Inflammation: Friend or foe?

Inflammation is a normal, natural response to bodily injury or insult. The response can be to anything from a viral attack on cells to a hangnail. We all know what it looks like: redness, swelling, heat, and pain. The inflammation response is designed to flood the area with extra resources, fluids to move cellular debris, and helper cells good at cleaning up the mess. This is part of a natural healing response, which then moves on to remodeling the area (in the case of injury) or rebuilding cells after a few weeks to a month. So why does it get such a bad rap? Inflammation can get out of control or respond inappropriately, and this is where it gets its sinister reputation. Here are a few examples of inflammation run amok:

1. The swelling in an area, or natural inflammatory response, actually triggers the inflammatory response! We can develop inflammation in response to inflammation. An example of this would be a non-healing wound that just gets angrier and angrier.

2. Chronic insult to our system results in chronic inflammation, which can actually cause tissue damage or death. This would be the case is someone has chronically high blood sugar. The sugar in the blood inflames the walls of arteries, which then lose their flexibility over time. Eventually, high blood pressure results because the arteries are stiff.

3. A hyper vigilant immune system can react to things it shouldn’t. We can develop inflammatory responses to our own tissues! If someone is constantly exposed to allergens, for example, then everything starts to look like an allergen to your immune system. Hashimoto’s disease is one example of an inflammatory response to your own thyroid.

In any of these three cases, we need to help your body settle down so it can heal. Enter: anti-inflammatories. The over-the-counter version of these would be aspirin, ibuprofen, or acetaminophen. But these can be troublesome for your digestive system, even leading to ulcers and acid reflux. Acetaminophen especially is highly toxic to your liver, and long-term use is very damaging. All of these anti-inflammatory drugs damage your immune system, and for many people, lead to increased numbers of colds and infection. If this isn’t sounding good to you, then herbs offer a safe, non-toxic alternative. Here are some gold-medal winning anti-inflammatory herbs with minimal to no side effects. If you decide to use these, it’s a good idea to check with a skilled herbal practitioner to make sure there are no contra-indications with any medications you might be taking.
1. Turmeric is making a splash these days and deserves its good reputation. Curcumin, one constituent of turmeric, inhibits the inflammation pathway by blocking the chemical messengers that signal the inflammatory response (the COX-2 pathway).
2. When a cell is damaged, it releases histamine as a cry for help. Feverfew slows down the histamine response and settles down inflammation.
3. Wild yam downregulates two potent cytokines that signal inflammation, interleukin-6 and tumor necrosis factor alpha (both made famous by the “cytokine storm” of COVID-19).

In addition to herbs, consider reducing inflammatory foods like processed foods, sugar, red meat, cheese, and wine (yes, all the things that make life worth living, but note I said reduce, not eliminate). Gluten is highly inflammatory even if you don’t consider yourself “gluten sensitive”. Just cutting out gluten makes a big difference for most folks. If you’re dealing with extreme inflammation, like rheumatoid arthritis or Hashimoto’s, a strict anti-inflammatory diet done in conjunction with herbs can actually reverse symptoms.