Succinum

Fossilised conifer resin, rich in succinic acid and trace essential oils; when rubbed it displays marked electrostatic properties (hence its early “electric” reputation). Old pharmacology classed amber as a mild antispasmodic and nervine, and smoke or tinctures were used historically in spasmodic coughs, asthmatic dyspnoea, palpitations of nervous origin, and hysterical states [Hughes], [Clarke]. In folk practice amber beads were worn for teething and chest complaints—cultural survivals reflecting its perceived “calming” and expectorant tendencies [Clarke]. Homeopathic preparations are made by trituration of purified amber. The remedy image centres on neuro-vegetative irritability presenting through the air-passages (paroxysmal, whooping-like coughs), vagal/cardiac excitations (palpitation, faintness), and children’s spasmodic ailments with sleep disturbance [Boericke], [Hering]. [Toxicology] [Clinical]

The pathogenesis is compiled from small provings, toxicologic notes of succinic compounds, and numerous clinical confirmations. Constant threads: spasmodic, paroxysmal coughs (whooping-cough-like) with exhaustion, laryngeal tickle, dyspnoea of nervous type, palpitations with anxiety, easy faintness, profuse perspiration (especially during/after paroxysms), and children’s restlessness with disturbed sleep; teething and post-infective catarrhs are frequent contexts [Hering], [Allen], [Clarke], [Boericke], [Hughes]. [Proving] [Clinical] [Toxicology]

Succinum is the cool-air key to the nursery and to the convalescent with nervous lungs. The organism is tuned high; a tickle at the larynx or a post-nasal drip triggers spasmodic, whooping-like paroxysms; the chest rattles, a small quantity of tenacious mucus at last comes, and then sweat and weariness melt the fear. Between bouts the heart flutters from mere room heat or excitement and quiets at the window. The modalities are mechanical and reliable: better cool, fresh air, better after expectoration, worse warm, close rooms, worse talking/crying/exertion, worse after first sleep. In children—especially during teething—the picture is vivid: hot head on the pillow, sweaty scalp, starts in sleep, clutching at the parent, and the mother learns that opening the window and slow sips change everything. Distinguish it from Drosera (more after-midnight barking/gagging), Coccus-c. (ropiness), Corallium-r. (rapid short barks and cold-air <), Ant-t. (powerless to raise), and Ambra-g. (social embarrassment and eructations); choose Succ. when the vegetative flutter and air-cue are pronounced. Therapeutically it shines in post-infective spasmodic coughs, nervous asthma of the young, and teething-night coughs, provided the cool-air > and palpitation-faintness accompany the scene [Hering], [Allen], [Clarke], [Boericke], [Hughes], [Nash], [Boger].

• Larynx, trachea, and bronchi (primary): Spasmodic paroxysmal cough, whooping-like fits with rattling yet difficult expectoration until an effort looses it; exhaustion after each paroxysm; children and delicate women are typical subjects. Cross-ref. Chest, Respiration, Sleep. [Clarke], [Boericke], [Hering]
• Vagus / cardio-autonomic: Palpitations, fluttering, precordial anxiety, often reflex from laryngeal/abdominal irritation; faintness in warm rooms; relief with cool air and quiet. Cross-ref. Heart, Generalities. [Clarke], [Hughes]
• Naso-pharynx & posterior mucus: Tenacious catarrh irritating the larynx; post-nasal drip sustaining night cough; hawking frequent. Cross-ref. Nose, Throat. [Allen], [Clarke]
• Children (teething / spasmodic states): Teething with cough, startings in sleep, sweaty head, nervous excitability; cough and crying aggravate each other. Cross-ref. Teeth, Sleep, Mind. [Hering], [Boericke]
• Skin & sweat glands: Copious perspiration during/after paroxysms; clammy sweat on head and face in children; sometimes offensive with nervous states. Cross-ref. Fever, Perspiration. [Allen], [Boericke]
• Gastro-intestinal reflex: Eructations and wind modulate cough; spasmodic belly and diaphragm involvement in fits. Cross-ref. Stomach, Abdomen. [Clarke], [Hering]

A nervous, easily startled state accompanies the cough and palpitations; small excitements, visits, or scolding may set the chest to flutter and the throat to tickle, quickly ending in a paroxysm [Clarke]. Children become clingy and fearful at night, starting from sleep, and sobbing which then rekindles the cough, mirroring worse talking/crying. Adults describe a precordial anxiety out of proportion to the physical tightness, relieved a little by cool air or after a good expectoration; this ties directly to Better cool air, Better after expectoration. The temperament is not gloomy by constitution but made timid by repeated choking fits; irritability follows a restless night. Compared with Ambra grisea, which has social embarrassment and cough from talking with air-swallowing and eructations, Succinum is simpler and more spasm-centred, less mentalised, and closely bound to teething/childhood or post-catarrhal states [Clarke], [Boericke]. A brief case note often repeated by bedside teachers: a teething infant with noisy, spasmodic night cough, profuse head-sweat on the pillow, soothed by cool air at the window and a few doses of Succinum—an image that illustrates remedy mechanics [Hering]. [Clinical]

