I’ve decorated all my masks, you’ll find a gallery here. My mask means freedom. I wear it or have it in hand all the time when I’m out in public. I react to most perfumes and fragrances, the smell of many foods, airborne allergens (like pollen, cats, dogs, dust,… Read more Blinged Out Masks!
My Mother often told me a story about her first awareness of a place called ‘Canada’. She was born in Finland during the war. Of course, food was scarce, and rationing continued long after the war was over. Canada had sent a fair amount of food aid to Europe, including a lot of canned vegetables.… Read more Corn, MCAS and the Nordic Diet
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
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!
The big question: Why are we sick? We all want to know why MCAS is exploding. Is not just that we are understanding more, redefining things we have been aware of for ages. There’s a real increase in inflammatory disorders in humans. Why? There are too many possibilities- toxins, plastics, pollution, mobility, environmental change, use of… Read more A Tantalizing Clue. Why aren’t viruses making me sick!?
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
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
I couldn’t have scripted my latest reaction any better. I went to see internal medicine to address my BP. Somehow the fact I have mind blowing blood pressures has suddenly become ‘important’, though it hasn’t changed in two years. My usual internist wanted me to see a different doc because she specializes in hypertension. In… Read more Seeing is Believing: The Perfect ‘Told ya So’ Moment
On Christmas Eve, Hubby was reading ‘A Visit from St Nicolas’ (The Night before Christmas) he got to the line “His cheeks were like roses”, and made a joke about Santa having MCAS. As these things can go with over-tired children and punchy adults, we started to diagnose Santa, with lots of giggles… Didn’t exactly lead… Read more Merry Christmas! Top Ten Reasons to Suspect Santa has MCAS:
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