One of the problems that develops chronic inflammation is the accumulation of heavy metals in the body like mercury.
This week, we make the distinction between acute inflammation and chronic inflammation. A chronic condition is more enduring and long term. A knuckle, or joint, or your back hurts all the time, some aches and pains last for a long time, even years. Sometimes this is caused by something like arthritis and sometimes it is just the accumulated impact of years of your life.
Sometimes you are hurting from what was an acute injury when you were younger that you healed from. However, it is weak and more likely to be re -injured and cause you chronic pain. Sometimes, you do not heal well, and the pain seems to be just a reminder of the damage you experienced and yet it continues to be a source of irritation and pain all the time. As a result, that tissue will be inflamed most if not all the time and you will have pain from that chronic condition. You may not be able to fix the condition, but you can fix the chronic presentation (pain) through the use of medications.
Fat and sugar from your diet will transport through your blood stream and cause you to feel pain at the site of your injury. There are medicines such as Neo 40 which can help reduce inflammation and limit the constant re- marking of the injury site by the fat and sugar in your blood system.
Here are some of the causes of chronic inflammation:
- Untreated causes of infection or injury
- Autoimmune diseases
- Long term exposure to toxins and irritants
- Smoking
- Obesity
- Alcohol abuse
- Chronic Stress
- Poor eating with a lot of foods that stimulate inflammation
- Celiac disease and leaky gut
- Low cortisol or Adrenal fatigue with low cortisol
Test for Inflammation:
- HS-CRP
- Sedimentation Rate
Treatment for inflammation:
There are things you can do to try to reduce of eliminate chronic inflammation from infection or injury, but you can also get it from a malfunction of the immune system. The body will begin to attack itself when autoimmune diseases begin to flare up. There are medicines for this, but Dr Maupin is not a fan of them. She prefers to do other things to reduce inflammation that is the signal for long term damage of tissue.
One of the problems that develops chronic inflammation is the accumulation of heavy metals in the body like mercury. Those metals build up in the body and you cannot get rid of them. They can cause damage to all the various parts and functioning systems in your body. But there are some things you can do to fight the damage caused by toxins and heavy metals:
Medication and supplements:
- NSAIDS:like Motrin, Aleve etc.
- Steroids-short term
- Supplements: Fish oil, Flaxseed oil, cucumin, alpha lipoic acid
- Neo 40
- Eat: Ginger, cayenne pepper, garlic
- Drink green tea
- Drink coffee
Change Lifestyle Habits:
- Stop junk food, and high preservative foods
- Stop foods made with white sugar and white flour
- Stop eating fried foods
- Stop eating processed meat like hot dogs
- Eat more fresh berries and oranges
- Eat more fish—sardines, mackerel,
- Eat more nuts, tomatoes, greens with spinach and olive oil
- Obesity: lose weight
- Smoking: stop
- Alcohol: stop!
- Illicit drugs-stop
- Lack of exercise—begin daily exercise.
Don’t delay treatment of injuries and infections! Such avoidance can lead to chronic inflammation, and that will lead to pain and continuing damage to your system as you age. You will become weaker and be in pain most of the time. It is best to try to avoid chronic inflammatory interactions. Do what you can to stay healthy! Look at your diet, and food preparation habits, avoid toxins as much as you can, try to avoid heavy metals like mercury.
Health cast was written and presented by Dr. Kathy Maupin, M.D., Bio-identical Hormone Replacement Expert This and Author, with Brett Newcomb, MA., LPC.,
