In 1719 Gerbezius described a patient with a very slow pulse. The patient often had dizzy spells and from time to time was subjected to slight epileptic attacks. He did not connect the slow pulse as the reason for the seizures. In 1761 Morgani reported two cases with recurrent fainting spells associated with slow pulse rate, but listed the disturbance as neurological, perhaps, because it was associated with convulsive seizures. In 1826 Robert Adams was the first to realize that the loss of consciousness (apoplectic attack or seizures) was related to a very slow pulse rate and that the disorder had a cardiac origin. Later an autopsy revealed fatty degeneration of the myocardium and Adams assigned a cardiac cause for the seizure-like disorder.
In 1846 Stokes was a firm believer in the use of the stethoscope, which had been developed by Laennec in 1820. Stokes first observed two cases. He further analyzed and correlated seven cases from other physicians and was the first to describe the cardiac condition accurately in detailed writings and publications. He stated that the apoplectic seizures were caused by episodic deficits in the arterial blood supply to the brain, and through his publications and textbooks the syndrome became known to physicians. The syndrome was first labeled Stokes-Adams syndrome or Stokes-Adams attacks.

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