
mass in these
accounts are, to
me, nothing more
that doors of
intercessions
between the two
realms, physical
expression of a
reality that our
body allows to
palpate and the
spiritual
perception that
we experience
without
perception of
our senses.
Nubor Orlando
Facure is a
neurosurgeon and
director of
Instituto do
Cérebro de
Campinas-SP(Campinas
Brain Institute-
in Sao Paulo
state). He is a
former chair
professor of
Neurosurgery of
UNICAMP
(University of
Campinas). He is
also a writer
and spiritist
lecturer.
|