{"id":30669,"date":"2023-02-06T17:52:54","date_gmt":"2023-02-06T23:52:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wholehealthchicago.com\/blog\/?p=30669"},"modified":"2023-02-06T17:53:01","modified_gmt":"2023-02-06T23:53:01","slug":"controversial-diagnosis-7-mast-cell-activation-syndrome","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wholehealthchicago.com\/blog\/2023\/02\/06\/controversial-diagnosis-7-mast-cell-activation-syndrome","title":{"rendered":"Controversial Diagnosis #7: Mast Cell Activation Syndrome"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Mast Cell Activation Syndrome (MCAS for short) is one of those annoying conditions in which a patient, after having read an article like this one and suffering similar symptoms, asks her doctor and gets one of two disappointing answers: \u201cNever heard of it\u201d (translation: MCAS is fairly new and often overlooked) or \u201cConsulting Dr. Google again?\u201d (Translation: MCAS is probably over diagnosed because there are no good tests for it. This phenomenon has occurred with candida for decades. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

First, what are mast cells? <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mast cells are a special type of white blood cell manufactured in your bone marrow that travel just beneath the surfaces of your skin, moist mucosal surfaces like your respiratory tree (nose to lungs), and your digestive tract. Mast cells contain a variety of protective inflammation chemicals, most notably histamine. But like cayenne pepper, you only need a little histamine for its job to be done right. Overly irritate (or \u2018activate\u2019) a mast cell, it will burst, release too much histamine, and you\u2019ll feel uncomfortable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When there are a lot of potential mast cell irritants around (like during allergy season), they\u2019ll trigger release of lots of histamine. You\u2019ll reach for\u2026you guessed it\u2026antihistamines. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sometimes, when the antihistamines can\u2019t cover everything, doctors will add a \u2018mast cell stabilizer\u2019 (like Singulair a\/k\/a Montelukast) and you can guess what it does. Not neutralizing the histamine but rather preventing the histamine release. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

But then, \u201csomething\u201d goes wrong with this usually smoothly running system. It\u2019s like the bar gets set too low to trigger this mast cell rupture and histamine release. \u201cActivation\u201d suddenly gets too easy. Patients who never had any allergies, or the mildest of allergy symptoms now have severe allergies, like hives, or food allergies (facial swelling, abdominal pain, diarrhea, wheezing, coughing, chest tightness). When a primary care doctor is told of these symptoms, she recognizes them as \u201callergies\u201d and prescribes antihistamines and sometimes mast cell stabilizers. But very little else is suggested. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

When more and more antihistamines and stabilizers still aren\u2019t working, you yourself might discover someone who knows something about MCAS. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Doctors familiar with MCAS investigate your background and lifestyle. Here are some known triggers for MCAS: <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \n
  1. Extreme temperatures \u2013 either hot or cold.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  2. Exposure to mold or Lyme disease and co-infections. <\/li>\n\n\n\n
  3. Emotional stress. <\/li>\n\n\n\n
  4. Insect bites.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  5. Chemicals in personal products. <\/li>\n\n\n\n
  6. Medications that liberate histamine.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  7. Sodium benzoate \u2013a common food preservative.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  8. Foods or meds that lower diamine oxidase, an enzyme that breaks down histamine. A popular product to raise diamine is HistDAO<\/a> available in our apothecary.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  9. Heavy metal toxicity \u2013 aluminum, mercury, lead, cadmium, bismuth and arsenic are known to be mast cell destabilizers.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  10. Anesthetics. <\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n

    The blood tests for MCAS (measuring, for example, histamine, Tryptase, prostaglandins) are just not very accurate. MCAS is a clinical, not a lab test, diagnosis. Here at WholeHealth Chicago, we see most MCAS accompanying mold biotoxin illness (chronic inflammatory response syndrome), chronic Lyme Disease, and heavy metal toxicity. And now (wouldn\u2019t you know?) MCAS is being increasingly reported as one of the numerous long COVID syndromes<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Treatment is geared toward the root cause (Lyme, mold, etc.); reduction of high histamine foods is helpful, but a very low histamine diet is too restrictive and quickly abandoned by even the most well intentioned patient. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Conventional medications are a combination of antihistamines and mast cell stabilizers. Especially useful is Gastrocrom, a tasteless liquid taken before each meal that coats the entire GI tract and stabilizes the mast cells lining it. The H2 (histamine 2) blockers like famotidine might be called in for stubborn cases.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Natural medicine\u2019s well known dictum, \u201call illness begins in your gut\u201d, is very true with MCAS, especially when you realize the lining of the gut has the largest population of mast cells, and your skin (after a moment\u2019s thought) is simply a continuation of your intestinal lining. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    In the few articles written about MCAS, conventional medicine calls it \u2018incurable\u2019 as long as you take enough antihistamines, mast cell stabilizers, and recently adding corticosteroids and monoclonal antibodies. None of the articles refers to treating the triggers and waiting for the condition to reverse on its own. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    This to me makes functional medicine the best approach to solving the puzzle and getting to the root cause of this mysterious condition and reversing it. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Be well,
