8 Signs of Chronic Inflammation That Often Go Unnoticed
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Signs of Chronic Inflammation: Common and Surprising Symptoms

Signs of Chronic Inflammation: Common and Surprising Symptoms
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Updated on November 1, 2025
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The word inflamed may give you shudders. But the process of inflammation is actually a normal, natural reaction from your body’s immune system to defend against invaders, like germs and toxins, by sending out white blood cells and proteins.

There are two types of inflammation: acute and chronic. Acute inflammation is the kind that lasts a few hours, days, or weeks, and it’s helpful to healing. It’s your immune system’s response when you’re fighting a cold or flu, or recovering from an injury, for example.

Chronic inflammation, or inflammation that sticks around for too long, means your immune system stays in attack mode, even when it doesn’t need to.

 This type of inflammation subsequently targets healthy tissues and cells. When left unaddressed, it can cause various health concerns.

Chronic inflammation doesn’t necessarily mean there’s a serious problem yet. Lifestyle choices like eating a healthy diet, exercising frequently, and sleeping well can go a long way toward reducing inflammation. Be sure to speak with your doctor about what shifts may be best for you on your healthcare and wellness journey.

Learn more about what chronic inflammation is, what to look for, and when to talk to a doctor.

What Is Chronic Inflammation?

Chronic inflammation can last for months or years, even when your immune system isn’t responding to an illness or injury.

“Chronic inflammation usually stems from an overactive immune system mistakenly attacking healthy tissues,” says Travis Sizemore, DO, MPH, a board-certified rheumatologist with Articularis Rheumatology Specialists in Simpsonville and Spartanburg, South Carolina. When the inflammation lasts more than six weeks in adults or more than four weeks in children, it’s chronic, he says.

The problem is you may not realize you have chronic inflammation. Signs of acute inflammation are more obvious, like a rash, fever, or swollen joints. But when you’re dealing with chronic inflammation, the symptoms may be mild and harder to spot.

Still, it’s important to look out for subtler signs, so you can address chronic inflammation early. For example, potential symptoms can include dizziness and chronic diarrhea.

“Inflammation that smolders for months can quietly damage joints, organs, and blood vessels,” Dr. Sizemore says. “Starting treatment at the first hint of chronic inflammation consistently leads to better long-term results — patients experience fewer flares, slower disease progression, and less disability, so they stay active and maintain a higher quality of life.”

Chronic inflammation typically indicates an underlying health issue, like autoimmune diseases, such as rheumatoid arthritis, lupus, inflammatory bowel disease, psoriasis, and vasculitis, Sizemore says. It can also be a symptom of endometriosis and polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) and may increase the risk of infertility.

Additionally, chronic inflammation is linked to the development of Alzheimer’s disease, heart disease, cancer, type 2 diabetes, depression, osteoporosis, hardening of the arteries, and stroke.

More than half of all deaths across the globe are linked to inflammatory diseases such as these.

Common Symptoms of Chronic Inflammation

Some of the more-common chronic inflammation symptoms include:

It can be hard to tell whether these symptoms above are attributed to chronic inflammation, another health concern, or a combination of both. “Chronic inflammation can sometimes be tricky to spot because its symptoms are common to many conditions,” Sizemore says.

Oftentimes, people live with these symptoms for a long time or attribute them to something else, like stress, says Robert Caricchio, MD, vice chair of the Lupus Clinical Investigators Network and chief of the division of rheumatology at UMass Memorial Medical Center in Worcester, Massachusetts.

“We just keep going until we can’t — until we realize that this thing is not going away,” Dr. Caricchio says. “In some of those diseases, it can be years before you get diagnosed, because those symptoms remain vague for a very long time or maybe because it’s a mild form of the disease.”

Signs of Chronic Inflammation That Often Go Unnoticed

There are also several less-obvious signs of chronic inflammation. Here’s what to be aware of, symptoms they may be accompanied by, and the health conditions they might indicate.

