Inflammation - Vital Hormone Clinic

What is inflammation?

Inflammation is the body's protective response to irritation, injury, or infection. It often causes redness, swelling, heat, and pain in the affected area as the immune system activates to remove harmful stimuli and begin the healing process.

There are two main types of inflammation:

• Acute inflammation is the initial short-term response, starting within seconds or minutes of injury. This helps stop infections, clear out dead cells, and remove damaged tissue. Symptoms usually go away once the injurious stimuli is gone.
• Chronic inflammation persists over longer periods of time, from months to years. This can happen with autoimmune diseases, prolonged infections, and exposure to irritants. If inflammation becomes chronic it can damage tissues and cause diseases like rheumatoid arthritis, cancer, heart disease, and diabetes.

Causes of inflammation include:

• Infections from bacteria, viruses, fungi, or parasites
• Injuries such as wounds or burns
• Toxins from chemicals, drugs, pollution, or radiation
• Immune reactions against substances in foods, dust, or pollen
• Physical injuries like sprained joints or muscle overuse
• Stress and emotional agitation
• Poor nutrition and obesity

Inflammation process:

When tissue injury occurs, damaged cells release chemicals like histamine, bradykinin, and prostaglandins that dilate blood vessels. This allows more blood to flow to the area, causing heat and redness.

Increased vessel permeability lets white blood cells, antibodies, and proteins leak into the tissue space to start the healing process. This causes swelling.

Neutrophils and macrophages digest microbes and clear out debris. They release enzymes and toxins that may damage healthy cells too. This worsens swelling and pain.

Anti-inflammatory treatments like ibuprofen reduce swelling and pain but also delay healing. For chronic inflammation, it's better to address the root causes with improved diet, stress reduction, and holistic care.

Vital Hormone Clinic provides comprehensive testing and bioidentical hormone therapy to reduce inflammation. Our expert physicians create fully customized treatment plans to restore hormonal balance naturally. With reduced inflammation, you'll feel healthier, regain energy, improve cognition, and even lose weight. Contact us today to learn more about our inflammation relief programs!

Some key steps you can take to reduce inflammation include:

• Eat more fruits, vegetables, fish, nuts - these contain antioxidants and omega-3s.
• Avoid processed foods and excess sugar, saturated fats, and transfats.
• Exercise regularly to lower inflammatory markers.
• Reduce stress through meditation, yoga, or counseling. Chronic stress worsens inflammation.
• Lose weight if overweight - fat cells release pro-inflammatory molecules.
• Quit smoking - chemicals in cigarettes trigger chronic inflammatory responses.
• Get good sleep - lack of sleep increases inflammtory proteins.
• Consider supplements like curcumin, green tea, omega-3s, and probiotics.

By understanding what inflammation is, what causes it, and how to treat it holistically, you can take steps to resolve chronic inflammation and live a healthier life. Let me know if you have any other questions!