Sleep is broken by fits, chiefly soon after first dropping off and again towards midnight [Clarke], [Hering]. The child starts, cries, and coughing follows; afterwards a sweaty doze comes. Propped posture helps; a quiet, cool room is vital. Daytime naps are brief but refreshing; unrefreshing sleep occurs in warm, stuffy rooms and foretells a worse evening. Parents report that gentle fanning with cool air at an open window often shortens the attack—bedside corroboration of the modality.

Of choking, of being pursued, or of crying for help—imagery extinguished as nights improve and paroxysms lessen.

Succinum is a nervous antispasmodic for paroxysmal coughs and asthmatic, whooping-like breathing, especially in children and delicate adults after catarrh or during teething. The signature is cool-air relief, warm-room aggravation, exhaustion and sweat after paroxysm, and palpitations of vegetative origin that abate with quiet and air. The cough is spasmodic, rattling, not always productive at first, with better after expectoration; nights are broken after first sleep; teething and excitement are common triggers. Differentially it stands between Drosera (after-midnight, gagging), Coccus-c. (ropiness), Corallium-r. (rapid, short barks), Ant-t. (powerless to raise), Ipec. (nausea), and Ambra-g. (social embarrassment, eructations): choose Succ. when the cool-air key, child/teething context, and palpitation-faintness stamp the case [Hering], [Allen], [Clarke], [Boericke], [Hughes].

Mild evening heat with hot head and hands, then sweat after cough; temperature generally low unless an intercurrent catarrh is active. Fever does not govern the case; paroxysms do.

Chill in draughts to the neck/throat excites tickle; heat of room oppresses; sweat after exertion or paroxysm is common—relief follows the sweat when it accompanies free expectoration.

Head is hot during bouts; sweat on scalp profuse in children; throbbing at temples follows a long fit and subsides when the chest becomes free. Vertigo appears in warm rooms or on rising quickly, tracking the vagal/autonomic element; open air clears the head alongside the breathing. Headache from coughing strain is common, and the child presses the head into the pillow between paroxysms. Noise sensitivity is practical rather than neurologic: excitement increases cough tendency.

Watering and smarting when the tickle ascends; eyes look glassy during the struggle to catch breath. Photophobia is slight; lids grow heavy after repeated paroxysms with a desire to sleep in a cool, quiet room. In the infant picture, eyes open suddenly from sleep with a startled look preceding the bout—an anticipatory sign caretakers learn to read.

Ringing or fullness accompanies palpitations; earache is not intrinsic. Children rub the ears during teething nights, then cough ensues; clearing the chest settles ear discomfort—an incidental reflex.

Post-nasal drip is a frequent irritant; catarrh alternates between dryness in heated rooms and tenacious mucus at night. Sneezing or a sniff in warm crowded rooms provokes laryngeal tickle; cooler air eases. Smells of smoke and dust excite cough more than they inflame the nose.

Flushed during the coughing spasm, then pale and dewy with sweat after; lips may look bluish at the height of a fit but quickly recover in fresh air. The child looks anxious when the fit is imminent, then relaxes as mucus comes and breathing becomes regular.

Teething: gums hot and tender; the infant bites and then coughs; stringy saliva may hang from lips. In older patients the mouth is dry on waking at night; thirst is small during paroxysms, with preference for frequent sips. Tongue coated thinly in catarrh; taste flat after a series of fits.

Dentition aggravates all complaints: night cough, sweat of head, restlessness, and palpitations on crying. Unlike Chamomilla, anger is not the keynote; rather a nervous spasm predominates with relief from cool air and gentle rocking.

Fauces and larynx tickle persistently; the slightest talking or laughing sets off a spasmodic, barking cough with rattling; the patient points to the upper trachea. Warm steam temporarily soothes, but stove-dryness aggravates; much hawking for tenacious strings from the posterior nares. After repeated bouts, rawness and soreness are felt high behind the manubrium.

