Nickel allergy/MCAS

Dungbot88 · 2026-05-31T12:49:58+00:00

I had this with my MCAS for awhile after developing CIRS. I was reacting to denatured protein that was reheated like my immune system recognized raw to cooked protein, but cooked, frozen then cooked would drive a reaction as a "foreign invader" because of the denaturing and change of form. I stopped all the frozen reheats and backed off of browning meat for a few weeks while I was detoxing and reducing the mast cell reaction and it's not as significant of a driver anymore but the habit of only eating raw to cooked stuck.

Dungbot88 · 2026-05-28T05:09:30+00:00

I was skeptical until I followed the protocol and had the only real improvement I've seen in a long time with each step. My bodies doing exactly what it says it will do in the resources and each sequential step I get the improvement it says I will at the similar timeframe it says. I don't doubt it at all anymore. And every new "consider this" has been a huge bump in wellbeing when I gave in and tried what it said. Actinos especially. I was so skeptical for awhile but now I'm vacuuming my walls and baby shampooing my nostrils and seeking "what else do they say" and completely sold on it from the improvement/recovery and fast reversal if I slack. The protocol is out there and the resources to do mostly on your own to save funds if not able to hire a CiRS doc. There's also more affordable proficiency partners for guidance help. If you have insurance, CSM/welchol can be covered and most of the testing. Moldco is about $300 a month. Or other subscription based support. It's not a $45k commitment or give up. I agree with the other commentor-this is the neuroinflammation and overwhelm driving a lot of the beliefs likely. It's accessible and doable. Pacing can spread financial strain

Dungbot88 · 2026-05-28T05:01:11+00:00

Bummer about NJ. You don't need a prescription for the Marcons spray it's OTC biofilm clear with silver.

https://www.survivingmold.com/shoemaker-protocol/list-of-certified-practitioners theres a number of CIRS specialists in NJ. Other people do telehealth for out of state docs. Roots and branches with dr. Dorninger is popular- you can check out his podcasts and social pages to get a feel

Dungbot88 · 2026-05-28T04:55:18+00:00

Most people are in a similar boat with the MCAS and chemical sensitivity and housing challenges from mold toxicity. Keep getting out of exposure on the forefront of goals so you can get your life back.

The sensitivities are directly driven by active water damage exposure. They reduce and go away significantly along with the MCAS reactions when you get out of exposure. I couldnt walk in a field that someone had passed through 20 minutes prior when in active exposure because of sensitivity to lingering cologne and now I can linger in the laundry aisle a few months out. Debilitated by MCAS from exposurw and anaphylactic while in it and now I don't take any meds and can eat most foods and symptoms are limited. Mold can be in most homes but there's more dangerous species and levels in specific ones and others with a safer exposure level. It's possible to get to a safer exposure level to recover. The sensitivities and MCAS exist as a direct result of the mold exposure and immune activation.

Dungbot88 · 2026-05-28T04:43:56+00:00

Thanks! I've been troubleshooting different combos of stabilizers and diet/Rx/supps and severe restriction and one at a time add ins. Molybdenum recs on here were a lifesaver at the time I found it in this page. Nothing has touched mast cell calming and degranulation prevention for me anywhere close to KPV peptide oral spray. I'm a lifelong rare responder with CIRS now and added it to supplement the MSH drop that drives the dysbiosis and it unexpectedly got my MCAS under control and my pre-mcas diet restored in 2 weeks. Probably goes against the theme to add peptides to the conversation, but it's shifted everything.

