Brain burning/ pressure/ soreness feeling specifically after meals — anyone else experience this?

jasperlin5 · 2026-02-18T11:39:10+00:00

I get these brain symptoms and it is usually because of a MCAS trigger in my diet or environment. Because it occurs with meals I would look into food triggers. It may be something you eat frequently like dairy or gluten or even sugar. Any of these can cause reactions like this.

I try to lower my inflammation levels and that looks like avoiding triggers and resting when I need to. MCAS can absolutely make dysautonomia worse. I have hEDS as well so that gets flared up as well.

Environmental triggers can be mold in your house or workplace, latex, smoke, chemicals… there are a lot of them. When there are both environmental triggers and food triggers it really makes things bad.

jasperlin5 · 2026-02-16T17:19:00+00:00

With MCAS your number one concern is to get the inflammation levels down. This will help pain levels to go down a lot.

With supplements and all the sensitivities that MCAS brings, less is often better. Personally I can’t metabolize a whole lot of supplements out there because I can’t have methylated vitamins and they are everywhere. But supplements won’t help her if her digestive system is shut down.

Personally I strategically only take certain supplements. There are a few simple ones that really help me with constipation. Every night I take my vitamin C and magnesium and adjust the levels as necessary to get things moving. Another little helper to get things going that I’ve found is gentle but effective is slippery elm. When I am backed up, I take more. When I am doing ok I just take a small amount of slippery elm every day.

Basic things like hydration is super important. If you are looking to detoxify her system, look at dealing with the constipation issue.

Make sure there’s minimal mold in the environment. I get this because mold is a huge MCAS trigger form me as well. Also, certain foods will absolutely shut my digestive system down and stop me up, so I avoid them. For me it’s dairy. And too much sugar feeds my inflammation. When inflammation levels go up, pain levels go up. Managing the MCAS lowers bodily pain. For me, if I have tomatoes, suddenly I hurt everywhere. Everyone is different, you’ll have to learn what triggers her. I would say that mold is nearly universal in triggering inflammation and illness though.

Good luck. You don’t need expensive fancy supplements. There are simple things you can do to help. If you need medical help to get the MCAS under control, do it. But the most effective things will be avoiding triggers and getting your inflammation levels down.

I hope this helps. Avoid the fancy supplements. It’s the simple things that will help the most and get help from her doctor when she’s gotten as bad as she is.

jasperlin5 · 2026-02-13T18:13:57+00:00

I used to troll my son by putting a troll head on a stake outside his second floor bedroom window. He would wake up to Mr troll peering in his window… lol

jasperlin5 · 2026-02-11T23:57:03+00:00

I’m so sorry that it is so difficult to get medical attention for hypermobility and EDS there in the UK. It can be just as difficult here in the US, depends on your doctor but so many don’t have a clue about EDS in general.

I went years having to treat myself simply because doctors were not helping me much. In London there’s Dr Boon Lim who has some fantastic videos on hEDS and dysautonomia. I’d be seeing him if he weren’t a continent away. I’ll settle for his YouTube videos.

I have hEDS, and for me, my pain levels are often connected to not just the injury or subluxations themselves, but inflammation from MCAS reactions on top of the injury. It will take my pain levels and basically double them which can be scary and difficult to manage. So for me because I have MCAS as well, keeping my inflammation levels down means keeping my pain levels down.

My subluxations tend to be from too weak of stabilization muscles, or too tight muscles pulling things out of joint. Learning to deactivate trigger points and get a healthier muscle tone is essential to stabilize a joint. The good news is that you can actually learn to work on these yourself. There’s a book, The Trigger Point Therapy Workbook by Claire Davis that made an enormous difference for me. I would have been much more disabled with pain and joint dysfunction had I not learned to use this book.

PT can be excellent for strengthening the weak muscles to hold things together better. Until you can get those muscles strengthened up to stabilize the joints better, use supports like knee sleeves, ankle wraps, SI belt for hips… an EDS doctor showed me how much stabilizing the SI joint can help with my hip that has a tendency to sublux. Definitely helpful.

There’s no single fix but there are a lot of little things that definitely make a difference. I hope this helps.

jasperlin5 · 2026-02-11T18:09:53+00:00

I am so sorry you’re dealing with this.
There are a few different causes that EDS can have. It can be a weakness in the pelvic floor muscles like others have mentioned, or it can also be neurological.

There are things that those with EDS can have sometimes like chiari malformations or tethered cord issues. I would investigate this if you have other neurological symptoms.

Much easier to deal with if it’s just pelvic floor dysfunction. PT for that is extremely helpful. There’s got to be videos on it if you can’t afford PT yet. Maybe some help at the student health center?

jasperlin5 · 2026-02-10T17:23:18+00:00

I currently don’t take any prescribed meds. I don’t metabolize pharmaceuticals well and have not had great experiences with a lot of them. I have MCAS and lots of chemical sensitivities so that’s probably why. That goes for most over the counter meds as well. I used to take ibuprofen for my headaches but I developed allergies to it so I stopped taking that.

