Contextualizing ovarian pain in the late 19th century — Part 2: Ovarian-based treatments of “hysteria”

Abstract

The peculiar therapeutic practice of “ovarian compression”—paradoxically, both in initiating and in terminating hysterical activity—remains largely unexplained territory from both historical and medical perspectives. The gynecological indications of “hysteria” and “hystero-epilepsy” are now considered to be among similar questionable indications as contemporaneous “nymphomania” and “epilepsy.” This article analyzes historical clinical observations, as well as surgical experiences of the time, to determine if there has been a uniform understanding of the ovarian contribution to “hystero-epilepsy.” The respective findings are interpreted in light of the physiology of “chronic pelvic pain.” Evidence for pain as a source of hystero-epileptic attacks is further represented through a series of clinical photographs suggesting a link to current problems, such as severe left-lower-quadrant pain. The emerging insights link more clearly to the functional role (le rôle fonctionnel) of the ovaries in relation to the “fits” of hystero-epileptic patients, while validating women’s pain experiences during the latter part of the nineteenth century. Differences in the interpretation of disease concepts between Robert Battey (1828–1895) and Octave Terrillon (1844–1895) thereby permit an understanding of variations in the use of the removal of women’s ovaries for pain.