u/Alittlelessunusual

IM SO HAPPY! After seeing two doctors who claimed they knew about MCAS and in reality were total quacks who only had super outdated treatment methods, I finally found a doctor who is actually knowledgeable on the condition.

I made another post asking about medications many people with MCAS are on and was prepared to bring up the list to my doctor but I didn’t end up having to because he brought them all up without me asking!

I’m going to be doing more testing which consists of another tryptase test, 24 hour urine collection bucket, and a CBC.

He also diagnosed me with Chronic Spontaneous Urticaria which I didn’t even know I had. So I might have MCAS on top of that but he’s re testing me for MCAS to make sure.

I’m starting on Zyrtec twice a day and cromolyn, then we will be trying a medication called Rhapsido! Im so so happy and hopefully will get some relief soon.

Hello MCAS buddies!
So I have an appointment coming up with another doctor who “supposedly” knows how to treat MCAS. The first two doctors I saw were not educated enough on the condition, so I’m really hoping this person is.

I’ve had a few people mention to me in the comment section of some of my other posts certain MCAS medications that worked for them. They are:

• Cromolyn Sodium
• Ketotifen
• Xolair shots

Have you tried any of these? And if so has it helped you? I’m going to bring them up to my doctor and was curious about other people’s personal experiences with these medications. If you have any other medications you think would be worth bringing up to my doctor comment them down below!

It finally happened. A moment I thought would never come.
I can no longer use my regular mint toothpaste and mouthwash 😭

I honestly have not reacted to mint before so either I’m just reacting because I’m in a flare up or I will no longer be able to use mint products again permanently.

I used my mouthwash yesterday and it was awful. My throat was tingling and burning and felt hot, I felt so faint like I could’ve passed out, my heart was beating so fast, it was terrible. Thankfully it went away after taking an antihistamine, but man.

I also have been having reactions to my toothpaste. Similar tingling and burning, especially when it gets on the outside of my mouth.

Here’s what I was using before:
• ACT Anticavity Fluoride Mouthwash
• Parodontax Complete Protection Toothepaste

And here’s what I bought at CVS to try today:
• ACT Kids Pure Protect Simply Strawberry Mouthwash (free of dyes, sugars and alcohol)
• Hello Magical Mermaid Fluoride Toothpaste For Kids in Orange Dreamsicle flavor (free of dyes, artificial sweeteners and SLS)

If you also react to toothpaste, what do you use?

Hello fellow MCAS buddies!

So I figure there’s a fair bit of people out there with MCAS who suffer with finding the right beauty products that are MCAS safe. As an esthetician student I’m going to give some tips to help you find products that suit your skin. If you are curious about MCAS safe skincare products let me know in the comments and I can mention some that have worked for me!

Fragrance-Free: if you see this on a label it means it had no added fragrance. It can still have certain ingredients that are not MCAS safe.

Unscented: If a product says it’s unscented, this means it can actually still have fragrance in it in order to mask the scent of the original product smell.

Ingredients to be cautious with if you have MCAS:

Limonene – A fragrant citrus compound that can activate mast cells or irritate sensitive skin, especially after oxidation.
Pinene – A terpene found in pine and herbs that may trigger mast cell reactions in fragrance-sensitive individuals.
Linalool – A fragrance ingredient that becomes more irritating as it oxidizes and may provoke MCAS symptoms.
Yuzu and other citrus extracts/oils – Citrus essential oils contain fragrant compounds that can trigger mast cell activation in sensitive people.
Tea tree oil – An essential oil that can irritate the skin and trigger mast cell reactions in some individuals.
Lavender oil – A fragrant essential oil that may trigger skin irritation or mast cell activation in sensitive people.
Citral – A citrus fragrance allergen that can irritate the skin and provoke reactions in fragrance-sensitive individuals.
Coumarin – A fragrance compound that can act as a contact allergen and may trigger MCAS symptoms.
Eugenol – A clove-derived fragrance allergen that can irritate the skin and trigger mast cell activation in some people.
Alcohol denat. – Can disrupt the skin barrier and increase irritation, making mast cell reactions more likely in sensitive skin

I have a trio of terrible sleep disorders: Idiopathic hypersomnia, DSPD, and sleep apnea.

