Posted 24 January 2010 - 12:39 AM
I think this is an emerging concept. Chronic inflammation is bad, but being able to inflame in response to injury is a fundamental bodily function. I have barrett's esophagus which is a precursor for esophageal cancer. I take NSAIDs on most days (usually some combination of curcumin, pine bark, green tea, boswelia, ginger) but find that if i don't give myself a few days rest every week or so, I get more servere esophagitis (rather than less) or potentially an ulcer (it's hard to differentiate by sensation). When I do stop, I take 3mg's of melatonin at night (which promotes PGE2 - i.e., mucosal inflammatory defense) and that seems to work very well for me, at least symptomatically. I suspect the same concepts would apply to many chronic injury conditions.