NEW YORK, Oct 11 (Reuters Health) -- "I was sick -- sick unto death with that long agony; and when they at length unbound me, and I was permitted to sit, I felt that my senses were leaving me," Edgar Allan Poe began his short story "The Pit and the Pendulum" in 1842. Most readers find spine chilling thrills in the writer's works -- but one researcher has found clues in Poe's work that suggest the Master of the Macabre may have been killed by carbon monoxide poisoning.
Poe died October 7, 1849, at the age of 40. On his death certificate, the cause of death given was "congestion of the brain." Four days before his death, Poe was admitted to a hospital attached to Washington College Medical School. He was unconscious for 10 hours, then experienced hallucinations and tremors. He was described as "overexcited and incoherent."
Previous researchers have suggested that Poe died of complications of alcoholism, or as a result of rabies contracted from one of his cats.
On Saturday, a Johns Hopkins researcher told the International Edgar Allan Poe Conference in Richmond, Virginia, that evidence suggests Poe experienced symptoms of carbon monoxide poisoning for years.
"There are 14 stories with some symptoms of carbon monoxide poisoning," Albert Donnay told Reuters Health during the meeting. "Many of the symptoms are central to the story and consistent with CO poisoning.... The only other way he could have written (about the symptoms) such as are described in The Tell-Tale Heart is by imagining them... but that is unlikely," according to Donnay. In that story, Poe speaks of an "overacuteness of the senses."
Donnay noted that the stories that describe symptoms of CO poisoning were written when Poe lived in Baltimore and Philadelphia, cities lit by gas. When Poe lived in areas without gas lighting, such as Richmond, his work did not reflect such symptoms.
Symptoms of carbon monoxide poisoning include headaches, dizziness, nausea, confusion, mood swings, and chest pain. Among patients who have lost consciousness due to CO poisoning and responded to treatment, psychiatric symptoms have been noted weeks after exposure.
During his life, Poe complained of prolonged headaches, blurred vision, spasms, hypersensitivity to stimuli, and extreme fatigue. He also had a facial asymmetry, where one side of his face appeared dragged down, suggestive of chemical sensitivity, Donnay said.
Donnay is executive director of Multiple Chemical Sensitivity Referral and Resources, a nonprofit group that aims to educate healthcare professionals and consumers about multiple chemical sensitivity disorders.
Chronic carbon monoxide poisoning may be more common than is currently recognized, Donnay told Reuters Health. He says that between 10% and 15% of patients in the emergency department have symptoms of carbon monoxide poisoning, but are unaware of it. "We have a huge CO poisoning problem, but it is unrecognized," Donnay asserts.
