Will You Be Sick Forever? Rethinking Traditional Ideas of Prognosis in Mast Cell Activation Syndrome and Histamine Intolerance
I had both Mast Cell Activation Syndrome and Histamine Intolerance from a very young age. I saw well over 50 practitioners looking for answers. And they were all baffled by my huge list of symptoms. I was told everything from:
- You’ll have to just live with it.
- There is no cure for these things.
- This will just keep getting worse.
- The meds aren’t working so you must want to be sick.
And the worse thing I was told?
“Your labs look normal, so this must be all in your head.”
Any of that sound familiar?
I can tell you that after I decided to become a Functional Naturopath, I learned none of those things are true.
Why does Conventional Medicine say Mast Cell Activation Syndrome and Histamine Intolerance are Progressive?
One of the most challenging things facing traditional physicians today is a lack of tools in their toolkits. Many MDs have told me that they were only taught how to prescribe medications. Some MDs have even told me they are no longer really taught how to properly diagnosis.
Many Medical Doctors say that Mast Cell Activation Syndrome and Histamine Intolerance are progressive. This means it will get worse over time. Why do they say this?
It is because their main tool is medications. And it is true that with only using medications Mast Cell Activation Syndrome and Histamine Intolerance will continue to get worse over time. This is because the medications only mask the symptoms of Mast Cell Activation Syndrome and Histamine Intolerance. They don’t actually address the underlying root causes.
I wrote more about that in this blog post:
One of the things I was trained to do is to question whether these things are really true. And I definitely questioned whether Mast Cell Activation Syndrome and Histamine Intolerance will continue to get worse over time. What did I find out?
Here is what you need to know: Mast Cell Activation Syndrome and Histamine Intolerance are NOT the problems!
The Truth - Mast Cell Activation Syndrome and Histamine Intolerance are NOT the problems!
This may be a shock to you to hear. But truly, your Mast Cell Activation Syndrome or Histamine Intolerance are NOT your problem.
It is the underlying triggers that are causing your Mast Cell Activation Syndrome or Histamine Intolerance that are the problem.
Mast Cell Activation Syndrome and Histamine Intolerance are the body’s way of protecting you from underlying root causes like:
- Viral, bacterial, mold, and parasitic infections
- Heavy metal toxicity
- Chemical toxicity
- Iron overload
- Overconsumption of inflammatory foods
- Leaky Gut
- Hormone imbalances
- Even chronic stress
Think about that. All of your Mast Cell Activation Syndrome or Histamine Intolerance symptoms are your body doing its best job to keep you alive.
Anything that causes long-term chronic inflammation will cause the mast cells to go haywire as they try to do their jobs correctly. So, the mast cells aren’t the issue. It is these inflammatory problems in the body that are the issue.
Mast Cell Activation Syndrome and Histamine Intolerance are just a layer on top of these problems. And you’re body is trying to do its job the best it can. This is why you can’t just reduce the symptoms of Mast Cell Activation Syndrome with medications and get well again. You have to address the underlying triggers.
Here is the great news though:
When you address your unique, individual root triggers, you can heal!
This is exactly what happened for me. I also see this every day with my clients. I see clients who put the work in to address their underlying root causes, and they get much, much better! I see posts from people who fixed their Leaky Gut, got rid of toxins, changed their diet, and addressed infections – these people get their health and their lives back.
That was a huge relief to me. I was at one point in time bed-ridden and debilitated. I had to walk with a cane because of severe joint pain. I couldn’t sleep. For years. I had very few safe foods. I obviously couldn’t work. But because I didn’t accept what I was told… Because I didn’t believe that I couldn’t get better…I found the way through by addressing my root triggers. And you can too.
But how do you do that? Let’s look at a few other stories of people who turned their health around.
