Who is this site for?

This site is for people with severe allergies. The kind of severe allergies where even your best friend, roommate and your spouse don’t know all the stuff you’re allergic to. You’re the guest who brings your own food to a party, because if anybody else cooks for you, there is inevitably something in it you can’t eat. This is for those who are ‘obsessed’ with label reading, but are still unable to keep food down, or having anaphylaxis every few weeks (or days…or several times a day…). This is for people with the ‘weird’ allergies, where allergists have said “But nobody is allergic to that!” This is for the people who react to smells, fragrances, vibration, adrenaline and all sorts of things; for those whose allergies change on a whim. Last year, a peanut buster parfait at Dairy Queen sounded marvelous, but it now sounds like death in a plastic cup. This site is for people who have all sorts of medical ailments, often with atypical or unusual presentations; where you have a whole litany of seemingly unconnected ailments, but deep down you know that they are connected.

This is a resource for people with allergic conditions, such as

  • MCAD (Mast Cell Activation Disorder)
  • MCAS (Mast Cell Activation Syndrome)
  • Mastocytosis
  • IA (Idiopathic Anaphylaxis)
  • HI (Histamine Intolerance)

It might also be for you if you have been diagnosed with one of these conditions- but it really doesnt ‘fit’, or explain all of what’s going on:

  • ME/CFS (Myolytic Encephalitis/ Chronic Fatigue Syndrome)
  • EDS (Elher-Danlos, especially type III, hypermobile)
  • POTS (Postural Orthostatic Tachicardia Syndrome)
  • CSS (Central Sensitivity Syndrome)
  • Systemic Arthritis
  • Migraines
  • Mood disorders (such as depression, manic-depressive states, ADHD etc.)
  • Mold sickness
  • Environmental Illness
  • Multiple Chemical Sensitivity
  • Chronic Urticaria
  • Raynaud’s Syndrome
  • Shogren’s Syndrome
  • Intractible asthma
  • Hypothyroidism (including Hashimoto’s)

….the list goes on. Mast cells, which are what carry histamine around, are in almost every tissue in the body. They are the masters of inflammation. Mast cell activation may be one of the underlying mechanisms for many types of inflammatory illnesses. Because Mast Cells are so ubiquitous, mast cell degranulation can cause a dizzying number of symptoms.
There are SO many resources for allergy sufferers online- suggestions about how to rid your mattress of dust mites, how to avoid peanuts in kids’ school lunches, and so forth. If you find yourself here, and you haven’t read all that stuff- go do it. This site is for the stuff that goes beyond the ‘conventional wisdom’, for people who know that there is no such thing as ‘just allergies.’ This site is for people who have been told that something their body does is “Impossible” (but it’s doing it…so….).

I aim to make this site a positive place. A chance to grow, to learn from and support each other. It is not my intent to copy and paste from what you can find elsewhere. There is nothing more infuriating to me than googling something, and clicking on five different pages, and realizing that they are all quoted from the exact same source. I aim to have novel information here when possible, or at least information presented in a novel way.

I hope you find the information useful.