Nicola Hodges Nutrition

17/11/2025

14/11/2025

Is there any worse pain? 🤣🤣🤣🤣

31/10/2025

🖤 Tattoo ink isn’t just ink
It’s a mixture of pigments, metals, preservatives, and nanoparticles.
These sit permanently in immune-rich tissue.
🛡️ Immune cells lock up the pigments
Your immune system sees the pigments as foreign → macrophages engulf them → become activated long-term.
📦 Ink travels
Pigment particles have been found in lymph nodes, meaning the immune system never stops “tracking” them.
🔥 Chronic immune surveillance
In some people this prolonged stimulation can tip the balance further toward
👉 inflammation
👉 autoantibody formation
👉 delayed hypersensitivity reactions
🧪 Red + yellow pigments are higher risk
Certain pigments contain nickel, chromium, cadmium and azo dyes which can trigger stronger immune reactions.

💉Botox isn’t just a beauty treatment -it’s botulinum neurotoxin, a foreign bacterial protein. And the immune system pays attention to it every time.

🔥 Immune stimulation can contribute to flares
Some people experience increases in:
fatigue + brain fog
joint or nerve pain
anxiety + dysautonomia
inflammatory skin reactions
📍 It may not stay local
Low levels can spread along nerves or into circulation.
If immune tolerance is already fragile… that matters.
⚠️ ASIA Syndrome is documented
Autoimmune/Inflammatory Syndrome Induced by Adjuvants is uncommon but real -showing how a foreign protein can keep immune systems on high alert.
Botox has also been linked to Hashimoto’s!

👙Breast implants- Those of us with autoimmune disease already have an immune system that struggles with self vs. non self .
Adding a permanent foreign object that the immune cells would have to monitor for decades is another thing for the immune system to have to accept when it’s already struggling to tolerate its own tissues.

Hair dye 🧑‍🎤
The scalp is immune-rich tissue… so I’m picky about what I put on it.
Especially dark permanent dyes, which usually contain the highest load of immune-reactive chemicals like PPD/PTD.

I’ve opted for highlights!

21/10/2025

Don’t get me wrong - mould is bad, and no one should have to live in a mouldy house.
But the nervous system can handle so much more of what life throws at us when it’s balanced.

I’ve seen clients spend insane amounts of money treating mould, doing detox protocols, and chasing the next thing - but they’re still suffering.
Because the body can’t heal properly when it’s stuck in fight or flight and burnt out.

Sometimes it’s not just about what’s *in* your environment… it’s about how safe your body *feels* in it.

19/10/2025

Chronic stress doesn’t just make you tired -it teaches your body that the world isn’t safe.

When you live in that state for too long, your nervous system stays in “threat mode.”
Your brain keeps scanning for danger.
Your vagus nerve goes quiet.
And your immune system listens -it starts reacting to everything even parts of you.

That’s how stress biology turns into inflammation, fatigue, and autoimmune flares.

The way back isn’t force or willpower, quick fixes or finding the right supplements - it’s safety!
Not the idea of safety, but the felt sense of it.

Small, consistent safety signals retrain your stress pathways:
🌿 slow breathing before meals
☀️ morning light and gentle movement
🎨 creative flow art, music, knitting
🫶 connection, laughter, boundaries
🧘‍♀️ yoga, breath, and time in nature

Each one tells your body: you’re safe now.
And once the body believes that again things can improve.



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17/10/2025

😂😂 Just go with it!

16/10/2025

If you live with RA, you know the morning struggle is real: stiffness, fatigue, brain fog, pain… all before the day even starts.

Inflammation peaks overnight, cortisol rhythms can be blunted, blood sugar dips, synovial fluid thickens with rest, and even anticipatory pain can prime your nervous system to expect discomfort.

The good news? You can *work with* these rhythms instead of fighting them.

👉 Swipe through (or see graphic) for simple, evidence-based ways to support your body:
☀️ morning light exposure
🥣 stabilising blood sugar
🧘 gentle movement and warmth
🧠 nervous system retraining
💊 supportive nutrients like PEA (Palmitoylethanolamide)

Small, consistent steps can make a huge difference in how you start the day.
Your mornings don’t have to feel like a battle, they can become a time of gentle reset.

I recommend a full private thyroid panel to assess the health of your thyroid if you have RA- the NHS test is too basic.

💬 Have you noticed a difference in mood and pain when you have space in the morning to start the day better?

12/10/2025

Enjoy!