Anxiety Can Be Horrendous
This is the case of a man in his early 60s who suffered from periods of overwhelming anxiety accompanied by severe head pain, (migraine). He said that 2 years ago he was on his way to a job when he was overwhelmed by fear. This was not the first time he had experienced this. Twenty years earlier he had similar difficulties. He took the conventional root but doctors could not help him. Then he saw an acupuncturist and after 4 treatments he was free of the anxiety and the headaches. Naturally, he went back to acupuncture when the migraines returned, but this time it was not effective for any length of time and that is when he turned to homeopathy.
Its a common situation that people turn to homeopathy as a last resort. In fact we have a little acronym for it, "TEETH". Tried Everything Else, Try Homeopathy". The thing I love about this, is that it shows just how great homeopathy is. If many of the people who seek out homeopathy have come as a last resort, and we still get good results, then that's pretty impressive in my opinion. Anyway, on with the story for Stuart.
Like I'm Going Out of My Mind
Stuart was currently living with a situation where he felt ill all the time. He had a tight chest, tight calves and palpitations and then he starts to feel as if he is going out of his mind and negative thoughts come in. This made him very restless and snappy, he could not just sit down and relax, he had to be on the move all the time. He was sick of the constant anxiety and in particular in bed at night there was a lot of restlessness and anxiety. I asked him about what was happening in his life around the time of these symptoms returning and he said that his mother had died and he had lost his job. Although he was enjoying not working at first, eventually he became concerned that he needed to be earning again.
Cluster Headaches
Alongside the anxiety and restlessness, Stuart was experiencing Cluster Headaches. This type of headache is described on the NHS website as excruciating pain. Stuart said it was pain beyond pain, when he gets them he takes Verapamil as prescribed by his doctor and also oxygen therapy. He said they felt like two soldering irons one in his eye and another in his temple, that meet in the middle. They were always on the left side of the head. He had previously been on antidepressants for the headaches and anxiety but was in a very anxious state and could not sit down or lay down at all. He paced about all night and eventually collapsed into bed at 6.30 in the morning. At this point Stuart stopped taking the antidepressants as he did not feel they were helping.
Harvard Medical School
He liked to investigate details of his illness to keep up with latest development and even joined the Harvard Medical school online. I think that is probably how he found me, by searching the net. There was also a fear of dying that Stuart would occasionally experience. He said that on one occasion he had a dream that God had spoken to him and told him he would die on a specific date.
Stuart would also get panic attacks which he knew were anxiety related. There would be dizziness, tingling of his lips and a funny taste in his mouth. The first time it happened he thought he was going to die, frightened me to death he said. These would usually occur either before or after a migraine headache.
Selecting The Remedy
I gave Stuart a remedy called Calcium Carbonate. This is a remedy for people who feel work is very important. They like to build a world of security around themselves and to feel financially secure. They have many fears and in particular a fear of going mad. Although it is not specifically a headache remedy, it is a good remedy for anxiety and since the headaches appeared to be linked with Stuarts anxiety it seemed a good place to start.
No Negative Thoughts
When Stuart came back for his follow up appointment one month later, he said that he had only had two migraines in the entire month; whereas previously he could have had up to 16 migraines. He was less dizzy and felt that his sense of humour was coming back, he said he felt that he was 60-70% improved. He had also had a sob about his mother.
So, this was a very good result, a reduction in head pain and anxiety and also he was able to release some of his sadness about his mother dying. We continued with the same remedy over the next 3 visits. Eventually Stuart said that he was experiencing a return of his original symptoms so we stopped the remedy which he had been taking in LM potency. This is a good sign when symptoms return during treatment, it means that the old symptoms being experienced are coming from the remedy and not the person. As homeopathy treats 'like with like' when you have had enough the old symptoms can come back for a short while. The solution is to stop taking the remedy and in theory the patient should now be returned to health and no longer need the remedy.
However, this was not the case for Stuart. We needed to do a bit more work before he was fully recovered.
Conclusion
Over the next few weeks Stuart was given several other remedies to help on a therapeutic level. He took Aconite to help deal with panic attacks and anxiety as it arose, which he found beneficial and he also had Sulphur which enabled me to see more clearly what was going on and the areas of his health that still needed addressing.
The final remedy given was Arsenicum which worked wonders. He was feeling fully recovered and able to carry on with a normal life. No more headaches or anxiety. Stuart was very happy with the results.
As is often the case, there was no direct line to a full restoration of health. However, with perseverance we got there as each layer of the onion, or each level of health was addressed and Stuart was able to enjoy restored good health free from anxiety.
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