When my sister sent me the above photo I
immediately asked her where she had taken it. Oddly enough, her answer was ‘In
a museum’. I immediately Googled “Viscountess Anne Conway + headache” and soon
discovered that Anne did indeed suffer from a mysterious headache for virtually
all her life. She died in 1679.
I wonder what people thought of her
headaches back then. Did they think she was a hypochondriac? A liar? A witch?
An emotionally unstable, neurotic woman in need of some fresh sea air?
Anne was actually a highly respected 17th
century philosopher, metaphysicist and intellectual whose ideas and criticisms
on Descartes and Hobbes influenced later writers.
Her debilitating chronic headaches are
mentioned in a number of sources. From what I have researched, I am unable to
say whether Anne suffered from one persistent headache or a series of
continuous attacks. It seems to me it was probably one continuous headache, but
given that most people do not even believe such a thing possible, over time I think
some physicists and historians may have eventually settled for ‘headaches’ in
the plural.
Her severe headache perplexed friends and
doctors alike, leading her to try all sorts of (dangerous) cures including
mercury and opium, albeit to no avail. In a desperate attempt to cure the
headache, Anne even travelled to France to be trepanned. No one dared proceed
with the operation and eventually her jugular arteries were opened instead – an
equally risky procedure. A renowned alchemist and healer was even invited to
Anne’s country home to try and rid her of the debilitating pain, but her
headache persisted. It continued to baffle eminent physicians and doctors for
the rest of her life.
It appears her headache started at the age of 12.
It was initially attributed to her excessive studying habits, although a number of sources claim it started following a severe illness accompanied by fever, which
left a lingering headache that continued for the rest of her life.
The headache had a clear influence on her
life and ideas:
“The way her own suffering from increasingly debilitating headaches contributed to the development of her philosophical assessment of pain as an integral part of the process of purification adds an autobiographical element to her writing that is all too often ignored in the analysis of philosophical systems.”***
Anne was not considered mad, mentally
unstable or neurotic given her constant headache and pleas for help. If only
our doctors, like those four centuries ago, believed us when we say we suffer
from a continuous headache that never goes away.
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