Cursed to Die / Blood Dripping from the Heart

Cursed to Die

A 41-year-old woman came in complaining of feeling weak, unable to walk, having a dry mouth and slipping into unconsciousness. All of these symptoms started soon after a man named Bob told her that someone in New York had cursed her to die.

Though she said she was unable to talk or walk, she did both fine for me. After some testing to make sure she had no medical issues, she was sent to emergency psychiatry.

Blood Dripping from my Heart

A 26-year-old man came in saying that he had been having symptoms on and off since he was stabbed in the back several months ago. He said that when he got upset, he could feel blood coming up out of the stab wound in his heart. He could feel the “blood and other fluids” dripping out of his heart, inside his body. He had none of those symptoms at the time I was talking with him.

He had been checked multiple times for this complaint. He had several x-rays and blood tests, all of which were normal. The scar from his stab wound was over his left shoulder blade. Otherwise, his examination was unremarkable.

I was unable to get him to understand that his body is not capable of feeling things like “blood and other fluids dripping out of your heart.” He also would not accept that, had his heart been leaking blood for months, he would have gotten sick and something abnormal would have turned up on his tests. He was again discharged, unhappy that I was not able to keep his heart from leaking when he got upset.