Chronic Inflammation - The Unhappy Consequences of a Good Response Gone Bad

In a previous article I stated that inflammation is merely a natural and healing response to infection or injury, and that it's a good response so long as it's at the appropriate level and for the appropriate length of time.

Acute inflammation normally lasts for only hours or days.

A problem arises though, when the inflammation doesn't subside, because long-term inflammation causes a lot of damage in the body.

So you see, inflammation is a mixed blessing.

Examples of the presence of chronic inflammation include:

• Rheumatoid arthritis
  
  


• Joint pain
  
  


• Muscular pain
  
  


• Fibromyalgia
  
  


• Gum Disease
  
  


• Cardiovascular Disease
  
  


• Eczema, psoriasis
  
  


• Asthma
  
  


• Migraine
  
  


• Alzheimer's Disease
  
  


• Allergies
  
  


• Chronic bronchitis
  
  


• Sinusitis
  
  


• IBS (Irritable Bowel Syndrome) and Gastritis
  
  


• And many more

When inflammation becomes a long-term condition, there will be ongoing tissue damage and creation of internal and external scar tissue caused by your immune system trying to protect itself. Inflammation was only ever meant to be a short-term response, and any damage caused in the process was soon healed. However, when the inflammation doesn't subside, the protective elements start to damage the body more and more.

It's now being shown in study after study that long-term inflammation is one of the main root-causes of many of our 'big' disease states, such as cardiovascular, arthritis, and even Alzheimer's Disease.

In Practice, it's now common to see people who are in a permanent inflammatory state.

Some of the triggers for chronic inflammation include the following:

• Environmental toxins -
  Synthetic chemicals, found in cleaning materials, food additives, pesticides, medications, pollution, and so on.
  


• Natural toxins - such as barbeque (burnt) food, phytochemicals, heavy metals, and so on.
  


• Allergens and foods/chemicals to which individuals are sensitive - such as cow's milk, gluten grains, yeasts, corn and so on.
  


• 'Silent' infection - from teeth or gum disease - even mild non-symptomatic infection will lead to unnoticed chronic inflammation
  


• Obesity - especially in 'apple-shaped' people
  


• Auto-immunity (for example rheumatoid arthritis - the immune system attacking 'self')
  


• Oxidative stress from smoking - all smokers are in an inflammatory state

As you can see from the long list of disease conditions (which is by no means the complete list) chronic inflammation has become a major challenge in our lives, and one that we must attend to urgently if we are to live a long and healthy life.

In the next article I will cover some of the things you can do to reduce this insidious robber of health.