Faith's Journal: Histamines! Mast Cells! And More!

[faithberry]

Well that's wonderful, Dee. I wouldn't want anyone to have all those sympoms! Hope it's a passing hives problems for you.

[faithberry]

Oxalate is a highly reactive molecule that is abundant in many plant foods, but in human cells, when it is present in high amounts, it can lead to oxidative damage, depletion of glutathione, the igniting of the immune system's inflammatory cascade, and the formation of crystals which seem to be associated with pain and prolonged injury. Ordinarily, not much oxalate is absorbed from the diet, but the level of absorption has to do with the condition of the gut. There is a lot of medical literature showing that when the gut is inflamed, when there is poor fat digestion (steatorrhea), when there is a leaky gut, or when there is prolonged diarrhea or constipation, excess oxalate from foods that are eaten can be absorbed from the GI tract and become a risk to other cells in the body.

www.lowoxalate.info/research.html

I'm very intrigued and plan to give the diet a whirl. It would allow me to eat a few more foods if I'm on target about oxalates being an issue for me.

I decided to go for it and restart the Zantac (two days ago) and give the Gastrocrom another try. Started it today with 1/2 ampule. So far so good.

[faithberry]

I seem to get burning no matter what I eat and even when I drink water, in the intestinal area and around breast bone, and in other places in my body too. It's a little better today; just eating well cooked white rice and very well cooked and small amounts of vegetables.

So I'm not reacting in particular to the Gastrocrom, it's just among the world of 'everything' that I react to, to some extent or another. I decided I have to try to keep with it. I'm up to 2 half-ampules a day.

[faithberry]

I think I may now know and understand all my food intolerances and issues:

Gluten
Casein
Soy
Corn
Histamine-containing foods (includes yeast)
Histamine liberating foods (and medications)
Glutamates
Medium and High Oxalates (can tolerate low and low medium ones)
Hypoglycemia
Mast cells reactions (probably to the above foods)

I made a list of what's left and came up with about 20 foods. Some I can only have in tiny quantities (like 1/4 cup carrots a day or 7 sprigs of cilantro) and others aren't always in season or available, so my diet is still limited but slightly expanded. I'm slowly testing my list of 21. With the help of the Gastrocrom, I'm doing fairly well with foods I haven't had for quite a long time like:

Lentils
White cabbage (cooked well)
Lettuce
Cucumber
Apple (only 1/2)

What I have clearly cannot be LC or I probably wouldn't be able to have all those fiber foods, unless LC is very different with C.

My body is really not likely large amounts of rice so I'm having to make adjustments. I think all the burning may have been coming from rice. Next up on trial will be eggs

[faithberry]

I've been having a lot of burning, a common masto problem. I don't seem to be on the right mix of meds yet. I've increased my Zantac to 450 mg. a day to see if it will help.

I'm eating:
asparagus
zucchini
cabbage (boiled)
cilantro
cucumber
cantaloupe
white rice
wild rice
rice cakes

This is double the foods I was eating before so it's a positive direction.

I realized I was getting headachy (the next morning) from the mung beans and adzuki beans. I've had mixed results with eggs, but plan to try them again. My protein dilemma continues. Maybe I can try one egg a week and one serving of beans a week! Got to stay creative with this! I have a few other vegies to try.

I no longer think I'm having a C dominant-MC problem. I suspect this is mast cell issues alone (but no way to know without a colonoscopy/biopsy).

I now realize that drinking water causes both hot flashes and pain reactions. Interesting... I have to sip water and the sips have to be far apart. This makes it difficult to take the Colosan for the C, which is a powder mixed in water. I get pain reactions due to the water. I don't think it's a chemical in the water, we have a good filter. And I get the same reaction with bottled waters. Maybe there's a messed up nerve in the stomach. Mast cells gather around nerves. Maybe I will never figure out why, but by discovering the triggers I can adjust to have fewer reactions.

I seem totally OK with the Gastrocrom (and I think this is one reason I can eat more), but it's also in an ampule of distilled water so I have to take it in 2 little sips without additional water. I think I need more. I'm under-medicated for masto, if that's my problem.

Continuing to continue...

[tex]

Hi Faith,

Are you eating the cucumbers and cantaloupe raw?

Most members find that if they eat eggs in baked dishes, they can tolerate them. Maybe you could try eggs in some sort of squash casserole, or something of that sort. Also, (as I'm sure you are aware), it's the albumen, (the egg white), that is usually the problem for people who are intolerant of eggs. IOW, if you can't tolerate eggs in baked foods, maybe you could try separating out the whites of the eggs.

Are you drinking the water at body temperature, or at least room temperature? I wonder if pH could be a factor. I sometimes reacted to very cold drinks, such as slurpees. Are you able to eat/drink smoothies, (as a source of nutrition with a high liquid content)?

Maybe there's a messed up nerve in the stomach. Mast cells gather around nerves.

The disease definitely caused permanent nerve damage for me. For example, it destroyed my ability to feel normal hunger pangs. Also, it pretty much destroyed the nerves in my teeth, sinuses, ears, etc., I believe, because I rarely feel more than the slightest hint of pain in those areas, even with serious problems. I have had teeth with major decay, teeth that split in two, where part of it broke off and fell out, all with no pain at all, in some cases. I have had ear infections, with major drainage, but no pain. This all began after several years of untreated symptoms, before I discovered the diet.

Tex

[faithberry]

Tex,

Thanks for your suggestions. After feeling off for several weeks with these symptoms, I realized it was the homeopathic medicine I was taking to counter the toxins I was exposed to. I guess I am so sensitive on a cellular levels that I couldn't tolerate the toxins in the medicine even though they are diluted at a very high concentration.

Once I stopped taking the medicine, I was able to drink water again and eat food without all the nerve-type reactions or mild ones. When I eat foods that trigger me, I do get the nerve reactions.

No idea if this is an MC result (but my MC was very mild), a mast cell issue or the effect of toxins I was exposed to.The burning has calmed down as well with 300 mg of Zantac, as long as I'm careful about what I eat.

I seem to be doing well on my medication protocol, everyone says I look great, I'm 101 lbs. Food remains a big issue, but once I get some of the oxalates out of my system I think I will be able to eat more foods. Only time will tell. That will take at least six months and could be considerably longer. I can only tolerate about 40-45 mg of oxalates a day, so that pretty much cuts out smoothies which would contain a lot more oxalate than I could handle.

I'm doing well and I feel I'm moving in the right direction.

[faithberry]

I'm blogging now at:

mastcellsandme.blogspot.com/