Print Login to comment

Is Your Body Burning Up with Hidden Inflammation?

Posted on July 8th, 2009

No votes yet

Categories: UltraWellness | Inflammation | Immune System | Chronic Disease | C-reactive protein

Click on right arrow button above to start playing the video.

Could something as simple as a quick and easy blood test save your life?

Absolutely.

It is called a C-reactive protein test, and it measures the degree of HIDDEN inflammation in your body.

Finding out whether or not you are suffering from hidden inflammation is critical, because almost every modern disease is caused or affected by it.

If your immune system and its ability to quell inflammation in your body are impaired, watch out. You are headed toward illness and premature aging.

Fortunately, addressing the causes of inflammation and learning how to live an anti-inflammatory lifestyle can dramatically improve your health.

Today, I am going to review what the primary causes of inflammation are and give you a simple, 7-step approach that will help you cool the fires raging out of control in your body.

Cooling off Inflammation is Key #3 to UltraWellness and in this blog -- the third in this 7-part series on the 7 keys to UltraWellness -- I am going to teach you how to do just that.

The first step is to understand what inflammation is and why it can become so dangerous.

Inflammation: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

Everyone who has had a sore throat, rash, hives, or a sprained ankle knows about inflammation. These are normal and appropriate responses of the immune -- your body’s defense system -- to infection and trauma.

This kind of inflammation is good. We need it to survive -- to help us determine friend from foe.

The trouble occurs when that defense system runs out of control, like a rebel army bent on destroying its own country.

Many of us are familiar with an overactive immune response and too much inflammation. It results in common conditions like allergies, rheumatoid arthritis, autoimmune disease, and asthma. This is bad inflammation, and if it is left unchecked it can become downright ugly.

What few people understand is that hidden inflammation run amok is at the root of all chronic illness we experience -- conditions like heart disease, obesity, diabetes, dementia, depression, cancer, and even autism.

A study of a generally "healthy" elderly population found that those with the highest levels of C-reactive protein and interleukin 6 (two markers of systemic inflammation) were 260 percent more likely to die during the next 4 years. The increase in deaths was due to cardiovascular and other causes.

We may feel healthy, but if this inflammation is raging inside of us, then we are in trouble.

The real concern is not our response to immediate injury, infection, or insult. It is the chronic, smoldering inflammation that slowly destroys our organs and our ability to function optimally and leads to rapid aging.

Common treatments such as anti-inflammatory drugs (ibuprofen or aspirin) and steroids like prednisone -- though often useful for acute problems -- interfere with the body’s own immune response and can lead to serious and deadly side effects.

In fact, as many people die from taking anti-inflammatory drugs like ibuprofen every year as die from asthma or leukemia. Stopping these drugs would be equivalent to finding the cure for asthma or leukemia –- that’s a bold statement, but the data is there to back it up.

Meanwhile, the real effects of statin drugs like Lipitor in reducing heart disease may have nothing to do with lowering cholesterol, but with their unintended side effect of reducing inflammation.

But is taking medication the right approach to addressing the problem of inflammation?

No. It is DOWNSTREAM medicine.

Here’s how UPSTREAM medicine thinks about inflammation ...

How to Locate the Causes of Hidden Inflammation

So if inflammation and immune imbalances are at the root of most of modern disease, how do we find the causes and get the body back in balance?

First, we need to identify the triggers and causes of inflammation. Then we need to help reset the body’s natural immune balance by providing the right conditions for it to thrive.

As a doctor, my job is to find those inflammatory factors unique to each person and to see how various lifestyle, environmental, or infectious factors spin the immune system out of control, leading to a host of chronic illnesses.

Thankfully, the list of things that cause inflammation is relatively short:

    • Poor diet—mostly sugar, refined flours, processed foods, and inflammatory fats such as trans and saturated fats

    • Lack of exercise

    • Stress

    • Hidden or chronic infections with viruses, bacteria, yeasts, or parasites

    • Hidden allergens from food or the environment

    • Toxins such as mercury and pesticides

    • Mold toxins and allergens

By listening carefully to a person’s story and performing a few specific tests , I can discover the causes of inflammation most people.

It’s important to understand that this concept of inflammation is not specific to any one organ or medical specialty. In fact, if you read a medical journal from any field of medicine, you will find endless articles about how inflammation is at the root of problems with the particular organ or area they focus on.

So what’s the problem?

There is almost no communication between specialties. Everyone is treating the downstream effects of inflammation, but addressing the causes of inflammation that are upstream could help people who have multiple problems that are really linked together by this common root cause.

