Inflammation of joints (swelling)

Are your joints swollen, painful, or stiff? Don't worry, you didn’t age overnight—there’s a good chance it’s just your autoimmune condition doing its thing, unleashing inflammatory chemicals into your joints. Joint inflammation can be linked to Lyme, but it can be caused by lots of other conditions as well, including lupus, Graves’ disease, and Hashimoto’s. Most often, Lyme-related joint inflammation (also called Lyme arthritis) affects the knees, but it can impact your wrists, elbows, and ankles too. While this symptom can be slow to resolve, the good news is that it’s definitely treatable! If it is caused by an infection, practitioners will often recommend antibiotics, either orally or via IV, but you can also experiment with holistic remedies, including an anti-inflammatory diet and other all-natural treatments. There are lots of them to try, including curcumin (turmeric), green tea, capsaicin (chili pepper), and omega-3s.