Κυριακή 31 Οκτωβρίου 2010

The illness of Muhammad...Just to know...

Theophanes, a monk (752-817), wrote in his Chronography that Muhammad


suffered from epilepsy. From that time most historians repeated this

opinion. When in the late 19th century better notions of psychopathology

became common, this diagnosis was challenged. Some thought his disease was

hysteria or hystero-epilepsy, although for most scientists epilepsy was

excluded. There was no definitive answer to this question. A better

scientific examination of the sources has made clear that all symptoms of

acromegaly are present with some psychopathological paranoid traits.

Acromegaly is caused by a small tumour of the hypophysis, beginning most of

the time about the fortieth year and ending in the sixtieth year with an

apoplexy of the hypophysis.

According to the hadith Muhammad suffered from a long-lasting disease, which

he treated by means of bleeding. He walked as somebody who comes down from a

hill. His skin-colour was peculiar, not white, not too tanned, somewhat

rosy. His eyebrows were conspicuous. He was sweating heavily, especially

when he was receiving revelations. He heard the noise of bells and voices.

He had a great appetite and suffered from hunger. Notwithstanding his sexual

relations with ten young women, he remained quasi-sterile: one only child

after the age of forty years. During his last illness he suffered from

intense headaches, losses of consciousness, back- and intestinal pains. He

died at the age of 62 years. Psychologically he was known as trustworthy,

somewhat retiring and prude. Initially, about at the age of forty years, he

was depressed, retiring, and showed a tendency to suicide. He spoke slowly.

Most typical were his great hands, dough feeling palms, great feet, a long

fleshy nose, well developed ears and a peculiar voice.



These indications suggest that he suffered from acromegaly. This hypothesis

allows to explain almost all details found in the hadith.



Acromegaly is caused by an adenoma of the pituitary, which causes an

increase in growth hormone (somatotropine) and usually a deficiency or

increase of other hormones such as gonadotropine. The disease begins in

adult persons about the fourth decade of age. Most patients die about the

age of 60 years. It is a long-lasting disease with slow progress, sometimes

burning out. Most patients tolerate it reasonably well. The melanophore

hormones secreted by the pituitary cause a peculiar straw-yellow

skin-colour. Excessive sweating is sometimes caused by hyperthyroidism.

Sweating can be oily and have an unpleasant odour. Patients suffer from high

blood pressure. Some hirsutism is observed (eyebrows). The growth of all

extremities after adult age causes also the vertebrae to extend and the

spine to curve. This extension can cause pain as the nerves suffer pressure.

Especially typical is the enlargement of the fingers and the dough like

feeling of the palms when shaking hands. Rarely a bleeding of the pituitary

occurs and causes death, this apoplexy of the pituitary causes headaches,

nausea, vomiting, losses of consciousness. Psychologically patients suffer

initially from depression, brooding and irritability, also an increase of

appetite and a loss of libido. Some patients are anxious and are lacking in

self-confidence. When the adenoma exerts pressure on the third ventricle and

the optic chiasma in the brain the patients may suffer from hallucinoses.

Uniformly these patients are trustworthy. Their personality is characterised

by conscientiousness, reliability and industriousness.



Confronting this picture of the symptomatology of acromegaly with the

tradition about Muhammad one can only state the conformity. Moreover one

understands some other traits of the personality of Muhammad. He washed

himself often, till two or tree times successively. He indulged in men's

scents, such as musk and ambergris; he used to burn camphor on odoriferous

wood. This is understandable. He smelled the unpleasant odour of his sweat,

and did not want it to be perceived by others. The use of bleeding, as a

treatment can be understood as a remedy against his high blood pressure. His

polygamy and the incessant acquisition of new young women can be explained

by his wish for a masculine child. His young sons were all dead. He adopted

two sons. But a son of his own was for him an absolute must. As the

pituitary influences fertility his acromegaly reduced considerably the

spermatogenesis. Ten wives could only give birth to one only masculine

child, which died early. Changing wives he tried desperately to engender

that masculine child. He was not a ***-maniac. His death was probably caused

by a pituitary apoplexy. Psychologically he was considered as a trustworthy

person. Initially depressed and devoid of self-confidence, he considered

suicide. He suffered from hallucinoses and even hallucinations.

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