Take, for example, a man who came to see me recently. He wanted to climb a mountain and asked for my help to get healthy. He was 57 years old and took about 15 medications for six different inflammatory conditions: high blood pressure, pre-diabetes, colitis, reflux, asthma, and an autoimmune disease of his hair follicles called alopecia.

Yet when I asked him how he felt, he said "great". I told him I was surprised because he was on so many medications.

Yes, he said, but everything was very well controlled with the latest medications prescribed by the top specialists he saw in every field—the lung doctor for his asthma, the gastroenterologist for his colitis and reflux, the cardiologist for his high blood pressure, the endocrinologist for his pre-diabetes, the dermatologist for his hair loss.

But did any of those specialists ask him why he had six different inflammatory diseases and why his immune system was so pissed off? Was it just bad luck that he "got" all these diseases -- or was there something connecting all these problems?

He looked puzzled and said "no".

I then searched for and uncovered the cause of his problems: gluten. He had celiac disease, an autoimmune disease related to eating gluten, the protein found in wheat, barley, rye, spelt, and oats.

Six months later he came back to see me. He had lost 25 pounds, had no more high blood pressure, asthma, reflux, or colitis, and said he had normal bowel movements for the first time in his life. His hair was even growing back. And he was off nearly all his medications.

7 Steps to Living an Anti-inflammatory Life

So once you have figured out the causes of inflammation in your life, gotten rid of them, the next step is to keep living an anti-inflammatory lifestyle. But how do you do that?

Here is what I recommend. It’s a disarmingly simple but extraordinarily effective way to achieve UltraWellness:

    1. Whole Foods -- Eat a whole foods, high-fiber, plant-based diet, which is inherently anti-inflammatory. That means choosing unprocessed, unrefined, whole, fresh, real foods, not those full of sugar and trans fats and low in powerful anti-inflammatory plant chemicals called phytonutrients.

    2. Healthy Fats -- Give yourself an oil change by eating healthy monounsaturated fats in olive oil, nuts and avocadoes, and getting more omega-3 fats from small fish like sardines, herring, sable, and wild salmon.

    3. Regular Exercise –- Mounting evidence tells us that regular exercise reduces inflammation. It also improves immune function, strengthens your cardiovascular systems, corrects and prevents insulin resistance, and is key for improving your mood and erasing the effects of stress. In fact, regular exercise is one among a small handful of lifestyle changes that correlates with improved health in virtually ALL of the scientific literature. So get moving already!

    4. Relax -- Learn how to engage your vagus nerve by actively relaxing. This powerful nerve relaxes your whole body and lowers inflammation when you practice yoga or meditation, breathe deeply, or even take a hot bath.

    5. Avoid Allergens -- If you have food allergies, find out what you’re allergic to and get stop eating those foods—gluten and dairy are two common culprits.

    6. Heal Your Gut -- Take probiotics to help your digestion and improve the balance of healthy bacteria in your gut, which reduces inflammation.

    7. Supplement -- Take a multivitamin/multimineral supplement, fish oil, and vitamin D, all of which help reduce inflammation.

Taking this comprehensive approach to inflammation and balancing your immune system addresses one of the most important core systems of the body.

In the future, medicine may no longer have specialties like cardiology or neurology or gastroenterology, but new specialists like "inflammologists".

But by understanding these concepts and core systems that are the basis of healthy living now, you don’t have to wait.

Now I’d like to hear from you ...

Have you had your C-reactive protein tested?

Do you think inflammation may be at the core of your health condition?

Why do you think so many doctors practice downstream medicine instead of catching problems early with upstream medicine?

Please let me know your thoughts by posting a comment below.

To your good health,

Mark Hyman, MD

If you like this blog post, please click on the "Digg it" icon to the left to cast your vote.

If you'd like to leave a comment or want to see what others have said about this post, click on the appropriate button below.

Login to comment See all 16 comments

Bookmark This Post

Delicious Delicious Digg Digg Reddit Reddit Newsvine Newsvine Furl Furl Google Google Yahoo Yahoo

Related Blog Posts

 

very interesting indeed

I was recently diagnosed with Hashimoto's hypothyroidism and after doing research and learning about it, I realized that my mom might also have undiagnosed hypothyroidism.  She has many symptoms that are symptoms of this condition yet she is on so many different pills, none of which address (what I think is) the main issue.  She's on blood pressure medication, heart medication, medicine to help with her digestive problems, etc.  She has even undergone two angioplasties.  During one of those procedures the doctor tore one of her arteries!  Why don't doctors communicate with each other so they can get a better big picture of what is going on with their patient???  If they take all her symptoms (digestion issues, inability to get warm, heart palpitations, extreme fatigue), they may just realize that all these issues might actually be related!  I'm glad there are doctors like you out there who at least try to educate people about their health.  As of right now, I am going to work with my mother's primary care physician and see if we can't get my mom off all these pills!

