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The patient came to the clinic with complaints of pain in the right side of the chest. Following were the characteristics of the pain as described by him:
- Intense pain- as if an electric current was passing through the chest
- Pain would get worse by coughing, deep breathing, bending, getting up, after sleeping and waking up
- He would only be relieved by massaging the chest with ointment
There was history of being injured in the chest 2 years ago. He had been diagnosed as a case of lung cancer 3 months ago.
Investigations:
CT scan of thorax showed a mass lesion probably malignant in the right middle lobe of the lung with pleural effusion.
FNAC results showed smear positive for malignant cells. Epithelial malignancy.
Suggestive of Squamous Cell Carcinoma.
The patient also complained of dryness of throat at night, and he would drink 1-2 glasses of water at a time to quench his thirst.
As a child, due to financial difficulties at home, he stayed away from his family, with his uncle and took up a small job in order to complete his studies. He missed his parents a lot during this period. Later, he took up a job in a company where he worked for 26 years; he was good at his job and was appreciated for it. For the past 2 months, he had been under tremendous pressure at work and said that all the tensions in last 26 years were equivalent to those in these 2 months. There were no tensions at home at all, he said (he stayed with his wife and 3 children).
The patient had an anxious nature in general and thought a lot. After the birth of his kids, he had developed a marked anxiety as to what will happen to them if he died suddenly. On further case taking, it was revealed that he also had fear of death and of high places and this had started recently.
Being sensitive emotionally, he would weep easily. Often the feeling that nobody was there with him and that people would laugh at him cropped up in his mind. If wronged he would feel like taking revenge but wouldn't do so and would tell the opposite person what he felt. Markedly irritable and with a fault-finding attitude, he would feel like hitting the opposite person when angry but would hold himself from doing so.
After a detailed evaluation of the case, he was prescribed Lycopodium 30. He was next seen after 4 weeks. He was feeling much better and the chest pain and stiffness was less. On his next visit after a month, his X-ray chest too had shown remarkable improvement. The doctors at TMH (Tata Memorial Hospital) reported 60% improvement. After 8 months of treatment his CT scan of the chest was normal there was no longer any mass present. The patient was very glad about his recovery. The treatment was concluded thereafter and he was told to report to us in case he developed any complaints anytime in future.
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