Mast Cells

[TooManyHats]

I tried eggs 2 weeks ago. It was a disaster and I've been flaring ever since.

[tex]

Sorry to hear that. It appears to me that the percentage of members who are sensitive to eggs is on the increase.

I hope that you can get back on track soon.

Tex

[sarkin]

Sorry to hear that, Arlene. That's the one food I wish i could use - don't miss dairy or grains or legumes at all, but haven't adapted fully to the egg-free life. I'd better postpone any attempt to reintroduce. I had a weird experience with Zyrtec, btw - the cetirizine I bought in France was very helpful, so I picked up some here that I thought had the exact same ingredients, but either it made things worse, or there was some other factor that did.

Interesting that egg sensitivity seems to be on the rise, Tex. I wonder whether many, like me, found out about the eggs only when the Big Baddies were identified and out of the picture? Do we tend to have more new members at certain times of year? I've been wondering about that, with spring allergy season and summer heat.

Hope you get this flare calmed down and feel better soon.

All my best,

Sara

[tex]

Sara,

New registrations seem to come in surges, but I've never tried to figure out whether there might be a seasonal pattern.

Tex

[sarkin]

Tex,

I believe you'd have noticed such a pattern if it were glaring, quite honestly. There are so many other factors (timing of published articles, even something as off-beat as Djokovic going GF and winning Wimbledon, etc.... and heck, maybe once a GI finds one patient with MC who's not a middle-aged woman, they might actually make an effort to look for it in the sufferings of other folks and start to find it less rare after all).

I just realized that I could sort the memberlist by joined date, and answer this question for myself... I'll putter along down that path and let you know if there's anything noteworthy,

Sara

[mbeezie]

Eggs that you buy in the grocery store are coated to help extend shelf life. The coating is soy, whey, mineral oil or parrafin based. I am really picky about the quality of eggs. I buy them at the farmers market and they are very fresh and uncoated. I wonder if you could be reacting to whey or soy, or even histamine from older eggs (if eggs are runny they are old). They should be very thick and seeing the blood spot is a sign of freshness (it fades with age).

Mary Beth

[TooManyHats]

OMG Mary Beth!! I had NO idea about all that stuff on eggs! I wouldn't doubt that's it.

The only other factor that is different is that fact that I'm using brand name Nasalcrom as opposed to the CVS brand. You'd think it would be the other way around, don't you? I checked the inactive ingredients list and they're the same, but I still wonder as the timing coincides.

[sarkin]

Arlene,

I just had an experience like that with cetirizine (a.k.a. Zyrtec). It seemed to have the exact same ingredients as the one I bought on vacation, but I had a weird spacey/dizzy reaction to it, plus some D (which could have been from a food I haven't figured out). Now I wonder whether the generic Claritin I reacted to was also not due to the active ingredient. (But now, of course, I'm hostile to everything that comes in pill form.)

I hope you're able to solve this soon - you're one of the best detectives I know,

Sara

[tex]

Sara,

Yes, let me know if you discover any patterns in registration timing.

Thanks.

Love,
Tex

[sarkin]

Tex,

At first glance, it seems like - maybe - more people around April-June and October-ish, but I'd have to do more thoughtful analysis to be sure I'm seeing something meaningful. And it occurs to me, registrations might not only have to do with symptoms, but with time when someone can pay attention. Getting kids back to school might make August/September too busy (as opposed to people having worse symptoms a little later)... same with holidays, etc. Of course things like seasonal allergies, if a factor, would play out over quite a long period of time, from your neck of the woods up into Canada (not to mention our Down Under members having a whole different seasonal situation!). My cut was crude and didn't take geography into account - just number of members joined per month.

In any case the effect is not dramatic. I'll keep playing with it in the hopes a cleverer question comes to mind, and keep you posted,

Love,
Sara

[mbeezie]

That's interesting. My business (mostly counseling with a side order of dietitian stuff) is always booming in October and Feb/March. For some reason October is an incredibly stressful month. I guess parents and kids are stressed right after school starts and then there is the dreaded holiday season. I wonder if all of that stress translates into physical illness.

Mary Beth

[tex]

And it occurs to me, registrations might not only have to do with symptoms, but with time when someone can pay attention.

I suspect that has a big effect. It seems that a lot of people join late in the day, (during the night, actually), on Fridays, for example. At least, that's when a lot of first posts seem to be written.

I believe that what Mary Beth has noted is significant, also. A lot of people are busy with vacations and special projects during the summer, and most people feel that they're short on time during the long holiday season, because of all the activities that take place during that time of year. I'll bet that a lot of that stress does indeed end up causing physical symptoms.

Tex

[Gloria]

Arlene,

I'm sorry to read about your egg reaction. I have tried farm fresh eggs, but I still reacted to them. Sigh. I think I am just intolerant to eggs. I haven't tried using them in baked goods because I react so strongly to them.

I hope farm fresh eggs will be better for you.

Gloria

[TooManyHats]

I don't think I'll be eating eggs for a LONG time!