    David Edelberg, MD<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Mast Cell Activation Syndrome (MCAS for short) is one of those annoying conditions in which a patient, after having read an article like this one and suffering similar symptoms, asks her doctor and gets one of two disappointing answers: \u201cNever heard of it\u201d (translation: MCAS is fairly new and often overlooked) or \u201cConsulting Dr. Google […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4902,"featured_media":30670,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[197,28,2398,226,296,130,3,43],"tags":[1243,1777,275,1248],"class_list":["post-30669","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-allergies-food-sensitivities","category-alternative-therapies","category-autoimmune-disease","category-immune-system","category-inflammation","category-integrative-medicine","category-knowledge-base","category-nutrition-nutritional-supplements-vitamins-herbal-remedies","tag-antihistamines","tag-candida","tag-immune-system-support","tag-mast-cells"],"yoast_head":"\r\nControversial Diagnosis #7: Mast Cell Activation Syndrome<\/title>\r\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Mast cells are a special type of white blood cell that travel just beneath the surfaces of your skin and moist mucosal surfaces respiratory tree.\" \/>\r\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\r\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/wholehealthchicago.com\/blog\/2023\/02\/06\/controversial-diagnosis-7-mast-cell-activation-syndrome\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Controversial Diagnosis #7: Mast Cell Activation Syndrome\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Mast cells are a special type of white blood cell that travel just beneath the surfaces of your skin and moist mucosal surfaces respiratory tree.\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/wholehealthchicago.com\/blog\/2023\/02\/06\/controversial-diagnosis-7-mast-cell-activation-syndrome\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"WholeHealth Chicago\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/wholehealthchicago\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-02-06T23:52:54+00:00\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-02-06T23:53:01+00:00\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/wholehealthchicago.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/AdobeStock_540933919.jpg\" \/>\r\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1920\" \/>\r\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1152\" \/>\r\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\r\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"WholeHealth Chicago\" \/>\r\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\r\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@wholehealthchi\" \/>\r\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@wholehealthchi\" \/>\r\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"WholeHealth Chicago\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\r\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/wholehealthchicago.com\/blog\/2023\/02\/06\/controversial-diagnosis-7-mast-cell-activation-syndrome\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/wholehealthchicago.com\/blog\/2023\/02\/06\/controversial-diagnosis-7-mast-cell-activation-syndrome\",\"name\":\"Controversial Diagnosis #7: Mast Cell Activation Syndrome\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/wholehealthchicago.com\/blog\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/wholehealthchicago.com\/blog\/2023\/02\/06\/controversial-diagnosis-7-mast-cell-activation-syndrome#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/wholehealthchicago.com\/blog\/2023\/02\/06\/controversial-diagnosis-7-mast-cell-activation-syndrome#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/wholehealthchicago.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/AdobeStock_540933919.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-02-06T23:52:54+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-02-06T23:53:01+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/wholehealthchicago.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/d50f4de39e7b716da78656222844edf3\"},\"description\":\"Mast cells are a special type of white blood cell that travel just beneath the surfaces of your skin and moist mucosal surfaces respiratory tree.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/wholehealthchicago.com\/blog\/2023\/02\/06\/controversial-diagnosis-7-mast-cell-activation-syndrome#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/wholehealthchicago.com\/blog\/2023\/02\/06\/controversial-diagnosis-7-mast-cell-activation-syndrome\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/wholehealthchicago.com\/blog\/2023\/02\/06\/controversial-diagnosis-7-mast-cell-activation-syndrome#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/wholehealthchicago.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/AdobeStock_540933919.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/wholehealthchicago.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/AdobeStock_540933919.jpg\",\"width\":1920,\"height\":1152,\"caption\":\"MAST CELL\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/wholehealthchicago.com\/blog\/2023\/02\/06\/controversial-diagnosis-7-mast-cell-activation-syndrome#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/wholehealthchicago.com\/blog\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Controversial Diagnosis #7: Mast Cell Activation Syndrome\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/wholehealthchicago.com\/blog\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/wholehealthchicago.com\/blog\/\",\"name\":\"WholeHealth Chicago\",\"description\":\"WholeHealth Chicago is the Midwest's oldest and most respected center for integrative care, successfully blending the latest advances in conventional medicine with a wide range of clinically proven alternative therapies.\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/wholehealthchicago.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/wholehealthchicago.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/d50f4de39e7b716da78656222844edf3\",\"name\":\"WholeHealth Chicago\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/wholehealthchicago.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/d0c966c2c24390cd5bf2bd47b3b1ee3849a6b5ab62777b6986b67c9a785444f5?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/d0c966c2c24390cd5bf2bd47b3b1ee3849a6b5ab62777b6986b67c9a785444f5?