Vincent's Violent Vertigo: An Analysis of the Original Diagnosis of Epilepsy vs. the Current Diagnosis of Meniere's Disease

Abstract

The authors propose to correct the historical misimpression that Vincent van Gogh's medical problems resulted from epilepsy. Rather, the authors propose his main medical problem was Meniere's disease. The authors have reviewed the 796 personal letters written by van Gogh. The symptoms of his Vertigo attacks, their presentation and duration as described in these letters, taken as a whole, are consistent with the clinical picture of Meniere's disease, not epilepsy. They point out that Prosper Meniere's description of his syndrome was not well known at the time of van Gogh's death, and was often misdiagnosed as epilepsy. During the last years of his life, van Gogh was labeled epileptic, although no rigid criteria for this diagnosis are evident. This diagnosis is still prevalent in the art history literature today. His symptoms included episodic vertigo and dizziness, physical imbalance, hearing symptoms, ear noises (tinnitus) as well as a presumed secondary psychological reaction to his physical symptomatology, van Gogh's diagnosis of epilepsy is based on written diagnosis in his medical records in 1889 when he was interred (voluntarily) in St. Remy at an asylum for epileptics and lunatics.

Key Words:

• Vincent van Gogh
• inner-ear disease
• endolymphatic hydrops
• Meniere's disease
• vertigo
• epilepsy