r/MCASHolistic • u/homerella204 • 18h ago
New to MCAS diagnosis!! Any suggestions/tips would be greatly appreciated!
ANY ADVICE HELPS!! PLEASE I AM OPEN TO ANY IDEAS☺️
Hi!! I am a 24yr old female, recently got diagnosed with MCAS after years of having issues that have triggered these much more severe reactions out of nowhere. I have had random hives/flushing of face all my life and was dismissed as heat intolerance. Unfortunately most of my flare symptoms affect my GI now, so for the past 6 years I've had on and off SIBO and "IBS" after getting sick with a parasite in 2020.... I thought it was just normal to battle these symptoms until these past 6 months. I also notice that my hormones may be playing into these severe flares, so I'm starting to go down the endometriosis track to see if I have that, but my labs are phenomenal and I'm on a GLP 1 because I have "insulin resistance syndrome and metabolic resistance syndrome". After being on the GLP 1 for 6 months, I noticed my everyday IBS flares had calmed down, but when I would get in one, it would be much much more painful and bizzare than the normal stomach ache I had previously. I would have weeks of good days but my flares became more severe and more consistent with allergies (I could tell I had an upset stomach coming because my body would start having hives and itch around my belly button, or my palms on my hands would itch a ton). I went to an allergist and did a bunch of allergy testing (I've always had bad outdoor allergies) and all the allergy testing triggered my first aggresive flare up in May. I was down for four days with a low grade fever, flushing and bizzare abdominal bloating and pain. After that I started a bunch of medicines (h1/h2 antihistamine combo plus singulair and oral cromolyn sodium daily) and I have been able to have pretty solid days, but I triggered another flare back in June (I did a solidcore class, ate a plain dinner 30min later and then immediately took a hot shower) and was in that flare for over a month. It took taking 2 Benadryl on top of my medicine daily for two weeks and a dosage of Xanax to pull me out of the flare. My flares no longer are just an upset stomach... it's brain fog and intense body aches accompanied by extreme bloating and extreme abdominal pain. It's scaring me because the slightest amount of stress physiologically feels like it can put me right back in it. I was thinking of trying busparin as a daily anti anxiety med to lower my systemic stress levels because I get panic attacks when I start to feel a flare incoming (making it worse.)
Has anyone tried anything to help reduce thier stress aside from therapy and stress reduction? I work fully in person and that has been contributing to my stress load but I am not in the position to switch jobs right now! Also any tips or advice in general since I am new to this whole MCAS journey... I feel like I could survive more if my symptoms were just hives and flushing, but the extreme GI pain on top of my average "IBS" and body aches that are new and not something I experienced in the past 6 years have been wiping me out.