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A different way of understanding chronic inflammation and why leeches can help

Back With Freckles

Many people describe the same experience, even if their symptoms look different on the surface. Their body feels stuck in a state of inflammation or reactivity that never fully settles down.

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This often follows an intense immune event, an illness, a medical intervention or a prolonged bout of stress. Even long after the original trigger has passed, the body doesn’t seem to return to baseline. Tests may come back “normal.” Treatments may help temporarily, then stop working. There is often a sense that the system is never truly balanced or relaxed.

 

Here we will explore a different way of understanding what may be happening, one that doesn’t rely on suppressing symptoms but on helping the body complete something it never got to finish. This is theory but it makes logical sense and reflects what is achieved clinically. 

​​When the body receives a signal without an ending

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Your immune system is not just chemical. It is intelligent. It responds to events as experiences, not just exposures.​
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​Physiologically, the immune system functions as an integrative regulatory network, not a simple on/off chemical reaction. Immune cells continuously sense tissue state, metabolic stress, vascular flow, nervous system tone, and hormonal signaling and they respond based on the context in which a stimulus appears. This means the immune system does not react only to what enters the body, but to how, where, and under what conditions it occurs. Immune activation is shaped by prior exposures, nervous system input, and the surrounding tissue environment, and it can persist when an inflammatory process is not fully completed. In this way the immune system “remembers” and adapts, storing information not only in antibodies, but in cellular behavior, gene expression, and tissue level signaling. This is why inflammation can remain active long after the original trigger has passed, not because the system is confused, but because it is responding appropriately to unresolved physiological information.

 
Some immune triggers introduce very strong biological signals into the body. These signals are meant to be temporary, they are supposed to rise, do their job, and then resolve. But sometimes the signal arrives in a way that bypasses the body’s defenses.​​​​

 

Examples of immune triggers include:

  • Infections (viral, bacterial, fungal) introduce pathogen associated molecular patterns (PAMPs) that activate innate immune cells.

  • Vaccines or injected substances deliver antigens or adjuvants that strongly stimulate immune pathways.

  • Environmental toxins (heavy metals, pesticides, endocrine disruptors) generate oxidative stress and inflammatory signaling.

  • Cellular stress or damage releases damage associated molecular patterns (DAMPs) that signal immune cells to respond.

  • Allergens or food sensitivities provoke immune signaling through IgE or other pathways.

  • Metabolic or oxidative stress excess sugar, poor mitochondrial function, or chronic inflammation can produce cytokines that activate systemic immune pathways.

 

These triggers all create biological signals such as cytokines, chemokines, prostaglandins, reactive oxygen species, and other inflammatory mediators that are designed to be temporary. When they bypass or overwhelm the body’s regulatory systems, these signals can persist, leading to chronic, encoded inflammation.

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When that happens, the body has the correct natural response of alertness, inflammation, and protection but it never receives the message that the event is over.​ What is remaining is not the danger itself, it’s the body and its systems being stuck permanently on guard. At this stage, inflammation isn’t responding to injury. The body is holding itself in a defensive position long after the original event has passed.

 

Why inflammation can persist for years

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Inflammation is not a mistake. It is part of a natural, intelligent cycle the body uses to protect and heal itself.

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True inflammation moves through distinct phases:

 

1. Recognition: The immune system detects a trigger such as infection, injury, cellular stress, toxins, or other abnormal signals. At this stage, early chemical signals like cytokines and histamines are released. You may not see redness or swelling yet; it’s mostly a biochemical alert.

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2. Mobilization: The body prepares its defense and repair systems. Immune cells (neutrophils, macrophages), clotting factors, blood flow, oxygen, and nutrients are all directed to the affected area. This is when redness, heat, swelling, and pain often appear. Increased blood flow (redness/heat) and vascular permeability (swelling) are part of the body’s mobilization. Pain is an alert system to keep you from further injury.

 

3. Digestion: The body begins to break down damaged tissue, cellular debris, pathogens, or abnormal proteins. Dead cells, microthrombi, or lingering inflammatory compounds are what’s being dismantled. Biochemical markers remain elevated (CRP, cytokines) but visible signs may start to stabilize as the body clears the debris

 

4. Drainage: The byproducts of digestion such as waste products, toxins, and excess fluid are moved out of tissues via blood and lymphatic circulation. Swelling may fluctuate; tissues may feel softer. This is a subtle phase, often invisible externally but critical internally.

 

5. Resolution: Inflammation actively winds down, immune activity decreases and repair processes dominate.

 

6. Return to openness: The tissue and nervous system regain baseline function and are free from a chronic defensive posture. Normal circulation and cellular function return as well as responsiveness to signals.

