Signs of Chronic Inflammation You Shouldn't Ignore
You wake up tired even after eight hours of sleep. Your joints ache before you’ve even gotten out of bed. The bloating shows up no matter what you eat, and honestly you are so sick of looking 6 months pregnant at the end of each day! Yet somewhere along the way, you started thinking this is just normal. I mean, everyone else is having the same issues and you are getting a bit older so maybe it’s just what happens?
That is exactly what I thought. At 49, I ticked all of the boxes and honestly was a hot mess.
What I discovered changed everything. All of those symptoms, feeling like that every day: it’s not normal… it’s inflammation.
Not the kind you get from a sprained ankle or a bee sting. That kind of inflammation is your body doing exactly what it’s meant to do, healing itself and moving on. This is different. This is chronic, low-grade inflammation, and it can sit in your body for years, quietly wearing you down, long before it ever shows up on a blood test or (god forbid) you get a diagnosis.
If you’re a busy woman running on empty, chances are you’ve been pushing through these signs for longer than you’d like to admit. Here’s what to actually look for, and why catching it early matters so much.
What’s Actually Going On In Your Body
Inflammation is your immune system’s response to a threat. Cut your finger, and inflammation is what sends blood and repair cells rushing in to fix it. That’s the acute kind, it does its job and clears out.
Often times we have super high levels of oxidative stress (more on that in a later article) which directly contributes to systemic levels of inflammation. Which means that pretty much every area of your body and life can be negatively impacted.
Chronic inflammation is your immune system stuck in the “on” position when there’s nothing to actually fight. Stress, poor sleep, a diet full of processed food, and years of trying to hold everything together on your own can all keep your body on constant, low-grade alert.
And here’s the thing nobody tells you. Individually, none of these signs seem like a big deal. Together, they are the perfect storm and contribute to your health.
The Signs I Wish Someone Had Pointed Out To Me
Exhausted all the time. No matter how much you sleep, you are still knackered, to the core. Your body is spending its energy fighting inflammation instead of restoring you, and no amount of early nights fixes that.
Joint pain and stiffness. That ache first thing in the morning, or after you’ve been sitting too long. It’s not always “just getting older.” Often it’s inflammation moving through your connective tissue.
The bloating. You already know this one. It’s not what you ate, it’s what your gut is dealing with, and your gut is one of the very first places inflammation shows up.
Brain fog. Losing your train of thought mid-sentence, walking into a room and forgetting why. Infuriating, and very real.
Skin doing weird things. Eczema, breakouts, super dry skin so that it feels like paper!! Flare ups that seem to come from nowhere in your thirties, forties, fifties. Your skin is often telling you what’s happening on the inside before anything else does.
The scale won’t budge. Doing everything “right,” what you’ve done for years, and still not shifting. Inflammation messes with your hormone signalling, and that includes how your body stores fat.
Wired but tired. Snappy, anxious, on edge for no obvious reason. Getting to bed and BAM, you’re wide awake the second your head hits the pillow. This one gets missed constantly, because we assume it’s just stress.
Why You’ve Been Pushing Through It
If you’re anything like I was, you’re excellent at pushing through and pretending to yourself and others that you’re OK. You’ve built a life around getting things done no matter how you feel, so no matter how lousy you feel, you still get the job done. Being tired, sore, and “not feeling like yourself” just becomes the baseline. As always, you adapt to all of the symptoms and keep on going.
The reality is, your body isn’t asking you to try harder. It’s asking you to actually listen. Most likely there were whispers that things were out of whack for a while. And when you didn’t take the subtle hints, your body needed to get louder. That was me, 100%. I needed a kick in the bum to make me stop and listen. Thankfully I found the answer, and will share it with you.
Where To Go From Here
The good news is that chronic inflammation responds fast when you know what to do. And even better, you don’t need to change your entire life overnight.
Start with what’s on your plate. An anti-inflammatory way of eating, built around whole foods and real colour, can shift things within weeks.
Look honestly at your stress, not just how busy you are, but how your body is actually processing all of it. There will be triggers that you’ve ignored for years.
Start looking at the pattern that is keeping you running at a hundred miles an hour long after your body has been asking you to slow down.
Nourish yourself with the right (and best) health activators that are targeted to reduce oxidative stress and inflammation fast. These changed things for me the quickest!
Also, it might be an idea to start working on subconscious and energetic levels with regard to belief systems and habits. My clients around the world have had amazing results in all areas of their life.
If this resonated, know it doesn’t have to stay this way. I work with high-achieving women who are done running on empty and ready to optimize their health, feel like a million bucks, and actually thrive, not just get by. Get in touch here and let’s talk, or book a FREE clarity session no pressure, just a real conversation about what’s going on for you.
Until next time,
Kim Wagner is a certified Self Care Coach, IIN Health Coach, Menopause Coach, PSYCH-K® Preferred Facilitator, and Amazon bestselling author.