3 Inspiring Stories of How People Can Recover Their Health When They Have Mast Cell Activation Syndrome or Histamine Intolerance
“Mary” – Mast Cell Activation Syndrome, Histamine Intolerance, and Migraines
I had a client with both Mast Cell Activation Syndrome and Histamine Intolerance who was having severe migraines along with flushing, itching, rashes, anxiety, and depression. I can’t use real client names, so let’s call her “Mary.” Mary was on migraine medications and antihistamines, but she still regularly got migraines several times a week. The migraines were so severe that she couldn’t leave the house and had to cancel events because of it.
She was told her migraines were something she would just have to live with.
But I didn’t buy that.
I worked with Mary to identify her specific food triggers. For her, this was beyond just reducing high histamine foods. She also had to eat lower glutamate. Within just a few short weeks, Mary was free of migraines. Her anxious mood and depression had improved significantly as well. Now, the migraines only come back if she “cheats” and eats higher histamine and glutamate foods
“Linda” – Classic Mast Cell Activation Syndrome and Chronic Fatigue
I had another client I’ll call “Linda”. Linda was so exhausted every day she would have to nap in her car in the driveway after work before she could drag herself into the house. She had significant body pain and trouble losing weight. She’d tried so many things for years.
She would also flush easily and had many symptoms of Mast Cell Activation Syndrome. Linda had been put on medications for Mast Cell Activation Syndrome. These reduced some of her symptoms. But she still was struggling every day to function.
I wanted to look deeper into her root factors. We looked at biochemistry markers on an Organic Acid Test. It was clear she had problems with energy production and recycling detoxification molecules like glutathione. These issues were causing a lot of inflammation in her body. But we still didn’t know why.
So, then I turned to the Functional Genomic Analysis genetic kit to find more clues. We found she had significant genetic variants related to NADPH production. This is a key pathway for reducing inflammation, increasing energy, and recycling those important detoxification molecules. This is something that no other tests really could have caught. And these things are never checked by conventional doctors.
I recommended a few key, targeted support supplements to Linda to help her energy production and detoxification. These weren’t just any general energy and detox supplements. These were very customized to her specific root issues.
Then I got an email from Linda a few weeks later. She was so excited because she was feeling dramatically better. She had taken her daughter to NYC for a vacation and walked 20 miles! This was a woman who could hardly make it through her work day before. To me, that is really amazing and demonstrates the power of these tools and of identifying root causes.
“John” – Mast Cell Activation Syndrome, Histamine Intolerance, Lyme, Mold Toxicity, and Chronic Fatigue…and Heme Dysregulation
There is another story I want to share with you of one of the most complex clients I’ve worked with. I have a client who had been a competitive athlete and successful business person. He’d never really had health complaints until his 40’s when he was exposed to mold. He had also contracted Lyme and some co-infections.
Given the stressful life he had lived, it wasn’t a surprise that his immune system started failing on him. Eventually, he could no longer do a single push up without significant pain. It is very hard for someone to go from being a competitive athletic champion to being unable to exercise at all.
This client’s health was very complicated. It took some digging and a good team of professionals to start to uncover his root causes. He had several gut infections. He had developed MARCoNS, a serious fungal infection in the sinuses. He had heavy metals, including elevated levels of Uranium.
Then, a very important pathway to the body called the heme pathway had started to shut down due to the level of toxins in his body. He had very high levels of iron in his system, which is inflammatory. Genetic analysis with Functional Genomic Analysis showed that he had a number of genetic predispositions affecting his health. These genetic variants didn’t affect him when he was younger. But the perfect storm of stress, infections, metals, and mold caused these genetic variants to “turn on”.
He ended up with Mast Cell Activation Syndrome from the chronic inflammation and aggressive Lyme and Mycotoxin treatments. When I saw him, he was having significant trouble with energy levels, sleep, pain, and exercise.
As he sort through all his root causes and dealt with them in the right order, he started regaining his life and his health. It took a lot of hard work on his part and the part of all his practitioners, but it paid off. The last time we spoke, he was feeling much better and was well on his way to recovery.
These are just a few stories illustrating how people can get their lives back by working on the root causes underlying Mast Cell Activation Syndrome. The good news is, you can do this too!
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