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“You’re just inflamed.” If you’ve heard that and walked away with more questions than answers, this episode is for you.
This kicks off a month-long series on inflammation, one of my favorite topics to nerd out on. Inflammation is one of the most overused and least understood words in health. Too often it’s treated as the end of the conversation, when it should be the beginning.
In this episode, I break down what inflammation really is: a normal, protective immune response that your body needs to heal. It can also go sideways and stick around far longer than it should. Using a fire analogy, we look at the cast of characters inside your immune system. There are the “arsonists” that light the fire, the “firefighters” that put it out, and the accelerants and retardants that turn the flame up or down. You’ll learn why chronic inflammation shows up so differently from person to person, and why there’s no one-size-fits-all fix.
Being in a state of chronic inflammation doesn’t mean you have to stay there. It just means that’s where you are right now.
In this episode
- The difference between acute inflammation and chronic inflammation
- Three ways inflammation can go wrong
- Signs of acute inflammation
- Signs of chronic inflammation
- Conditions linked to chronic inflammation, from endometriosis and autoimmune disease to IBD, diabetes, and cardiovascular disease
- Why inflammation is never random: it’s always your immune system responding to something
- The immune “fire crew”: frontline pro-inflammatory cells, resolving cells like M2 macrophages and T regulatory cells, and the molecular signals (DAMPs, PAMPs, SAMPs) that turn the fire up or down
- Why balance, not elimination, is the goal
Timestamps
- 00:00 Welcome and the October inflammation series
- 01:14 What inflammation is (and isn’t)
- 02:05 Acute vs. chronic inflammation
- 03:28 The fire analogy, and three ways inflammation goes wrong
- 06:03 What acute inflammation looks and feels like
- 07:35 Signs and symptoms of chronic inflammation
- 08:58 How common this is, and conditions linked to chronic inflammation
- 10:35 Why understanding your body matters
- 11:24 Inflammation is your immune system at work
- 12:40 Meet the arsonists, firefighters, accelerants, and retardants
- 15:39 What happens when the balance tips
- 18:01 What’s coming up in the series
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Disclaimer: This podcast is for educational purposes only. This may not be the best fit for you and your personal situation. It shall not be construed as medical advice. The information and education provided here is not intended or implied to supplement or replace professional medical treatment, advice, and/or diagnosis. Always check with your own physician or medical professional before trying or implementing any information read here.
What Is Inflammation? A Simple Definition
Harvard Health describes inflammation as the body’s natural, protective immune response to injury, infection, or harmful stimuli like toxins and pathogens. Its job is to remove the source of harm, clear out damaged cells, and start the tissue repair process.
In other words, inflammation is a normal process. It’s something that should happen. In fact, we need inflammation in order to heal from any injury or infection.
So when we ask “what is inflammation?”, the answer isn’t “something bad.” It’s something essential. The problems start when inflammation doesn’t do its job and then step aside.
Acute vs. Chronic Inflammation
If we’re looking at the big picture, there are two main types of inflammation.
Acute inflammation is a short-term, quick response to something sudden, like a cut or a sprained ankle. Your immune system zeroes in on that spot, brings in white blood cells and other helpers, and heals the tissue. This is the kind of inflammation we want and need on a regular basis.
Chronic inflammation is long-term and persistent. It can last for months or even years. It tends to happen when your body can’t eliminate a threat, or when it mistakenly attacks its own healthy tissue.
Acute inflammation is something we want to support. Chronic inflammation is the piece we want to calm and settle down. That’s where we’ll focus for the rest of this post.
What Is Inflammation Like? Think of a Fire
The word inflammation comes from the Latin inflammare, meaning to set on fire. That’s fitting, because the purpose of inflammation is to ignite in defense against a threat, then extinguish once the threat is neutralized.
Fire can be a beautiful, useful tool. But we all know fire can go very wrong, too. The same is true of inflammation. Here are three ways it can go awry:
- It responds to things that aren’t real threats. Not every trigger needs an inflammatory response. When the immune system over-responds to non-threats, we often see auto-inflammatory or autoimmune conditions.
- It’s an equal-opportunity offender. Inflammation can burn through diseased tissue and healthy tissue alike. It doesn’t always know how to tell the difference.
- It smolders or spreads. Like a fire that’s mostly out, inflammation can keep smoldering in the background. Or, like a forest fire, it can spread beyond where it started.
Signs of Inflammation in the Body
Inflammation is such a vague word that it helps to know what it actually looks and feels like.
Signs of acute inflammation
Acute inflammation is often easier to spot, because it tends to happen somewhere you can see. The classic signs are redness, heat, swelling, pain, and loss of function.
