Ammonium Carb. belongs to the simple enfeeblement, weak heart, and emaciation. There is quite an absence of symptoms and a lack of response to remedies. The patient must lie in bed because of the palpitation and difficult breathing on motion. It is a matter of mere weakness.
Such a case furnished me much amusement for a year and a half.
There was a woman in this city who answered just such a description; her state was one of peculiar cardiac weakness with dyspnoea and palpitation on motion.
I had been treating the case, but had not fully studied it, and as she did not progress under my management she was taken out of my hands and taken to one of our most able neurologists, who put her upon the “rest cure” and promised that in six weeks she would be perfectly well.
But at the end of six weeks she was worse than ever and a cardiac specialist was then brought to examine her.
He said it was true the heart was not vigorous, but there was no organic affection and consequently the case did not belong to his branch.
Then a lung specialist was brought in, and later she was examined by all kinds of specialists.
All of her organs were fully investigated, and it was announced that nothing was the matter with them; but the poor woman could not walk because of her sufferings and palpitating heart.
She had a little dry, hacking cough that did not amount to anything, but her chest was examined and there was nothing wrong with it.
But after she had been in this continual fire for about three months, and was steadily failing, the side of the family that were my adherents prevailed against the others and I went to see her again.
I continued to study the case, which was extremely vague, having nothing but those few symptoms, and finally I settled upon Ammonium carb., and she has been on this remedy for eighteen months.
She now climbs mountains; she does everything she wants to do and is about ready to go to housekeeping. She has grown from a case of nervous prostration, brain-fag and any other diagnosis that might have been heaped upon her to a well woman, and under that one remedy.
This shows you how deeply this remedy acts. One dose generally acts upon her for from six weeks to two months, steadily improving her each time.