Susceptibility and Homoeopathy

Susceptibility is the combination of hereditary dyscrasia & adaptability.

Whenever any pleasant incident occur, we feel pleasure, sorry for other’s grief, we feel chilly in cold, we perspire in hot etc. all these are due to this susceptibility. So we can say susceptibility is the power of reaction of the body of a living organism against an external stimulus. This susceptibility may increase or decrease due to many a cause, e.g.: environment, habit, occupation, mode of living, mental stress and strain etc. etc.

After the heavy exposure to rain most of us become somehow sick, but on slight exposure if anybody suffers from Pneumonia or tonsillitis, then it is clear that he/she is hyper-susceptible to rain. And this is the reason, it is not the fact that each & every member of a family will suffer from a same disease. It absolutely depends on the susceptibility of each individual member. On the contrary those who are susceptible to particular medicine he/she will be cured by that particular medicine when diseases (remedy). If the particular patient is not susceptible to a specific remedy, he will not be cured by that. In homoeopathy it is essential for the selection of potency also. Now if we discuss how it helps in the selection of potency, it will be cleared about the importance of susceptibility also.

Medicines are the weapon to us in fighting against diseases; no doubt, but to restore the sick to health, we will have to possess perfect knowledge about the application of each medicine which remains inherent in each of their respective medicinal substances. This inherent and latent curative power, i.e. the strength of a drug or the potency of a drug is the main thing in the modus operandi of a cure.

            So, a homoeopathic practitioner should have to keep in mind that the speed with which the cure will be affected depends on the potency of the remedy. Now question is how this selection is to be made? We will be able to select a correct potency of a medicine on individual patient if we consider the susceptibility of the patient seat, nature, intensity stage and duration of the disease & lastly whether any treatment has been done previously or not.

            There is no such instrument or anything else by which we will be able to measure the susceptibility of a patient. But as it is a vital thing in selection of potency as well as in simlimum, a physician will have to observe or to perceive the different factors which modify the susceptibility to a drug of an individual. The more similarity to a drug indicates the greater susceptibility of that and in that case the higher potency is required.

This susceptibility is modified by age. The children and young vigorous persons are most susceptible. Children become very much sensitive during their development, specially the organs which are being developed. So due to this hyper-sensitivity, medicine also have a special or peculiar affinity for those organs which are being developed. So due to this hypersensitivity, medicine also have a special or peculiar affinity for those organs for which – medium or higher potency is required. Susceptibility also depends upon the constitution & temperament of the individual. Nervous, Sanguine, jealous, impulsive, intelligent and intellectual persons being choleric temperament requires higher potencies whereas lower potencies are best adopted to torpid, phlegmatic individuals and the persons who are full of comprehension, slow in work, persons who are robust require higher potencies. In some cases where structural pathological changes have already been occurred in the organism, there susceptibility becomes so low that the medicine must be given in low potency.

The persons, who have already taken many crude drugs, require high potencies but who are exposed to continual influence of drugs require low potency due to little susceptibility to the medicines.

As the potency depends upon the seat, nature, intensity, stage & duration of the disease, certain destructive & fatal diseases like malignancy & cholera respectively require low potency even in material doses, where the intensity of the disease condition is high which have diminished the vital power to react, the low potency is required there, on the contrary increased vital reaction respond better to higher potencies.

In some cases, where many treatments have been already done and due to abuse of too many crude drugs the patient may lose their susceptibility for the time being. In that case we should wait for a few days without giving any medicine, but with careful observations in diet & regimen. After that medicine is to be given according to the need depending on the several factors either in low or medium potencies.

            So, we can well assess that the susceptibility is nothing but the universal faculty of sensitivity which is qualitative. The basic difference of each individual develops mainly on this faculty. And also incidence of any disease as well as the action of curative dynamic remedy depends slowly upon this very faculty of the living organism.