Mast Cell Without Food Allergies

I would say so. Everyone is different and shows different symptoms. I am not for certain it was MCAS, but I for certain had a histamine issue a couple of years ago that caused dermatographia (skin writing), heart burn, and itchy skin, but had no other symptoms.

Can mcas cause long term abdominal pains or does a mcas reaction only occur in spurts?

Thanks so much for this info @saraeli.

Do you, or anyone else, know if it's true that mast cell activation syndrome prevents antibiotics from doing their job on Lyme properly? If so, is there any way to change this?

I have not heard that MCAS limits the effectiveness of antibiotics. MCAS does inhibit treatment, though, because herxes and side effects are more severe and often intolerable for people with MCAS. Often people are able to progress with treatment much faster after getting their MCAS under control.

Deep_sleep - So glad you are seeing improvements! Hope it continues for you!

My MCAS treatment includes quercetin, curcumin, bromelain, DNRS, and a low-histamine diet. I used oral cromolyn sodium for a couple of months but did not notice a benefit from it. (People seem to benefit from different treatments, so don't interpret this as an indicator that cromolyn isn't helpful.) I also avoid triggers like mold exposure and environmental irritants and allergens as much as possible. I kept the low-histamine diet strict for a while, but over time determined that citrus and tomatoes don't seem to cause a mast cell response for me, and fermented foods cause me an immediate reaction. I point this out just to say that triggers vary. Keep in mind that some supplements, such as many probiotic strains, are high in histamine. Some people are bothered by the alcohol in their herbal extracts, or by certain supplements themselves (such as lion's mane mushroom).

It's good to keep all mast cell activation triggers low, even when you don't seem to react to specific triggers, because reactions can be cumulative. For example, one day maybe I want to eat a really ripe banana (high in histamine). I have low overall inflammation, low stress, no pollen in the air, no herxing, and nice mild weather. I might eat that banana and feel fine on that day. But a few months later, I am under a lot of stress, all the trees are blooming their pollen all over the place, it's really hot outside, I just exercised, I have a touch of poison ivy, and I just started a new set of antimicrobial herbs in alcohol-based extracts. Then that banana might be a super bad idea.

I mentioned bromelain because it's an ingredient in one of the quercetin formulas I take - Solary brand QBC Plex chewables. I don't really know if it's helpful, specifically, but I know that some find it helpful.

How long a treatment takes to help depends on how severe your mast cells' current level of over-reaction is. A couple of examples:

1. For years I would wake up feeling alert and okay, and often remarked it was the best part of my day. But within an hour I'd feel massive brain fog set in, along with fatigue, irritability, nervous system issues (POTS, dizziness, peripheral neuropathy, paresthesias), and sometimes unsettled intestines. Eventually I figured out that the kombucha I had for breakfast and miso soup I had for lunch most days were keeping my histamine levels high. So in this example - triggered by foods - the flare dissipated every day, so the treatment (a low-histamine diet) worked instantly. If you identify and remove a trigger - stress, abrasive fabrics, cleaning product fumes, mold exposure, cardio exercise, hot showers, etc. - then the reaction to that trigger might stop within an hour or two, and then not recur as long as the trigger can be avoided.

2. My friend has MCAS, characterized usually by multiple food intolerances (which for her lead to congestion, fatigue, and intestinal upset), difficulty with heat and cold, intolerance of cardio exercise, and significant skin sensitivity. A few years ago, she was gardening and came in contact with a lot of poison ivy (and probably also mold). Within an hour, she was in a flare that lasted for six weeks. Eating anything (even drinking water) made her system react strongly, so she did not eat or drink anything until the evening, when she'd immediately go to bed afterward - congested, exhausted, foggy, and with GI distress. The poison ivy itself as well as hives stayed visible and itched for six weeks. She lost a great deal of weight, eating just rice at first, then seaweed, then olives and sour cherries (for whatever reason, those are the foods she reacted to the least). An allergist told her that she could not help because MCAS isn't an allergy, and mainstream doctors were not familiar with it. She read Toxic by Neil Nathan, and waited patiently for her body to get a grip, which it did, once it was free from triggers for a while. But it took a very long time!

In example number one, removing the trigger was enough to help. In example number two, though, my friend's body could have used some other treatments. She drank stinging nettle tea, which she said calmed her reaction as long as she kept a steady stream of it going. But there are many options for treatment, and for each option, there will be people it helps, and people for whom it does nothing. If you try a treatment and it doesn't help, then keep trying a few more. A few ideas:

Quercetin
Curcumin
Bromelain
Stinging nettles
Vitamin C
DNRS limbic system retraining (mast cells communicate with nerves, hence the connection with neurological health)
Ketotifen
Cromolyn sodium
H1 blockers (Claritin, Zyrtec, etc.)
H2 blockers (Pepsid, etc.)
Low-histamine diet
Avoiding triggers!

For many of us, the goal is to control the symptoms with these treatments and with trigger avoidance, so that we can treat the underlying cause of this mast cell misbehavior - microbes, mycotoxins, toxin exposure, etc. In theory, once the underlying cause is addressed, then we will not need the MCAS treatments anymore, and our mast cells will be more chill again.

A perfect Gut is hard to accomplish, and obviously hard to know just how perfect it is or isn’t. It’s an ongoing deal and a learning experience one thing that you do learn is to remember that food is for nutrition not necessarily enjoyment. Although it can be both if you put the time and effort into learning.

So besides immune system reaction to foods y’all still have to take a new account candida Sino and leaky gut. Food illumination and re-introduction diets help but they miss a lot of it. If I was still going downhill and couldn’t figure out my food issues I would definitely look into this captain soup that DCD is always mentioning here, the soup appears to be anti-everything. And another note on anti-site Seidel conducts my test mediator response by LEAP was 350 bucks I’ve heard now it’s as much as 5 to 600 US dollars,in my case it was worth it it’s changed my life,Not drastically but enough to actually make a difference.

While reviewing the Researched Nutritionals website, I saw this product:

HistaQuel: https://www.researchednutritionals.com/product/histaquel

I've never used it, but I recalled this thread and thought I'd mention it.