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Headache and Epilepsy

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Headache and Comorbidities in Childhood and Adolescence

Part of the book series: Headache ((HEAD))

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Abstract

Both headaches and epilepsy received attention in the Bible, in ancient texts, and in scriptures and were addressed to by the forefathers of medicine. Hippocrates around 400 BC provided a detailed description of a man with an aura followed by an intense migraine headache. Epileptic attacks were already described in Babylonian scriptures about 1000 BC. Thereafter, the two entities received significant attention by physicians throughout the centuries. Eventually J.H. Jackson in 1888, before much of the physiology and biochemistry of the central nervous system were discovered, may have been the first to identify the overlap between epilepsy and headaches, as he reported “I have seen cases intermediate in type between migraine, epileptiform seizures and epilepsy proper.” W. Gowers (1907) added to this observation: “migraine is given a place in the borderland of epilepsy, the two maladies are sometimes mistaken, and more often their distinction is difficult” [1].

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Pediatric Neurology Unit, Meir Medical Center, Tel Aviv University Medical School, Kfar Saba, Israel

    Nathan Watemberg M.D.

  2. Department of Pediatrics and Child and Adolescent Neuropsychiatry, Sapienza University of Rome, Rome, Italy

    Vincenzo Guidetti M.D.

Authors
  1. Nathan Watemberg M.D.
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  2. Vincenzo Guidetti M.D.
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Nathan Watemberg M.D. .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Child and Adolescent Neuropsychiatry, Sapienza University, Rome, Italy

    Vincenzo Guidetti

  2. University of São Paulo , Neuropsychiatry, Glia Institute , Ribeirão Preto, Brazil

    Marco A. Arruda

  3. Neurology, Algology and Clinical Neurophysiology, Mersin University School of Medicine, Mersin, Adana, Turkey

    Aynur Ozge

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Watemberg, N., Guidetti, V. (2017). Headache and Epilepsy. In: Guidetti, V., Arruda, M., Ozge, A. (eds) Headache and Comorbidities in Childhood and Adolescence. Headache. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-54726-8_11

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-54726-8_11

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-54725-1

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-54726-8

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