To establish what susceptibility is, it is wise to look at conventional definitions as well as the homeopathic perspective. We must include the views of founding fathers Samuel Hahnemann and J.T. Kent; after-all they laid the groundwork of homeopathic philosophy to which we still adhere today.  The Oxford Dictionary definition of susceptibility is “the state or fact of being likely or liable to be influenced or harmed by a particular thing”.  Allopaths are more likely to focus on external factors that make us susceptible to illness such as infectious diseases, germs, allergens, living conditions or pathogenic agents and would say that we lack immunity or resistance and thus are more likely to become attacked with a sickness – hence conventional medicines focus on healing with opposites.  Whilst taking this stance into account, homeopaths also will focus on internal factors which make us susceptible to certain illnesses. Simply put, susceptibility is the reaction of the person to external and internal influences. This predisposition can make us more inclined to becoming ill.

Kent expanded on Hahnemann’s writings on the subject:

“Because of these varying degrees of susceptibility some are protected from disease cause and some are made sick; the one who is made sick is susceptible to the disease cause in accordance with the plane he is in and the degree of attenuation that happens to be present at the time of contagion” – Lectures on Homeopathic Philosophy p121. Here he is saying that we all have different degrees of susceptibility and that some people will become ill when exposed to certain internal or external factors and others will not. He also states that when we are exposed to natural disease and recover from it, we will not be susceptible to that same disease.  For example if we get a normal childhood illness such as chicken pox once, we recover and will then no longer have susceptibility to it. Kent continued “When a violent epidemic is raging we all know that, although the number of victims is large, they are few compared to those who go through the epidemic unscathed…we suppose…that a large number of the immune have escaped because they were usually strong and vigorous…but we find among those that have escaped the epidemic are a large number of persons who are anything but strong…the reason is that they have a sickness that is impossible for the epidemic to suppress…if the chronic disease is stronger than the epidemic disease…it cannot be suppressed” – Lectures on Homeopathic Philosophy p127-128. Here Kent is saying that the reason these people lack  susceptibility to the epidemic disease is because the disease with which they are suffering is dissimilar to the epidemic and stronger.

What make us susceptible?

Susceptibility in a person can be inherited from parents. It depends on the miasmatic background of both parents. It is also influenced by the mental condition and circumstances during the production of sperm and ovum. An interaction of all these determines the miasmatic background of the individual.

Early and late environmental factors may also influence the development of susceptibility. Early environmental factors involve conditions pertaining to intra-uterine life. Any influence or indulgence during the gestational period may affect the development of susceptibility of the individual such as worries, diseases, tension, smoking, alcoholism, or malnutrition.

Late environmental factors also affect the development of susceptibility. These involve the influence during childhood and adulthood. H.A. Roberts wrote “Everything that has life is more or less influenced by circumstances and environment.” We see very frequently the susceptibility to climatic conditions, as well as all other phases of environment. One person will thrive in a rigorous climate where another will become seriously ill; one will thrive in dampness to which another would succumb. Altitude affects some individuals kindly and some adversely. The seashore improves one man’s condition while it makes another man ill. The power of assimilation and nutrition is one of the phases of susceptibility. One easily assimilates a certain kind of food while another finds the same food indigestible.

Human beings are susceptible to infection and contagion in varying degrees. One man will become infected in contact with diseased individuals while another will experience no ill effects. One person is made ill by noxious plants, while another man can handle them with impunity.

Thus both genetic and environmental factors determine the susceptibility of the individual. This is why pathogenic agents do not affect every person nor the same person all of the time. The patient must be sufficiently susceptible according to the time and circumstances. Susceptibility varies in degree in different patients, and at different times in the same patient.

Miasms can be active or dormant. When the vital force is relatively balanced, a chronic miasm will remain dormant. This is our aim as practitioners. We will never eradicate a chronic miasm because it is part of our genetic makeup, but we can keep it dormant. Dormant miasms can be activated by adverse conditions or events (exciting causes). Each time this happens, the condition is worse than the previous exacerbation.

Events that can augment the disease and increase the difficulty of curing are exciting causes. These can be environmental factors such as pollutants, microbes, stress or weather, or internal factors such as strong emotions. By far the most frequent excitement of miasms into chronic diseases is by grief and vexation. Other obstructions to the cure can be long-lasting chronic allopathic remedies or bad habits in lifestyle (gambling, sex, sedentary life).

Homeopathy and treating susceptibililty:

The good prescriber has to pay close attention to his patient’s whole history, especially his habits, age, occupation, mode of living, cravings and character. Everything is a manifestation of his own vital force which has changed by an external cause due to the susceptibility of the individual in this particular point of his life. Taking a deep and detailed case history lets the homeopath establish what miasms he is dealing with.

Click here for full article and case example.

Research in the Journal Trials has reported on the start of a study looking at the use of homeopathy to treat depression is widespread but there is a lack of clinical trials about its efficacy in depression in peri– and postmenopausal women.

Previous trials suggest that individualised homeopathic treatments improve depression.

