Perreault Magazine - 67 -
Can you say Homeopathy without Anxiety?
Does anxiety really come from fearing and feeling the uncertainty of meeting our expectations?
My request of a patient who seeks my advice complaining of anxiety is this; “Please help me to understand what you are experiencing. Imagine you have come back from a trip and you would like to explain what a day was like on your trip. What does anxiety mean to you?” Here is a list of responses I get: Well, my doctor told me I have anxiety so I am just going by his diagnosis”; “I have looked my symptoms up on the internet and that’s what it seems like”; “It feels like what a relative/friend has and he was diagnosed with anxiety” …
I then respond: “Imagine you are an alien who has experienced this feeling and without knowing its name you are trying to make me, another alien, understand it.” “It feels like my heart is beating in my throat; my heart is beating faster or out of control; my heart is popping out of my chest; it’s in my stomach, I get chest pain, short of breath; I need to walk otherwise I go crazy; I become weak and need to sit or lay down; I become confused and can’t think properly; I become hyper; I faint; I blush; I become pale; my vision changes; I sweat; I need to use the restroom”. As you can see, anxiety has many faces.
Here are some of the situational anxieties I have heard from my patients: As soon as I wake up; As I am driving to work; As I am getting on a plane; Sometime during my periods; As I get older; In elevators; When meeting new people; When using public restrooms knowing that someone can hear me.
In medical school we had a professor who used to say imagine your patient is a jukebox, drop in your money and sit back and listen, he will tell you everything you need to know. I have listened to a lot of anxiety states and have not found two exactly the same. That’s why I encourage my patients to explain what they experience in great detail.