with migraine subsets, including familial hemiplegic
migraine.
Based on Darwin’s writings, some researchers have
theorized that the scientist was suffering from depression.
Darwin wrote to one correspondent, “We have just returned
home after spending five weeks in Ulswater; the scenery is
quite charming, but I cannot walk,
and everything tires me, even seeing
scenery. . .What I shall do with my
few remaining years I can hardly tell,
I have everything to make me happy
and contented, but life has become
very wearisome to me.” As Pickering
noted in his book, Darwin – unlike
other depressed patients – was
able to perform tasks during those
reportedly “depression” periods.
Although living as a recluse, Darwin
was quite productive in his writings,
including the publication of On the
Origin of Species (1859) and The Descent of Man (1871).
His productivity in writing despite his disability could be
attributed to the care of his wife. Following their marriage,
Darwin became an invalid. He stopped attending scientific
meetings and social events at friends’ homes. With Emma’s
help, he was also able to avoid visitors to his own home.
Emma was his shield from social interactions which made
him ill, and also served as his caregiver. It appears that
Mrs. Darwin enjoyed caring for invalids, and Charles
became more dependent on his wife. This process has
been described as the “concubine syndrome” which is
most often seen in female patients. The patient’s chronic
illness, including headache, is used for secondary gain by a
significant other, such as a spouse, parent, lover, or child.
Emma was a facilitator for Charles’ disability.
Darwin’s illness improved as he aged, a scenario often
seen in migraine. He became more productive during
the last decade of his life. On April 19, 1882, at age 73,
Darwin died of coronary heart disease. He had suffered a
heart attack several weeks earlier and lingered. However,
his headaches continued through this last illness. In a letter
to Thomas Huxley, his son Frank
wrote, “He remained in a condition
of terrible faintness and suffered very
much from overpowering nausea,
interrupted by retchings. He more
than once said, ‘if I could but die’.”
According to Emma’s memoirs of his
last years, Darwin’s final words to
his family were, “I am not the least
afraid of death – Remember what a
good wife you have been to me – Tell
all my children to remember how
good they have been to me.” And
while Emma rested, he repeatedly
told his children, Henrietta and Frank, that “It’s almost
worth while to be sick to be nursed by you.”
Darwin’s story reflects not only his productivity despite
illness, but also the impact of chronic illness on an entire
family. His recurrent headaches altered the roles of his wife
and children, and their social interactions. The headaches
had a life of their own within the family dynamics.
Because of his headaches, Darwin no longer ventured
far from home and did not return to his