Patient166 said...
Hi everyone,
I've had MCAS symptoms in the past. The biggest one is when I get out of the shower my legs and arms feel itchy/tingly. Anyways, this symptom went away for about a year - I think its because I don't really eat gluten and dairy and have been stricter about it in the past year. Anyway I've been on antibiotics for Bartonella (Bactrim, Doxy, Clarithromycin, and Meth Blue) and I've started having this MCAS symptom again after a year. The antibiotics may have nothing to do with it. I have been eating some more carbs since I got on antibiotics so I don't get nauseous but I feel like that wouldn't be enough to set it off because it hasn't in the past year. I just feel like I'm slipping backwards with this symptom if anyone has any answer as to why this would be set off and if it can be due to antibiotics?
I developed this a few years ago. My legs would itch for about
10 minutes after a shower and I would react to fermented products (itchy skin). I also developed dermatographia (skin writing). I didn't have any other MCAS symptoms. I started taking daily Zyrtec which masked the symptoms and provided great relief, but I wanted to find the root cause. My opinion is that it was the abx, specifically Cephalosporins (Omnicef and Ceftin in my case). I stopped taking that class of abx and no longer needed the daily Zyrtec. After some research, I gathered that the cephalosporins have the ability to deplete DAO in the gut. DAO keeps mast cells at bay. In your case, you didn't list any cephalosporins, but perhaps other abx classes can have similar side effects. Anyway, hope this helps.