The aim of this study is to assess the efficacy and safety of the homeopathic individualized treatment versus placebo or fluoxetine in peri– and postmenopausal women with moderate to severe depression.

Research, published online in the Journal Acupuncture and Meridian Studies has looked at the effects of Lycopodium clavatum (LC) on cancer cells.

It studied dilutions of both 5c and 15c.

The researchers explained that the LC-5C was diluted below Avogadro’s limit, i.e., 10−10, and the LC-15C was diluted beyond Avogadro’s limit, i.e., 10−30.

The researchers from the Molecular Biology Laboratory, Department of Zoology, University of Kalyani, Kalyani, West Bengal, India and the Boiron Laboratory, Lyon, France found that the results revealed that administration of LC-5C and LC-15C was not harmful to normal blood cells, but caused considerable cell death through apoptosis in cancer (HeLa) cells.

This was shown by “the induction of DNA fragmentation, the increase in expression of protein and mRNA for caspase 3 and Bax, and the decrease in expression of Bcl2, Apaf, and cytochrome C release”.

They concluded that both potencies of the remedy Lycopodium clavatum had demonstrated their capability to induce apoptosis in cancer cells.

Wouldn’t it be nice if the common problems that arise in your family every year just didn’t happen this year? In this scenario sinus infections, recurrent colds, prolonged flu‘s, hayfever, stomach aches, indigestion, headaches, menstrual cramps, strep throats, bronchitis, ear infections and the tendencies toward other health problems and diseases, like asthma and allergies would take a year (or more) off and have the option of staying away. Is this really possible? Well, yes, says this article by Lia Bello: I’ve seen it happen for some of my patients and I have experienced it for myself. I’ve seen my children go for extended periods of time with nary a sniffle though they were around many other children and it was wintertime. How can this be? It sounds like the people who are lucky enough to experience this optimum state of health have somehow strengthened their immune systems (or are being protected by an angel). What has happened? These people have entered into a healing relationship with a homeopathic practitioner and are reaping the benefits of constitutional treatment.

In my 22 years of study and clinical experience using diet, nutrition, chelation, yoga, herbs, stress reduction, massage, allopathy, homeopathy and other “energy medicines”, I have seen many people improve their health dramatically. Each was led to the healing modality which best suited them and each was motivated to keep looking and investigating his body’s healing reactions. Homeopathic constitutional treatment is the most deeply preventive and curative medicine I have come across, rivaled only by acupuncture and Chinese medicine.

Ideally all homeopathic prescribing is so individualized that the whole person is taken into account; their body type, temperament, desires and aversions, mental and emotional and even spiritual story of symptoms is heard and analyzed before the similar remedy is chosen. Most acute homeopathic remedy prescribing is not so deeply thought out and the remedy is “spent” in balancing the current illness. The constitutional interview and time spent researching can easily approach 3-5 hours of work for a professional homeopath and can be well worth the time and effort. The chosen remedy is usually given when the patient is not experiencing an acute flare-up of symptoms.

A story to illustrate the depth and wisdom that the body can access when when the vital force, though off-balance, comes under the influence of the similar remedy, follows.  Jeremy, age 5, was brought in for homeopathic treatment after his mother had been told by their pediatrician, that Jeremy would need bilateral tympanostomy, “tubes in the ear”, to prevent otitis media, since continuous use (daily for 6 months) of prophylactic antibiotics had not stopped his recurrent ear infections which sometimes led to a pussy discharge from the ear. The doctor also told her that Jeremy would need to begin cortisone nose spray for his stuffy nose and recurrent sinus infections and that he would need to have his hearing evaluated since there was chronic fluid behind the eardrum.  Jeremy’s father had a history of childhood ear infections and allergies, asthma and eczema. Jeremy was a thin, active child with pale face and blue eyes. He was a mouth breather and coughed weakly every few minutes. He was quite shy in the office though his mother described him as extremely stubborn, but never mischievous or mean. His mother linked his stubbornness to his extreme sensitivity to seemingly trivial things. One bothersome habit of his was to complain over and over that his shoe was hurting him if the seam on the toe of his sock was not just right. She shared that he was in a gifted program at school but he had complained that he was picked on, even by younger children. When I examined Jeremy I found swollen lymph glands in the throat area and small pea sized hardened nodules along the base of the skull behind the ears. His eardrums looked whitish , thick and moist and were not able to move when tested with a puff of air. His tonsils were enlarged and on his face, chest and abdomen his skin was kind of transparent; I could see the veins underneath easily.

Though the problem of chronic ear infections in younger children is common, each child’s treatment is different and based on the “whole person”. The picture I saw here was the mineral remedy Silicea and I gave Jeremy a dose of 200c. It took another hour of homeopathic education and supportiveness toward Jeremy’s mother to know that their family would be able to make it through the transition from allopathic patients to homeopathic patients. We had gone through the possible scenarios of aggravation and recurrence of old symptoms, and I let her know what she could give for symptoms as we waited for the remedy to do its thing (Vitamin C, fruit flavored herbal cough syrup, and Kali Mur 6x as a decongestant). More words of wisdom on how to explain all of this to her skeptical husband and how to relate to her pediatrician (refuse ear tubes for now, get the hearing tests, use the doctor’s diagnostic expertise when needed, don’t fill prescriptions but hold them just in case). And I assured her that she could reach me by phone for questions and more support.

