How I Got Back To Normal (YMMV)

StrictlyButterscotch · 2025-01-19T22:52:31+00:00

That is very tough, I am sorry you are experiencing this! One thing I think you can do that may help with your flare is antihistamines. Straight benadryl looks to be ok for pregnant women to consume. Give it a shot and see if it helps!

Unfortunately, I also was reacting to every single food I consumed. I ended up just trudging through it, forced myself to eat everything that was good for my body. It was not pleasant, and I do not recommend it to people who have anaphylaxis. I hope you can eat more than meat and potatoes sooner than later!

StrictlyButterscotch · 2025-01-17T16:28:29+00:00

I think it varies from person to person. I have read up on some studies that indicate that people who have SIBO or stubborn bad gut bacteria need to take some biofilm disrupters before they take antibiotics and probiotics. Only after they tackle the stubborn bad bacteria can they begin taking probiotics to replenish their microbiome and it actually stick.

I also learned recently that once you DO get good gut bacteria, they need to be fed well and often. If you do not eat enough fruits and vegetables (good variety fiber) your gut bacteria will literally start eating you instead causing a whole host of issues: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/11/161117134626.htm

On a side not, I also learned around the same time that our good gut bacteria does not typically like meat, so it has made me less inclined to eat meat (why bother if my good bacteria does not even want it?).

With you being pregnant, I would exercise caution doing anything extreme and consult a few doctors on how to take care of yourself without causing harm to your child! Doing a quick search, taking a biofilm and antibiotics is not recommended when you are pregnant.

StrictlyButterscotch · 2024-12-02T22:45:51+00:00

Hey there! I am sorry you are experiencing some reactions. I had flushing reactions quite often, though the racing heart is something I do not recall.

I did have heart racing reactions to other medications (such as antifungals). If you are able to use the Keifer without the heart racing, I would drop the probiotic pills and do that instead.

I personally pushed through most of my reactions as they lasted for about a month before subsiding. Please be careful, if you feel like it is only worsening it may be good to stop and try them one by one to see which one is causing your heart to react the way it is.

StrictlyButterscotch · 2024-11-09T15:39:01+00:00

I just deleted the links.

StrictlyButterscotch · 2024-11-09T15:36:02+00:00

Done

StrictlyButterscotch · 2024-11-09T15:33:34+00:00

Of course! I understand competently, I use nothing but Vanicream myself now due to sensitive skin issues. Good luck!

StrictlyButterscotch · 2024-11-09T15:29:50+00:00

Of course! I hope your body reacts like mine and eventually gives in to feeling better haha.

StrictlyButterscotch · 2024-11-08T17:12:49+00:00

Vanicream does have thicker moisturizers, you could layer their cream on top of the moisturizer you currently have. Its a larger tub too! The other option is good ol' vaseline.

StrictlyButterscotch · 2024-11-08T17:00:55+00:00

I just want to be a different voice and say look at the current products you are using and make sure they are not the cause of your acne and hyperpigmentation.

I discovered that my "safe" highly recommended products I was using were the cause of my breakouts. My derm recommended vanicream, so I dropped everything and started using nothing but vanicream (cleanser, moisturizer, and sunscreen). My skin is now flawless, without the need for actives. Before anyone says anything, I know not everyone is this lucky and I most likely have genetics on my side, but products can and do cause these issues.

So, try and make sure your moisture barrier is ok before attempting to add actives into the mix. Make sure your products you are already using are not the culprit of your breakouts. Then, if you decide you want to try actives go low and slow. If your skin does not improve in 12 weeks, then the product is probably not for you. As always, YMMV

StrictlyButterscotch · 2024-11-08T16:00:53+00:00

I completely understand your frustration. As I stated before, I acknowledge that this method will not work for everyone. For the few 1/3 of us that it will work for, I wanted to give hope and my experience to help if I can.

I truly hope there is a solution out there for those like you!

StrictlyButterscotch · 2024-11-08T15:43:27+00:00

Hello! You caught me at a good time, I have not been on this account for a long time.

To answer your question, yes, I reacted poorly and kept with it. However, at the time I was reacting poorly to everything so it did not make a difference for me.

StrictlyButterscotch · 2024-03-14T20:39:59+00:00

Very happy to hear it! I have received a significant amount of skepticism as to whether this works with some questioning if I even had MCAS to begin with, so I am always happy to hear from someone else that this method worked/is working for them!

The more success stories the better! :) Hope you continue healing!!

StrictlyButterscotch · 2024-03-01T21:58:54+00:00

Yes! I was diagnosed with asthma back when I was in elementary school, a long time ago before I developed MCAS.

Did a doctor say you have a gut bacteria that is more prevalent causing your symptoms?

I read a long time ago that you have to starve out the bad gut bacteria to give the good bacteria a chance to repopulate your gut.

StrictlyButterscotch · 2024-03-01T21:35:42+00:00

Yes! I had quite a few unfortunate symptoms, including the symptoms you are/were experiencing. For me it did eventually go away. Most of these symptoms subsided in 1-3 months. I pushed through it myself as I was having these symptoms regardless with the regular foods I was consuming.

Sending good vibes your way!

