Having your name turned into an insult isn’t something that is very pleasant, but there isn’t a damned thing you can do about it. Early on, I decided that getting upset about it was really not gonna help. So, I decided to embrace it. It is always good to learn to laugh at yourself, so… Read more Karen Rants
It’s been ten years since I got sick. It’s been one heck of a war, separated into times of high battles, prolonged sieges and relentless small skirmishes. I couldn’t have imaged ten years ago that I’d still be fighting this war. Things have been very, very difficult lately. I realized that I stopped writing because… Read more Ten Year Anniversary
Our world is scented. We are drenched in scent, and most of us have no idea how much. Even if you aren’t sensitive to scent, figuring out what is triggering your reactions will be much easier if you reduce the amount of scent in your world. There are two main reasons for that, the first… Read more Trigger Identification Step #2: Ditch the Scents
So. It’s been way too long since I’ve done any writing. Recently though, I’ve caught myself making all sorts of “Karen” comments on YouTube; clearly the words are starting to flow again. One of the challenges is that I have SOOO many things to say, I fear that cracking the door will result in a… Read more Diving Back In
Last week, I went to ambulatory care to get my access to my port changed. I often do it at home, but I go there once a month to pick up supplies and have a nurse change it, have a look at it. (Apparently they want me to come in every week now- which is… Read more The Virus Arrives: A Shocking Lack of Preparedness
I had a package arrive two weeks ago. It was sent on December 10th (guaranteed to arrive by the 16th), arrived the last day of January. It’s a box full of Finnish chocolates for Christmas. (Fazer Nougat will always say ‘Merry Christmas!’ to me.) it’s annoying that they were late- but that doesn’t mean I… Read more Better Late Than Never (or, Happy Valentine’s Day)
Over and above all MCAS treatments is trigger avoidance. You can take all the meds in the world, but if you don’t avoid setting off those pesky mast cells, you’re not going to get anywhere. So where do you start? Do nothing Well, that sounds easy, doesn’t it? Ha! 🤪 Remember Grade 9 science, where… Read more First step in Trigger Identification: Do nothing.
Now that the unofficial ‘diet month’ has passed, I thought I’d give some of my thoughts on what diet works best for people with MCAS. The short answer is ‘yours’. If only one thing is true, it’s that people with MCAS are different. What works for one will do another one in. People like to… Read more MCAS Diet Options
Physicians are people, falliable, imperfect, emotive people. And yet, they are expected to be perfect, to know everything, to never make an error. How silly! These expectations make physicians worse, not better. The fear of liability permiates, yet anyone who has ever tried to sue a doctor in Canada knows that it’s almost impossible to… Read more When Physicians Don’t have an Answer
It’s official, MCAS is a ‘thing’. No, not according to some medical governing body… according to People Magazine! There was an article in this week’s magazine about a girl with MCAS, which you can read it ://people.com/human-interest/teenage-girl-allergic-to-almost-everything/.Very rare for a pop news magazine, but they did a great job. It’s well written, and nothing jumped… Read more MCAS is real.