 

Modern medicine is very good at addressing the early part of this cycle, especially recognition and mobilization. It also has many tools to suppress or stop inflammation once it becomes uncomfortable or dangerous. What it rarely addresses is how to help the body complete the rest of the stages.

 

 

Resolution is not something that happens automatically. It is an active biological process, not a passive one.
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Why the inflammation cycle doesn't always complete

Hormonal signaling can become erratic or depleted due to age, stress, nutrient deficiencies, environmental toxins, metabolic issues, or medications, all of which interfere with the body’s ability to send clear biological instructions.
1. Inflammation requires energy and many people are already energy deficient

Resolution is metabolically expensive.

Immune cells must:

  • change gene expression

  • shift from glycolysis back to oxidative metabolism

  • perform active cleanup (phagocytosis)

  • signal repair pathways

 

All of this depends on healthy mitochondrial function.

If mitochondria are underperforming due to:

  • chronic stress

  • hormonal depletion

  • nutrient deficiencies

  • long-standing inflammation

 

The body may be able to start inflammation but not finish it. The response stalls in the middle of the process.

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Inflammation doesn’t go away, it just never completes the cycle and it remains.

2. Circulation and drainage must remain open

Resolution depends on:

  • adequate blood flow to deliver oxygen and nutrients

  • lymphatic drainage to remove debris and inflammatory byproducts

  • venous outflow to clear metabolites

 

If circulation is compromised, especially in the microcirculation, cleanup cannot occur.

This happens with:

  • microvascular congestion

  • blood viscosity changes

  • endothelial dysfunction

  • lymphatic stagnation

 

The immune system continues signaling because the physical evidence of inflammation is still present in the tissue.

3. Suppression interrupts signaling rather than completing it

Many common interventions stop inflammation at the mobilization phase.

 

Anti-inflammatory drugs, steroids, and even some supplements:

  • block prostaglandins

  • inhibit cytokine signaling

  • reduce pain and swelling

 

But they do not perform cleanup.

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The signals that would normally guide digestion, drainage, and repair never fully activate. The body interprets this as an unresolved event, not a resolved one.

 

The inflammatory program stays partially switched on in the background.

4. The nervous system may never signal “all clear”

The immune system takes cues from the nervous system.

If the body remains in:

  • sympathetic dominance

  • chronic vigilance

  • unresolved stress or trauma

 

The nervous system continues to signal a potential threat. From a physiological standpoint, it is unsafe to complete repair while threat signaling is active. The immune system stays alert, even if the original trigger is gone.

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This is why inflammation often persists in people who are:

  • exhausted

  • overstimulated

  • hormonally dysregulated

5. Hormones regulate whether inflammation can resolve

Hormones are instructions.

Cortisol, estrogen, progesterone, thyroid hormones, and insulin all influence:

  • immune cell behavior

  • vascular tone

  • mitochondrial energy output

 

If hormonal signaling is erratic or depleted, the immune system lacks the cues needed to shift from defense into repair.

The process pauses — not by choice, but by lack of instruction.

6. Repeated insults stack faster than resolution can occur

Modern bodies rarely deal with one inflammatory event at a time.

Instead, there are:

  • repeated immune triggers

  • environmental stressors

  • metabolic strain

  • emotional stress

 

Each new trigger layers onto a process that was never completed.

Eventually, inflammation becomes chronic by accumulation, not because the body is failing but because it is overwhelmed.

When digestion, drainage, and resolution do not occur, inflammation doesn’t disappear. It changes form. It becomes encoded, patterned and remembered. At that point, it’s no longer about the original trigger, it’s about information trapped in tissues, the circulatory system and the nervous system.

 

How leech therapy supports completion rather than suppression

 

 

Leech therapy works differently than most modern treatments because it does not try to shut inflammation down. Instead, it supports the stages that are often missing which are flow, drainage, and resolution. 

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When a leech feeds, several important processes occur simultaneously:

  • Circulation improves in congested tissues, increasing oxygen and nutrient delivery.

  • Coagulation softens as hirudin and other bioactive compounds prevent micro clotting and support smooth blood flow.

  • Blood and inflammatory byproducts are mobilized and removed from the tissue, not just redistributed internally, but actually leaving the body through the after bleeding.

  • The nervous system receives signals of safety, reducing defensive stress responses and allowing immune cells to shift from defensive activation into repair and resolution.

 

In this way, leech therapy actively completes the phases of inflammation that are often stalled, providing a biological reset rather than merely suppressing symptoms. Most importantly, the body experiences a controlled, non-threatening release rather than an emergency response, giving inflammation somewhere to go. Rather than being trapped or suppressed, it can complete its phases to completion and elimination. The immune system no longer needs to stay in a defensive mode, and the body is finally allowed to rest and regenerate.

© 2024 by Leechtherapy.ca

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