Charles Locock (1799–1875), Antoine Jérôme Balard (1802–1876)
In 1826, Antoine Jérôme Balard, professor of chemistry at the University of Montpellier in France, discovered the element bromine in seawater. Potassium bromide, an ionic compound (salt), gained medical attention in 1857 when Queen Victoria's physician Charles Locock reported on its effectiveness in “blunt[ing] or suspend[ing] sexual desire or power.” (Then, the prevailing medical thinking held that masturbation was a cause of epilepsy.)
SEIZURE RELIEF AT A PRICE. Potassium bromide was the first drug found to control (but not cure) tonic-clonic (grand mal) epileptic seizures. As the dose of bromide is gradually increased over a period of six to eight weeks, seizure control improves—at the price of mental and physical lethargy, slow and confused thinking, and impaired memory and speech. It was generally believed at the time that seizure control was inextricably linked to depression, but drowsiness was far less a problem with phenobarbital and was absent with phenytoin (Dilantin), two safer and more effective antiepileptic drugs. Potassium bromide has long ceased to be used in humans, although it remains a first choice for treating epilepsy in dogs (but not cats), used either alone or with phenobarbital.
When taken over many months as a sedative or for epilepsy, symptoms of bromism may unexpectedly make their appearance. Among these are skin rashes indistinguishable from acne, gastrointestinal disturbances, and behavioral and neurological aberrations. The latter include hallucinations, delirium, and mania, which are sometimes misdiagnosed as symptoms of mental disease.
From 1891 to 1975, sodium bromide was readily available as effervescent granules to be mixed into water in a product called Bromo-Seltzer. In numerous older films and plays, characters in distress called for a “bromo” to treat their hangovers. Acetaminophen/paracetamol replaced the bromide ingredient in 1975, but the time-honored Bromo-Seltzer brand remains for the relief of pain with heartburn, indigestion, or upset stomach. Thanks to the drug’s sedative effects, “bromide” has been used to describe a boring statement that promotes sleepiness.
SEE ALSO Phenobarbital (1912), Dilantin (1938), Acetaminophen/Paracetamol (1953), Valproic Acid (1967).
Perhaps the most famous of all epileptics, Fyodor Dostoyevsky (1821–1881) described seizures and symptoms in at least four of his twelve novels (including The Idiot and The Brothers Karamazov)—depictions likely based on his own experiences.