Hi! I'm happy to be a part of this group. My son is six and we suspect that he has mast cell disorder. He is autistic spectrum and cannot verbally communicate. Two weeks ago he had an endoscopy and a bleeding stomach ulcer was found. He has had gastric pain associated with eating since he was six days old. I am looking for the easiest way to determine if he has a mast cell disorder. I cannot put him through another endoscopy so I'm hoping for a blood or urine test to guide us. I've heard that a 24 hour urine collection can show histamine metabolites but not sure who runs this test? I've been googling like crazy trying to find testing but have not figured it out yet. We are in new jersey. If my son shows signs of mast cell disease we will take him to a mast cell doctor but with all of his medical issues already I wanted to try to get as much information as possible before traveling to see doctors. Thanks for any guidance. Regards, julue

Yes! Contact Dr Theoharides, I believe his email is on his website mastcellmaster.com...his passions are mast cells and autism, he's also a genius. He developed a supplement neuroprotek for people with autism and it's a natural mast cell stabilizer;  my husband has been taking it for a couple months and we've found it helpful his with cognitive issues, brain fog, mood swings.

I just read a very good book by Dr Michael Goldberg called the Autism Myth and it was written in a way that a layman could easily understand, like myself. It talks about the whole gut-blood-brain barrier, neuroinflmaitory disease and I thought it did a good job of explaining the immune system, diet ect.

Has he ever seen an allergist/immunologist? They could run any of those blood and urine tests mentioned before and it's the least invasive.

I hope you get some answers and that he feels better soon!