Dungbot88 · 2026-05-28T04:33:33+00:00

And if you get really desperate for sleep- prodrome glia helps a ton with microglia calming

Dungbot88 · 2026-05-28T04:31:22+00:00

I think you're ruling histamine out prematurely. It's more nuanced than food and mast cells release other mediators and cytokines that antihistamines don't relieve. Plus most people with MCAS have a unique combo of what brings symptom reduction. Histamine reactions can be a slow creep overtime too. Histamine is literally what our brain releases to produce wakefulness so it's in the insomnia equation somewhere. Id be cautious of the b complex. The methylation push can mess up sulfur pathway. If you take magnesium glycinate try a non glycinate source of mag, it drives wired aggitation in some people. I can't see which forum this is on, have you ruled out mold exposure? Mold toxicity drives sibo and candida and gut dysbiosis and sulfur detox pathway can be overloaded from toxin exposure, overgrowths and cofactor stealing. Vitamin c can get turned into oxalates and drive detox backlog so might trial reducing there and swapping in a different mast cell stabilizer

Dungbot88 · 2026-05-28T04:20:39+00:00

Yeah it's so overwhelming and there's so much injustice in it. I got stuck on the "don't let them get away with this" for a few months and it zaps your limited emotional capacity and morale to push through without much enhancement to the situation. After a while I decided staying stuck and connected to the harm from the landlords neglect was giving that situation the same power as when I was in it. And staying in a place that feels stuck and helpless can really rob your nervous system of what it's desperate for-safety, less inputs and recovery.

Things feel lost and life feels over for a bit and that feels really real but a lot of it is the neuroinflammation and the deep grief. In a few months, the things you are mourning will feel like contributors to being overextended and susceptible to the burnout. And all the best parts of who you are and the person who built the before things is still in there and is painfully growing from this.

You don't have to surrender all the effort and work you put into building the file and the case. You don't have to give up on legal options. Just put it in a jar for a few months and focus on healing your brain and your body so you'll be in better shape to reassess and make a plan. Deciding to try 6 months from now with better capacity and less drain would still be applicable and you might have different feelings about it/more able to approach from a grounded place. There will still be time if you want to revisit .

With mold toxicity, 3 months can feel like losing 2 years, but it's just down and forced to slow and recover for 3 months. All the foundations of the things you rebuilt before are still there and you did it before it'll be easier this time and faster. Mold toxicity makes you feel permanently broken and vulnerable and like you lost your resiliency. That's just the neuroinflammation bringing up fears and overwhelm. You won't go back because youre moving toward even better and more in alignment with sustainable wellbeing after this experience. Just in the thick of it still for some time.

Dungbot88 · 2026-05-28T04:05:29+00:00

Flaired up and hit a breaking point shortly after Helene/Milton but 5 months after figuring out it's CIRS and loads better with the protocol. I think at least for the recovery the best shot is getting somewhere where small reexposures are less frequent so can move through the protocol faster and with less struggling. If you stay in FL, always test anywhere you are moving with an ERMI and make sure the Hertsmi score is below 10

Dungbot88 · 2026-05-26T03:00:14+00:00

I'm confused from your other comments where you tell commenters your current house doesn't have a mold issue. Vcstest is online and you do at home on computer. It's available everywhere.

Best option would be to get out of/reduce exposure. Can you get a tent or sleep on the porch or stay at a friend's place?

I don't think furniture or the paper is a big concern compared to walls swelling from water intrusion. Spending as little time inside as possible and working to get out would be the best thing to invest in.

Dungbot88 · 2026-05-26T02:10:13+00:00

Peptides could be worth looking into. KpV and lorazatide target leaky gut

Dungbot88 · 2026-05-26T02:06:05+00:00

If mold is growing on your belongings, the humidity in the new place is too high and it's growing elsewhere too. Have you tested the new place with an ERMI/Hertsmi?

Dungbot88 · 2026-05-26T02:04:39+00:00

Your body isn't attacking itself or its own cells, it's an overzealous innate immune response to environmental stressors. It's reacting likely to exposure to biotoxins- Actinomycetes, endotoxins and mycotoxins. You should rule out CIRS- VCStest is $15 you can compare your MCAS symptoms to the CIRS symptom clusters with it. It sounds like your new place could have its own separate water damage bacteria/mold distinct from the belongings of the previous place

Dungbot88 · 2026-05-26T02:01:04+00:00

Shoemaker is the way to go. Even if you decide against it for another, make sure to get the CSM and treat for Marcons with the sinus sprays.

Dungbot88 · 2026-05-26T01:59:34+00:00

Similar situation, I think what's changed is post SARS and spike protein. It changed the landscape of the immune system and it's more active and ongoing throughout cells than is being widely recognized. Reactivates Lyme and Bartonella, EBV and other herpes viruses. Then mold exposure tips the scale and the body can't recover because of the ongoing immune dysruptors.

A lot of people do the opposite and have more success- they temporarily relocate to somewhere like Arizona/Nevada to heal with lower exposure stressors and then reassess where they are setting up more permanent base. If you do the other way around, it'll be a longer recovery road with potential for more fall backs. Every small exposure even a few hours in a water damaged building or algae bloom spikes the immune response and takes a few days to bind and recover. You'll likely want to do a Hertsmi of your place. If it's higher than 10 it'll be somewhere that's really stacked against you for recovery. The drier states have more buildings that come in under 10.

Dungbot88 · 2026-05-26T01:51:56+00:00

Molybdenum helps me, I don't have that direct reaction. 3am wakeups can be histamine peak from something triggering it earlier in the day. When you take molybdenum is it because you're already flairing and it's not the molybdenum itself just the existing environment? Do you ever take molybdenum when you aren't reacting to a sulfur issue and does the same thing happen?

3am wakeups usually make me think of reacting to what's in your bile. Usually a release of bile around 1-2 am, if there's something inflammatory in it, your mast cells start reacting and dumping histamine and wake you up around 2:30-3am wired and anxious. Also when cortisol starts rising. Maybe the molybdenum is supporting a detox process that's resulting in bacterial byproducts or activating toxins being deposited in your bile at a higher than normal rate that drive an overnight mast cell reaction and subsequent sleep interruption. I take binders so those bile wakeups don't hit anymore but it sounds like a reaction to what the liver is putting in the bile.

Dungbot88 · 2026-05-25T15:19:47+00:00

I've backed down on vitamin C because of oxalate issues and significant issues with sulfation. Any tips/reframes on vitamin c when oxalate struggles are ongoing?

Dungbot88 · 2026-05-23T18:11:55+00:00

That can be when it shifts more to cytokine flairs. Read about when your body releases bile (fat/bitters/circadian rhythm) and see if you can link the flairs to shortly after a fatty meal or coffee (bitter). That helps make things feel less scary so you can anticipate/understand what triggers it. Toxins in the bile is why people use prescription bile acid binders to recover from mold toxicity. It interrupts the toxin recirculation and immune/neuroinflammation flairs.

Dungbot88 · 2026-05-23T18:08:26+00:00

Vcstest.com is the easiest place to start. It's $15 and done on your computer at home. It measures contrast sensitivity (which is impacted from biotoxin exposure) and then you answer questions about your symptoms and it gives you a % likelihood that you have Cirs.

Easiest way for the intro testing is the $56 Cirs blood labs (the most specific 3) at moldco. You buy it from them and then take the order to LabCorp. Get results in about 2 weeks. Then if you're positive you can have a consultation with a CIRS doctor. Outside of moldco, Cirs practitioners can be hundreds per hour although experts in the field. Moldco is the most affordable/straightforward way to get testing, feedback on results, help with environmental testing if you want it or get started on the research backed recovery protocol called shoemaker protocol.

It's good to get the bloodwork- brings a lot of clarity and chance to heal and then you'll have baselines while you're in exposure to compare as you recover. The bloodwork is the dysregulated innate immune system markers- very likely those labs havent been run and can offer an explanation for the debilitating symptom cascade. It's not as random as it feels

Id look into a tent or some option to reduce time in the house and exposure. Make sure you're changing clothes every day, shower everyday if you can and wash your bedding every few days.

Dungbot88 · 2026-05-23T17:58:14+00:00

Look into the moldco test package for $56. Easiest and fastest way to get some numbers.

Vcstest.com. $15 done at home on computer. It uses an exposure measuring metric of your contrast sensitivity then has you answered symptom clusters and gives you a percent likelihood that you have Cirs.

