Most of the medical literature about "allergic reactions" assumes that you either have mild problems (hives, runny nose) or very severe problems like anaphylactic shock, where all your mast cells dump all their contents at once and your whole body is totally overwhelmed.

This "black and white" understanding of allergic reactions is not the truth.  What many of us experience is a range of symptoms that fall between these two extremes.  I know exactly what you're talking about with that "euphoric" dizziness... on a bad day I can get that feeling from a cup of coffee.  (On a good day I can drink coffee with no problems at all.)  I have two explanations for you as to why you can experience "leaking" without shocking.

1) Mast cells don't always blow their contents in one massive reaction!  Researchers like Dr. Theorharides have demonstrated that mast cells can also partially degranulate...a little-known, but important fact.   (There's more research being done on this topic.)

2) You have to think about mast cell activation as a "barrel."  Let's say you're having a good day... you're not stressed out, the temperature is comfortable, you've eaten healthy (low-histamine) foods, you've done a good job avoiding your triggers, taken your medication, etc...  Well that means that your barrel is in no danger of overflowing.  You feel pretty good!  A bad day for me would be something like this... it's hot outside.  I'm ovulating.  I'm stressed because I didn't sleep well last night and I've had three cups of coffee trying to keep myself awake.  This is a day when my barrel is full!  It doesn't take much to make it overflow... I'll probably have a dream where I'm falling off a cliff or wake up feeling nauseated with my heart racing.  I'm not really in danger of "shocking"... I won't end up in the ER... but I don't exactly feel good either.  Over a period of months/years this kind of pattern quite be quite depressing or even disabling!

I can usually stop a flare by taking a dose of liquid Benadryl (50mg), the kind they sell in the children's section.  Try that next time you're having tachycardia or flushing... does it help?  I haven't had to use an EpiPen for quite a while.

Heather

Yea Heather thanks for explaining this, I'm beginning to understand more about why I react when I react, and that it isn't just about what I ate that day, it's about stress, hormones, lack of sleep, etc.
Melissa

One of the dangers we patients make in reading about ourselves and our reactions is that we tend to do what our doctors who don't know masto do - generalize.

Mast cell disorders are one disorder where what is written about the general symptoms of the disease can not be applied to the majority of the patients for the majority of the cases.  

When you read about most diseases you will see that they list the symptoms and describe what the patient goes through and this is pretty much how it is for the majority of them.  Like a flu, we say that 90% of the patients will present a flu the same way and it's treated in that same way due to the fact that it's pretty widespread to be that way in the majority of people.  The patients and their symptoms don't really deviate from the pattern.

Mast cell disorders are not like this and each of us is very unique as to how we present the disease even though there is a generalized list of symptoms and behavior.  Why is this?  Because mast cells are spread throughout the body and it's likely your own genetic makeup which influences where and which mast cells are going to trigger and how and depending upon those factors you are going to have different triggers and symptoms and behavior.  

So, what may trigger you may not trigger me.  What may be a symptom for you may not be one for me.  One may trigger me one day may not on another and what may not have triggered me one day could very well do so later on in that same day!

This is what drives not only us crazy but leaves our doctors bald from ripping their hair out in working with us!   I've had my doctors astounded over the things that have happened with me and that they've personally witnessed!  Even after they study and read the literature, they still sometimes will say, I can't believe that did this to you!   This is because masto is not a disease which acts or reacts like others.  You can't generalize masto and you can't generalize the patient - period!  You can try to generalize in a vague form in that the list of symptoms it will cause are these.....but that doesn't mean that every single patient will do it or have it.  So, even in working with our doctors, we will more often than not know our own bodies and our own reactions better than the doctors do, and that includes high level doctors.  Only the masto authorities will have any real understanding of us and even then, some of them will admit "I've never seen that before!"

So, in reading over what we all talk about here on the site, remember, perhaps that's not an issue for you what the other person goes through.  Not all of us have major issues with food, or with skin problems, or with heat or cold, or stress or contrast.  We all have different reactions and so what we try to do is look at the suggestions and the problems and say, Interesting suggestion, maybe this will help me.  If you try it and it doesn't work, then no biggie, try another thing, perhaps it will serve you better.

This is why our forum is so wonderful for we've got a really good representation throughout the forum of the many different ways we all react and the way our masto affects us and so if one person has an issue, perhaps another here has that same issue and can help address how they dealt with it.  This is also why, even though we have brand new members on the site who feel awkward about saying anything, their input can often be very valid for in learning how to deal with their symptoms they may have found an answer for it that someone who's had the disease hasn't found yet.

An example of this is that I never had issues with weepy eyes before.  My masto specialist wanted to do some adjusting of my meds and had me go off of my allegra H1 blocker for a week.  Well, must to my amazement I not only had weepy eyes but they were itchy and red and I also was doing a lot of sneezing, something that was also new!   I learned a LOT with this situation and it showed to me how much I needed that H1 blocker!  Yet when I went off of the H2 blocker, I found I was a lot more stable than I'd thought I'd be for the diarrhea increase as did the stomach acid issues, but not to the point that it was bad - it was quite manageable.  

It was a big learning experience for me.  And when new people come on here and learn a few things, and they comment about what has happened, we who are older read and learn and find confirmation of what we've also found to be so.  

So, this is the beauty that we all have in talking back and forth and sharing what we go through for we all have something to contribute and something to learn from one another!

Lisa