For Those Interested - I Saw Dr. Afrin And Have A Possible Mcas Diagnosis

[futurehope]

Diagnosing MCAS:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3069946/

[issie]

Diagnosing MCAS:

http://www.ncbi.nlm....les/PMC3069946/

Good article. There is one thing that has been of interest on the MCAS website - I'm on. Despite this article warning against aspirin - some are finding aspirin to be beneficial for them. It can't have dye in it though.

As for the flushing with out the color. If I eat something sometimes, I get this "hot flash" type feeling. It usually is a sensitivity to something. I can usually figure out - that there was something I ate that I shoouldn't have. If H1's and/maybe H2's help you will have your answer.

Issie

[Maiysa]

I'm with Issie Claire, I flush a lot and it doesn't usually show up on my skin. I called Mayo and asked them if it was hot flashes, because I used to have hot flashes but they didn't feel like this. My doctor told me if it's lasting more than a few minutes it's not a hot flash. I would actually flush over and over non stop for days. But it seems to have gotten better with taking a lot of the histamines foods out of my diet. But I was eating at the least 2 cups of spinach because I was juicing it, so probably making it easier to stimulate the mast cells. Anyhow found out that spinach is one of the worst foods. So finding out your triggers is also helpful.

Maiysa

[DoozlyGirl]

Claire,

Hormonal flushing or hot flashes due to hormones should last a minute or two. I will flush and t look like a tomatoe or sometimes just a light pink, but it is still flushing.

Lyn

[CharmedLinz]

Can someone explain how you know you are "flushing"???

I have always had temperature fluctuations but in February they changed and now I'm either bone-chilling to the core cold, with NO goosebumps, but warm liquids, heating pads, nothing helps.

Then I will go immediately into being sooo horribly hot that I have to put my head between my knees to keep from both passing out and puking.

Then back again to the cold. There is NO in between. I was chalking this up to my Small Fiber Neuropathy getting worse since everything else got worse at the same time. Thought my temperature regulator has just been destroyed.

Now I'm wondering if it could be partially flushing???

I asked my Mother to look at me during a hot episode and she said my sking wasn't any different than my normal patchy red, purple, blue ,etc.

And I don't sweat during them unless I'm standing up when one happens, but then I think I sweat because I'm going to wind up flat on the ground from passing out.

My BP seems to drop severely now during these.

My PCP confirmed these are NOT hot flashes, as they don't make sense of how quickly I went into these crazy freezing to burning and back again with nothing in between. None like he's seen anyway and my temp is anywhere from 92 to 99.

So how does flushing feel to some of you???

[LindaJoy]

I flush all the time with whatever is causing my flushing--yet to be diagnosed, either mast cell or neuroendocrine--and I also have hot flushes from being close to menopause. To me, they feel very different.

With my menopausal hot flashes, it suddenly feels like someone cranked the heat up to 95 degrees. I get hot all over and may sweat. I want to strip down to tank tops and shorts. I fan myself. I may turn red, I may not. Then, within a few minutes, it passes.

With flushing, I can feel my face and upper back turning red with heat. I do not sweat. My chest and neck will turn red, too, but I usually don't have any sensation. It doesn't feel like someone turned up the heat. It simply feels like my skin is changing somehow and becoming hot and red for some reason. It can get pretty uncomfortable, almost, at times, like I'm sunburned. I do not feel this way with hot flashes. It's all about the skin, with flushing. My skin feels different somehow. With hot flashes, I just feel hot all over, not like it's coming from the skin, but like I stepped into a hot sun room.

Does this make sense. They are two very different things for me. And, the flushing lasts longer. I may be red and feel the heat in my face and upper back for hours. Hot flashes are just that--quick flashes.

Hope this helps.

Lindajoy

[Maiysa]

CharmedLinz,

I also have autonomic neuropathy and so I'm wondering if that is why I sweat with mine, since I noticed Linda doesn't. ON my Qsart test I had zero sweat, so when I sweat it doesn't feel normal to me. And then I am cold and shaky after. These can last all day long over and over for a few months at a time. I started premature menopause at 32 and had hot flashes for 10 years. I would get so warm, like a rush all the way up to my ears. But it was a very short moment but side effects lasted maybe a minute or so. And they didn't make me feel anything too uncomfortable compared to the flushing I have now. The flushing I have now makes me feel extremely dizzy, almost like my system is overstimulated and just makes me feel illl. Sometimes i get a fever of 101 with my flushing also. I went to ER once when I didn't know I had mast cel and couldn't stop flushing and they said I had a fever of 101 and my tryptase was a still elevated a few days later even though it had calmed down. I didn't realize I was having fevers. And now I take my temp when this is happening and I have the fevers with them, but haven't found many that get the fevers. Anyhow, hope that helps. Feel well.

Maiysa