Apoplexy is an outdated medical term, which can be used to mean 'bleeding'. It can be used non-medically to mean a state of extreme rage or excitement. The word derives from the Greek word apoplēxia (ἀποπληξία).

Contents 1 Neurological impairment 2 Historical meaning 3 Hemorrhage 4 Deaths attributed to apoplexy 5 Non-medical usage 6 See also 7 References

[edit] Neurological impairment

Apoplexy has been used as a synonym for "stroke".

[edit] Historical meaning

Historically, the word "apoplexy" was also used to describe any sudden death that began with a sudden loss of consciousness, especially one in which the victim died within a matter of seconds after losing consciousness. Those reading historical documents should take into consideration the possibility that the word "apoplexy" may be used to describe the symptom of sudden loss of consciousness immediately preceding death and not an actual verified disease process. Sudden cardiac deaths, ruptured cerebral aneurysms, certain ruptured aortic aneurysms, and even heart attacks may have been described as apoplexy in the past.

[edit] Hemorrhage

The term "apoplexy" is used to describe bleeding within internal organs. 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.

[edit] Deaths attributed to apoplexy

Georg Agricola Ethan Allen Isaac Ambrose William Apess Paul Baloff Henri Beyle (Stendhal) Jean de La Bruyère Joachim du Bellay Catherine the Great Jean-François Champollion Charles II of England Robert Chilton Empress Dowager Cixi [1] Menno van Coehoorn John Frederic Daniell Gabriel Dumont Leonhard Euler [2] Félix Faure Gustave Flaubert Jacob Frank Andrew Freedman Émile Gaboriau Orlando Gibbons George Gordon, 4th Earl of Huntly Cemal Gursel Charles Francis Hall Winfield Scott Hammond Warren G Harding John Haviland

Matthew Henry Edward Jenner Fred Jones Kwan Hoi San Charles W. LeGendre Harry Ward Leonard [3] Toussaint Louverture William Lyon Mackenzie Marcello Malpighi Pope Martin V Felix Mendelssohn Moses Mendelssohn[4] Ethelbert Woodbridge Nevin Jan Patocka Petrarch [4] Stamford Raffles Jean-Jacques Rousseau Edward Rutledge John Ryle Mary Seacole Pope-elect Stephen Robert Louis Stevenson [5] Swami Vivekananda Joseph Weizenbaum Louis Wigfall Isaac Wilson Woodrow Wilson John Wycliffe Valentinian

[edit] Non-medical usage

Colloquially, 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.

[edit] See also

• Transient ischemic attack
• Stroke

[edit] References