by maggykaren at 07:25 AM on 07/09/09
Link to this UltraWellness Comment

c-reactive protein

My mother has a c-reactive protein of 94.  I think the normal is around 30.  She has been on prednisone and her numbers came down a little bit but are still very high.  She is 63 years old.  The doctors are baffled by her condition since she has no symptoms or any problems other then a stiff neck.  They told her she might have lupus or cancer and she has been very worried.  We do not know what to do.  Right now she doesn't have insurance and the doctor told her if she did, he would send her to Mt Sinai in NY for further testing.  Should she first just get a simple allergy test to see if she is allergic to gluten?

by chynna301 at 10:23 AM on 07/09/09
Link to this UltraWellness Comment

Inflammation

I am 55, a healthy weight, and have chronic generalized pain that seems to be fibromyalgia-ish, frequent migraines, and chronic sinus congestion. I always feel better all over when I have to take antibiotics for a sinus infection, but of course, I try very hard to avoid that.  Sometimes, but not always, I have a lot of joint noise, bone clicking, etc. But RA tests are negative.

I had the ANA test a while back.  Very high. All my other tests - and I've had many many many - are excellent.  Allergy tests are negative.  Nada.  I do have antibodies in my blood to almost every protein out there - casein, albumin, gluten - if I eat them, except, it seems, beef and salmon.  (Leaky gut?)  I've eaten sugar free and gluten free and high veggie for about 15 years, which is when all this pain started. 

Reluctantly, I started celebrex about two years ago, because I developed chronic severe back pain and spasms, on top of everything.  The drug has been a godsend.

For years I've been taking high quality probiotics, omega 3, vitamin D3, good multis, good herbs, etc, and I received and followed virtually all of the advice here.  I did have more energy after starting this - probably from the increased exercise, and some pain improvement, but nothing earth shattering.  Exercise days were still brutal, painful. 

Then I tracked my diet carefully for a few months, along with my pain levels, and discovered that brown rice eaten one evening seemed to result in high pain levels for a few days afterwards.  I went to my chiropractor with this and he skeptically muscle-tested me.  He did it over and over.  Sure enough, brown rice seemed to be a very, very, very bad food for me! We had never tested rice.  Mycotoxins?  Too high glycemic?  Who knows.  (Brown rice made me feel even worse than white rice, by the way.)

I cut out ALL grains and dairy and any other food that might have mycotoxins.   If I ate leftover cooked food like homemade veggie soup (even cooked just a few hours earlier) my pain levels shot up, so I cut that out.  The only things I eat cooked now are lightly steamed veggies, grass fed beef and wild caught salmon.  Yes, my groceries are expensive, and I'm not rich.  Alcohol is out.  Coffee has to be black and very occasional.  And any interruption in my sleep means high pain the next few days.

One thing that helps me a lot is raw garlic.  I don't know why, but if I start to feel stiff and uncomfortable again, I load up on even more raw garlic and it really helps.  No garlic preparation/pill I've ever tried does the same as the raw, just-chopped stuff.  I'm sure the deer wandering my property could explain it to me.

I don't know what the hell's wrong with me and why I have to be so careful, when my husband, who was on antibiotics for TB for years in his youth, can eat any damned thing he wants with no ill effects, ever.  I blame the severe stress I suffered for a couple of decades in my young life, but who knows.  Sometimes I think it must be a bacterial infection (Lymes is negative, they're all negative.)  Life ain't fair! 

But I've been blessed in so many other ways that I still wake up very happy every morning, and I go to bed very grateful every night. 

Hope this helps someone find some help.  And now I'm off to the treadmill!

Amy

by agertz at 11:12 AM on 07/09/09
Link to this UltraWellness Comment

Inflamation

I asked my MD for a C-Reactive Protein test and it was 22.9, which is very high.  He said we would just "watch it," but I feel very vulnerable.  He did suggest that I increase my omega-3 supplement, which I have done, but I don't think I should wait and watch with a reading so high.  I appreciate your blog, because it gives me some additional ideas for how to naturally reduce my inflamation level.

by camlou at 12:31 PM on 07/09/09
Link to this UltraWellness Comment

I think my result was like

I think my result was like 154.  My DO is helping me reduce this.  In the meantime, I told my regular Dr. about the result (at an annual check up) and she dismissed it saying it didnt mean a thing.

