The Silent Killer

You can’t see it. You can’t feel. You don’t even know it is happening. Eventually it can manifest as a disease process such as diabetes, heart disease, cancer, depression, IBS (inflammatory bowel disease) or asthma to name a few. It is called inflammation, and all of the top 30 causes of death have an inflammatory component.

When you think of inflammation, you probably think of a swollen ankle after it has been sprained or the red bump that appears after a bug has bitten you. Acute inflammation is a normal and essential part of the healing process. The immune systems purpose is to restore balance in an unbalanced body. When it detects tissue damage (due to bacteria, virus, sprain/strain) it floods the area with fluid that includes protein and white blood cells for protection and repair. You know you are experiencing inflammation when the area is red, warm, painful, swollen, and loss of function.

Does any of the following sound familiar?

You wake up with only 4 hours of sleep, take an antibiotic to fight off some infection, run around the house trying to get the kids to school and get to work on time, stop and pick up an egg and cheese biscuit with a hash brown, inhaling car exhaust while get stuck in traffic which makes you late, grab a donut on the way to your desk, sit down and realize how tight your clothes are, hurry through lunch, leave work and rush around doing errands, grab a convenient unhealthy snack, make dinner from a box, and finally plop in front of the TV to relax before falling asleep. This is unfortunately the daily routine of millions of Americans.

Thankfully, living this lifestyle day in and day out does not launch a full scale immune attack. Instead, small quantities of inflammatory molecules are released into your blood stream. Typically, you have no idea this happened until loss of function occurs. This continues to occur due to lack of sleep, eating a diet filled with convenience foods, constant stress, taking medications, exposure to toxins in the environment, and weight gain. You will eventually start to experience symptoms such as fatigue, bowel inconsistencies, joint pain, difficulty breathing, and rashes. We now know that chronic, low grade inflammation in the body can also cause degenerative diseases, obesity, aging, breast, colon & prostate cancer, asthma, allergies, autoimmune disease, high blood pressure, and diabetes. We live in time where a pill is given for every ill so you will most likely be prescribed a drug to remove the symptoms without ever getting to the cause.

Do you have inflammation?

The most common marker used to detect inflammation in a blood test is C-reactive protein (CRP). This is an indicator of inflammation in the body BUT it is not specific to where the inflammation is located. This may be of limited use unless you use it as a tool to start making changes in your life.

What is the cause?

In order to discover the true cause, a complete blood panel is required to find the root of what is responsible for these issues in your body. Your functional blood panel will show where there is dysfunction in your body so that you can receive the proper support for the appropriate body system. Log on to www.dynamicbalancehealth.com to schedule a FREE phone consultation to discuss with an expert where to begin making lifestyle changes to experience the health you deserve!