How to Know if You Have Inflammation: Signs, Symptoms, and Testing
If you're dealing with joint pain, unable to lose weight, feeling sluggish, or just not feeling like yourself, there may be something deeper at play—something that could be affecting your entire body without you even realizing it: chronic inflammation.
It has a sneaky way of lingering beneath the surface, often showing up as a variety of seemingly unrelated symptoms. But how do you really know if your body is dealing with inflammation?
In this post, we’re going to dive into the telltale signs of chronic inflammation, the simple tests you can take to find out for sure, and how you can take control of your health.
Common Symptoms of Chronic Inflammation
The tricky thing about chronic inflammation is that it often flies under the radar, unlike the obvious signs of acute inflammation (think redness or swelling). Chronic inflammation typically comes with less obvious symptoms—symptoms that many people write off as simply "getting older" or "just being tired."
But when these symptoms persist, especially in combination, they may be an indication that something deeper is happening in your body.
Multiple Symptoms as Indicators
Fatigue
One of the most common symptoms of chronic inflammation is persistent fatigue. Research has shown that inflammation can alter the body’s energy production, often making you feel sluggish or constantly tired, even after a full night’s sleep (1).
Joint and Muscle Pain
Do your joints ache or feel stiff for no apparent reason? Chronic inflammation can contribute to ongoing joint and muscle pain. This pain is often due to the immune system mistakenly attacking healthy tissues, a hallmark of autoimmune conditions like rheumatoid arthritis (2). Even if you haven’t been diagnosed with an autoimmune disease, unexplained joint pain could be a signal of underlying inflammation.
Digestive Issues
Your gut is one of the primary battlegrounds where inflammation often takes hold. Many individuals with chronic inflammation experience bloating, constipation, or diarrhea. This is because inflammation can disrupt the delicate balance of bacteria in the gut, leading to conditions like leaky gut syndrome or inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) (3).
Skin Problems
Your skin can act as a visual indicator of inflammation within the body. Conditions like eczema, psoriasis, and acne are often linked to chronic inflammatory responses. In fact, inflammation can trigger an immune response that causes your skin to flare up as it tries to combat internal irritants (4).
Weight Fluctuations
Inflammation has also been linked to weight gain and even the inability to lose weight. Chronic inflammation can disrupt your metabolism, leading to insulin resistance and increased fat storage, particularly around the abdomen (5).
Brain Fog and Mood Swings
If you’ve been feeling mentally “foggy” or easily irritable, chronic inflammation could be playing a role. Research has shown that inflammation affects neurotransmitter pathways, which can impair memory, focus, and even mood (6).
Experiencing Multiple Symptoms? Pay Attention
While any one of these symptoms might seem like a standalone issue, experiencing several of them at the same time could be a strong indicator of chronic inflammation. Since inflammation affects various systems in the body, it’s often the cumulative effect of these symptoms that signals a bigger problem. If you’ve noticed a combination of these signs, it might be time to take a closer look at what’s happening beneath the surface.
What to Do if You Suspect Chronic Inflammation
If you’ve been noticing multiple symptoms of chronic inflammation or just feel like something isn’t right, the next step is crucial—getting tested. While symptoms provide helpful clues, inflammation often works silently in the background, making testing an essential part of understanding what’s going on inside your body.
Use the Inflammation Score Calculator
To make things easier, you can start with an Inflammation Score Calculator. It offers a convenient way to measure your inflammation risk based on your lifestyle, diet, and symptoms (check it out here). By answering a few questions, you can get a clearer understanding of whether inflammation might be contributing to your health issues.
Chronic inflammation doesn’t have to go unchecked. Armed with the right tools—whether it’s a visit to your healthcare provider, an at-home test, or an online calculator—you can take the first step toward getting control of your health and reducing inflammation for the long term.
Biomarkers to Test for Inflammation
If you suspect chronic inflammation, there are tests your doctor can order to measure it. They can order blood tests such as CRP (C-reactive protein) and ESR (erythrocyte sedimentation rate) to determine whether inflammation is present (7, 8).
Symptoms can be vague, overlapping with other conditions, making it difficult to know for sure if chronic inflammation is the culprit. Specific proteins and substances can be measured in the blood to give you a clearer picture of what's happening inside your body.
C-Reactive Protein (CRP)
One of the most commonly used biomarkers for detecting inflammation is C-reactive protein (CRP). CRP is produced by the liver in response to inflammation and can be measured through a simple blood test. Elevated CRP levels indicate that your body is responding to an inflammatory trigger.
A CRP level above 10 mg/L typically signals acute inflammation or infection, while levels between 3-10 mg/L may indicate chronic, low-grade inflammation that could contribute to more serious health conditions over time (7).
Other Biomarkers
While CRP and ESR are the most common markers used in clinical settings, other tests can provide additional insights into inflammation:
Plasma Viscosity (PV): This test measures the thickness of your blood. Elevated viscosity can indicate increased levels of inflammatory proteins circulating in the bloodstream (9).
White Blood Cell Count (WBC): A high white blood cell count can signal the presence of inflammation, as your immune system ramps up its defense mechanisms (10).
Together, these biomarkers provide a comprehensive picture of your body’s inflammatory state (11, 10).
Conclusion
Remember, inflammation is your body’s way of telling you that something is off. By taking action now—whether through testing or lifestyle changes—you’re not only addressing current symptoms but also reducing your risk of more serious conditions like heart disease, autoimmune disorders, and even cancer.
References
National Center for Biotechnology Information. (n.d.). Fatigue and inflammation. PubMed. Retrieved from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/
National Center for Biotechnology Information. (n.d.). Joint pain and autoimmune conditions. PubMed. Retrieved from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/
Nature. (n.d.). Inflammation and gut health. Retrieved from https://www.nature.com/
National Center for Biotechnology Information. (n.d.). Skin inflammation. PubMed. Retrieved from https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/
National Center for Biotechnology Information. (n.d.). Inflammation and metabolism. PubMed. Retrieved from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/
National Center for Biotechnology Information. (n.d.). Brain inflammation. PubMed. Retrieved from https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/
National Center for Biotechnology Information. (n.d.). CRP biomarker. PubMed. Retrieved from https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/
Nature. (n.d.). ESR and inflammation. Retrieved from https://www.nature.com/
Patient.info. (n.d.). Plasma viscosity and inflammation. Retrieved from https://patient.info/
Verywell Health. (n.d.). White blood cell count and inflammation. Retrieved from https://www.verywellhealth.com/
Everlywell. (n.d.). At-home testing kits. Retrieved from https://www.everlywell.com/