anaphylaxis

Well That’s Better!

          Firstly, I took some  better snapshots of my view. Photography is definitely not my best medium, but it should give you a better sense.  I definitely could never afford this view, but it’s easy to see why everybody wants to live here.           The more important… Read more Well That’s Better!

The Silver Lining

It’s been ages since I gave you all a medical update. It’s been a very rough winter and spring. My nutrition is abysmal, and it’s catching up with me. I have had 3 iron infusions, and some extra B, and that has helped a lot. The winter and spring were kindof unrelenting on the Health… Read more The Silver Lining

A Letter to the Man in the Peacoat

This is for the young man at JJ Bean today. Thank you for noticing. Thank you for making others notice, thank you for caring. I went to JJ Bean today after picking up my daughter from school (coffee shops are a way of life here, JJ Bean is a local company- and they have access… Read more A Letter to the Man in the Peacoat

‘The Elimination Diet’ Finally Makes Sense!

Perhaps I’m as dumb as a bag of rocks, and you’ll all think I’m a touch touched, but I finally figured out what doctors mean by an ‘elimination diet’. If you aren’t already aware, basically, you don’t eat anything, and foods are added back into the diet one at a time. I’ve always wanted to… Read more ‘The Elimination Diet’ Finally Makes Sense!

MCAD/MCAS Progression Survey

Hello fellow Masties!  I could use your help with a question that’s been on my mind. As you probably know, MCAS often follows a ‘stair’ shaped progression, marked by a sudden increase in severity followed by some partial improvement with changes in your medications and trigger avoidance.  But then you see another sudden increase in… Read more MCAD/MCAS Progression Survey

Response to Lisa’s Letter on Pain Meds

Hear Hear! A topic close to my heart. Lisa Klimas at Mast Attack published an open letter to  healthcare practitioners on the topic of pain medications. I started to write her a message, and I realized that it could have a wider audience, so I put most of it here. The more voices there are,… Read more Response to Lisa’s Letter on Pain Meds

The Specialist Parade

Since the beginning of September I’ve seen the dentist, the allergist, the pelvic floor surgeon, internal med, cardiologist, rheumatologist, trigger point therapist and GI specialist. No wonder I didn’t write much, I wanted to catch you all up. Here’s a super fast overview: Cardiologist is concerned about my BP, as is everyone else. Baseline is… Read more The Specialist Parade

My Weird Pain, Part Two

After breaking my arm as a child, it looked like I simply had a high pain tolerance. (If you havent already done so, you might want to read part 1 here.). As I got older, it seemed to normalize. In many ways, it seemed like I was actually ‘too‘ sensitive to pain. I’d had some ‘minor’… Read more My Weird Pain, Part Two

“You Fake it Well.”

She’s right. Huh? Anybody who has known me longer than a millisecond knows that telling me that I’m faking it is a very quick way to set me off. One of my closest friends texted me that message a couple of weeks ago. I knew there were multiple layers there, so it’s running around in… Read more “You Fake it Well.”