“Do
I Need to Go to a Mental Hospital?"
This is a classic panic attack for which the most appropriate medicine
is Arsenicum album, which we mentioned in the preceding chapter. It
fit Irene’s exact symptoms perfectly. She called four days after taking
a single dose of the medicine to report that her heartbeat was less
rapid and the anxiety attacks much improved. At her visit six weeks
later, she reiterated that the medicine “worked fine. I’ve gotten
rid of the early-morning attacks. I’ve felt really relaxed. This is
how I’m supposed to be. My bowel movements are a lot more regular.
I’m not jittery. The chills are gone, my appetite is good, and I’m
no longer afraid of being alone. I’d say I feel 70 percent better.
I’ve never felt this calm.”
We repeated the medicine four and a half months later because Irene
felt the effects were waning. She still felt much better than when
we first saw her. She did not experience fearfulness, weakness in
the legs, headaches, or worries about her health, but the jitteriness
returned a bit, her pulse was up and down, and she had awakened once
again at 3 a.m. Her calmness returned after the second dose.
We didn’t see Irene again for five years because she felt fine. She
had returned then in a panic similar to the first time we saw her.
She was preoccupied as before about getting sick with no one to take
care of her. Irene’s husband had suffered from shingles. The medication
he was given precipitated hallucinations. Understandably, Irene plunged
into her first panic attack in five years. We gave her another dose
of the Arsenicum album and saw her five weeks later. “No palpitations,
no headaches, energy way up, no worrying about anything. I’m not picking
up on others’ nervousness and I’m able to cope just fine. I’d say
I’m 100 percent better.” That was eight months ago and Irene has not
needed any further treatment. Hopefully this last dose of the Arse-
nicum will last another five years or more!
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