It might surprise you to know that all your body pain is a by-product of inflammation. It is inflammation that causes the feeling of pain, which is an indicator that there is something wrong in the body and repairing measures have been initiated. As long ago as the first century the Romans were given a definition for inflammation by their royal court physician, Celsus, who said that, “inflammation is rubor (redness), tumor (swelling), calor (heat) and dolor (pain).”  Today, after twenty centuries, the definition of inflammation is still the same. 

You are familiar with the morphology of inflammation. This is the process human body uses to fend off any outside organisms, viruses, bacteria, parasites and the like and protect itself from destruction. When these intruders are sensed within the body, an alarm is raised and the white cells are deployed to the “site”. The white cells find the intruders, surround and destroy them. While doing so, the flurry of activity would make the region hot, the fluid that spills from the injured tissue during the ensuing “battle” makes it swell and since there is damage of tissue, the nerve ends pick up pain signals. This is, in very simple terms, what happens when inflammation occurs due to an infection by outside organisms.

There is another type of inflammation as well. This is caused by trauma or injury. The same process happens here, the only difference being that here the body concentrates on self-repair while protecting the tissues and cells from alien invaders. Once the healing takes place, the inflammation subsides and gradually disappears altogether allowing the body to function normally. As you can see, inflammation is our inherent way to protect ourselves. Without this system, we would not be able to survive, as the slightest infection would be able to cause death. Therefore, inflammation is a good thing.

What should happen if the process of “fighting the enemy” continues even after all the outsiders have been eliminated? We know that where and when inflammation takes places because there is pain. Inflammation and pain is a combination that spells infection or damage for which reason your medical practitioner would prescribe adequate medicines and perhaps reset. However, in many cases inflammation continues in the body without sending signals of pain. This is silent inflammation, which functions below the levels of active pain, and therefore goes unnoticed. Silent inflammation? What does it fight once everything has been eliminated? It is called “silent” because you would be unaware of it since it sends no pain signals; as for the answer to “whom it fights with”, it is your own tissues. Inflammation, which is designed to destroy invaders suddenly, goes on a self-destruction mode.

Therefore, as important as it is to have the inflammation process activated, it is vital that the de-activation process is functional also. Why is it that sometimes, inflammation continues after it is no longer required to fend off intruders or repair tissues? The most basic hormones that provoke inflammation are the eicosanoids. They activate the neutrophils and macrophages, which are specific inflammation cells, to move on to the injured site or place where the breach has been discovered. When and if the active inflammation cells are overpowered, the same eicosanoids ask for reinforcements by releasing cytokines (a protein) into the blood. There is one other type of eicosanoids; this type is designed to reverse the process of inflammation, i.e. shutting it down.

This process is triggered by the immune cells of the body, which are also known as mast cells. These mast cells, on finding intruders in the body, release a histamine (a chemical), which tells the body that it is under attack, which in turn activates the pro-inflammatory eicosanoids.The reaction continues and you will have a host of foot soldiers (neutrophils and macrophages) deployed to the site as described a little earlier. Since the eicosanoids travel through blood cells, causing their dilatation to facilitate their movement, you will have swelling, heat generation and redness. Once the target is achieved, the anti-inflammatory eicosanoids are activated which signal the end of the battle and get to clean the mess left behind. This is healing and recovery. Redness, swelling, heat and pain all gone once the process is reversed.

 How Do You Feel Pain?

We are talking about pain so I am sure you would be curious to know how you feel pain. You know by now that it is the eicosanoids that facilitate the travel of the immune cells to the site. These cells also arrange that plenty of fluid be accumulated at the site to facilitate the process of annihilating the enemy or repairing the tissues. As a result, the area becomes swollen and this puts acute pressure on the nerve ends. Not satisfied with this, the eicosanoids make the nerve ends highly sensitive because they want the brain to know that emergency activity is being carried out and they need help and cooperation. This pain tells you that there is trouble in your body. This pain would make you give rest and/or protect the area affected so healing would not be hampered. You would also be inclined to take medicines, which would send reinforcements to the site (like allied armies) so they could win the battle faster.

If everything goes well, you would be able to recover soon as the inflammation process would be reversed once the healing sets in. There would be no pain. Sometimes, the battle is never called off, just reduced in intensity. The reduction would defer the feeling of pain and you would not even know that inflammation is still active in your body because now, there would be no more signals to the brain. Since there are no sign of trouble, there is no remedial action and the result is destruction of healthy cells, tissues, bones, organs and so on. Then one day, seemingly unexpectedly, you develop acute pain and disorders that would leave you baffled. Here are some of diseases caused by silent inflammation, which end up causing you acute to chronic pain:

1. rheumatoid arthritis
2. fibromyalgia
3. muscular pain
4. joint pain
5. allergies
6. headaches and migraines
7. cardiovascular diseases
8. psoriasis, eczema
9. sinusitis
10. asthma
11. Alzheimer’s disease
12. Irritable bowel’s syndrome
13. Gastritis