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A different kind of reaction (Read 5440 times)
Deb
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A different kind of reaction
12/19/12 at 16:00:59
 
Sometimes my reactions seem very anaphylactoid - sick, nausea, pain, etc. and Benadryl does help. But other times it is completely different and Benadryl doesn't help this other problem at all.
Sometimes it will last until I can get away from the trigger and other times I can't figure out the trigger and it will last for hours. I guess it is food when that happens.
An example of one way it gets me is if I go into a building feeling pretty good (that's been rare lately) and there is perfume in the room, within a few minutes my arms begin to hurt. Then they feel like acid is burning through the veins.
It wont be long that I can't stand up. It is like my hips are becoming paralyzed. They sometimes buckle suddenly and my knees will buckle too. I have fallen from it but can usually catch myself and lower myself to the floor or my husband will help me to a chair. The pain is especially through the abdomen, arms, hips and upper legs.
I lose the ability to use my arms. It feels like I can't use them but if I try hard I can. It hurts like the bones are broken in my arms and the veins are burning. The left tends to hurt much more than the right and it seems some muscles in the upper arm or shoulder area is paralyzed.
Yesterday walking through Lowe's, I caught a whiff of something - like a new rubber smell. I instantly went down, doubled over in pain and my muscles just stop working. I sat on a can of paint my husband had been carrying. I recovered enough in a couple minutes to stand back up but could barely lift my legs to walk. My feet were dragging the floor just a little like shuffling them. It's so exhausting. It happens over and over all day.
Heat is the worst trigger. When our heat turns on at night, it wakes me up moaning and it progresses quickly to horrible pain and paralysis. If I can wake up in time I will pull the blanket back and only use the sheet. If not I cry out in pain and my husband is quick to wake up and fix my blankets and get me to drink water which helps a bit. After a minute of coolness, my arms are usable again and I am in shock. It feels like my heart is shivering.
It got me last night for a long time and I don't know what the trigger was. I got to my bed and just cried in pain for a long time. It will sometimes hit in waves and ease up for 20 seconds or so and then hit again.
I just went through 2 weeks that it was with me almost 24/7. It was the second worse attack in my life and everyday I thought the next day would be better. This past week I have been much better but can't seem to get my strength back and continue to have reactions but not living one long crippling episode. I'm on no meds at all right now and not even any supplements. I've had this for years but it has increased significantly adding the paralysis feeling just in the last 6 months (since I tried some medications). It started years ago as extreme feelings of painful fatigue and weakness that would last 30 minutes to 7 hours from various triggers. I work out and am strong so it's not true muscle weakness. At least I was since I haven't been able to work out the last few weeks and I was having convulsions with it again so I did get some muscle destruction from the convulsions. The other worse episode that lasted almost a month was in september. It was the worst in my life and a few weeks ago was the second worse.

I know there is damage being done to my nervous system to cause these symptoms but I don't know the source of it. I have some autoimmune issues, Ehlers Danlos Syndrome type 3 and I'm being checked for porphyria.
I'm beginning to think it is a mixture of two genetic illnesses.

Please let me know if you have this or if you have any idea if this could be another manifestation of the MCAS (a chemical other than histamine) or if you think it is something else. I have no true allergies that the doctors have found. It's getting very scary and I can't imagine that dying could be more painful. Sometimes I feel like my body is struggling to keep me alive during these episodes.
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Joan
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Re: A different kind of reaction
Reply #1 - 12/19/12 at 19:59:03
 
I've never had most of those symptoms, and I can't remember whether or not you've seen a mast cell expert.  You or your local doctor should probably contact Dr. Akin, Dr. Castells, or Dr. Afrin to find out if this seems like a mast cell degranulation.  If Benadryl doesn't help, then H1 histamine receptors are unlikely responsible, but other receptors and/or mediators could be involved.  Many MC people react to perfumes and other strong scents to varying degrees.

It also sounds as though you think you have heart involvement.  Your doctor should rule that in or out, probably by giving you a 24-hour monitor to wear that will transmit heart activity so they can see if there are any rhythm abnormalities.

If you are "in shock" and your heart is "shivering," you should go to an ER or call 911.  What you describe may be atypical symptoms of anaphylaxis.  Regardless, collapsing and paralysis are serious symptoms that need to be treated by professionals.  It's important for a doctor to see your "reactions" and to document what is happening in your body when they happen.
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Joan
 
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Re: A different kind of reaction
Reply #2 - 12/19/12 at 20:20:41
 
I've had all that you described. Yes scents and heat can be the worst. I have hypermobility/EDS 3 and MCAS. I have heard of others with the same. That being said, as Joan wisely mentioned it is important to exclude other things.