Trouble Balancing

Changes in the way you walk or dizziness while you walk may be signs that inflammation is interfering with your nerve signals.

For example, if difficulty balancing is so severe that it consistently interferes with daily tasks, it might signal chronic inflammation. “[We’re not talking about] just standing up from sitting and you have a moment of dizziness that goes away if you hydrate, for instance,” Caricchio says. So, you should see a doctor if you regularly feel unsteady or dizzy.

Other symptoms that may accompany balance issues include persistent joint pain or swelling, a low-grade fever, rash, or mouth sores, Sizemore says. He adds that rheumatoid arthritis or inflammatory nerve damage that alters your sense of positioning could be to blame. Trouble balancing could also indicate inflammation inside your ear, which is known as labyrinthitis.

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is another possible underlying condition, as this inflammatory disease often involves trouble staying balanced while walking.

Insulin Resistance

Insulin helps regulate blood sugar in your body. When that process doesn’t work properly, you may be left with insulin resistance or high blood sugar.

 Inflammation can contribute to insulin resistance when inflammatory cytokines — chemicals the immune system sends to attack germs and other invaders — interfere with the process of insulin binding to its receptor.

Short of having bloodwork done, you may not know you’re dealing with insulin resistance. But you may notice that you’re extra thirsty or hungry, tired, peeing more than usual, losing weight, or having trouble seeing. If you have any of these symptoms or you have a family history of insulin resistance, speak with your doctor about getting blood tests to check your insulin and blood sugar levels. Insulin resistance can be linked with type 2 diabetes, obesity, cardiovascular disease, metabolic syndrome, metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease, and PCOS.

Persistent Diarrhea

When chronic inflammation is in play, it can cause gastrointestinal problems beyond standard diarrhea. You may have persistent diarrhea and a need to go urgently, bleeding from the anus, or abdominal cramping.

These symptoms can indicate that you have an inflammatory bowel disease or a related condition, such as ulcerative colitis, Crohn’s disease, or pancreatitis.

 You may also get other symptoms such as fatigue, loss of appetite, or weight loss. If you notice symptoms like those above and changes in your bowel movements that last for more than a few days without improvement, it’s time to see a doctor — ideally a gastroenterologist.

Lower Back Pain

Lower back pain that’s tied to inflammation tends to start before age 35. It involves back pain that sticks around for longer than three months, with pain and stiffness being worse in the morning or after stretches or inactivity. You may also feel pain that spreads to the butt.

Sound familiar? Then it’s time to visit a rheumatologist. He or she can explore if the cause of your back pain is from an inflammatory disease involving the joints and surrounding areas, such as ankylosing spondylitis, psoriatic arthritis, or enteropathic arthritis.

Bleeding Gums

Bleeding from the gums can indicate gum inflammation, or gingivitis. It can also be tied to diseases linked with chronic inflammation, like diabetes.

 Bleeding gums can indicate autoimmune diseases, such as Sjögren’s syndrome and lupus, too.

If your bleeding gums don’t resolve within two weeks, it’s time to schedule an appointment with your dentist. He or she can investigate whether gingivitis or another gum disease is to blame.

Blood Clotting

Inflammation can cause hypercoagulation (also known as thrombophilia), which is when your blood clots too easily.

 “Over time, this environment raises the risk of both venous and arterial clots in conditions like rheumatoid arthritis and lupus,” Sizemore says.
If you have a blood clot, you may notice other symptoms depending on its location. Leg clots, for instance, might come with swelling, pain, or redness in one leg and could be a sign of deep vein thrombosis (DVT).

 Symptoms of a lung clot, also called a pulmonary embolism, include shortness of breath, a rapid heartbeat, sharp chest pain, or coughing up blood, Sizemore says.

 Blood clots that develop in your arteries can be especially dangerous, because they increase your risk of a stroke or heart attack.

Problems with blood clots aren’t always easy to spot. So take notice if you feel sudden weakness or numbness on one side, trouble speaking, or crushing chest pain that spreads to your arm or jaw, Sizemore says. These are serious symptoms that call for an urgent trip to the emergency room for treatment.