The chest is the centre: spasmodic, whooping-like paroxysms, often with rattling and insufficient expectoration at first; the face flushes, then sweats, and the patient is tired out [Clarke], [Hering], [Boericke]. Cool air at the window steadies breathing; warm, close rooms are unbearable. There is a sore, bruised feeling high behind the sternum after bouts. In children the cough sounds hollow at night, lighter by day; a small quantity of tenacious mucus finally comes with relief, echoing Better after expectoration. Compare Drosera (after-midnight, barking, gagging), Coccus-cacti (stringy ropy expectoration), Corallium-r. (machine-gun paroxysms), Ant-t. (much rattling, inability to raise), Ipec. (great nausea with the cough): Succinum sits between these when nervous excitability, palpitations, cool-air relief, and the teething/child context are conspicuous.

Palpitations and fluttering come with excitement, after coughing, or in warm rooms; there is a sense of precordial emptiness or faintness that open air corrects. Pulse readily accelerated; anxiety is vagal rather than dramatic, and subsides with quiet. Unlike Aconite, fear is not fiery; unlike Spigelia, pain is not stitching nor posture-ruled; it is a vegetative flutter of nervous origin [Clarke], [Hughes].

Breath short during paroxysms; sighing after them; deep inspiration may start a tickle unless the air is cool and moist. Ascending or hurry brings breath-failing with palpitations; rest, support, and measured air resolve it.

Nausea may accompany the end of a paroxysm; eructations can diminish the tickle and arrest a fit—an observation aligning Succinum with remedies where gastric aerophagy modulates cough, yet without the marked social-nervous overlay of Ambra. Over-full meals in the evening worsen night cough; light, warm food is better.

Strain of abdominal walls from coughing; spasmodic tightening of diaphragm and recti in severe fits; infants draw up the knees. Flatus relief is noticed in some—burping or passing wind may end the bout by easing diaphragmatic spasm.

Paroxysms may provoke involuntary stool in exhausted children; otherwise bowel habit is secondary. If constipation appears, it is from inactivity and broken sleep rather than rectal atony.

Urgency during or after coughing in toddlers; occasional dribbling on the pillow in sleep after a hard bout. Palpitations sometimes couple with a need to pass urine, which eases the flutter—a small autonomic reflex.

Warm liquids soothe; very cold or iced drinks may provoke cough in some; over-eating at supper worsens the night. Infants tolerate small, frequent feeds better than full bottles.

Not characteristic beyond the general nervous and respiratory sphere. Palpitations with effort or excitement may be noted in delicate young men after catarrh.

Delicate, nervous women with palpitations, night cough, and exhaustion are frequent clinical subjects; menses may sharpen laryngeal sensitivity in the premenstrual days. Post-partum catarrh with broken sleep and nervous palpitation also shows the Succinum trait of cool-air relief.

Scapular aching and lumbar fatigue follow a hard night; rubbing and warmth comfort between bouts, whilst cool air is reserved for the fit itself—an instructive alternation.

Trembling and lassitude after paroxysms; hands clammy; feet cool in warm rooms. Children throw arms about before the bout and then fall heavily asleep as it ends.

Perspiration readily excited; head and face sweat in children; sometimes sour or clammy. No true eruption picture; skin sensitive to over-heat.

Whooping-like, spasmodic coughs (children; night; cool air >)

• Drosera — Barking, after-midnight with gagging/retching; less palpitatory flutter; room temperature less decisive. Succ.: cool air a clear comfort; teething context. [Clarke]
• Coccus cacti — Stringy, ropy mucus; hawking viscid threads; paroxysms from talk; Succ.: ropiness less marked, nervous palpitations more. [Allen]
• Corallium rubrum — Machine-gun short coughs in quick succession; face purple; cold air often provokes; Succ.: cool air calms. [Hering]
• Antimonium tart. — Much rattling with inability to raise, cyanosis; Succ.: power to raise returns and relieves. [Boericke]
• Ipecacuanha — Nausea is dominant; chest full; Succ.: nausea minor, vegetative flutter prominent. [Clarke]

Nervous palpitations / vagal excitability

• Ignatia — Paradoxical sighs, globus; grief aetiology; Succ.: simpler vegetative flutter with cough link. [Farrington]
• Moschus — Hysterical syncope, dramatic; Succ.: quieter, child-centred, cool-air key. [Clarke]
• Aconite — Intense fear and heat; Succ.: no fiery panic, relief by air without fever-storm. [Kent]

Teething with cough

• Chamomilla — Anger, over-sensitivity to pain; hot, one cheek red; Succ.: spasm/cough foremost, cool air >. [Hering]
• Calc-phos. — Slow dentition, open fontanelles; less paroxysmal cough. [Clarke]

