Home > Glossary > A B CInflammation is a normal response generated by the immune system in response to all sorts of challenges within the body including injury, infection and toxicity. Symptoms include the usual localised pain, redness, heat and swelling as a result of injury; sprains and strains, cuts and grazes; insect bites and stings, and so forth. This process drives many diseases. Almost all pain is the result of inflammation – arthritis, joint, back and muscle problems; digestive disorders like irritable bowel disease or ulcerative colitis; and many types of headache. Inflammation has been called the 'silent killer' because it can exist within the body, without producing these familiar indicators of its presence. For example inflammation is the underlying process behind heart disease and clogged arteries. This explains why 50% of all cardiovascular disease patients don't have the traditionally recognised risk factors such as high cholesterol and high blood pressure. Very often the first sign of this sort of inflammation is an unexpected heart attack. 'Silent' inflammation is also a fundamental contributor to conditions such as fibromyalgia and chronic fatigue syndrome. Once inflammation becomes chronic (for instance because the body is depleted of nutrients and stressed), proper healing cannot occur. At this stage inflammation produces chemicals, which lead not only to pain, but also to tissue damage and disease. It is very important to control inflammation, explaining the enormous number of pharmaceutical anti-inflammatories available. These include drugs such as Aspirin, Colchicine (used in the treatment of gout) and Phenyl-Butazone (used in the treatment of acute gout and rheumatoid arthritis). Natural anti-inflammatory agents include the omega-3 essential fatty acids, the flavonoid Quercetin which reduces the activity of many inflammatory enzymes with particular application to allergic reactions, and certain herbs including Tumeric, Ginger and Boswellia. Anti-inflammatory agents act to reduce and/or relieve symptoms, providing relief of from the inflammation but do not necessarily address the cause. |
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