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Stephanie Barron
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General Discussion > New Speculation on Jane's Cause of Death

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message 1: by QNPoohBear (new)

QNPoohBear | 740 comments Stephanie Barron whose Jane Austen mysteries are highly enjoyable, did a lot of research into Jane's final illness and symptoms. While she agrees the symptoms are consistent with Addison's disease, she has a new theory that sounds more plausible than arsenic poison or whatever other ridiculous theories people with too much imagination dream up. (She'd be laughing at that for sure and put it in her next book).

Stephanie Barron's new theory is early onset menopause caused Addison's disease. It's an interesting read.
https://crimereads.com/jane-austen-de...


message 2: by Abigail (last edited Feb 21, 2022 11:19AM) (new)

Abigail Bok (regency_reader) | 513 comments I look forward to reading the link, thanks! Kathleen Flynn in The Jane Austen Project has an interesting alternative theory too.


message 3: by Emmy (new)

Emmy B. | 271 comments Having read the article I must say I'm not convinced... I mean, she doesn't really present any evidence why her Addison's should have been caused by an early onset menopause. Am I missing something? She doesn't even present any clue that led her to this conclusion other than she stumbled upon it as a possible cause of Addison's, generally.


message 4: by QNPoohBear (new)

QNPoohBear | 740 comments Abigail wrote: "I look forward to reading the link, thanks! Kathleen Flynn in The Jane Austen Project has an interesting alternative theory too."

Paula Byrne in The Real Jane Austen: A Life in Small Things subscribes to the Addison's theory but suggests Jane had an Addison's crash brought on by the stress of her brother Henry's bank failure, her brother Edward being sued by his adopted parents' family (and thus fearing the Austen women will lose their home) and Mansfield Park not selling well. I buy that one but I'm not sure about early menopause. There's no evidence for that but that's something Cassandra would have censored in the letters so we'll never know.


message 5: by Abigail (last edited Feb 21, 2022 03:24PM) (new)

Abigail Bok (regency_reader) | 513 comments I’ll give details about the Jane Austen Project theory here but spoilerize it so people interested in reading the book won’t learn a significant plot point. (view spoiler)


message 6: by Beth-In-UK (new)

Beth-In-UK | 1195 comments Since, I assume, Addison's itself was unknown as a specific health condition in Austen's day, to what was her death attributed in her day?

I suppose there were any number of health conditions that had not been formally identified or defined (let alone their causes), and were classified in ways that modern doctors have to try and decipher from symptoms and so on.

Do modern doctors know what causes Addison's? Did anyone else in Austen's family seem to have it, either in her generation or subsequent ones? No idea if it's genetic anyway? Maybe auto-immune??

Austen and JFK are the two most famous people with it - anyone else??


message 7: by Beth-In-UK (new)

Beth-In-UK | 1195 comments How quickly can an Addison's crash come on? If those contributory factors listed happened, over what period of time? One might think a fatal crash would need to be acute, rather than chronic, but perhaps a chronic level of high stress could end up triggering a fatal/acute crash??

I shall have to go and Google 'Addison's' I can see !!!


message 8: by Abigail (new)

Abigail Bok (regency_reader) | 513 comments Here’s a Cleveland Clinic page about Addison’s: https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health.... From this page it sounds as if Addison’s crash pretty immediately leads to death if not treated (and in Austen’s day there were no treatments).

The disease can be brought on by an autoimmune attack or other causes. I once had a doctor say he thought I might have Addison’s, and my reply was, “That’s taking Jane Austen fandom entirely too far!” (Fortunately, the blood test was negative.)


message 9: by Jan (new)

Jan Z (jrgreads) | 271 comments Did you doc understand your joke/comment?


message 10: by Abigail (new)

Abigail Bok (regency_reader) | 513 comments Sigh, no, I had to explain it, which always ruins a joke!


message 11: by QNPoohBear (new)

QNPoohBear | 740 comments They say Jane's symptoms were also consistent with lymphoma. It's hard to know for sure without modern medical technology. Addisons is treatable but I have known a dog or two that died from an Addisons crash. Abigail I'm glad you didn't have it but not surprised the doctor didn't understand the joke.

It was a doctor named Zachary Cope who first proposed that Addison's disease had killed Austen in an article, published in the British Medical Journal in 1964. More recent studies discount that theory. Apparently Stephanie Barron missed those.

This one says Hodgkin's disease, a form of lymphoma.
https://mh.bmj.com/content/31/1/3

THIS ONE -from a Jane Austen Society member and medical professional suggests Lupus. Hmm .... my other favorite, Louisa May Alcott may also have died from Lupus.
https://chawtonhouse.org/2021/03/the-...

Unlike Louisa, there are no portraits of Jane to lend credence to that theory. We only have her letters to go on and who knows if she was telling the whole truth about her symptoms.


message 12: by Jan (new)

Jan Z (jrgreads) | 271 comments Abigail, I am sure you were thoroughly vexed.


message 13: by Abigail (new)

Abigail Bok (regency_reader) | 513 comments Well, less vexed than I would have been had I tested positive for Addison’s!


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