What is the difference between acute and chronic inflammation?
Inflammation is the body’s natural response to injury or infection. It is controlled by the immune system which is constantly protecting us. In the early or ‘acute’ stages it helps to kill bacteria, clear harmful debris and heal the body. There will often be swelling, warmth or redness. Because its aim is to protect us, inflammation usually comes with pain- the alarm which alerts us that something may be wrong.
Inflammation usually settles once healing has occurred. However, sometimes it persists and becomes persistent or ‘chronic’ inflammation. Unlike acute inflammation, chronic inflammation does not settle, and is associated with ongoing physical and mental ill health. It can continue even when the infection has gone and the injury has healed.
Why does chronic inflammation cause ongoing pain?
Chronic inflammation causes increased sensitivity in the central nervous system. The central nervous system relays messages between the brain and every part of the body about what is going on. When it is oversensitive, it sends too many messages leading to pain out of proportion to any damage within the body, and symptoms which do not fit with what we would expect.
How do I know if I have chronic inflammation?
Chronic inflammation can affect many different areas of the body including muscles and joints but also the gut and central nervous system including the brain. This can lead to pain all over the body, irritable bowel problems, fatigue and mood changes including depression and anxiety. It affects the immune system so you can also be more prone to infections.
Who is more likely to get chronic inflammation?
Research has found that chronic inflammation is more common in people who have diets high in sugar, red meat and highly processed foods. It is more common in people who smoke, who are overweight, or who do not keep active and moving. It is also associated with people who have poor sleep, and life stress without time to rest and relax, and also previous or ongoing trauma or PTSD.
What conditions are associated with chronic inflammation?
Certain pain conditions are known to be associated with chronic inflammation. Where the inflammation is very severe, these are detectable with blood tests e.g. rheumatoid arthritis. However, with other conditions the inflammation is not in a form where it can be picked up by available blood tests. These include fibromyalgia, ME/CFS, widespread muscle pains, and certain joint pains e.g. osteoarthritis. Chronic inflammation is also associated with chronic conditions such as heart disease, dementia, diabetes, inflammatory bowel disease and some cancers. Some inflammatory conditions run in families whilst others do not.
Medication and chronic inflammation
It is important to say that when it comes to medication, not all forms of inflammation are treated the same way. Some conditions like rheumatoid arthritis improve with certain medications, whilst others like fibromyalgia are often not helped by medication. Contrary to what you might expect, anti-inflammatory medication often does not help because it only helps with certain types of inflammation.
Chronic inflammation does not present the same in everyone
Everybody is different and the things which impact on inflammation in one person may be different from another. For one person they may eat a diet high in sugar and processed food or lack of movement and physical activity. But for another they may remain as active as they can and eat healthily, but they do not sleep and feel stressed.
How can we support you to manage chronic inflammation?
As a Pain Service, we will support you to explore what might be contributing to chronic inflammation for you and to the approaches that have been shown to help reduce it. Here are some ways to reduce chronic inflammation:
Please click the below links to see more on: