(Archived from hippiechick - original forum)
hippiechick

Sharon,
Dr. Lugar sounds on target with the experts at Vandy with her "cocktail".  I recently moved to NC and have requested an appointment with Dr. Lugar via the Duke website.  Happy flushing!!

22 July 2009 07:44 AM

(Archived from deborahw - original forum)
deborahw
Don't know about gastrocrom, but it is fine to take the antihistamines together. When in doubt, just call and check with your pharmacist. That is what I do.
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Feel well!
Deborah

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23 July 2009 07:19 AM

(Archived from jillg - original forum)
jillg

My pharmacist told me NOT to take Gastrocrom at the same time as the antihistamines.  That's moreorless creating a chemical mix in your stomach that is of a different composition that the drug in isolation. Whether or not that hurts you, hard to say, but I was advised not to do it.  I try to "stagger" my meds as much as possible so that they don't hit my system all at once.  Drugs do interact.

Basically, the antihistamine are only helping you avoid the symptoms.  They block the receptor that the excess histamine produced by your body.  That's why you "feel" better.  You are still making histamine, you just don't feel the effects.

Gastrocrom is a mast cell stabilizer.  It helps to inhibit the release of histamine from your cells.  You still have cells doing abnormal things, it is just that the Gastrocrom blocks them from "dropping the histamine package in the mail."

There isn't really a "cure" for this, you are just treating the symptoms so that you don't feel the effects of too much histamine.

Histamine does serve a usefull purpose in the body, working in immunity reactions and it is a neurotransmitter.  You do need some of it.  The goal is to block enough so that you don't feel bad, and then there will still me some "hanging around" to do the jobs that your body needs to do.  It's all about acheiving the proper balance between pro-inflammatory and anti-inflammatory reactions.

24 July 2009 09:09 AM

(Archived from thefoxx - original forum)
thefoxx

Jill - when I saw Dr. Castell in May she said that she believes there will be a cure for this in our lifetime.  Wouldn't that be wonderful!
24 July 2009 11:40 AM

(Archived from cocoapuff68 - original forum)
cocoapuff68

I am praying for that too !!!!  but I am still new to all of this and I am a disaster.....I don't know what to do or which way to go and if it wasn't for Deborah ...I dunno where I would be going but at least now I am heading to Dr. Castells and Her team..hopefully they can help ...
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I'm hoping for an angel, praying for a cure
25 July 2009 03:20 PM

Sorry about this first paragraph.  A lot happened in the last weekend.  Right in the middle of a university meeting I was chairing, I had an anaphalactic reaction.  Forty-five adults saw my face turn bright red, and begin to swell, noticed that I was sweating, and that I began to have changes in behavior; AND NOT ONE IDIOT THOUGHT IT WAS IMPORTANT ENOUGH TO MENTION TO ME.  I've been talking with my GP, as I've told you guys he is an amazing doctor even though he doesn't have any expertise in the area.  Dr. Lugar can't see me until July 25th!  But Dr. Akin responded to my email, and told me to get the Tryptase test, which I visited my doctor's office to take.  I also told him that I wanted to find a better hemotologist as I didn't trust LabCorp, because they made errors on some of my previous tests and ran some wrong tests (BTW I don't have HIV, which is always good to know I suppose).  And he set me up with a local hemotology team that works out of an oncology office in town.  

I asked him how many zytec and allegra I could take without poisoning myself.  He said no studies had been done on zyrtec, but that you could take up to 4 180 allegra a day with no drowsiness.  However, my pharmacy can only do two of those a day.

Does anyone take two zyrtec a day?  I'm having to take a lot of emergency benadryl...and that has major consequences on my alertness (also it causes depression on the day after).

Also Riverwan mentioned that Dr. Lugar advised against clariten.  Both me and my husband experienced the following side effect on clariten (he is fall allergies, he is not masto or anything similar).  After three consecutive days on clariten we both experienced loopy brain.  To make sure it was the clariten, I tried clariten on four occasions at different levels of symptoms.  Three days = loopy brain.

I also take 20mg of Claritin in the morning and 20mg of Zyrtec at night... no side effects  Antihistamines in general are very safe.

BTW, Jaxx... I also work in a university setting.  I bet your colleagues noticed, but were too embarassed (or maybe puzzled) to say anything.  If you want them to warn you when you're getting flushed, I think you need to give them permission!  They're probably already gossiping about this episode.  Better to end the speculation and... for your safety... get the information out in the open.

Heather