What chronic inflammation is
Inflammation is the body's repair response: heat, swelling and redness at a sprain or a cut, then a return to normal. Chronic inflammation is the version that never quite switches off. It often has no single symptom. People feel it as joints that ache on waking, puffiness, skin that flares, a gut that stays unsettled or a tiredness that hangs around. Long-term inflammation is linked with many conditions, so the first step is your physician's workup, which may include blood markers such as CRP and looks for an autoimmune, infectious or metabolic cause that needs medical treatment.
Heat, damp or stasis
Classical medicine has no single word for inflammation. It reads the picture instead. Heat is red, hot, sharp and quick to flare. Dampness is heavy, swollen and slow, the kind that worsens in humid weather or after rich food; mixed with heat it smolders, like a fire under a wet blanket. Stasis is fixed, stabbing pain in tissue that has been inflamed for a long time. Most people carry two of the three, and the balance decides the formula. Food matters to this reading: the Spleen makes dampness when meals are cold, greasy, sweet or rushed.
How we work with it
The core is a classical formula matched to your mix, paired with acupuncture along the channels that run through the sore or flaring area. Gua sha or cupping may be added where heat and stagnation sit close to the surface, and dietary therapy gives you the daily part.
We watch with you how often things flare, morning stiffness, swelling, skin and digestion, along with any results your physician shares with you.
Questions people ask
Are there Chinese herbs for inflammation?
Several classical herbs are studied for their effects on inflammatory pathways, but in practice they are used in formulas, not alone. Which formula fits depends on whether the picture is mostly heat, dampness or stasis, and every herb is checked against your medications first.
My doctor said my CRP is high. What does that mean?
C-reactive protein is a general marker your physician may use to see whether inflammation is present. It does not say where it comes from, so the medical workup comes first. We are glad to talk through what your results mean as education, and diagnosis stays with your physician.
Can I keep taking anti-inflammatory medication?
Yes. We never ask you to stop or change a prescribed medication. Tell us about anything you take, including over-the-counter pain relievers, because it shapes which herbs are suitable.
This is general wellness information, not medical advice.
