Lisa
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Remember, this is a genetic, clonal disorder. Viruses may activate it, but the genetic defect was there first. Those of us who can see this in our children and can look back to our own childhoods can find hints and indicators of it. I had Mono only when I was 27, but I had allergic reactions to some things and even reacted to heat from as young as 3 years old. What we thought was just isolated things, we now know was indication of MCAS when I was yet a child and when I look at my 3 children, I can see it now too.
Now, as to virus activating the mast cells, you bet they do!! Any kind of "threat to the body will activate mast cells. Cold, Heat, Excercise, Physical Trauma, some Medications, radiographic contrast, some foods, emotional stress, physical stress, Viruses, Infections etc. All of these things cause the MC to degranulate because our bodies NEED the mediators in order to help the body function properly and to protect it. Without MCs we die!!!!
Yet, when you have your MCs malfunctioning, then they are not doing their job correctly and are either releasing too much too soon or too late, or too little too soon or too late, or something that should not be released or nothing when it should be released or a combination of the wrong ones in the wrong quantity.
So, when you are doing something to activate those MCs, then they are going to set off a chain reaction of many different things within the body and those things are going to also have a rebound affect in activating the MCs again. For example, I was taking hypertension medication which ended up affecting my complement levels. By their being too low, they were activating my MCs. And just the activation of the MCs themselves ends up activating the MCs! Itīs a vicious cycle. But once you can pin down what your triggers are and avoid them and are properly medicated, the body settles down and you stop reacting so much.
This is why our first defense medications are mast cell stabilizers like Cromolyn and Ketotifen!!! The more stabilized those MCs are, the healthier you will be!!
Lisa
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