I feel bad about this problem of mine, but being around children and their loud toys and raucous happiness is very taxing to me.  Forget about helping at church in the nursery or with toddlers or children.

If I were different, I would be glad to help, but as it is, it will cause me problems.

Is there anyone else out there like this?  I do feel bad about this, especially since I do love children and enjoy seeing other people's children.  Unfortunately, too much time spent with them is very taxing.  It probably is causing mast cell degranulation.  Who knows?

I am sad to day that I couldn't agree with you more.  My kids are 2, 4 and 5 and a half, and I am able to spend very little time with them throughout the day, even though there is always another adult around.  It's definitely the hardest part about this illness.  I think part of the reason I am triggered so easily by them is because they are so unpredictable and it makes it so I can't focus on one thing at a time.  When I start to crash, I am conpletely unable to make decisions or prioritize, which is imperative when dealing with little kids .  We have to limit who we can have over to play with the kids, and even keep their birthday parties really small so that I can be in the house while they are celebrating.

For me personally, the noises, movement, reading aloud, and physical pressure of my kids sitting on me are all triggers.  Our favourite thing to do is quietly snuggle in bed - it's one of the only activities that I have left that we can do together

Futurehope, no one would fault you for staying away from your triggers!  I am sorry that this happens to be one for you, but you're not alone .

I'm in the same boat with young children - or any people, really, - who are active, loud, talkative, have certain pitches in their speech, etc. It is difficult. Very difficult to manage.

Futurehope, until your sx are better managed, it might make sense to forgo working in the church nursery. Minimize the triggers that you can. It might be a better time to try for it when sx are better controlled.

Frugalmama, I totally feel for you. I'm glad to know that you have another adult at home with you when the kids are there. That is a help, at least.

I am a SAHM of a four-year-old. My husband has flexibility at work and is at home quite a bit, which helps a TON, but doesn't make the triggering stop. I have been extremely sound sensitive over the past 2.5 years and my son's voice has been one of the worst triggers. Many times, I have burst into tears from his voice. Often, I haven't been able to be in the same room with him. It has been heartbreaking at times. Like frugalmama, my best parenting times with my son are quiet snuggly times, which are fairly infrequent during the day. I barely managed his last birthday by eating Benadryls like candy and taking extra doses of my other regular meds. I'm so happy to have my son and look forward to the time when we can have more "normal" interactions. Until then, minimizing the triggers is what I have to do to make it through each day.

I have found when I am reacting that sounds, sunlight, motion, vibrations, even the rubbing of my skin will irritate me to no end and that includes the noise children make, even whistling!!   I just can't handle it!   This is because mast cell release a TON of really good neurotransmittors, histamine being the major one.   If we could correlate it to anything it's like plugging your 110 TV into a 220 socket!!!!     Can you see the sparks flying?!        

What can you do about this?   Well, Joan's got an EXCELLENT idea with the ear plugs, I don't know why I've not thought of that sooner myself and I'll have to try it.   But I've found that when I step outside (I live in Brazil and we always have bright sunshine!) and the sun makes my eyes hurt that this is a warning to me (prodome) that I'm reacting too much already.   I will take a pain reliever at this point.  When I talk of pain reliever I'm not talking heavy duty pain meds - tylenol, aspirin or something like Ibuprofen, depending upon what you are tolerant of.  I don't trigger with any of these meds so I take what is handy.   But even those who are not tolerant can usually handle tylenol and this would be the item of choice then.   What you are looking to do is to counteract the mediators and one of the mediators is prostaglandin and these meds are anti-prostaglandin meds, so in taking them, you help to counteract the prostaglandins which are being released.  If this isn't enough then I will then consider taking an anti-histamine as well.   And as my last resort, I will consider singulair, which I am not taking daily anymore since my system has calmed down a bit.  

You see, why are you feeling so sensitive is the question, since you know that this is not normal?   The hypersensitivity is directly caused by the mediator release and like I said a great many of them are neurotransmittors, which are essential for our body's function, but too much of a good thing will drive you nuts!   So, you need to counteract it.   That's why we take the meds we take, but often our doctors don't realize that the pain relievers are anti-prostaglandin meds and don't add them to our daily meds, but that is also because some of us are sensitive to those meds since they are intolerant to salycilates.   So, if you are sensitive to salycilates, you may want to research this a bit more or try very small amounts and build up, for that has been seen to work well with these meds.   But as I said, Tylenol is not a salycilate and most of us are quite tolerant to it and it should give you some help.

I hope this helps!

Lisa

Perhaps you are needing some of the tranquilizer meds which too help keep MCs calmer by keeping our stress system calm.    Doxepin and other meds of the like are excellent medications which our doctors use to help us especially those who show a higher amount of anxiety due to the mediators.   Like I said, there's tons of excellent neurotransmittors flowing about and these are the basis for the neurological system overload.  

But then there is always this situation that we're never going to be able to return to normal and some things you've got to purposely work at ignoring and disconnecting yourself to it.   It's the way all patients who have chronic diseases must behave if they are going to have any kind of normal like life.  Some things can't be fixed or even improved and like it or not, you've got choices you've got to make and some of that includes just saying "I'm not going to give any import to this situation right now!" and they try their very best not to allow it to invade their life.  I have found myself doing the very same for if I were to play namby pamby with everything I'd find myself holed away into my bedroom with the AC on and stuck in bed.   Instead I have chosen to purposefully IGNORE certain things which I can't change and make the best of those which won't change the entire way and LIVE WITH IT the best I can.  

Sometimes, this is the only way.


Lisa

Looks like I get to be the first to disagree a bit! I think that noisy crazy kids can get on the nerves of most adults -- they don't need to suffer from a mast cell disorder to feel that way. I adore kids, and my own are the joys of my life. However, there is nothing more annoying to me to be out to dinner and hear a baby crying. Even being at a function where there are a lot of kids around, I and my non mast cell friends might be rolling our eyes at the noise of certain children. So, it might not just be taxing to mast cell people, but to "normal" people as well.

Now, how you handle that annoyance is an individual matter. You might find yourself getting stressed from it and that thus degranulates mast cells. So, an obvious course of action would be to find a way to halt that stress from increasing, thereby pulling the plug on it. If you have not gotten to the point of having a way to halt your mast cell symptoms from rapidly increasing, that can be scary in a way as you may find yourself triggering from the kids' noises and then feel the extra stress of not knowing if you can halt your symptoms. I am fortunate in that I have already gone through all those fears and emotions and did learn ways to combat them.

My strategy of halting the stress and the symptoms (besides taking extra meds) is to use some simple biofeedback techniques (breathing and visualizing to calm one's heartrate and mood) as well as "talking myself down" from increasing symptoms. I can literally help detour my own anaphylaxis by telling myself that I will be fine and that my extra meds will work. I take a tight control of my thoughts (which will wander toward fear if I let them) and I don't allow myself to think about what if my meds don't stop my attack. Of course, I know which meds to take to stop my symptoms and I think the key is that because I have seen them do the job so many times, I have complete confidence in them to work. Mind over matter thus works for me in that case. That takes some practice, though.

So, when you are around noisy kids, somehow you have to look at them and find the joy in being near them. Turning that noise from annoying noise into happy noise might just help you prevent any symptoms. Of course, extra meds are very helpful as well....