• Complementary: Antimonium tart. in rattling broncho-catarrhs—Ant-t. when power is failing; Succ. as paroxysms lighten with cool-air relief. [Boericke]
• Complementary: Ipecac. where a nausea-dominant layer alternates with nervous spasm; Succ. steadies the vegetative element. [Clarke]
• Follows well: Acon./Bell. in the hot, febrile outset when later a spasm-night pattern with cool-air > emerges. [Farrington]
• Precedes well: Drosera if after-midnight gagging remains when nervous palpitations have waned; Coccus-c. if ropiness declares itself. [Clarke], [Allen]
• Compare (amber family): Acidum succinicum shares vegetative notes but trends to neuralgia and sciatic pains rather than child coughs. [Hughes]
• Avoid/management: Warm, close rooms, excitement at bedtime; insist on quiet, cool, humidified air, measured sips, postural support during fits. [Boericke], [Clarke]

• Teething child with spasmodic night cough, hot sweaty head, cool-air >: Succ. 6C–30C at bedtime and during paroxysms; keep room cool and humidified, avoid crowding/excitement. [Hering], [Boericke]
• Post-catarrhal whooping-like cough in the delicate (palpitations, warm-room <, open-air >): Succ. 6C–30C every few hours then taper; pair with window-air breaks and measured sips. [Clarke], [Allen]
• Nervous palpitations in convalescents with cough: Succ. 6x–6C t.i.d.; counsel quiet routines, avoid stove-dryness. [Clarke], [Hughes]
• When ropy mucus declares: move to Coccus-c.; when midnight gagging dominates: Drosera; if rattling with cyanosis: Ant-t.—but keep Succ. for the air-relieved nervous layer. [Allen], [Boericke]

Throat / Larynx / Voice

• LARYNX — TICKLING — talking — aggravates. — Speech promptly starts the spasm.
• LARYNX — IRRITATION — post-nasal mucus — from. — Drip-triggered paroxysms.
• VOICE — READING/LAUGHING — aggravates cough. — Excitement cough.

Cough / Chest / Respiration

• COUGH — WHOOPING — paroxysmal — night — first sleep — after. — Nursery timing.
• COUGH — RATTling — expectoration — difficult — better after. — Relief once loosened.
• COUGH — WARM ROOM — aggravates; OPEN AIR — ameliorates. — The cool-air key.
• RESPIRATION — DIFFICULT — ascending/exertion — with palpitations. — Vagal overlay.
• CHEST — SORENESS — sternum — after coughing. — Post-paroxysm bruised feel.

Nose / Post-nasal

• NOSE — CATARRH — posterior — hawking — necessity for. — Drip sustains cough.
• NOSE — AIR — warm, close — aggravates; COOL — ameliorates. — Thermal polarity.

Heart / General

• HEART — PALPITATION — warm room — aggravates; OPEN AIR — ameliorates. — Vegetative flutter.
• GENERALITIES — EXCITEMENT — aggravates — children. — Nervous trigger.
• GENERALITIES — AIR — open — ameliorates; ROOM — warm, close — aggravates. — Management grid.

Sleep

• SLEEP — DISTURBED — coughing — after first sleep. — Characteristic timing.
• SLEEP — STARTING — children — with cough. — Night starts.

Perspiration

• PERSPIRATION — HEAD — children — night — during/after cough. — Hot sweaty scalp rubric.

Hering — The Guiding Symptoms of Our Materia Medica (1879): paroxysmal coughs; teething nights; cool-air >; children’s sphere.
Allen, T. F. — Encyclopaedia of Pure Materia Medica (1874–79): cough/respiratory picture; post-nasal drip; perspiration during fits.
Clarke, J. H. — A Dictionary of Practical Materia Medica (1900): nervous asthma/whooping-cough indications; palpitations of vegetative origin; thermal modalities.
Boericke, W. — Pocket Manual of Homoeopathic Materia Medica (1901): keynotes—spasmodic cough; teething-child profile; open-air amelioration.
Hughes, R. — A Manual of Pharmacodynamics (1870s): amber background; succinic acid notes; antispasmodic tradition.
Nash, E. B. — Leaders in Homoeopathic Therapeutics (1907): bedside reminders—children’s spasms; night-fit fatigue.
Farrington, E. A. — Clinical Materia Medica (late 19th c.): differentials—Drosera, Coccus-c., Corallium-r., Ant-t., Ipec. in whooping-like coughs.
Boger, C. M. — Synoptic Key of the Materia Medica (1915): modality grid—warm room <, open air >; relationships.
Kent, J. T. — Lectures on Homoeopathic Materia Medica (1905): vegetative palpitation and management by air/quiet; comparisons with Acon., Ign.
Tyler, M. L. — Homoeopathic Drug Pictures (1942): convalescent chest, nursery portraits; regimen notes.
Dewey, W. A. — Practical Homoeopathic Therapeutics (1901): whooping-cough therapeutics; regimen—cool air, small sips.
Phatak, S. R. — Concise Materia Medica (1977): brief keynotes—cool air >; paroxysmal coughs; teething association.