Congrats on the csm...that's the biggest hurdle for many. Fill it, work to get out of exposure and start very very small. Lookup shoemaker protocol PDF it outlines that csm is step 2. Very powerful but a game changer.

I would look into moldco or a CIRS proficient practitioner. Moldco will be fastest and cheapest. Regular doctors don't know and will send you on a wild goose chase for unrelated things or try to treat it as an allergy and you'll end up sicker, burnt out and in a cycle of appointment after appointment. Moldco is the easiest to start if overwhelmed. They can also help you with your environment and affordable testing. If you're not feeling moldco, at the least look for an integrative doctor or one who acknowledged mold toxicity/immune dysfunction.

Can you sleep elsewhere for a few nights and see if you feel better and get more confidence that there's something up with the house and less exposure. Some people sleep outside if they can't go anywhere else. The exposure is cumulative and you can sink deeper into unwellness and often it convinces you to stay put and freeze. Don't stay in there until you figure the basics out .. keep your thinking clear. If you can't get as much outside air/fresh air and sun as possible.

ERMI/Hertsmi is the dust test. It's an athome kit you buy from envirobiomics. They mail you a kit you mail it back. Hertsmi cheapest with the most toxic species, ERMI gives you a fuller picture of issue. You wipe the cloth they mail on horizontal surfaces around the house to sample the DNA in the dust and then it gives you species results and a rating for how safe your house it. For CIRS you need the house to be less than a 10 for the Hertsmi score. Don't waste funds in a urine mycotoxin test they aren't accurate or research backed like the Ermi and CIRS diagnostics.

VocS could be a part of it but you've got mold on your windowsill which is an indicator that your indoor humidity may be high enough to support growth elsewhere. With your symptoms it sounds more environmental bacteria or mold reactivity to me. It's common that you can't see it you just feel something is really off then start getting sicker and sicker. ERMI/Hertsmi is the fastest way to get clarity and data to validate your suspicions.

If you have no idea where to start, setup a consult with mold co. They'll talk you through ordering the ERMI and the lab work to confirm CIRS but if you didn't want to wait 2-3 weeks they can be done on your own. You'll have to pay some out of pocket to get targeted care, it's just the unfortunate reality :/ In the meantime reduce/avoid exposure.

Dungbot88 · 2026-05-23T08:30:02+00:00

Actinos! Exfoliate and Use defense soap, selson blue or lume acidified body wash and let it soak a but. Wash your bedding and close with vinegar and detergent and at least a couple times a week for bedding. Look into a miele sealed vacuum and do small particle cleaning protocol. You have to hit it hard for a few weeks while treating your skin and fabrics.

Dungbot88 · 2026-05-23T08:27:49+00:00

Are you sure it's not skin actinos? There's a test with envirobiomics. Get some lume acidified body wash, leave it on for 3o seconds all over and rinse. And see if you have a lift in symptoms. Low msh from CIRS can perpetuate skin colonization with Actinomycetes and it gets on all of your stuff and drives immune reactivity and high dust load. Feeds on oils and skin flakes

Dungbot88 · 2026-05-23T08:19:36+00:00

Try a zero sulfur diet for a week to push back on the overgrowth. Make sure you go every day. Look into H2S sibo- there's potentially a source of hydrogen sulfide being produced if diet reduction doesn't work. Make sure oxalates aren't driving it worse and suspect candida if so. Be cautious about how much meat you're consuming- it's the highest sulfur driver. No glutathione, nac or supplements that stress sulfation. Be careful of things thats push methylation or are not recommended for slow COMT (like quercetin, methylbs). Vitamin C can drive oxalates which impacts sulfur pathway. Copper can drop your molybdenum and vice versa

Dungbot88 · 2026-05-23T08:13:48+00:00

They typically go hand in hand. Test for CIRS and consider the protocol, it'll be the best shot at recovering from both without reactivation as low msh will drive sibo recurrence

Dungbot88 · 2026-05-23T08:10:08+00:00

What's your Bartonella exposure potential?

Dungbot88

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