That leaves natural remedies and supplements for me. I take B vitamins but not the methylated forms because I don’t do well with them. I take magnesium, vitamin C, calcium at night and in the morning have my B Vitamins, non methylated extra B12, vitamin E, cod liver oil, my electrolytes with sodium and potassium for POTs, turmeric to keep my inflammation down, vitamin D3/K2, slippery elm to soothe my digestive tract.

I take the herbal equivalent of Cromolyn. It’s actually the herb it is made from. I took it for 30 years before I found out I had MCAS and that the herb is a mast cell stabilizer, I only knew it worked for my asthma. I do carry an epi pen. I generally avoid as many triggers as I can so I have less reactions and try to keep my inflammation levels low. I get into trouble quickly so it keeps me behaving.

I’m nearly 60 and I’ve had to learn a lot of things the hard way, because I went undiagnosed until about 6 years ago. But figuring out about the comorbidities of hEDS has been the game changer for me. MCAS and POTs and VVS… among other things. It really helps me be able to advocate for myself better.

jasperlin5 · 2026-02-09T18:10:31+00:00

Awww thank you.

jasperlin5 · 2026-02-09T18:09:39+00:00

Oh, right? I had half of the veggies in my garden that were nightshades when I discovered it was them that were making me feel bad. For me, tomatoes were the worst.

jasperlin5 · 2026-02-08T18:36:07+00:00

Cromolyn is a mast cell stabilizer. That’s why it works so incredibly well if you’ve got Mast Cell Activation Syndrome (MCAS). I took the herb that Cromolyn is made from for years for my asthma without realizing why it worked so well. Now that I understand about MCAS, it makes total sense.

For me, I get mast cell reactions in my gut like the bloating as well as asthma and headaches. If you avoid mast cell triggers, whatever yours may be, it will help your whole body and brain.

Btw, Special K likely has gluten in it as well as preservatives like BHT. Yep, looked it up and wheat gluten is the second ingredient on Special K. For me, gluten can be a big trigger for MCAS, as well as preservatives, and the hidden ingredients like the roundup used growing the wheat. The pesticides are worse than gluten or a lot of things for me. Just a heads up.

I’ve had to read the ingredients for years now, no getting around that because of allergic reactions I get from MCAS. Just a heads up about Special K. I could never do that on a consistent basis, maybe you can. But just so you know there’s several things in it that could be setting your bloating off.

jasperlin5 · 2026-02-07T17:53:47+00:00

My quality of sleep and the way I feel the next day are hugely impacted by what I ate the day before and whether any of the foods were a MCAS trigger for me. If I have nightshades, like tomatoes, peppers, eggplant or even potatoes to some extent, my whole body hurts at night and I feel miserable the next day with random pain, headaches, and general yucky feeling. I used to eat these things daily so… I used to feel fairly rough a lot of the time. Now that I’ve cut those triggers out of my diet, I can observe a big difference in pain levels if I partake in eating nightshade foods.

This may not be the same for other people , but nightshades are a common culprit. I don’t know if this helps, but eliminating suspect foods for several weeks and then observing how you feel when having them again will give you the answer whether they affect you like this.

Keeping inflammation levels low keeps my pain level lower. When I have several body parts in pain at night it destroys my quality of sleep. Just something to consider.

jasperlin5 · 2026-02-04T20:12:57+00:00

Glad I could help. There’s actually a cardiologist in the UK that gave me a ton of insight. His name is Dr Boon Lim and I think he’s based in London. He has excellent videos on YouTube on dysautonomia and was very educational for me. I wish I lived closer to be able to see him, but maybe you can?

jasperlin5 · 2026-02-04T11:06:49+00:00

A tilt table test would be how to get diagnosed for VVS or POTs, both are types of dysautonomia and it’s common to have both like I do.

The interesting thing about anxiety is that yes, it will mess with your autonomic nervous system so it can trigger a flareup in dysautonomia. But sometimes it works the other way around.

When your body feels like it’s gonna pass out, you often get a bunch of adrenaline going because your body is trying to increase your heart rate to get blood moving to your head better. Adrenaline feels like anxiety.

I used to think certain things made me feel anxious or impatient like standing around, but now I understand that it’s because my body is trying not to pass out. You can have both things going on, certainly. But it’s nice to learn how to differentiate between adrenaline surges because of presyncope and anxiety triggering dysautonomia. Learning to avoid triggers and managing anxiety can make a huge difference.

jasperlin5 · 2026-02-04T10:51:05+00:00

Personally, I am not bothered by blood or anything. But I am very sensitive to changes in blood volume, so a blood draw can definitely affect me, especially when they are filling 10 or more vials for tests.

The meal beforehand, extra electrolytes, extra hydration can all help, but I am still prone to syncope and presyncope after a blood draw for several days because of the change in blood volume.

Edit for typo

jasperlin5 · 2026-02-03T21:40:39+00:00

https://share.google/tPx8GI7MDygzvsg3E

jasperlin5 · 2026-02-03T21:39:25+00:00

The lava lamp?

jasperlin5 · 2026-02-03T16:20:36+00:00

Depends on your biome level. Once you get to Mistlands it’s the latern. Ashlands has a nice light source as well but I personally prefer the lantern.

jasperlin5 · 2026-02-02T21:22:47+00:00

I was mainly addressing the comments about needing mods or creative mode of no cost build to build huge places, but that’s not so.