My take is that it's just manifestations of the trigger exposure and perhaps mast cell degranulation in the various body systems such as the nervous system when it comes to sensations like pain, tingling etc. So really triggering can cause almost anything.

The best thing for me has been strict trigger avoidance. If there 's a hint of perfume, I bolt and when I can't help but be exposed I have a giant respirator. Hoping these measures will help my system settle with time which it slowwwly seems to be.

Wink

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Deb
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Re: A different kind of reaction
Reply #3 - 12/22/12 at 00:39:34
 
Thank you very much for your responses. It is a little comforting to me (and I'm very sorry for you) that I'm not the only one that has had these symptoms in the mast cell group or EDS group. I was thinking I may have another problem too but have yet to find it. I'm now convinced it is all from liver enzymes.

In September it lasted for a solid 3 weeks and then took another 3 weeks to calm down some but never stopped. This last episode started 4 weeks ago, my mind cleared up 2 weeks ago from today when I woke up and had started my period. I thought that day, I will be better in a day or so. I recognized the change though I don't remember it ever being so drastic before.  But then I kept having reactions and my body kept hurting so terribly bad for the last two weeks though maybe a little better each day. I'm still having reactions but am so much better. I'm so thankful my mind has been clear the last two weeks. But now I'm a little concerned that I'm going back into the luteal phase of my menstrual cycle within the next few days Sad

There is always another factor to cause an extreme episode and not just the high progesterone. A couple times this year I had tried a new medication. I now have some liver enzyme test results showing faulty genes and a list of medications I should never take. Unfortunately the meds I took were on that list.
But this last episode seemed to be from taking phenol enzymes called TriEnza. They are powerful but I never thought enzymes would treat me like that. Phenols (especially antioxidants) do seem to be a problem for me but it seems that breaking them down better might not have helped much.

I will ride this out with no meds and I don't think it is possible to find a doctor that will have any clue as to how to help me.
These episodes have been going on for 9 years but not like this. Only for the last year have I been going into shock. I don't think shock is dangerous. Not the way I'm talking about. I have had these shocky feelings for decades and my mom has them too. We just start shivering and cant get warm. One time my husband got hot laundry out of the dryer and put it on me - it helped! It just feels like all your internal organs are shivering. I don't think it is particularly dangerous for the heart.

I have had heart monitors (twice - a 24 hour test and a 3 week test) to try to see what was going on. It is dysautonomia. I have the usual PVC, SVT, ectopic beats, mitral valve prolapse... The doctors do not seem overly concerned about it but I go back in to get an ultrasound every 12-18 months to check it. I went early spring this year.

My bad episodes are triggered by illness, meds and some foods. My daily small episodes are triggered by heat, foods, smells, sunlight (even if I'm cold) and chemicals.

I'm on a crazy strict diet right now just trying to get out of this episode. Once I get regulated I can eat many of the foods again. Right now I'm eating no high antioxidant foods (that will be permanent since they cause reactions even when I feel good). Also no spices and have cut regular meats back to only a few times a week but I will eat organic meat more often if I can get a hold of it.  Rice is one of the few foods that doesn't hurt me at all. I can eat some vegetables but have cut out high sulfur foods for now too so that eliminates a lot of options. I am sure they will be fine to put back in my diet in a short time when the convulsions and severe reactions have completely stopped.

This is really hard but I feel like my body will find homeostasis if I give it a break and let it clear my tissue of the meds and 'toxins'. I have Benadryl for an emergency but I'm pretty stubborn and haven't taken any in 3 months now since I'm sure it is what helped to take me down this year to this point. It often takes 6 months to clear the body. I wonder if the enzymes may have helped to speed up the process though I wouldn't have done that on purpose.

Oh BTW, I know my symptoms sound just like porphyria and the doctor is convinced my mom has porphyria but I tested for that and my levels were not high enough for it to be the known types of porphyria.  I am not convinced it was right. Porphyria is a name given to those who have 1 of 8 liver enzymes messed up. There are thousands of liver enzymes that can mess up and they have just not figured them all out yet.

But I did read that they did a study on a cutaneous porphyria group and that they found their skin at the area of the blisters had very high mast cell levels. I don't have cutaneous symptoms except their symptom of nonblistering sensitivity (pain) from the sun and that is also a symptom of mast cell issues.  So I'm thinking porphyria symptoms are likely mast cell symptoms anyway. At least I believe it may be that certain chemicals are being released for that problem and that they are not releasing histamine. I sometimes release histamine and sometimes I don't. I believe that is why I have two types of reactions.

There are two types of porphyria - cutaneous and acute. Acute porphyria attacks the nervous system and causes extreme body pain.
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