"It is strange for me: at night I lie awake for hours and during the day I am totally tired. I often wake up in a sweat after 2 or 3 hours of sleep,"  reports Ms Marlene W. The examination shows a slightly increased value of CRP (C-Reactive Protein), a marker for inflammation.

Tiredness and sleep disturbances are among the most common symptoms that patients report to our practice. Very often, stress is the cause of these complaints. But even if the work stress is not pronounced, the complaints "sleep disturbance at night" and "daytime fatigue" can occur. They can be due to "silent inflammations" that affect the body. The medical term for this is "silent inflammation". The laboratory parameter CRP (C-Reactive Protein) is a measure of inflammation and is determined with every blood analysis in our practice. It is becoming more and more apparent that chronic inflammations in which the inflammation focus is inconspicuous are the cause of other chronic diseases. Diseases that are due to "silent inflammation" proceed insidiously and without major peaks. Basic medical research concludes that small bacterial foci of infection place a great burden on the body and impair the regenerative capacity for various metabolic processes. The following diseases can be causally related to "silent inflammation":

• Depressive moods
• Sleep disorders
• Metabolic syndrome (the combination of obesity, dyslipidemia, high blood pressure and the onset of diabetes)
• Obesity
• Type 2 diabetes
• Arteriosclerosis
• Chronic pain (headache, muscle and joint pain)
• Non-alcoholic fatty liver (NAFL)
• Autoimmune diseases (multiple sclerosis, Hashimoto's, rheumatic diseases)
• Tumour diseases

Perspective of Ayurveda Medicine

From the perspective of Ayurvedic medicine, "silent inflammation" is the body's attempt to eliminate Ama ("the undigested"). Ama always develops when foreign substances ingested through food cannot be completely converted into the body's own tissue. This always occurs when the digestive fire "Agni" is overstrained. This can happen for 2 reasons: either due to an intake of quantity or quality of food that cannot be processed by the digestive fire, or due to weakening of Agni through stress and other strains. When the digestive fire is strong and is given sufficient time to eliminate the waste products, they are processed and transformed into valuable body components. This process produces "ojas". In Ayurveda, this term stands for the end product of digestion, a body fluid that makes the body happy, vital and immune.

"Ama" (waste products) as a breeding ground for inflammation

The body needs sufficient time to process the food it receives. Eating too heavily, too often or poor quality food creates ama ("waste products"). During rest periods, e.g. during sleep, it is one of the body's important tasks to eliminate the depots of ama. In this process, billions of bacteria that are located in our body help to complete this task and break down harmful substances. If this process cannot be completed because the body is not relieved enough, this rescue operation for the body turns into chronic inflammation. In Ayurveda, ama is considered the breeding ground of all diseases. Modern research now shows that if the microbiome (total amount of bacteria present in the body) is unfavourably composed, the germs that are supposed to break down ama drive this silent inflammation. The clinical pictures listed above can be the result.

CRP as an indicator of inflammation

The C-reactive protein is a protein body that is formed exclusively during inflammatory processes in the body. In acute inflammation such as angina or pneumonia, it rises to high levels (4 - 30). Such an increased value is usually also the reason for using an antibiotic in the therapy. In the case of "silent inflammation", the CRP rises to values of 0.3 - 2. Such values are often measured for years in all blood evaluations of many patients. Modern medicine is at a loss as to which therapy to initiate in such situations. Since in most cases it is not a clearly defined clinical picture, those affected are sometimes not offered any therapy. When depressive mood and chronic fatigue are in the foreground in patients with silent inflammation, many affected persons are treated with psychotropic drugs with an anti-depressant effect. From the point of view of naturopathy, this is not a causal treatment.

Elimination of Ama

Since Ama (metabolic waste products) is regarded in Maharishi Ayurveda as a breeding ground for acute and chronic inflammation, the elimination of Ama as a causal therapy is a logical consequence. This form of therapy is called "Ama pachana", which literally means "cooking the undigested". Ama is described in the classical texts as a very sticky, viscous mass that can settle in various body tissues and organs. It usually affects a personal weakness of the patient, very often involving the digestive organs and teeth. An "Ama pachana" treatment takes at least one week. This is the time necessary to dissolve old slags from the body that have often been incrusted for years. Each dissolving process is concluded with a purging therapy. These are applications from Pancha Karma's repertoire, e.g. therapeutic enemas or the targeted short-term use of a laxative.

Herbal Detox lowers CRP

Many observations and measurements of blood values in our practice have shown that our 7-day herbal detox webinar leads to a decrease in the inflammation parameter CRP. Patients who do this webinar report that the typical symptoms of "silent inflammation" get significantly better: they have better moods, less fatigue, less joint and back pain; or other symptoms listed above have improved.

Summary

"Silent Inflammation" is a medical term that describes mostly undetected chronic inflammation that puts a strain on the body. Due to this stress, the body's regulatory capacity can come to a standstill. Regeneration processes can no longer take place sufficiently. The first symptoms are daytime tiredness and sleep disorders. Later, chronic organic diseases often develop from this. The inflammation parameter "CRP" is determined in our practice with every blood sample. If this value is elevated in several measurements and corresponding complaints occur, a "silent inflammation" therapy is indicated. An important part of this therapy are cleansing cures from Maharishi Ayurveda, which remove "ama". The term "ama" refers to unprocessed residues of the metabolism, which become the breeding ground for "silent inflammation". We use the "herbal detox cure" very successfully here. Measurements have shown that with this cure the CRP value goes towards 0 and the subjective complaints improve.