Inflammation: Causes, Signs, and How Medications Affect It

When your body fights off an infection or heals a cut, inflammation, the body’s natural response to injury or illness that causes redness, heat, swelling, and pain. Also known as the immune response, it’s meant to protect you—but when it sticks around too long, it starts hurting you instead. That’s when inflammation turns from helper to villain. You might not realize it, but conditions like arthritis, psoriasis, or even a stubborn UTI are all tied to this same process. It’s not just about a swollen knee or a red rash—it’s about your whole system being on high alert, often because of something you eat, a drug you take, or a hidden infection.

Some medications actually trigger inflammation as a side effect. Take GLP-1 agonists, weight-loss and diabetes drugs like semaglutide that can cause gallbladder inflammation, for example. Or prednisolone, a steroid used to suppress inflammation but that can mask its signs while causing other damage. Even antibiotics like nitrofurantoin, a common UTI treatment that works by creating a hostile environment for bacteria, are used because they reduce the inflammatory response in your urinary tract. Meanwhile, drugs like cefixime, an antibiotic that clears bacterial infections causing inflammation, help by removing the root cause—not just hiding the symptoms.

Inflammation doesn’t just live in your joints or skin. It’s behind the pain of tendonitis, the discomfort of diaper rash, and even the gut flare-ups in colitis. It’s why therapy helps colitis patients—stress fuels inflammation. It’s why diet changes matter for scaly skin. And it’s why checking for drug interactions matters: HIV protease inhibitors can mess with your immune balance, making inflammation harder to control. You can’t fix inflammation by ignoring what’s causing it. You need to know if it’s from an infection, a drug, your diet, or your immune system going rogue.

Below, you’ll find real, practical guides that connect the dots between medications, conditions, and how inflammation plays a role in each. No theory. No fluff. Just clear answers on what’s triggering it, what’s helping, and what’s making it worse.