Well, Jeremy did respond to this remedy, though it took its time. His ears never discharged pus again though he had a few minor infections. That year’s colds were not complicated with sinus infection, strep or bronchitis. His hearing had been compromised from the previous fluid and infections and he did a year of speech therapy. His mom hung in there and she was happy that she had found homeopathy for Jeremy. She hated to think where Jeremy’s health might stand if she had gone through the worrisome procedure of having the tubes inserted and they had fallen out after a year. Best of all, Jeremy seemed more well adjusted at home and at school. Silica 1M was given once more after a plane ride brought on some clogged eustachian tube symptoms of pain and hearing reduction in one ear. Three years later he remains well.

A good homeopath sometimes misses the right remedy the first time (or two). Did you know that there are about 3000 remedies in the homeopathic pharmacopoeia? Some people need several sequential remedies to treat “layers” of symptoms. A month for every year that you have suffered with a chronic problem is not too much time to give as you progress through constitutional treatment. Sometimes this system of needing someone else to be your homeopathic practitioner seems dependent and passive but I haven’t seen any way around the process. Actually the good homeopathic patient is not passive but actively educates or analyzes themselves on how they can better impart to their homeopath the personalized information needed to clinch the remedy.

The most skillful homeopathic questions I have come across are the brain child of Dr. Rajan Sankaran and he shares them in his book, The Spirit of Homeopathy. The practitioner is asked to use his human understanding to determine “What are the patient’s conditions for feeling okay (at peace with himself and others)?”, and “What are the basic feelings about himself or his situation that necessitate such conditions?” These questions let you know that a homeopath does not think allopathically. A cure in homeopathy is not found by treating local symptoms, diagnosis or pathology. An elegant and insightful process goes on between a homeopath, his patient and of course, the reference books.

George Vithoulkas, who was recently awarded the Alternative Nobel Prize for Medicine defines health as “freedom from limitations”. I don’t think I would get much argument if I were to suggest that most of us have a few limitations in our lives. In my physical, mental, emotional and spiritual life I can start quite a list of symptoms. Now on to my constitutional remedy, the ultimate that homeopathy has to offer!

Your Customized Remedy – A Constitutional

When a patient seeks treatment for chronic health problems, one remedy is sought that covers all of the symptoms for that patient’s constitution. When the correct remedy is administered it is common to see swift, improvement in that person’s well-being and physical health lasting months and years, from just a few micro doses.

Eczema, asthma, headaches, heartburn, allergies, sinus congestion, depression and fatigue – all signs our body gives us when our immunity (vital force, governing system) is stressed out, off balance. To a Homeopath these symptoms are great clues that lead the way in the investigation to find the remedy that most closely matches YOU – your constitutional remedy. This system of medicine is highly valued by sophisticated consumers and thoughtful health care practitioners because of its safe, non-toxic and low tech, though thorough, approach to the whole person.

PATIENT TIPS – If you have seen a homeopath for treatment and you are not noticing some improvement in your well-being within 4-6 weeks for a chronic problem and within 1 day for an acute problem you need to call your Homeopath so that she can decide on another remedy for you! Homeopathy only works if the right remedy has been given. Even a master homeopath doesn’t always get it right the first time – so we need your feedback.

Strengthening the Constitution

Do you feel that you need to take mega-supplements, tonics and always be strict with your diet or else your chronically recurring problems will flare up? Eczema, asthma, headaches, heartburn, allergies and sinus congestion – these (and many other symptoms) are all signs our body gives us when our immunity (vital force, governing system) is stressed out, off balance, and too susceptible to common things in the environment like pollen or mold, too sensitive to foods like wheat or milk, bent out of shape by hormonal changes, ups and downs in relationships or worsened just by listening to the news.

To a Homeopath these symptoms are great clues that lead the way in the investigation to find the remedy that most closely matches YOU – your constitutional remedy! A person with a strong constitution can handle occasional dietary indiscretions, stresses, exposure to some germs, and life crises without getting ill. We are each born with a constitution that is individual to us and which contains weaknesses and strengths inherited from our ancestors.

In this article, Gill Graham discusses how Hahnemann’s predictions concerning the potentially dangerous effects of pharmaceutical drugs and unnecessary medical interventions have been proven right and suggests that the  21st Century person needs to radically change their lifestyle and question current medical practices that have created a nation of health consumers, deprived of their own autonomy and free will.

Introduction

With death and iatrogenic disease soaring due to the over prescription and misuse of pharmaceutical drugs, a return to prevention of disease and cure by less aggressive means is necessary. ‘Prescription drug abuse is the fastest growing drug problem in the United States.’ (CDC: January 13, 2012).

Continue reading Why Less Really is More →