Later Karen Blixen was prescribed Largactil, a drug known by its generic name, chlorpromazine. Among its many uses, it acts as a sedative and anti-anxiety agent. It also offers relief from nausea and vomiting. Karen Blixen's family physician, Vibeke Funch, prescribed vitamin B12 injections and showed Clara Svendsen how to administer them. The prescriptions and dosages were not unusual in Karen Blixen's time for someone suffering from chronic, sleep-depriving pain.
Today more is known about the addictive side-effects of the medications.
According to Dr. Weismann, Rasch declared Karen Blixen cured of syphilis in 1925. The neurologist Fog entertained the diagnosis of tabes dorsalis and made several attempts to cure her although her blood and spinal tests showed no syphilis. Karen Blixen's writing genius argues that she did not suffer from late syphilis nor from cerebral poisoning due to mercury treatments. She did suffer a mild permanent loss of sensation in her legs that could be attributed to chronic use of arsenic in Africa. The source of her abdominal distress remains unknown.