James' physician kept detailed notes on his royal patient, which describe his urine as being 'purple as Alicante wine' - a sign of porphyria. According to one historian, James suffered from itchy skin, gout and abdominal pain. Mary's son James I and VI is also often cited as suffering from the condition. Both suffered documented attacks that could be described as symptoms of porphyria. It is assumed Mary inherited the disorder from her father, James V of Scotland. She also experienced bouts of abdominal pain, lameness, fits and episodes of mental disturbance since her teens. Mary's symptoms included gastric ulcers, rheumatism and hysteria. It was further theorised that George inherited the disease from his five greats grandmother Mary, Queen of Scots, although this part of the theory is subject to debate. He was mercifully released from his nightmare existence by death on 16th February 1820. At Christmas, 1819, George suffered another violent attack of porphyria, after talking incessantly for fifty-eight hours he sank into a coma. He was never informed when Queen Charlotte died in 1818. He was reported to have had lucid moments when he agonized pitifully about what he had become. Even in his insanity he never forgot his exalted status, although he ceased to shave and now had a long white beard, he always wore a purple dressing gown with his Garter star pinned to his chest. The King existed at Windsor Castle for the next ten years, neglected and unkempt, a blind and deaf octogenarian. As it became apparent that George's illness was this time permanent, even Queen Charlotte, his once devoted wife, sadly ceased to visit him. His eldest son, George, Prince of Wales was appointed Regent. The Queen continued to visit her husband but he failed to recognise her. In 1810, he suffered a total relapse, from which he was never to recover. George eventually made a recovery and in the following twelve years suffered only slight attacks of his illness. His urine was reported to have been blood red by his physicians. He was subjected to the appalling medical treatment of the day, bound and gagged and strapped into a chair for hours. George was often violent and talked incessantly and often obscenely for hours at a time. George III's recurring bouts of illness resulted in withdrawal from society to recuperate out of the public eye at Kew Palace, near Richmond. The theory formed the basis of a long-running play by Alan Bennett, The Madness of George III, which was later adapted for a film starring Nigel Hawthorne in the title role. They confidently put forward their claims in a paper in the British Medical Journal entitled "The Insanity of King George III: A Classic Case of Porphyria", which was followed up in 1968 by a further paper "Porphyria in the Royal Houses of Stuart, Hanover and Prussia". The theory that King George III suffered from Variegate Porphyria was first put forward in 1966 by a British mother/son psychiatrist team, Ida Macalpine and Richard Hunter, citing the tell-tale symptom of purple urine as proof. Symptoms vary greatly and can include abdominal pain, nervous system problems, mental health problems and skin problems. This means that substances that are made during the process leading up to haem synthesis (including porphyrins) are overproduced and can build up within the body and cause symptoms. In each type, there is a lack of one of the enzymes which controls one of the steps in haem synthesis. There are seven different types of porphyria and in most cases, they are inherited. The porphyrias are a group of disorders connected with the production of haem, which is used to make haemoglobin in red blood cells.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |