Introduction

So …. You think you do not have body inflammation! That’s great. But do you have pain in your joints? Are you tired a lot of the time? Are you overweight or obese? Do you have itchy skin? Do you have high blood pressure or heart disease?

I, the author, was bewildered when, as an older person in the eighties, I could feel painful itchy skin. I went to the dermatologist who told me that this was normal for older persons as the skin got thinner, lost nutrient chemicals and all this was causing itchy skin. I was told to stay out of the sun, keep my skin moist and put a cream or lotion on the skin.

Not knowing any better I tried these medical suggestions for a while. But I still had itchy skin. I tried a whole lot of everything else in desperation. Nothing seemed to work, until I started swimming laps three times a week and also went on a vibration machine several times a week as well. My itchy skin seemed to get better, the itch pain was not as intense. At times I was temporarily not aware of itchiness, but I did not know why. My skin itchiness was on and off. Some days were good with almost no pain while other days were slight itchy pain. Yes, to relieve the itchiness, I would often scratch. I was searching for an answer to explain all this and the answer kept eluding me. Doctors did not seem to know how to relieve my itchiness.

About a month ago, while lying down in bed watching TV, my arms were slightly itchy. At times the pain in my one of my ankles was so intense that it drove me crazy! For no reason at all, I began to stretch my arms and legs, then did isometric exercises [arms held in position, no motion, with muscles contracting on for about two seconds and off for about 30 seconds] with my arms for about 3 to 5 minutes. Although the itchiness was still there after 15 minutes, I seemed to feel better. But I did not know why. Twenty minutes later, my itchiness was gone for the rest of the evening.

I just returned from swimming this afternoon. Three hours later, I have no skin pain nor itchiness at this time. So what is going on with my body?

I began to get some insight into itchy skin last week when a relative of mine mentioned inflammation as a possible cause of health problems. Ofcourse I had heard of inflammation but paid little attention to it. That is, until I did some research about inflammation and realized that there were two kinds of inflammation [swelling], acute immune and chronic. Chronic inflammation is one you cannot see nor feel, it incubates silently and causes heart disease, cancer, diabetes, obesity and other chronic diseases.  After more research, I realized that skin itchiness may be caused by inflammation. But how? My doctors in the past were unable to make this connection.

Research tells us that inflammation can occur anywhere in the body and this can cause pain and discomfort. The pain occurs when your body detoxification system is unable to get rid of toxins and other junk fast enough. Oh, now to explore how body detoxification works!

There are two body systems, one blood and the other lymphatic, that is really a detoxification system. The detoxification [detox] system is our body cleansing system. As you are aware, it is the red blood system that has a heart that pumps the red blood cells throughout the body and brings oxygen to the cells and removes carbon dioxide. Along side the red blood cell system is the lymphatic system that is three times bigger. This system distributes fat and food to all the cells and picks up toxins and wastes and stores these in storage bins, called lymph nodes, and in interstitial cells throughout the body. When you walk, run or swim, the muscles surrounding the lymphatic vessels contract and push these wastes into the veins that, in turn, dump these wastes into the red blood system and the kidney filters these out as urine. Normally this is a simple body waste removal system or natural detoxification [detox] system. It works like a charm and you feel good when the detox system is doing its job.

But what happens when you are not exercising or moving your body. You screw up the lymphatic system and the toxins in the body keep piling up. When these pile-ups reach a tolerance level, then the body begins a slight inflammation [swelling] making you feel uncomfortable and tired. The more inflammation and toxins, the worse your condition.  If you do not move the body, then the inflammation increases and you feel real discomfort and possibly slight pain. The pain can vary in intensity, depending on where the toxicity occurs and excess of toxins. The toxins increase and you are really reacting to a form of poison. Yes, toxins in small dosage are poisonous to your body. This is the body connection between pain, inflammation, lymphatic system and exercise.

By now, you have intuitively figured out that exercise can get rid of inflammation. Well, moving the toxins may be a lot easier than physical exercise. All you need to do is move the body to move the toxins out of the body. Movement of any kind will do the job, although some movements are better than others. More on this later.

The other inflammation trigger is eating the wrong foods. Many foods, like red meat, preservatives full of habit forming fat, salt, sugar flavored deserts, and processed foods can cause toxins to form. These turn the inner body into an acid environment that creates more toxins and causes pain and chronic inflammation.

Another type of toxin is one that is a waste product of food digestion. The body creates many wastes or toxins in the form of oxidants that are formed when oxygen is used to metabolize food and make energy. These oxidants are also referred to as free radicals because they are very unstable and circulate in the body looking to attach to body cells, in an effort to stabilize; which they do. An excess of free radicals can interfere with normal body processes, such as disrupting our protection system, the immune system.

Then there are also environmental chemicals like lead, mercury and radiation that the body also tries to eliminate as poisonous toxic waste.

The good news is that your body has the ability to heal itself. It also has the ability to detoxify and get rid of wastes and toxins. It can do all of this and more because it is programmed as a bio-chemical precise, accurate and complex nano-tech machine. But to function seamlessly, it needs adequate amounts of proper and precise nutrients. Good foods create an alkali body that is healthy, prevents inflammation and chronic diseases.

We mess up the body when we habitually do the wrong things; like eat the wrong foods, neglect to exercise, do not drink enough water and do not get enough sleep. These four survival essentials of life take top priority over all other body functions, including mental, social physical, spiritual and social dimensions of wellbeing.

Eating certain foods help prevent inflammation: 

Dr. Weil's general recipe for anti-inflammatory foods consists of a balance of carbohydrates, fat, protein, phytonutrients and fiber. The diet places a heavy emphasis on the consumption of fresh foods, fruits and vegetables and the avoidance of processed foods.  Weil: Anti-inflammatory diet 2018

Dr. Edwards points out that anti-inflammatory foods such as fiber, fruits, vegetables and teas have been used to combat cancer, and vitamin E, curcumin, acetylcarnitine and catechin have had positive and preventative effects on Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s diseases. Foods high in antioxidants help to reduce damage caused by inflammation.  Axe: Inflammational root of diseases

Dr. Gary Small of UCLA points out that curcumin — the substance that gives Indian curry its bright color — improved memory and mood in people with mild, age-related memory loss. “Exactly how curcumin exerts its effects is not certain, but it may be due to its ability to reduce brain inflammation, which has been linked to both Alzheimer’s disease and major depression. "  Hopper: Curcumin, memory & inflammation 2018

Tuft University researcher Dr. Andrew Greenberg says, “There is no doubt that if you lose weight, inflammation is dramatically improved.” This is because excess fatty acids circulating in the blood promote the inflammatory immune response.   Axe: Inflammational root of diseases

Alkali foods, spirulina and ground flax seeds prevent inflammation.

Researcher Aune and others from Imperial College London stress the importance of eating veggies and fruit.  Aune: Foods preventing diseases 2017

Inflammation types:  Earlier I had mentioned that there were two types of inflammation, acute immune and chronic. Acute immune inflammation occurs when you become infected with bacteria or a virus. The immune cells immediately rush in to engulf the invaders, destroy them and remove them into storage lymph nodes until the toxins can be removed from the body. During this time, inflammation works to help the immune system with this procedure. This is the good side of what the immune system does normally.

Unfortunately, the immune cells can over-react and screw up the immune system; activating inflammation more than need be. When this happens then the inflammation stays active longer than need be and the body goes into a long term or chronic inflammation. Now the body detoxification system is unable to remove the lymphatic toxins and wastes fast enough or postponing it and allowing the toxins to greatly pile up. The toxins, over time, injure normal cells and organs causing chronic diseases.

When the lymph system is compromised, chronic inflammation occurs. This stagnation is the result of the cumulative effect of diet, poor elimination, and acidic pH levels. A diet that leads to digestive imbalances slows elimination that then leads to an acidic environment of backed up waste. This waste is inflammation. Stress forces the body to manufacture and secrete excess stress-fighting hormones to boost energy. The waste products of these hormones are highly acidic adding further to the pH imbalance of the body. Chronic stress shifts the chemistry of the body to a steady acidic state contributing further to lymph congestion.  Hubele: Lymphatic sys & inflammation 2017   Lund: lynphatics, inflammation & cancer 2016

Dr. David Heber of UCLA simplifies the theory of chronic inflammation: “The theory goes that long after the invading bacteria or viruses from some infection are gone, the body's defenses remain active. The activated immune cells and hormones then turn on the body itself, damaging tissues. The process continues indefinitely, occurring at low enough levels that a person doesn't feel pain or realize anything is wrong. Years later, proponents say, the damage contributes to illnesses such as heart disease, neurological disorders like Alzheimer's disease or cancer."   Axe: Inflammational root of diseases  

Look up symptoms of Inflammation:    Article by L'Ecuyer: Dr. Steven Gundry Symptoms of Inflammation is no longer active.

Summary:  The body has defensive immunity to protect and heal the body. It does so without any medication.

All toxins are gradually eliminated by the body's lymphatic system or natural detoxification system. This is done by the muscles surrounding the lymph vessels. The muscles contract when jarred by movement activity or exercise. The key is movement of the body, as in jumping up and down, rope skipping, dancing, running, walking and isometric contraction of muscles. When movement contracts the muscles surrounding the lymph vessels, then the lymph and its toxins are squeezed into the veins, then emptied into the blood stream and filtered out by the kidney as urine.  The key to detoxification is body movement! 

Humans are creatures of habit and often do wrong things like eating junk foods and not getting enough exercise that allow toxins to pile up in the body. Toxins piling up activate the two stages of inflammation and can trigger chronic diseases. Chronic diseases like obesity take a long time to happen. You should not be surprised to find out that when it takes a long time to mess up the body, it then likewise reverse engineering also takes a long time to detoxify the body and return it to mother nature’s perfect and marvelous body.

Chronic inflammation is an evolving science today. We are on the verge of a pain-inflammation-health breakthrough.

Since 2005, doctors have come to realize that pain is caused by inflammation. Now this should not be a startling revelation.  But what is confusing to understanding is how the symptoms of inflammation are related to pain and that inflammation may be caused by bad foods or lack of nutrients, causing chronic diseases. Doctors are looking beyond relieving the symptoms of pain; many are now looking at relieving the cause of pain.

As long as the doctor prescribes pain medication, the patient continues to have pain symptoms. The symptoms never go away and the disease incubates. When the medication wares off, the pain returns, the patient once again takes a pain killer and the cause of the pain is never found.  But when the cause of pain is removed, then the symptoms of pain disappear and so does a disease.

The perfect human body:

This idea is added to all the above information. On the first day of normal birth of life, we were all born as perfect and innocent babies. No inflammation. As a baby you had all the necessary machinery and functions for life. We all had the potential to be perfect.

But from the day you were born, your survival was taken care of by your parents who helped you to develop and survive. Babies are even born with a temporary antioxidant. Superoxide Dismutase or SOD ability to fight and get rid of free radicals  Sorochan: glisodin natural body detoxifier. SOD was eventually replaced after six months by a more permanent immune system to fight infections. This you did by ingesting mother's perfect food milk for three months or longer that helped your body build your own immune system. All else, like adjusting to the environment, learning to walk, talk, eat, socialize and so on were part of growing up. The point here is that as a baby you were born as an almost perfect human machine. All you needed was time to grow and continue to become as a perfect as possible.... and thrive.

So how did you, as a perfect baby machine with perfection and great potential, become somewhat less perfect with time? By now, you are thinking of a few simple answers. Like what did this original perfect baby do wrong growing up and later as a teenager and mature person? What did society do to disrupt you growing up into a well functioning machine?  Your answer should be related to what may have caused inflammation to interfere with your body? For even today, regardless of your age and physical condition, you still have the machinery to give you a perfect and wonderful human body. There is hope!