Its VERY frustrating.  I hope you find a doctor that will listen to you and help you beat this.

 

K.

by kew at 12:33 PM on 07/09/09
Link to this UltraWellness Comment

i had mine tested

I had my C Reactive protein tested and it was through the roof.  (Sorry I dont remember the exact #)

 I have Hashimotos and have been trying to get this under control for the past 5 months.  I have eliminated Gluten and with my most recent blood work, found out I also have too much Yeast in my system.  I also (through a saliva test) found out that my adrenals are SO low that my doctor was surprised i was even able to get out of bed in the morning.

This is a tough battle but im willing to fight to feel like my normal self again.  I'm also glad to hear that I'm not alone.

K.

by kew at 12:31 PM on 07/09/09
Link to this UltraWellness Comment

oats

Just for the record, oats are gluten free unless contaminated (which they often are).  Certfied gluten-free oats can be found, however. 

Greg    (;^{)>

Man does not live on gluten-free beer alone.That's why God gave us gluten-free pretzels

by gregveal at 02:57 PM on 07/09/09
Link to this UltraWellness Comment

C Reactive protein

Thank you for your timely article on CRP.  My husband has blood work and his CRP was 8.0. A year ago it was 2.3. His doctor didn't seem concerned about it.  He does have high cholesterol but a good ration of LDL/HDL.  The doctor sugested he have a re-test in 6 months. Does this sound reasonable?

Thank you.

by menolady at 05:36 PM on 07/09/09
Link to this UltraWellness Comment

inflammation

Tiffany

I started having multiple symptoms 6 years ago when I was 30. My heart was racing, I had shortness of breath, enlarged lymph nodes along with many other problems. I also have severe allergies and suffered with angioedema with urticaria for several years (soft ball size hives on my shoulders, neck and torso only). I have seen 15-20 doctors and was on 15 different medications at one time. Just as you said, the different specialties don't communicate and they each treat one symptom and won't look at everything as a whole. I have searched for a physician that would look at everything as a whole, but I have yet to find someone. This article is fantastic. I have had many abnormal lab and diagnostic tests including a positive d-dimer and LDH and my CRP has been as high as 49. My WBC's and sed rate are always high. None of these physicians have been able to determine the root of the problem. I see a hematologist who thought I had lymphoma because of the enlarged lymph nodes and elevated LDH and he wanted me to have an open biopsy. I opted to wait and have repeat CT's of my neck every 6 months. I just had a repeat on 7/1/09 and for the first time in 2 years, the lymph nodes have reduced to normal size. I am a registered nurse and have done a ton of research and figured out that the only other thing that all of these abnormal tests have in common is inflammation. I was telling my Father that I'm convinced that all of my problems are related to inflammation and he remembered reading this article and he forwarded to me. I would like to find a physician that can help me determine the cause of my inflammation so I can have more control over how I feel. Sometimes I feel that I have lost the last 6 years of my life and I'm ready to get it back. I lost a lot of physical strength and endurance and I find that I have to sit out of a lot of family activities because I have negative reactions to so many things; sun, heat, grass, etc. I feel miserable after doing activites. My 10-year old daughter is very active and athletic and I want to be able to keep up with her better. I would love to hear if you have any idea and/or suggestions.

by tdrake at 07:55 PM on 07/11/09
Link to this UltraWellness Comment

C-reactive protein

I have had my c-reactive protein tested but I don't know what the numbers mean.

by dvunic at 09:28 AM on 07/15/09
Link to this UltraWellness Comment

results of creative protein test

I wanted to know if a high crp test result could be caused simply by being overweight ?

 

My results came in high 4.07 , I don't feel like I have anything inflamatory going on or an infection so just wondering if crp can also be reduced by losing weight ??

by rsalais at 06:45 PM on 09/16/09
Link to this UltraWellness Comment

interesting article

Normal
0

false
false
false

EN-US
X-NONE
X-NONE

MicrosoftInternetExplorer4

/* Style Definitions */
table.MsoNormalTable
{mso-style-name:"Table Normal";
mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0;
mso-tstyle-colband-size:0;
mso-style-noshow:yes;
mso-style-priority:99;
mso-style-qformat:yes;
mso-style-parent:"";
mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt;
mso-para-margin:0in;
mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt;
mso-pagination:widow-orphan;
font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";}

Most of the people don’t realize how serious inflammation is
until they end it up in a very serious problem. It is very interesting how this
subject has been one that everyone talks about. 
Before I started working for this company I had no any idea about
inflammation. People think that when they feel pain it is just the inflammation
coming up. Negative. The inflammation could be there for years. Now, since I
understand this factor I always do my research about it. Something also very
interesting is the fact is the low of EPA and DHA acids in our system that can
link to inflammation. If you notice almost all products in the market are
produced with omega-3. Omega -3 is an important vitamin to prevent
inflammation.  We have to take into
consideration that not all of the omega-3 products sold in the market today are
omega-3. I suggest that before any of the consumers buy omega-3 they make sure
they come from a green lipped mussel and not from fish. Most of the omega 3 in
the market are not mercury free and also tend to thin out the blood.