Dry Eyes

Not having enough tears or moisture in your eyes often can bring on a stinging or burning sensation in your eyeball, and it may be a sign of chronic inflammation. You might also have eye redness, trouble wearing contacts, watery eyes, blurriness, light sensitivity, or vision fatigue.

When these symptoms become uncomfortable or disruptive to your daily routine, it’s time to visit an ophthalmologist. Dry eyes may be a sign that you’re dealing with an autoimmune and inflammatory disease like Sjögren’s syndrome, rheumatoid arthritis, or lupus.

Arteriosclerosis

This condition involves the hardening of the arteries, and having chronic inflammation increases your risk.

 There are no physical signs of arteriosclerosis until it becomes problematic, causing issues such as dizziness, fatigue, and leg pain.

 When you have bloodwork done, you may note high cytokines. These are molecules released by your immune system that increase the risk of cardiovascular disease, including heart attack and stroke.

When to See a Doctor

When determining if any of these symptoms can be attributed to chronic inflammation or something else, it’s important to consider the severity of the symptoms and how long they’ve been around. “If the individual can maintain daily activities, then it’s less likely to be a serious immune disease,” Caricchio says.

The rule of thumb is that symptoms lasting more than six weeks typically indicate a chronic inflammatory process, Sizemore says. “Prior to six weeks, infections and other acute inflammatory states must be considered,” he says.

If you think something’s not right, in most cases you’ll want to start with a visit to your primary care provider (PCP). “The PCP will take a health history and may realize this [issue] is not new and has been worsening over time — those are signs that treatment is needed,” Caricchio says. He or she may then refer you to a specialist for more testing, such as a rheumatologist, an allergist, or a dermatologist, Sizemore says.

Tests for inflammation can’t tell you if you have acute or chronic inflammation, and there isn’t a standard for every patient. The most common tests are blood tests, such as erythrocyte sedimentation rate, C-reactive protein (CRP), ferritin, and fibrinogen.

The blood tests don’t necessarily tell you where the inflammation is coming from, but their results can signal whether inflammation is a problem, Caricchio says. Then, your doctor can investigate further. “If these tests indicate inflammation, doctors can perform additional tests and imaging to pinpoint possible inflammatory or autoimmune conditions,” Sizemore says.

The Takeaway

  • Signs of chronic inflammation are not always obvious — they can be mild, vague, or mistaken for another condition. This makes it difficult to know there’s an issue at hand.
  • Common signs of chronic inflammation can include joint pain, mood issues, abdominal or chest pain, and chronic fatigue. Less-recognizable symptoms include dizziness, diarrhea, lower back pain, bleeding gums, and dry eyes.
  • Chronic inflammation typically involves symptoms that are severe enough to interfere with daily life and that have been around for six weeks or longer. But you can also have chronic inflammation without obvious symptoms.
  • Keeping an eye out for chronic inflammation is worthwhile, as it’s linked with many health conditions. These include autoimmune diseases, heart disease, cancer, and Alzheimer’s disease. Treating chronic inflammation early can improve outcomes.
EDITORIAL SOURCES
Everyday Health follows strict sourcing guidelines to ensure the accuracy of its content, outlined in our editorial policy. We use only trustworthy sources, including peer-reviewed studies, board-certified medical experts, patients with lived experience, and information from top institutions.
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Justin Laube, MD

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Justin Laube, MD, is a board-certified integrative and internal medicine physician, a teacher, and a consultant with extensive expertise in integrative health, medical education, and trauma healing.

He graduated with a bachelor's in biology from the University of Wisconsin and a medical degree from the University of Minnesota Medical School. During medical school, he completed a graduate certificate in integrative therapies and healing practices through the Earl E. Bakken Center for Spirituality & Healing. He completed his three-year residency training in internal medicine at the University of California in Los Angeles on the primary care track and a two-year fellowship in integrative East-West primary care at the UCLA Health Center for East-West Medicine.

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