EGW had "dropsical consumption"

[Woody]

How many of you knew that Ellen White had "dropsical consumption" and was considered a "basket case".??

[Morning Glory]

RW,

What is "dropsical consumption"?

MG

[John317]

Dropsical consumption is disease of the lungs. J.N. Loughborough is quoted as having reported that one particular doctor in the 1840s believed that Ellen White suffered from diseased lungs and this doctor said he did not believe that Mrs. White "could live but a short time at most." However, she went on to live a very active life for over 60 years longer. See Ellen G. White: Prophet of Destiny, Rene Noorbergen, p. 72, and The Great Second Advent Movement, J.N. Loughborough, p. 203.

Who "considered" Ellen White a "basket case"? ("Basket case" typically refers to someone who suffers from mental illness.)

[Woody]

Quote:

Who considered Ellen White a "basket case"? ("Basket case" typically refers to someone who suffers from mental illness.)

See Below ...

"Ellen Harmon had been a near-total invalid for the previous eight years because of a tragic rock-throwing incident. The accident had left her physically disfigured, her central nervous system shattered, and her formal education permanently terminated in the third (or, possibly, fourth) grade of elementary school. Hers was virtually a medical "basket case."One physician observed that her right lung was "decayed," her left lung was "considerably diseased," and her heart action impaired. His diagnosis: "dropsical consumption" (a form of tuberculosis); his prognosis: at best her life expectancy was very short, at worst she was "liable to drop away at any time." " The Great Visions of Ellen White p. 17

The Great Visions Of Ellen G. White

Roger W. Coon

Copyright © 1992, Review and Herald Publishing Association

Roger W. Coon has served as an associate secretary of the Ellen G. White Estate since 1981. He is also an adjunct professor of prophetic guidance at the Seventh-day Adventist Theological Seminary, Andrews University, Berrien Springs, Michigan.

Dr. Coon holds a Ph. D. in speech, with an emphasis in rhetoric and public address, from Michigan State University. He has served throughout the world as a preacher, pastor, evangelist, hospital chaplain, foreign missionary, and author, but chiefly as an educator. He comes from a long line of preachers extending back more than 200 years into Scotland.

Thus ... she was considered a " Basket Case ". According to the White Estate.

[John317]

This is true. Ellen White had many physical/medical problems, as Dr. Coon and many others have pointed out. These things weren't just theory for her. She certainly had good reasons to be personally concerned with how we can become healthy and stay that way.

[aldona]

"Dropsy" is an ancient medical term that was used to describe diseases involving an excess build-up of fluid. Today we would use a word like "edema." (that's "oedema", for my non-American-speaking friends.)

So by saying that she had "dropsical consumption", and from the other descriptions of her as having diseased lungs, my initial impression was that she suffered from something like pulmonary edema.

It may or may not have been due to actual tuberculosis. Remember that they would have had limited ways in which to actually diagnose the presence of the TB germ, so would have had to deduce the diagnosis from the patient's symptoms and condition.

Other causes for pulmonary edema include disorders of the heart, kidneys, liver as well as other infections.

For doctors to give such a grave description of her health in the 1840's (when she would have only been in her late teens or early 20's) just shows that the Lord certainly had his hand over her and restored her health to the point that she was able to live to the ripe old age of 87-88 (impressive by our standards, even more so in her day).

And remember, when this description of her was written, it was still a good 20-30 years before the health message really took hold, so all the credit for preserving and restoring her health must go to God alone.

aldona

[John317]

Excellent post, aldona.

When Loughborough writes about the doctor diagnosing Ellen White as having "dropsical consumption," the context has to do with what the same doctor thought about Mrs. White's lungs. She was having trouble speaking loudly and also trouble breathing when lying down. I'm sure this doctor would never have believed that the time would come in the early years of the 20th century when Ellen White would speak to tens of thousands of people, and this before the invention of loudspeakers, etc..