What Is Inflammation?

Inflammation is your body's natural immune response to issues such as infections, injuries, illnesses and toxins. There is quite a lot of buzz in the media about inflammation and how to reduce it. However, it's not always bad to experience inflammation as it does play a critical role in your body’s recovery after any type of illness, wound, surgery, allergic reaction and more.

When you have a cut or a virus invades your body, white blood cells are sent to the site to create a localized inflammatory response. This all-out attack is crucial to the healing process.

Without inflammation, your body would be unable to heal itself when you get a wound, cold or even a broken arm. This type of immune response is called "acute," which means it's a beneficial inflammatory reaction. It’s short-term and fast-acting. When you get hurt, the inflammation shows up around the wound or injury as redness, swelling, warmth and bruising. Acute inflammation is limited to one area, such as a splinter or sprained ankle.

If you get sick, the inflammation is systemic, meaning your body launches a head-to-toe immune response to get rid of the virus or bacteria that’s making you feel unwell [1].

Conversely, chronic inflammation lasts more than six weeks and is considered long-term, sometimes lasting years or a lifetime. It is often linked to autoimmune diseases or prolonged stress. Doctors don't know why the immune system is attacking healthy cells, and often, there is no identifiable purpose. This immune response can happen without illness or injury present. It is the lengthy, continuous response that is damaging because chronic inflammation is usually less severe than acute [2].

What Can Cause Inflammation?

Things in our everyday lives can create an inflammatory response, such as chronic or acute conditions, medications, foods, toxins, chemicals and environmental irritants. There are many causes of inflammation and sometimes, it may be challenging to identify the culprit. Even acute inflammation can become chronic if it recurs frequently enough. If you have any of the conditions below, your body may currently be experiencing inflammation :

Acute Inflammation Causes:

Cuts & wounds
Injuries (sprained ankle, fractured arm)
Bacterial infections
Common viruses/common colds
COVID-19
Muscle soreness (due to exercise, injury or exertion)

Chronic Inflammation Causes:

Diabetes
High blood pressure
Cancer
Asthma
Eczema & psoriasis
Tendonitis & bursitis
Depression & anxiety
Autoimmune Disorders - Lyme disease, Celiac, Hashimoto's, Lupus & more
Neurodegenerative disorders
COVID-19
Cytokine storms (whole-body inflammation activated by COVID)
Muscle soreness due to chronic conditions
Arthritis & other degenerative joint conditions
Allergies
Pelvic Inflammatory Disease (PID)
Cardiovascular Disease (CVD)
Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD)
Rheumatoid arthritis
Gastrointestinal Conditions: Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS), Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD), Crohn's & Ulcerative Colitis (UC) [3,4]

Factors that may put you at a higher of developing chronic inflammation:

Aging
Smoking
Alcohol
Unhealthy diet (unhealthy fats, processed foods & added sugar)
Stress
Low sex hormones
Sleep disorders
Obesity [5]

This is not a comprehensive list of every cause of inflammation. There are many other conditions, illnesses, deficiencies and even foods that create inflamed tissues, joints, tendons, organs, intestinal linings and more. If you are unsure of what is causing your current inflammation or health problems, please schedule an appointment to discuss your symptoms with your physician.

Symptoms Of Chronic Inflammation

While you may not know precisely what is happening within your body, typically, chronic inflammation leaves people with a general feeling of malaise. Some may experience pains, aches, fatigue and find themselves sick frequently. According to the CDC, below are symptoms to pay attention to that may indicate you have chronic inflammation:

Frequent colds and infections
Depression, anxiety & mood disorders
Gastrointestinal issues
Rapid weight gain or weight loss
Chronic fatigue
Sleep disorders
Body pain (Arthralgia - joint pain, Myalgia - muscle pain) [6]

Natural Ways To Reduce Inflammation

While natural remedies can work to reduce inflammation, how much they help depends on their cause. For some, only the symptoms themselves are reduced, but the underlying cause remains. You can try these natural remedies at home to possibly ease your pain and inflammation:

Change your diet - Skip the processed, sweetened or fried foods and instead choose fresh fruits and veggies whenever possible. Add healthy fats (fish, olives, avocados, nuts and seeds). Increase your fiber intake and cook with herbs and spices.