As a dancer, I had my fair share of sprained ankles. Every time, the ankle would turn red, feel hot to the touch, swell up, and hurt. I couldn’t move it easily. All of that was acute inflammation doing its job. As the tissue healed, those symptoms faded as the inflammation went down.
Chronic inflammation symptoms
Chronic inflammation can look similar in some ways, but it tends to show up differently. Common signs include:
- Ongoing fatigue
- Chronic pain
- Puffiness, achiness, and stiffness, especially first thing in the morning
- Digestive issues like bloating, acid reflux, constipation, diarrhea, and abdominal pain
- Mood changes like anxiety, depression, and brain fog
- Skin issues like redness and eczema
- Unexplained weight gain
That last one deserves a closer look. If you’re eating well, exercising, and feeling like you’re doing everything right but still gaining weight, inflammation might be behind it. It’s a very common explanation.
If this list sounds familiar, you’re not alone. Honestly, I can’t think of a single client I’ve worked with who wasn’t dealing with at least some of these, especially those with gut issues, fatigue, endometriosis, and period pain.
Conditions Linked to Chronic Inflammation
Many health conditions are associated with chronic inflammation, including:
- Endometriosis
- Autoimmune diseases like rheumatoid arthritis, lupus, Hashimoto’s, and Graves’ disease
- Inflammatory bowel diseases like Crohn’s and ulcerative colitis
- Diabetes and other metabolic diseases
- Cardiovascular disease
- Cancer
- Psychiatric conditions
- Neurodegenerative diseases
This isn’t a complete list, but it shows just how far-reaching chronic inflammation can be. Endometriosis is close to my heart, since it’s been my own story and journey.
What Is Inflammation Telling You? It’s a Clue, Not a Diagnosis
Here’s the part I really want you to understand: inflammation is your immune system at work. It’s an immune response. That means it isn’t random. There is always a reason your immune system is responding the way it is.
So many of my clients have been told they’re inflamed and given no next step, other than taking an anti-inflammatory. That might quiet the symptoms for a while. But it doesn’t answer the most important question: what is activating the immune system in the first place?
One client came to me with endometriosis and Hashimoto’s, an autoimmune disease. She had classic signs of chronic inflammation: pain, fatigue, weight gain, and gut issues. Instead of stopping at “you’re inflamed,” we investigated. Using a GI-Map and bloodwork, we looked for what was driving her inflammation. From there, we were able to calm it down and resolve her symptoms.
That’s the difference between treating inflammation as the answer and treating it as a clue. Being in a state of chronic inflammation doesn’t mean you have to live there forever. It simply means that’s where you are right now.
Inside Your Immune System: Meet the Fire Crew
To understand chronic inflammation, it helps to know the players involved. Sticking with our fire analogy, there are four main roles:
| Role | Who’s involved | What they do |
|---|---|---|
| The arsonists | Frontline immune cells like neutrophils, macrophages, and T cells, plus signaling molecules called cytokines | Mount the initial immune response and attack invaders. They’re strongly pro-inflammatory, and they need to be. |
| The firefighters | M2 macrophages, T regulatory cells, and pro-resolving mediators | Anti-inflammatory. They put the fire out and bring the immune response to resolution. |
| The accelerants | DAMPs, PAMPs, and LAMPs (molecular signals) | Respond to cell damage, cell death, and pathogens, adding fuel to the fire. |
| The retardants | SAMPs (molecular signals) | Help turn down immune responsiveness and dampen the flame. |
We need every one of these. Without the arsonists, we couldn’t fight off viruses, bacteria, and other pathogens. Without the firefighters, the fire would never go out.
Why Chronic Inflammation Has No One-Size-Fits-All Fix
When any one of those players goes sideways, chronic inflammation can take hold:
- Too few frontline cells: pathogens can proliferate in the body.
- Overactive frontline cells: we see allergies, histamine responses, and autoimmunity.
- Too few firefighters: the fire never gets put out and can grow out of control.
This is why we can’t address inflammation as one single thing. It shows up in very different ways in very different bodies. The goal isn’t to eliminate inflammation altogether. It’s to figure out why your immune system is responding the way it is, then help it calm down so every player is back in balance.
The inflammatory response is perfectly normal, and we need it. What we’re watching for is dysregulation in the immune system, which leads to chronic inflammation.
Where to Start: Is Your Gut Behind Your Inflammation?
Now that you know what inflammation is, the next question is where yours is coming from. Your gut is one of the most common sources of chronic inflammation, and it’s often where I start digging with clients.
Take my free quiz to find out if your gut might be behind your inflammation symptoms.
Want to go deeper? This post is based on my podcast episode kicking off a month-long series on inflammation.
Subscribe to the Aligned to Rise podcast so you don’t miss a single episode. By the end of this month, you’ll understand what inflammation is, how it works in your body, and most importantly, what you can actually do about it.