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"WholeHealth Chicago\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/wholehealthchicago.com\/blog\/author\/kdillard\"}]}<\/script>\r\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Controversial Diagnosis #7: Mast Cell Activation Syndrome","description":"Mast cells are a special type of white blood cell that travel just beneath the surfaces of your skin and moist mucosal surfaces respiratory tree.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/wholehealthchicago.com\/blog\/2023\/02\/06\/controversial-diagnosis-7-mast-cell-activation-syndrome","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Controversial Diagnosis #7: Mast Cell Activation Syndrome","og_description":"Mast cells are a special type of white blood cell that travel just beneath the surfaces of your skin and moist mucosal surfaces respiratory tree.","og_url":"https:\/\/wholehealthchicago.com\/blog\/2023\/02\/06\/controversial-diagnosis-7-mast-cell-activation-syndrome","og_site_name":"WholeHealth Chicago","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/wholehealthchicago","article_published_time":"2023-02-06T23:52:54+00:00","article_modified_time":"2023-02-06T23:53:01+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1920,"height":1152,"url":"https:\/\/wholehealthchicago.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/AdobeStock_540933919.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"WholeHealth Chicago","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@wholehealthchi","twitter_site":"@wholehealthchi","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"WholeHealth Chicago","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/wholehealthchicago.com\/blog\/2023\/02\/06\/controversial-diagnosis-7-mast-cell-activation-syndrome","url":"https:\/\/wholehealthchicago.com\/blog\/2023\/02\/06\/controversial-diagnosis-7-mast-cell-activation-syndrome","name":"Controversial Diagnosis #7: Mast Cell Activation Syndrome","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/wholehealthchicago.com\/blog\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/wholehealthchicago.com\/blog\/2023\/02\/06\/controversial-diagnosis-7-mast-cell-activation-syndrome#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/wholehealthchicago.com\/blog\/2023\/02\/06\/controversial-diagnosis-7-mast-cell-activation-syndrome#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/wholehealthchicago.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/AdobeStock_540933919.jpg","datePublished":"2023-02-06T23:52:54+00:00","dateModified":"2023-02-06T23:53:01+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/wholehealthchicago.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/d50f4de39e7b716da78656222844edf3"},"description":"Mast cells are a special type of white blood cell that travel just beneath the surfaces of your skin and moist mucosal surfaces respiratory tree.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/wholehealthchicago.com\/blog\/2023\/02\/06\/controversial-diagnosis-7-mast-cell-activation-syndrome#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/wholehealthchicago.com\/blog\/2023\/02\/06\/controversial-diagnosis-7-mast-cell-activation-syndrome"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/wholehealthchicago.com\/blog\/2023\/02\/06\/controversial-diagnosis-7-mast-cell-activation-syndrome#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/wholehealthchicago.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/AdobeStock_540933919.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/wholehealthchicago.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/AdobeStock_540933919.jpg","width":1920,"height":1152,"caption":"MAST CELL"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/wholehealthchicago.com\/blog\/2023\/02\/06\/controversial-diagnosis-7-mast-cell-activation-syndrome#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/wholehealthchicago.com\/blog"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Controversial Diagnosis #7: Mast Cell Activation Syndrome"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/wholehealthchicago.com\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/wholehealthchicago.com\/blog\/","name":"WholeHealth Chicago","description":"WholeHealth Chicago is the Midwest's oldest and most respected center for integrative care, successfully blending the latest advances in conventional medicine with a wide range of clinically proven alternative therapies.","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/wholehealthchicago.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/wholehealthchicago.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/d50f4de39e7b716da78656222844edf3","name":"WholeHealth Chicago","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/wholehealthchicago.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/d0c966c2c24390cd5bf2bd47b3b1ee3849a6b5ab62777b6986b67c9a785444f5?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/d0c966c2c24390cd5bf2bd47b3b1ee3849a6b5ab62777b6986b67c9a785444f5?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"WholeHealth Chicago"},"url":"https:\/\/wholehealthchicago.com\/blog\/author\/kdillard"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wholehealthchicago.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30669","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wholehealthchicago.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wholehealthchicago.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wholehealthchicago.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4902"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wholehealthchicago.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=30669"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/wholehealthchicago.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30669\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":30674,"href":"https:\/\/wholehealthchicago.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30669\/revisions\/30674"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wholehealthchicago.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/30670"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wholehealthchicago.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=30669"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wholehealthchicago.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=30669"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wholehealthchicago.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=30669"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}