Lifestyle changes - Quit smoking and drinking. Get a good night's sleep, exercise, maintain a healthy weight and take care of your mental health.

Quality Supplements - Changes to improve your diet and lifestyle can positively impact your inflammation, but adding a supplement offers more support and a daily dose of inflammation-fighting ingredients for those with chronic inflammation.

Turkey Tail mushrooms - Full of antioxidants with anti-inflammation properties that may decrease chronic inflammation
Ginger Root - Consumed as a supplement, tea or in foods, it may ease pain and inflammation.
Omega-3 - Healthy fatty acid found in fish, fish oil and algae oil supplements
Magnesium - Most Americans don't get enough of this anti-inflammatory nutrient in their diet. Taking a magnesium supplement may help.
Curcumin - A chemical compound in the popular spice turmeric. It may help reduce inflammation associated with chronic illnesses.

Topical Remedies - If you prefer to use topical creams, salves or ointments right at the site of your pain and swelling, many choices are available. Always do a patch test before applying these topical remedies to inflamed skin. You should speak with your doctor before trying natural treatments for chronic skin conditions.

Aloe vera gel
Witch hazel water
Colloidal oatmeal
Ointments with German chamomile, marshmallow root or yarrow [7]

If you feel that chronic inflammation is affecting your health or quality of life, you should speak with your doctor about possible causes.

Supplements That Can Help Stop Inflammation

Usually, inflammation is the body's attempt to heal itself and is not associated with long-term issues, but sometimes, your body's immune response just refuses to stop. This chronic inflammation keeps your body in a constant state of alert even when there is no danger. Over time, this relentless attack can damage tissues, organs, joints and more. Our proprietary probiotic supplement, Clear Inflammatory Response, contains targeted ingredients to soothe painful joints and muscles while supporting proper immune function and a healthy digestive system.

Turkey Tail mushrooms
Ginger Root
Lactobacillus casei (L. casei)
Bifidobacterium (B. infantis)

Clear Probiotics Products For Inflammation

Clear Inflammatory Response probiotics-based supplement is a ProbioticsPLUS™ blend designed to ease joint pain, stiffness, inflammation and fatigue. Our proprietary formula offers people with chronic inflammation a solution to help restore gut health and protect their body from damage caused by long-term inflammation. If you're ready to feel healthy, energized and pain-free, then try our premium immunity boosting formula, Clear Inflammatory Response.

Resources:

Barhum, Lana. (2021)What Is Inflammation? Types, Causes, Symptoms, Diagnosis, and Treatment. VeryWell Health. [Internet] Accessed March 28, 2022: https://www.verywellhealth.com/what-is-inflammation-187934
Elmer, Jamie. (2018) Inflammation: What You Need To Know. Healthline. [Internet] Accessed March 28, 2022: https://www.healthline.com/health/inflammation
Felman, Adam. (2020) Everything you need to know about inflammation. Medical News Today. [Internet] Accessed March 28, 2022: https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/326386
Santos-Longhurst, Adrienne. (2021) Understanding and Managing Chronic Inflammation. Healthline. [Internet] Accessed March 28, 2022: https://www.healthline.com/health/chronic-inflammation
Felman, Adam. (2020) Everything you need to know about inflammation. Medical News Today. [Internet] Accesed March 28, 2022: https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/248423#causes
Pahwa R, Goyal A, Jialal I. Chronic Inflammation. [Updated 2021 Sep 28]. In: StatPearls [Internet]. Treasure Island (FL): StatPearls Publishing; 2022 Jan-. Accessed March 28, 2022: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK493173/
Villines, Zawn. (2021) Natural remedies for inflammation. Medical News Today. [Internet] Accessed March 28, 2022: https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/natural-remedies-for-inflammation#topical-remedies

Search our store

Inflammation