I thankfully am being treated for sleep apnea and have a CPAP but it still affects my sleep.

Almost every day I wake utterly exhausted and take 2+ hours to feel semi awake. And even after feeling semi-awake, I’m still sleepy all day because my body just feels so tired no matter how much sleep I get.

I finally adjusted my sleep schedule so I could do morning shifts that were required for my job, but my body isn’t used to being awake during the day so I still am so so so tired.

Ever since I got long covid in 2022, I haven’t had a single day where I’ve felt truly rested. I wouldn’t wish that on anyone.

Hello fellow MCAS buddies!

So I’m currently seeing a new doctor, he was one of the only doctors in the area who seemed to even know what MCAS was. When I was there he told me that I should get on allergy shots because it will improve my resistance to allergens which will improve my MCAS. This is where they inject me with things I’m already allergic to, and the last time I had them done I felt so dizzy and had to lie down.

Has anyone else been given this advice? He also didn’t seem to know or mention any medications that are mast cell stabilizers like cromolyn or other meds, just prescribed me an antihistamine and was very vague on how long I can be on it. Are any of you on anti histamines permanently?

If you have meds that work for you pls mention them below and I’d love to bring them up to my doctor.

Hello esthies!!

I’m in esthetician school right now and am trying to explore more professional skincare brands, not just my for my own skin but brands I would be confident recommending to my clients in the future.

If you have a brand that works well for your skin or for your clients skin, please share them below!

Personally for me, I have very sensitive skin and a lot of allergies so sadly a lot of skincare products in general don’t work for me due to them containing essential oils, fragrances, denatured alcohol, ect. So if you know any brands who don’t have too much of that in their products I’d love to know!

It’s actually a joke how ridiculous this condition is.

I was at work today and my manager was cleaning something and took some Clorox wipes out and left them on the front desk once she was done using them (I work front desk and she took them out of the container and didn’t throw them away after).

I start smelling the Clorox and get nauseous so I take a paper towel and use it to grab the wipes (bc god forbid I touch it with my BARE HANDS and risk a reaction) and put them in the trash can under the desk. It was maybe all of 2-3 wipes.

Then 30 minutes goes by and I start coughing. I think maybe my throat just tickles and it will go away soon. Nope. I start coughing more and more. I can’t go 10 seconds without coughing. I’m actually coughing up stuff and my throat tickles so so bad. I think I’ve randomly gotten some virus that kicked in super fast. And then I think about it some more, and just to test it I take the trash can that holds the wipes and move it to the other side of the room.

Within 10 minutes I completely stop coughing. I had an MCAS reaction just from being within a 5 foot radius of a trash can with 2 CLOROX WIPES THAT I DIDNT EVEN TOUCH 😭 what a joke.

Hello fellow esthies!

So I’m about halfway through esthetician school and am debating on whether or not I want to get my masters license. In the state I live in we have a basic program and a masters program.

The thing is for me, I don’t plan on being an esthetician for the rest of my future. I very much want to be a business owner by running a business related to skincare like owning a medspa or other things, so I’m only going to be working as an esthetician for as long as I need to until I’m making enough profit from my business to do that full time.

But since I want to start a business I figure it would be good to be as educated as I can. To those who ended up doing your masters (if your state has a masters program), how much more would you say you know about skin/skincare after graduating?

Is it like a crazy difference? Do you think I could learn similar things on my own? Do you think it’s worth it if I’m not technically going to be working directly as an esthetician? Any advice would be appreciated🩷

I have a lot of perfumes. Like probably over 50. I’ve been collecting them since high school (I’m 24 now) and today I admitted defeat and have decided to sell every single one of them.

Perfume is one of my biggest triggers. Before I knew that I had MCAS, I went to the mall trying on perfumes and later that night I had to go to the ER because I developed a pre anaphylactic allergic reaction that would’ve been bad if I hadn’t gotten IV antihistamines.

Ever since then I haven’t really touched them. I tried wearing a small amount a couple times but I would always get super itchy and not feel well so I eventually gave up. I was hoping that one day after getting a diagnosis and treatment that I would be able to wear them again, but I’ve had no luck.

My MCAS has significantly gotten worse. I now am reacting to so many more of my beauty products, even the wrong serum or sunscreen can cause my lungs to start burning all day. I also have asthma so my MCAS makes my asthma way worse.

