I’ve ID these as chicken of the woods, and would feel comfortable eating them myself at this point, however given this is my first time finding them, and I will be feeding them to someone else, I would appreciate the confirmation, as well as any suggestions on how to prepare them.
Found in Brandenburg, Germany. In a wooded area growing on a log (see pics).
For context, I have EDS and have suspected MCAS for a while but have never found any doctor to take me seriously and the symptoms have been potentially confounded by other things so I haven’t looked further into it.
Last week I had a medical procedure (hysteroscopy) where biopsies were taken and when I asked in another group of the symptoms I was having could be LDN side effects (started taking it a couple of months ago but had recently titrated up) a couple of people said it sounded like an MCAS flare as a response to the stress my body experienced due to the procedure.
I think one of the reasons why I’m feeling so bad is mainly because due to the LDN I’ve been feeling better than I have in more than a decade so the contrast is very stark.
My symptoms have been: general fatigue, joint and muscle pains, headaches at times accompanied by light sensitivity, feeling very cold then very hot and having intermittent elevated temperature (not quite a fever but up to 38.2 C, weird swollen spots on my skin (hives?), canker sores, itchy eyes, emotional liability and a dry cough (feel like my bronchi are irritated). I’ve also noticed I feel worse after eating (more tired, eyes get itchy, and just this morning randomly got a weird large swollen lump on the inside of my lip which went away after 45 min or so (I didn’t bite myself or do anything else that would explain it).
I was at the doctor who told me it was likely just a viral infection, however at this point 8-9 days out and with little improvement I’m thinking I should treat it as if it were indeed a flare and see if I have any success. Given I don’t actually know how to do this, I’m asking for help here.
Based on what I’ve read I plan to take cetrizin and desloratadine (both available over the counter here) and will try to find some quercetin, besides that hydrate a lot and try to eat a simple diet with low histamine and no potential allergens (I’ve never done allergy testing and have no known allergens).
I would appreciate any insight from this community on what you think in general about this situation (and whether it could indeed be MCAS) and about how I plan to proceed (really don’t want to make anything worse) - to clarify, I’m not looking for medical advice or specific dosing etc (although if anyone is open to sharing and it adheres to the rules I’m open to it), I’m just looking for input to know whether I’m completely off base here more if what I’m saying kind of makes sense.
Thank you very much in advance!
I would like to preface this by apologizing for the long winded background to get to the actual question, just want to make sure the context and details are clear.
The background: I have EDS and was prescribed LDN for fatigue, have been on it for a couple of months and have been feeling great. I started at 0.1mg titrated very slowly and have now reached 0.35mg. At the beginning and with some of the increases I had side effects but they were mild and went away after 5-8 days or so.
The current state: I had a miscarriage a couple of months ago (before starting LDN), and had some retained products of conception so I had to have a hysteroscopy. I was literally feeling the best I have in years prior the procedure and the procedure itself was incredibly simple, painless, fast etc. However the night after the procedure I woke up with a terrible headache, elevated temperature (though not a fever yet) and body aches. I’ve spoke with the gynecologists who told me it doesn’t sound like an infection and that as long as I don’t have pelvic pain I shouldn’t worry. They also said even though it’s a simple procedure it can stress the body out and since biopsies were also taken that this can cause a reaction in the body. It has now been 5 days and the only way I am able to somewhat function is by consistently taking ibuprofen. However by somewhat function I mean lying in bed all day and managing to sleep and eat and possibly watching some shows, I haven’t been able to work really at all. Without the ibuprofen I just want to curl up and cry the pain and discomfort is so bad, also my temperature rises and I can’t sleep.
My question: I increased my LDN dosage I believe a day or two prior the procedure (can’t remember exactly), and have continued taking the new dosage since then. I hadn’t thought of it, simply because the side effects I’ve had before were different and milder, but could these be side effects from the LDN? Should I stop taking it or lower the dosage? Or is this most probably just a coincidence and I have some virus (covid test was negative)?
Any advise would be greatly appreciated!