This is a great article and a very good recommendation.  The key here is to be educated and make sure
we have the right information before making a decision regarding our health.

I read a book that also really taught me a lot about
inflammation. The name of the book is The Inflammation Revolution – The Amazing
Healing Extract. I recommend everyone to read it since it has valuable
information about inflammation with recommendations.

Remember prevention is one of the key factors of good
health.

 

by pocahontasboricua at 02:13 PM on 09/27/09
Link to this UltraWellness Comment

ugg boots

Good ! I like it ! Welcome to read following news: ugg boots,Nike dunk sb,discount ugg boots, uggs ,nike dunk low,ugg boots sale,UGG Bailey Button boots,new nike sb,UGG Classic short boots,UGG Nightfall boots,cheap nike dunks,UGG Classic tall boots.

by cheapuggboots at 01:22 AM on 10/26/09
Link to this UltraWellness Comment

Generic Viagra

Normal
0

MicrosoftInternetExplorer4

/* Style Definitions */
table.MsoNormalTable
{mso-style-name:"Table Normal";
mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0;
mso-tstyle-colband-size:0;
mso-style-noshow:yes;
mso-style-parent:"";
mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt;
mso-para-margin:0in;
mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt;
mso-pagination:widow-orphan;
font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:"Times New Roman";}

Generic Viagra
and Kamagra are widely used by
men to treat their ED. It contains sildenafil citrate a clinically proven drug
that helps men with ED in achieving erection.

Bellspharmacy.com is one of the highly acclaim distributor of generic
drugs. This company is known worldwide of its quality drugs and it offer
generic drugs at a very low prices. Visit them online and try to compare the
difference in price and service.  Generic Viagra | Cheap Generic Viagra | Generic Viagra Online |                 Buy Generic Viagra online | Buy Generic Viagra Online | Cheap Generic Viagra

by jamessmithforum at 04:07 AM on 11/09/09
Link to this UltraWellness Comment

<b><a

<b><a href="http://www.action-games000.blogspot.com/">العاب أكشن</a></b>
<b><a href="http://actiongames777.wordpress.com/">العاب أكشن</a></b>
<b><a href="http://actiongames777.blog.com/">العاب أكشن</a></b>
<b><a href="http://actiongames777.bloguni.com/">العاب أكشن</a></b>
<b><a href="http://datawaybassam.vox.com/">العاب أكشن</a></b>
<b><a href="http://www.bloglines.com/blog/dataway555">العاب أكشن</a></b>
<b><a href="http://actiongames777.blogdrive.com/">العاب أكشن</a></b>
<b><a href="http://action-games7.livejournal.com/">العاب أكشن</a></b>
<b><a href="http://datawaybassam.fortunecity.com/blog/">العاب أكشن</a></b>
<b><a href="http://datawaybassam.blogmas.com/">العاب أكشن</a></b>
<b><a href="http://blogs.cjb.net/ourae7/">العاب أكشن</a></b>

by sensem7777 at 03:22 PM on 10/27/09
Link to this UltraWellness Comment

look

Tiffany and Links
fashion life
handbag chooes
pick your shoes
Classic Cardy UGG Boots
Classic Leopard UGG Boots
ugg mini boots
UGG Classic Short
UGG Classic Tall
Metallic UGG Boots
ugg nightfall boots
Paisley UGG Boots
SundanceUGG Boots

by smallstrong at 03:58 AM on 11/06/09
Link to this UltraWellness Comment

Subscribe to the UltraWellness Blog

Click here to subscribe to the UltraWellness Blog Feed

OR

Be notified by email when a new post is made.

Name
Email

By submitting, you agree to terms of use and privacy policy

Subscribe to the UltraWellness TV Podcast

You can now subscribe to an audio version of each weekly blog. The easiest way to do this is to add this to your iPod or other MP3 player. Simply click on the appropriate button below to do this now:

User login

Login/Register

Search Dr. Hyman's Blog