How Genetic Testing Can Help You Overcome Inflammation
and thyroid diseases, (rheumatoid) arthritis, long-COVID, Vaccine Injury, and so much more…
Chronic, systemic inflammation is an extremely common problem, especially in the hyper-modern, first-world type environments that so many of us live in. So many of the patients that I work with at MalekMD.com—people with conditions from fibromyalgia and chronic fatigue to hypothyroidism and IBS—have full-body, long-term inflammation as a key underlying component of their conditions.
The recent “COVID pandemic” (and the widespread use of the vaccine), did nothing to help what I’ll call this inflammation pandemic. Because such vaccination (and “COVID” itself) both can—very concretely—increase such inflammation. The way that COVID and the vaccine’s spike protein interact with the body leads to a widespread, disordered, long-term inflammatory derangement that can contribute to so many other issues.
What exactly is systemic inflammation?
Inflammation, first of all, is the process by which your body releases a bunch of molecules to bring in immune cells to deal with some sort of problem—whether an infection, an injury, or else. Systemic inflammation is inflammation that’s not localized to just one area of your body. For localized inflammation, think of things like a cut on your arm or an infection of your foot or your eye. These things indicate localized inflammation because they’re circumscribed. They’re limited to just one area of your body.
Systemic inflammation, on the other hand, is inflammation that is widespread. It is a full-body phenomenon whereby your body realizes that the whole thing is injured, or infected, and therefore the whole body needs to be in a state of high alert and immune readiness.
That’s okay if it’s just for a short time, such as to deal with a temporary viral infection—a cold or flu.
But it’s not okay if it’s prolonged.
If this inflammation goes on for long enough, it can lead to many downstream issues:
Damage to the thyroid gland—think hypothyroidism.
Damage to your joints—think arthritis.
Damage to your brain—think dementia, brain fog, even depression and anxiety.
Damage to your blood vessels—think heart disease.
And so much more (think Long COVID, Vaccine injury, etc.)
Long story short:
Chronic systemic inflammation has to be fixed in anyone seeking to benefit their overall health and fix any of the conditions above, and so much more.
How do genetics contribute to such long-term, systemic inflammation?
As with anything health-related, systemic inflammation is a combination of both environmental and genetic factors. Here, we’re going to focus on the genetics part.
There are a myriad of genes that can contribute to systemic inflammation, and deficits (“mutations” as they’re sometimes incorrectly called in these contexts) in these genes require a gene-specific approach.
For example, there are a group of genes that lead to worsened systemic inflammation simply by increasing your overall inflammatory activation. They put your immune cells “on edge,” so to speak, so that when some sort of environmental insult comes along, they become hyperactivated and lead to a prolonged, self-perpetuating inflammatory cascade. Such genes include:
C3
CD14
IL13
IL5
TNF
STAT4
and others
Variants in these genes can make you prone to an exaggerated inflammatory response and make you more susceptible to any of the conditions mentioned above, and more.
Other genes make your glutathione system less effective, which weakens your body’s natural ability to dampen inflammatory insults. The GSTP1 gene is key here. Deficits in this gene increase a person’s need for supplements to specifically modulate the effectiveness and function of their glutathione.
Yet other genes make your body less able to deal with external sources of histamine. The AOC1 gene is important here. Deficits in AOC1 lead you to produce less of the enzyme (DAO) that breaks down external histamine—a key inflammatory intermediate and an essential part of the Long-COVID/Vaccine Injury situation.
(side note: look out for my upcoming The ULTIMATE GUIDE to Healing from Long-COVID and Vaccine Injury. I’ll be releasing this guide soon in the form of an in-depth course that guides you step-by-step through the processes of healing. To my knowledge, nothing else like this exists). Feel free to contact me if you’d like more information on this project.
A myriad of other genes affects how you process external potential inflammatory insults (think of things like gluten, gut dysbiosis, etc.)
What If I Don’t Have an Inflammatory Condition?
If you’re not actually in a chronically, systemically inflamed state right now, then knowing your genetics is even more important. This is because your genetics will clue you in to what sorts of weaknesses you have. And what sorts of potential problems you could run into in the future.
By knowing whether you are prone to systemic hyper-inflammation, you can nip such issues in the bud and help prevent things like future fibromyalgia, vaccine injury, arthritis, dementia, etc.
And if you’d like to work with me one-on-one (and live in one of the US states in which I am licensed), feel free to reach out.
