HOW DO I KNOW IF I HAVE DAMAGING INFLAMMATION? – PART I

How do you discover whether you have inflammation? A large number of people either don’t know they have it, or underestimate the seriousness of its presence.

First of all, not all inflammation is bad. There are two kinds – acute inflammation, which is an important part of your inborn or innate immunity, and is short-term; and chronic inflammation, which is ongoing.

Acute inflammation is your body’s natural defense against infections, allergens, and injuries. It works by dilating smaller blood vessels and increasing blood flow, and by producing various chemicals and antibodies that help protect your body to fight against invaders in order to heal. This is a very important part of our immune system that helps support recovery.

 Acute inflammation starts pretty quickly with an infection or injury and can last a few days to a few weeks. A swollen ankle is a great example. It can be painful, swollen, red and warm very quickly. The same is true for a viral or bacterial infection and allergies, resulting in sneezing, congestion, coughing and watery eyes.

Chronic, low-grade inflammation, on the other hand, can be very harmful. It doesn’t have one specific cause, whether it develops overtime from a combination of things – like chronic stress, toxins (whether it be environmental or in food), poor lifestyle choices, food allergies and intolerances, and, most importantly, from a poor diet that contains processed foods and bad fats, high-glycemic foods, sugars and many artificial ingredients or chemicals.

These things put a high stress load on the body. In response, your body produces inflammatory modulators or signals that overwhelm the immune system. Once stimulated, these signals actually recruit white blood cells, which are immune system cells that protect the body from infection and foreign invaders. When they are continually stimulated, they can attack your cells, internal organs and your tissues overall, causing ongoing health issues.

Wherever this inflammatory response takes place in the body, you can end up with various symptoms. For instance, if the brain is affected you can experience brain fog, lack of concentration, depression, poor memory, Alzheimer’s, autism and even multiple sclerosis.

In the thyroid, inflammation can cause disruption in thyroid hormone function or autoimmune disease like Hashimoto’s, or Grave’s Disease. In your lungs you can experience allergies or asthma; on your skin you can see eczema, psoriasis, acne, or other rashes and dermatitis; and in your muscles you can end up with a lot of pain and/or weakness.

We have actually had a large number people over the years who have been diagnosed with chronic fatigue and fibromyalgia, and who do much better on our anti-inflammatory program for this very reason. Chronic inflammation also damages the lining of your gut, which can be connected to a number of bowel diseases, including autoimmune disease, irritable bowel disease, Crohn’s Disease, etc. Many people also don’t realize that inflammation also affects their bones. It interferes with the body’s ability to repair bone mass, which can lead to osteoporosis.

Inflammation on the cardiovascular system. It is a major driver of heart disease, damage to the arteries and veins, high blood pressure, anemia and stroke. In the same way, inflammation also can restrict blood flow to the kidneys, creating hypertension, edema or swelling, and even kidney failure.

And we certainly don’t want to forget the liver, which can lead to fatty liver disease and an increase of toxicity buildup in the body; or the effects of insulin resistance that leads to diabetes. Abnormal cell growth, which is the basis of cancer, is also a product of inflammation, as are joint pains of all kinds. All these things lead to accelerated aging.

There are many other affects, as well, but these are probably the most familiar. Next week we will look at several tests used to measure inflammation.