If somebody was having issues with a weakened immune system, and also dealing with a chronically higher baseline level of inflammation, are there any known ways to strengthen the immune system while reducing or at least not increasing baseline inflammation? Is that even possible or is some level of inflammation unavoidable?
Would it depend on the specific inflammatory factors that are already causing the higher baseline response?
I know there’s some research about running reducing inflammation, but it also triggers some inflammation? Is the acute inflammation triggered by running tied to longer term reductions in inflammation?
I think I usually avoid foods that trigger inflammation in general (mainly seems like it’s generally just stuff you shouldn’t eat very often anyway like processed foods, sugar fried foods, trans fats, etc.) I eat seafood sometimes but no meat.
I’ve been trying to incorporate more things like ginger and turmeric and antioxidants.
I got really sick earlier this year with what seemed like long COVID, but since there was already not that much known about it, (and that’s not really a thing anymore apparently under this administration, 🙄) I haven’t ever really gotten a diagnosis or been given much advice other than try to avoid inflammation.
Still seem to have a lot of issues that come and go, but not really sure what triggers it other than it’s definitely worse when I’m sick, and I seem to get sick all the time now followed by sinus infections that persist until I get antibiotics. (Just finished my 6th round this year, which is probably roughly equivalent or more than the number of times I’ve been on antibiotics throughout my entire life before this year.)
I don’t meet the criteria for COPD or asthma or really have any obvious breathing issues, but got an Albuterol inhaler prescribed as kind of a guess by my PC, and it does definitely help some. I also noticed I feel amazing and almost back to normal on azithromycin. It’s not usually prescribed for sinus infections bc of antibiotic resistance, but my doctor was willing to give it a shot bc I asked specifically for that rather than another round of amoxicillin.
No idea why it works so well, but I don’t think it’s just a placebo. I found out in addition to antibiotic effects it may also reduce inflammation in general including airway inflammation. My lungs look clear on imaging and blood work seems to indicate some weird random markers of inflammation but nothing that seems to really line up with any specific diagnosis.
Turmeric seems to target some of the same inflammatory pathways as azithromycin, so that was why I started incorporating that as well. It seems to help some, but nowhere near the level that azithromycin does for whatever reason. That’s kind of the deal with most things. It’s like they seem to maybe help a little bit, but nothing is as helpful as azithromycin, and obviously can’t be on antibiotics nonstop for the rest of my life.
So I’ve been trying to just keep my inflammation down as much as I can while waiting forever to see more specialists who so far also can’t seem to figure anything out other than just treating the symptoms.
Yeah that’s a tricky road to navigate. Hopefully in time you’ll get to see a good Rheumatologist or similar to figure out or at least rule out some real deal inflammatory disease that might be affecting you. I have a Rheumatologist specialist now due to my primary doctor thinking I had something like that going on… the one thing I’ve learned from all this is that so much of this stuff is tons of blood tests and guesswork that just takes a while. In the end she ruled out most of those diseases (& realistically I didn’t present a lot of symptoms) but in my case there’s a some sort of early onset bone density issue and arthritis so it’s just something to monitor and keep tabs on.
If you’re luck(ier) maybe there’s just foods you need to avoid due to reactions (allergy, inflammation, whatever). I know someone who has a very restricted diet, she was just constantly getting sick with random symptoms most of her life until she finally saw a specialist and got tested for different foods and ingredients that affect her.
The long COVID effects could actually be a ton of other things. Before COVID was a thing there wasn’t really a name for that but those same symptoms are often experienced by people who were infected/recovered from other viral infections. Like for example the type that get carried around by mosquitoes. A family member of mine was infected and recovered from West Nile Virus - I only say “recovered” being that the hospital discharged him once he was well enough so statistically he “survived” WNV. But he has random symptoms that stuck around afterwards. A few went away after a year or two, some stuck around for longer… it’s all the same long COVID stuff that doctors just sort of shrug and say that the tests look normal.
Over time if you manage to get through all the different specialists and tests some of those things will become clearer. And don’t be afraid to try seeing new doctors / specialists if the ones you’re seeing aren’t really doing much to help you.