I’m honestly devastated. These perfumes all remind me of my childhood since some of them I’ve had since elementary school, but I can no longer even smell them occasionally without risking a reaction.

Anyways I just wanted to post here because I think this sub is the only one that would understand the pain of having to cut so many things out of your life due to chronic illness.

I was diagnosed with inappropriate sinus tachycardia after 4 years of undiagnosed medical issues. I god long COVID in 2022 and I felt like I was dying every day for three months. It eventually got better but I was left with lasting issues.

I would experience frequent episodes of very very scary heart symptoms. Squeezing, heavy palpitations, chest pain, feeling weak and faint, fluttering, and I genuinely felt like I was having heart attacks each time. But of course I would go to the ER thinking I was having a serious medical episode but every single time they would find nothing besides a fast heart beat.

Finally after many years of cardiologists and being gaslight into being told I just had “anxiety” I was diagnosed with IST. And of course the only medication I can take for IST wasn’t approved by insurance. So here I am still stuck with the same terrible symptoms and no relief.

At least now I don’t have to be worried about serious heart problems, but it doesn’t make my symptoms any less scary. They also get 10x worse when I’m tired or get sick. Right now I’m lying in bed and my heart feels so so weird and uncomfortable, I don’t even know how to describe it. I’m just so over it :(

I honestly wanted to post here to see if anyone else suffers from the same symptoms as me.

I am not currently being medicated for my MCAS and if I eat food that does not agree with me I often have to immediately go to the bathroom, normally within 10 minutes I eating. My stomach will gurgle and I’m like uh oh then run to the bathroom 🥲

My face is flushed and I’m in a flare up almost constantly due to food intolerances. I don’t think I’ve had a normal bowel movement in months, but besides that I have no other concerning symptoms like pain, or bleeding, or weight loss, just seem to be reacting to most foods.

If you’ve tried an anti histamine diet, did it help you? Any input would be appreciated.

Honestly I’m so frustrated with the state of the pet industry that I’m making this post to see if anyone else has been wondering about this.

I have owned reptiles for almost 10 years now, and along the way I have met many rescues and have even rescued myself. Many of them are no longer operating, or have had to take lengthy breaks due to the sheer volume of animals being dumped on them. They can’t afford to house and feed hundreds of reptiles, ESPECIALLY when barely anyone is adopting from rescues.

Reptiles are in dire need of more help. I can’t tell you how many people go to petsmart, get a lizard for their kid and then it ends up on Craigslist a month later because their kid got bored with it. Why isn’t anyone doing anything about this?

Is there any way to help all these animals? I do blame big pet stores for this problem but at the same time there’s really no way to stop them from mass producing reptiles. I wish there was a way I could reach out to the government or just SOMEONE who would put in the work to get more facilities to help all the dumped animals. It devastates me so much.

If we can have shelters for cats and dogs we most definitely can have shelters for reptiles and other exotic animals!!

Anyways this was just a rant about my frustration. I’m sure many other reptiles lovers are frustrated with this as well.

I 24F have had DSPD since elementary school, but was only diagnosed two months ago. I’ve had attendance issues all my life because I could not tolerate getting up in the mornings and having a normal schedule. When I was little I was yelled at for not being able to get up and put into therapy because my parents thought I wasn’t going to school because I was lazy. I have been told I’m lazy so many times throughout my life that I genuinely believed that was my issue, so even after growing up I still never looked into it because I didn’t believe I could have something wrong with me.

It was only until recently I saw someone mention DSPD and I instantly made an appointment with a sleep doctor and was diagnosed. He gave me some amazing tips which I have been following and for the first time in years I have been able to get up in the morning multiple days during the week. I got a job that requires me to been there at 9:30am two to three days a week and I have successfully shown up on time every shift I have. I feel like only other people with DSPD will recognize how much of an achievement this is.

It’s not easy though. I’m constantly exhausted as my body is not used to this new schedule. I have to fight sleeping in no matter how tired I am and have messed up a few times, but I’m trying my best and making a lot of effort and progress. Even though my parents don’t knowledge my diagnosis or struggles of DSPD, I’m still proud of myself for trying my best.