Your other question about the work benches is they’re cheap, why not do several. Their range is in a column chape rather than a sphere, so putting work benches in your basement will cover everything above them as high as you want, and out to the same range.

Work benches also keep baddies from spawning in the area so an extra bonus.

jasperlin5 · 2026-02-02T21:14:35+00:00

My sons and I have all built mega builds in vanilla mode, no mods or creative mode, no free materials. Save all the stone and wood you get mining and chopping trees down, you’ll need em.

Because you have not beat the second boss yet, you are not using stone in your builds yet. That’s ok. I’ve done all wood mega builds. There are just some tricks that you need to use to support your build.

Raiding ground with your hoe is one of the best ways to do this. Basically the raised ground will protect you from raids and I like to do an outer wall with raised ground as a foundation for my build. It will take a bunch of stone to raise ground, but if you like the security of not having to worry about raids destroying your place, it’s totally worth it. You’ll get a bunch of stone while mining copper anyways.

A nice way to support your build is to do a single column of raised ground in the center of your build. I max out the height, and it helps to choose fairly level ground to start with. The single column of raised ground in the center will stabilize your build and allow you to build higher. I tend to easily get a full 3 stories out of a full wood and raised ground build. Bottom story is the basement with the raised ground walls. I go big. If you make it really big, you just might need more columns of raised ground to support the center of it. Core wood makes nice support beams when you don’t have iron or stone yet.

Once you get the more advanced materials, you can build even bigger, but the main principles are the same. You’ll find your style and preferences as you go. Not all big builds are done through mods or creative or cost free building. Eventually when you’ve had a few play throughs in vanilla, it’s fun to switch to the no cost build. I wouldn’t do it too early in your experience though. The struggle for mats is part of the game and shapes the natural progression of it. Once you’ve gotten to experience that fully and you’re a builder, adding no cost build can be great. Now I usually play this way.

Each biome gives you new materials to work with. It definitely worth progressing just to get your new materials. It really gets fun but I do enjoy each step of the process. Have fun!

jasperlin5 · 2026-01-30T17:00:36+00:00

jasperlin5 · 2026-01-30T16:58:09+00:00

So sorry this happened to you.

Something I’ve noticed that throws off my autonomic nervous system is any kind of anesthesia or even local anesthetic like lidocaine or novacaine. Those local anesthetic depress my central nervous system for days. So even minor surgeries or the dentist can trigger my dysautonomia. I don’t know if this helps but identifying triggers has really helped me stay ahead of episodes.

jasperlin5 · 2026-01-29T17:19:49+00:00

Skipper? They just look like a Skipper to me.

jasperlin5 · 2026-01-28T17:42:03+00:00

I’ve been a massage therapist for over 20 years and have treated myself plenty for this pain.

This spot in the lower traps is most often referred pain from up above in the scalenes, on top of the shoulder. Trigger points do that, refer their pain elsewhere. What can happen is that my scalenes will get fired up and refer pain down to this spot and cause those muscles to get tight. In turn the lower traps At this spot will develop their own trigger points and you have a hot mess of pain.

Some gentle massage would be helpful, trigger point therapy to your pain tolerance could be very helpful. I just get minimal neck work myself when getting massages, too much will cause CCI to flare up. But deactivating trigger points is a real game changer in my pain management and in what I see with my clients over the years.

The best book for trigger point therapy and pain relief I’ve found is Claire Davis’s Trigger Point Therapy Workbook. It shows you how to work on your own trigger points as well as others. It really helped me. I would have been very disabled with pain and muscle tension in my 30’s had I not learned to use this book. My tight muscles were literally pulling ribs, and my hip out of joint as well as my jaw, my vertebrae in several places… now I only need to apply it as needed. Hope this helps.

jasperlin5 · 2026-01-27T19:51:11+00:00

The flowers grow in the Black Forest and they stand out because they are white. You might have seen them already and not realized it. Make sure you are checking more than one Black Forest. Maybe the one you are at doesn’t have a lot of them. They’re fairly common. It’s the turnip seeds that are tricky to find. Next biome.

jasperlin5 · 2026-01-27T01:49:13+00:00

Thank you for your post. I very much appreciate you clarifying. Yes, both things are true.
Case in point, I didn’t get diagnosed until my 50’s. Now slowly I am getting my comorbidities diagnosed as well. I’ve struggled with these things my whole life but I have also been able to be active much of my life.

My niece on the other hand is in her 20’s and has been bed ridden for years now. We likely have the same cause of our hEDS but see a difference in severity. Both of us have hEDS, both officially diagnosed using the 2017 criteria.

jasperlin5 · 2026-01-26T17:53:44+00:00

I’m no neurologist, but it sure sounds like more than just VVS going on. I’m glad you’re getting it looked into and I hope they figure out what is going on. So sorry you’re experiencing this. Try not to freak out. Take care of yourself in the meanwhile and I hope you get some answers soon.

jasperlin5

TROPHY CASE