SAR01 asked me to copy a thread I wrote in Healing Gardens called "mast cells FYI," but I thought I would rewrite it in order to clarify.
As some of you know, my daughter has had a number of mystery ailments in the last year or so. She's had thousands of dollars worth of tests, not to mention the emotional anguish and physical pain of each one. After all this, we can now report that all of her organs are fine, but she has an unsually high count of histamine in her bloodstream.
And these histamine levels are the root of her mystery ailments. High levels can cause: fainting; mental fog and confusion; vomiting; diarrhea; migranes; a wide variety of respiratory symptoms; skin lesions; and just about everything else under the sun that you can name as a common ailment.
Histamine is produced by mast cells in the bloodstream, which respond to "triggers" in the environment. Among which can be food; clothing; perfume; pollution; pet dander; or just about anything. The most common are food, such as peanuts, crayfish, and dairy products, whihc cause an allergic reaction in some people, which then causes the mast cells to produce extra histamine.
In my daughter's case, however, the doctors now think that she has a rare disease called systemic mastocytosis, which means that she has an over abundance of mast cells to start with and therefore is hyper-sensitive to allergins in the environment. There's not a lot that is known about the disease since it's so rare, but there are studies that suggest that it's inherited.
In this case, Ashley's grandmother suffered from chronic allergies all her life to the extent that she couldn't even be medicated with novacane when she went to the dentist. In the years before she died, she was hopitalized for a round of tests because her blood pressure would go from dangerously high to dangerously low for no apparent reason. As in Ashley's case, the tests can back completely normal. Again, the doctors were baffled. We now know from Ashley's experience that this vacilation in blood pressure is one of the classic symptoms, among the many others, of systemic mastocytosis, so it's probable that Ashley's grandmother also had this rare disease and that Ashley has inherited it. The good news, the miracle, is that Ashley has been diagnosed and can be treated with medication.
It's not likely that anyone reading this would have this rare disease of an over-abundance of mast cells. The only way it can be confirmed is through a bone marrow biopsy, which is a painful and expensive test. On the other hand, there are many of us who have had symptoms that doctors cannot explain, so it's important to consider the possibility that high histamine levels may be the culprit -- that the headache, or the blood pressure problem, or even diarrhea may be caused by an allergy to something in the environment. Histamine levels show up in the urine, so the test is rather painless in comparison.
What I've learned is that histamine plays a significant role in health. And it is the one thing that most doctors don't even bother to check, because it's far easier to treat the symptoms than it is to go after the root cause. So, just keep in mind that if you have an ailment that doesn't seem to go away, or it comes back, or the doctor cannot explain it, ask your doctor to look in the direction of allergies, which cause high histamine levels.
As some of you know, my daughter has had a number of mystery ailments in the last year or so. She's had thousands of dollars worth of tests, not to mention the emotional anguish and physical pain of each one. After all this, we can now report that all of her organs are fine, but she has an unsually high count of histamine in her bloodstream.
And these histamine levels are the root of her mystery ailments. High levels can cause: fainting; mental fog and confusion; vomiting; diarrhea; migranes; a wide variety of respiratory symptoms; skin lesions; and just about everything else under the sun that you can name as a common ailment.
Histamine is produced by mast cells in the bloodstream, which respond to "triggers" in the environment. Among which can be food; clothing; perfume; pollution; pet dander; or just about anything. The most common are food, such as peanuts, crayfish, and dairy products, whihc cause an allergic reaction in some people, which then causes the mast cells to produce extra histamine.
In my daughter's case, however, the doctors now think that she has a rare disease called systemic mastocytosis, which means that she has an over abundance of mast cells to start with and therefore is hyper-sensitive to allergins in the environment. There's not a lot that is known about the disease since it's so rare, but there are studies that suggest that it's inherited.
In this case, Ashley's grandmother suffered from chronic allergies all her life to the extent that she couldn't even be medicated with novacane when she went to the dentist. In the years before she died, she was hopitalized for a round of tests because her blood pressure would go from dangerously high to dangerously low for no apparent reason. As in Ashley's case, the tests can back completely normal. Again, the doctors were baffled. We now know from Ashley's experience that this vacilation in blood pressure is one of the classic symptoms, among the many others, of systemic mastocytosis, so it's probable that Ashley's grandmother also had this rare disease and that Ashley has inherited it. The good news, the miracle, is that Ashley has been diagnosed and can be treated with medication.
It's not likely that anyone reading this would have this rare disease of an over-abundance of mast cells. The only way it can be confirmed is through a bone marrow biopsy, which is a painful and expensive test. On the other hand, there are many of us who have had symptoms that doctors cannot explain, so it's important to consider the possibility that high histamine levels may be the culprit -- that the headache, or the blood pressure problem, or even diarrhea may be caused by an allergy to something in the environment. Histamine levels show up in the urine, so the test is rather painless in comparison.
What I've learned is that histamine plays a significant role in health. And it is the one thing that most doctors don't even bother to check, because it's far easier to treat the symptoms than it is to go after the root cause. So, just keep in mind that if you have an ailment that doesn't seem to go away, or it comes back, or the doctor cannot explain it, ask your doctor to look in the direction of allergies, which cause high histamine levels.


