Re: Alexandra and her Health Part 2

[DNAgenie]

With her family history I beieve she was suffering from porphyria.

[LauraO]

well alix believed that she was ill due to problems with her heart, however doctors reports show that this wasn't true, it was just something alix convinced herself of, and any problems like this were down to stress and nervous problems- something alix refused to admit. Therefore she was probably recieving the wrong treatment through stubborness. As for haemophilia she would have most likely have had effects because she was a carrier, and although she didn't really suffer from haemophilia, women can have effects due to it, which i think i read somewhere there was description of.
anyone know what form she would have taken veronal in?

[Helen]

well alix believed that she was ill due to problems with her heart, however doctors reports show that this wasn't true, it was just something alix convinced herself of, and any problems like this were down to stress and nervous problems- something alix refused to admit. 

This is an old misunderstanding. The Empress herself explicitly recognized that her health problems were not caused by an organic heart defect but largely by endless worries and sorrows - she did so in writing and her words have been published, for everyone to read.

[Justine]

could you please write where did she wrote that? I'm curious to see it...

[Helen]

Sure! In a letter to Margarethe von Fabrice, her friend and former lady-in-waiting. You can find this specific letter on page 196 of "Alix an Gretchen" , published by Heinrich Graf von Spreti and Rotraut von Prittwitz. I also remember reading words to the same effect in one or two letters that she wrote to her husband during World War I.

[bestfriendsgirl]

I can report that cocaine is a severe disappointment when taken for nasal problems!

Some years ago I had an investigation for sinus trouble which involved putting an endoscope up my nose. The ENT specialist announced that he was a licensed drug dealer and was going to numb the inside of my nose with cocaine. Great, I thought, now's my chance to try cociane legally.

Alas, no high, nothing, only a sensation of my nose being well and truly scraped out. The specialist did admit that we weren't doing it properly, as you're supposed to snort it from a £50 note.

I've dined out on that one a few times.

Ann

LOL! I wonder if they had ruble notes to snort from in Imperial Russia ...

[Justine]

Sure! In a letter to Margarethe von Fabrice, her friend and former lady-in-waiting. You can find this specific letter on page 196 of "Alix an Gretchen" , published by Heinrich Graf von Spreti and Rotraut von Prittwitz. I also remember reading words to the same effect in one or two letters that she wrote to her husband during World War I.

the book's in German, right? is it avaiable anywhere to buy?

[Helen]

Yes, this book is in German, and this particular letter partly in German, partly in English.
I bought a copy in the museumshop on the Mathildenhöhe in Darmstadt several years ago, but don't know anything about its present selling points.
www.antiqbook.com has one copy available from an antiquariat in Amsterdam at the moment.

[Justine]

thanks for information

[Sunny]

In the list of the search of Ipatev House on the Ap main site, i found out that in IH were found 2 homeopathic remedies: ignatia & aconitum
Since i am personally interested in homeopathy & use it myself to treat me, i thought it was interesting to talk a bit about it - i didn't find anything specifical in the thread so here i am.

From the web & my personal books (sorry for the rought translation)

IGNATIA: people who need ignatia are emotionally unstable; often introvert & lonely, usually close into themselves and think again and again to real or imaginary insults but didn't want to move other's pity and feel insulted if that happens. Get easily nervous, but often don't show their bad emotions. They like contradict other, but don't want others to contradict them. Exagerrate events & are unable to bear phisical pain and usually feel exhausted.
Unstable mood: from cry to laugh without reason.
They are often unders stress (real or not), depressed, isolated, laconic, they suffer from insomnia and are ipersesitive. They generally suffer from headaches, anxiety, panic attacks, phisical pains (expecially in legs and arms and heart), feeling of too fast palpitations and a psycosomatic cough.

This seems to me a good portrait of Alix in her last months. Of course, most people don't believe in homepathy, but i think this could be a nice discussion.

ACONITUM: For peolpe with anxiety, nervousness and fear of Death. They suffer from headaches even if they could seem healthy and strong. Their posing is rigid, they have trouble breathing. They usually suffer from varius phisical pains because they always are defensive towards the whole world.

What do you think?

[Kalafrana]

Interesting. The first sounds like a description of Alexandra for most of her adult life - certainly after Alexei's birth.

Ann

[Sunny]

Interesting. The first sounds like a description of Alexandra for most of her adult life - certainly after Alexei's birth.

Ann

yes i was thinking the same. Ignatia is a strong remedy for depression & anxiety.

[Clemence]

FWIW (as I'm not a psychiatrist), my own personal theory is that Alexandra had avoidant personality disorder.  I bound to see it this way, though, as it's what I have too.  Thankfully, I see qualified medical professionals rather than Rasputin etc.

It is my opinion also, and I'm not a psychiatrist either, that Alexandra had Avoidant personality disorder. It would explain most of her symptoms to me.

[LauraO]

Interestong thoughts here, again i think Ignatia sounds like a pretty good description of Alix to me. Talking about the second point, Aconitum, it says "fear of death", i'm not saying by any stretch that to suffer from one of these you must suffer every sympton, but do you think Alix did fear death in that way? I would have thought her faith may have strongly protected her from such fears....
I've never had much of a belief in the power of homepathy, but i'm willing to be convinced!

[Alixz]

When my son was young, we tried homeopathic medicine for some of his ailments. The less important of which was teething pain.  Nothing that we tried ever worked.