I have been suffering with a MCAD for 1 1/2 years now. They still do not know the cause of it.
I take several meds a day to help keep the massive hives down. (it works about 80% of the time)
I also suffer from moderate to severe angioedema.
Meds I take daily...
300mg of Rantitine (Zantac)
5 to 10mg of Xyzal
and 10mg of Singulair
I also keep a Epi-Pen with me at all times. (you should also - ask your Dr to prescribe it for you, also keep some liquid Benadryl around). Also stay away from foods that are high in histamine (Google Foods High in Histamine), chances are your histamine levels are already high and staying away from foods that are high in histamine will help keep your histamine levels down as much as possible. It's not that you are allergic to foods high in histamine only that they increase the high levels of histamine already in your body. I have had both the RAST and Scratch tests done for 72+ allergens and I am not allergic to any of them, again they don't know yet what caused my MCAD yet. They may never know. I will wait another 6 months and if it does not burn out like they say it may do then I will be heading to TN to get tested here http://www.tmsforacure.org
The above meds are the ones that work the best for me at this point - but I have been on several types of antihistamine's and several combos of antihistamine's. I had to wean myself off of Prednisone.
Thank you. I lost my internet connection last night just as I started googling the subject.
It certainly seems to be an angle to pursue.
I don’t get hives, but I’ve always had eczema. It flared up when I was a baby, a teen, and now, just within the last few years. It’s all food and contact to chemicals related, that I’ve established for sure.
I was on Zyrtec for a time and had horrible side effects from it. I’d hesitate to try Xyzal. I’m already on Singulair.
Interestingly, the food reaction symptoms always got worse when I was at high levels of my allergy shots, trying to get them up to where the dr wanted them, and after I got really sick last spring, and one or two occasions just at random.
I always suspected that the symptoms flared up because I overloaded my immune system.
I do carry an epi-pen with me everywhere.
The thing that puzzles me is that the non-rash symptoms resolve themselves so quickly no matter if I try to do something about them or not. That’s one aspect that makes me think it’s not allergic.
I’ve had food allergy testing done twice and it actually shows an improvement in my food allergies, which means the few things I tested mildly allergic to got better.
Keep in touch via FReepmail with me about this. I’ll let you know what I come up with.
Another question.
Is this progressive, on it’s own?
Or is it like allergies where you become sensitized by things?
Avoidance helps the symptoms, but with the fact that it seems that it’s gradually getting worse, there’s less and less I can eat.
I can’t see going on like this for the few more decades of life I have.
With regular allergies, increased exposure makes the symptoms worse and taking anti-histamines deals with the symptoms but does not stop the sensitization process.
Is taking all that medication merely dealing with the symptoms while I’d be becoming worse by exposure to allergens?
If it’s going to get progressively worse and it’s not by sensitization, should I be concerned about exposure ton things that make me react?
Do you get what I’m asking?