Two Ways to Calm Inflammation

When we talk about controlling inflammation, we usually think of "putting out a fire." But forcefully putting out the fire and reducing the signal that calls the fire itself are two different things. The more long-standing the inflammation, the more I believe the latter is needed.

An urgent fire and a slow-burning fire are different

The inflammation from an injury or infection is strong and short. In these cases the fire must be put out decisively and quickly. This is something the anti-inflammatory drugs of modern medicine do well.

The problem is inflammation that burns weakly and for a long time. Even without a clear wound, low embers refuse to go out in various parts of the body, leading to fatigue, pain hypersensitivity, and delayed recovery. This kind of fire doesn't respond well to forceful extinguishing. It's because the signal itself that keeps calling the embers back is still there.

The nature of that signal is usually like this. Fragments released from damaged cells spread like alarm substances, and these repeatedly flip the immune switch on. The gut mucosa weakening and inner substances leaking out also sounds this alarm endlessly. No matter how many times you put out the fire, if the alarm keeps sounding, the fire re-ignites.

That damage signals repeatedly stimulate immune pathways and maintain chronic low-grade inflammation is well documented. In fact, various herbal-medicine components are being studied in the direction of binding directly to these alarm substances or dampening the immune signaling pathways.

When I look at long-standing inflammation, before "how forcefully to put out the fire," I first look at "why the alarm keeps going off." When you soothe the source of that alarm — the weakened gut, oxidative stress, exhausted tissue — the signal calling the embers decreases, and the fire dies down on its own. I believe this is why herbal medicine can feel as though it works slowly, yet from the root.

I look for where the alarm is sounding

With long-standing inflammation, I don't set anti-inflammation alone as the goal. I first find the place sounding the alarm. I look at whether the gut is leaking, whether it isn't getting the time to recover, whether oxidative stress has piled up. I use herbal medicine not on the flames but at the place where that alarm is sounding. Which is why change tends to take time before it becomes visible.

Cases where you should go to a hospital first

There are cases, however, where the cause of inflammation must be identified. If a fever persists, if a joint is swollen and painful, if the inflammation markers are clearly high, or if you're losing weight, causes like autoimmune disease, infection, or tumor must be examined first. If there are such signs, I recommend internal-medicine or rheumatology testing first.

Putting out the fire, and not calling it back

Putting out a fire and keeping a fire from being summoned are different tasks. An urgent fire must be put out decisively, but a slow-burning fire is only controlled when you also govern the signal that summons it. Where that signal is going off — let's look for it together.

References

• Substances released by damaged cells switch on the immune alarm, and when that alarm does not turn off, low-grade inflammation lingers — Sultan Qaboos University Medical Journal, 2015
• When the gut barrier loosens, bacterial products leak into the bloodstream and produce systemic inflammation — Internal and Emergency Medicine, 2023
• A study showing that a licorice compound binds directly to that alarm molecule — Chemistry & Biology, 2007

Written by Dr. Heo Ji-young (PhD in Korean Medicine Pathology, Kyung Hee University · former Research Professor of Herbology, Kyung Hee University)