A good start to explore EPILEPSY and APOPLEXY or STROKE is to focus on the APOcalyptic nature of APO plectic STRokes. An apoPLEXy is a comPLEX event and implies that a person is removed from the comPLEX of normal existence.

STRoke conveys ideas of blow, beat and "pulse". A different panorama is painted by "stroking", when used in the sense of "pet". In Ukrainian, PESTyty denotes coddling. Children like to get PESTytty but any excess is likely to induce PESTy behavior. In Spanish "pulsar" is for "soft stroking" or "fingering" meant to induce "pulsations" or pleasant reverberations. Some virtuoso musicians have superb "fingering" and can induce quivers and tremors in their audiences with reverberating music. Pulse, Pest, Pestilence and Pesticide bring us back to a negative territory.

Epilepsy and Strokes Strike and can be Apopleptic.

A dramatic and perplexing disorder that STRikes like a STRoke is Epilepsy. Another reason for STRokes is cerebral vascular ischemia, causing a sudden and often "Apocalyptic" event. The prefix APO denotes "to remove, separate, fall or take away".

Apoplexy can be complex and perplexing.

Apoplexy is often a complication of arterial hypertension which may be suspected by noting a "hard" arterial "pulse". The severity and suddenness or "blow" like nature of Apoplexy evokes ideas also found in "Pestle" and "Mortar" thus in "Pill", "Pest" or "Plague" and "Mors" or "Mortal".