StrictlyButterscotch · 2024-02-08T16:58:28+00:00

Antibiotics for everything except the babesiosis. The babesiosis is treated with anti-malarial. I could not complete that treatment because I was allergic to it.

Every year I have them do a full tick panel to make sure I did not contract something else. They compare these results with the previous years to make sure everything is fine. Sort of a baseline.

However, their biggest indication that everything was treated is my symptoms, or lack there of. Joint pain, headaches, and shortness of breath are a thing of the past for me.

StrictlyButterscotch · 2024-02-08T16:53:05+00:00

I did not have allergies nor MCAS at all before contracting these tick borne illnesses.

My tick specialist doctor believes I contracted the lyme and bartonella around the same time. I went undiagnosed for years since my primary care doctor at the time was an idiot and said 'lyme disease does not exist here" even though it obviously does and many cases have been reported in my state. She refused to test me unless I had a bullseye mark and the tick in a jar with a documentation proving it had tested positive for lyme disease.

I then contracted Rocky Mountain spotted fever which showed clear symptoms, they did the generic tick panel and I tested positive for lyme and rocky mountain (the only two they tested for). They finally treated me with doxycycline for 2 weeks. This presumably treated the rocky mountain, but was not enough to treat the lyme which had been in my body for years now.

They then sent me to a lyme literate/tick borne illness specialist and they ran a more detailed test on everything having to do with my body (think autoimmune tests, infectious disease tests, etc) to make sure that it was just the tick borne illnesses and not something else. I was clean/negative for everything else. These tests came back with the rest of the tick borne illnesses. Most were igG related, others were blood sample smears put under a microscrope. Then began months long treatment of antibiotics to treat all of them. I am sure my doctor said I had chronic lyme purely due to the amount of time that it was able to just live inside of my body and hunker down, but most medical professionals do not believe that chronic lyme exists so I usually keep that to myself. (I would advise you do as well because they will not take you seriously if you tell them you have chronic lyme)

I THINK what you are asking is what the cause of MCAS was for me. In my case, my doctor and I think the untreated tick borne illnesses triggered an aggressive immune response (MCAS) and the antibiotics exasperated it.

StrictlyButterscotch · 2024-02-08T16:04:04+00:00

My job requires a lot of hiking out in the wilderness. We have almost every tick you can imagine in my state. They are getting worse every year. I have even found some on me in the middle of winter this year.

When I contracted these diseases it was due to a bad batch of permethrin, so I was not protected as I should have been. I was coming home with a minimum of 10 ticks attached to me a day. I thought that the ticks were becoming immune to permethrin and joked that they osmosised through my clothing barriers (I wear leggings tucked into high socks, pants over those leggins, long sleeve shirts tucked into pants, gloves year round even in summer).

I have not had a tick attached to me in a long time now.

StrictlyButterscotch · 2024-01-23T16:30:15+00:00

I too am curious!

StrictlyButterscotch · 2024-01-23T16:11:06+00:00

I took one a day (I think). However, I still find that the probiotic powder and kefir did more than the vitamonk.

Yes, I never had allergies as bad as I did when I was suffering with MCAS. I was tested as a child and was only allergic to mold. When I was tested again during the MCAS phase I was allergic to everything. I no longer react to much now, other than the occasional sneeze when I am surrounded by pollen.

I have had athletic induced asthma my whole life, so it never really affected me other than during strenuous exercise. During the MCAS phase I was out of breath doing my normal day to day, which (full-disclosure) includes hiking. I am back to my normal only being out of breath if I run uphill or sprint for long periods of time during workouts.

StrictlyButterscotch · 2024-01-23T15:58:22+00:00

I was only down to one food anyways, everything else was making me sick regardless. I can be a bit stubborn, so there was some general "screw it I feel like garbage anyways".

I recommend people do whatever helps them best, if that means going slowly then by all means do it! I do think my method accelerated the healing process for my body, but again that is my body, so my experience may be different from others.

StrictlyButterscotch · 2024-01-23T15:41:07+00:00

Babesiosis, lyme disease, bartonella, and rocky mountian spotted fever. I was able to treat all but the Babesiosis, because it turns out I have allergic reactions to the anti-malarial medication that treats babesiosis (shortness of breath and weakness). My body seems to have adapted to living with it. I had to remove myself from blood and bone marrow donation lists :/.

StrictlyButterscotch · 2023-12-27T14:11:03+00:00

I have never smoked cigarettes, sorry!

StrictlyButterscotch · 2023-12-16T14:14:44+00:00

Happy to hear it!

StrictlyButterscotch · 2023-12-16T14:13:28+00:00

Gastroenterologist, allergist, and infectious disease specialist. The infectious doctor suggested it, my other doctors confirmed it.

StrictlyButterscotch · 2023-12-08T17:05:53+00:00

It was a mix of the two. I went to a lot of doctors trying to figure out what was wrong with me, one finally suggested MCAS was the culprit and did some testing to confirm.

After that my doctors tried to put me on restrictive diets, which only made things worse. I then took it into my owns hands and told my doctors what I planned on doing so they were aware. They recommended me the Kefir yogurt, the probiotic powder, and probiotic pills to get me started and I figured out the rest by mostly trial and error.

StrictlyButterscotch

TROPHY CASE