The chronicles of a low histamine diet :)

So after seeing Dr. Butterfield at the Mayo clinic and getting my lab results, it has been decided that I need to eliminate triggers and high histamine producing foods from my diet!!! Now mind you I have never done this, and have been lucky enough to basically eat whatever I want!!!

Now I know that I can no longer do this.

My labs were worse than last year, and that did not make the masto man happy!! Also my skin is much worse, so therefore I am going to tackle this diet head first!!!

Sunday: so I started with eggs and toast. thinking i was good there, itched most of the day, realize now that wheat should be eliminated!!
Monday: eggs, toast, peanut butter, apple for lunch, hamburger, organic corn chips and romain lettuce for dinner.
this was pretty much gross as far as dinner goes, dry and difficult to swallow, but swallow I did!!!
Tuesday: Okay so I have discovered that really I can't do toast. So I had a bowl of oatmeal, and 2 eggs, worked well, apple and
peanut butter for lunch and then went shopping. Went to Byerlys and with hubbys help picked up things that were
supposed to be good for me. Got home made potatoes, turkey and drank a glass of pear juice!!! OOOPS the pear juice
organic or not set me off with runny nose, thick secretions, itchy skin and the worse stomach pains in a very long time.

Needless to say I took my meds and benadryl and went to bed. It was a long night, but feel OK this morning, not the usual hangover that I get with a masto attack. I often get the question, why didn't I use EPI, well I am saving that drug for a real emergency, see I typically don't anaphylax per say, I get really sick, and yes EPI would help this, but for me at this point in my disease, I will use the least amount of drugs to get me through then go from there!!!

So today is Weds and so far so good with my after effects!!! I will post tomorrow about my research and my ideas for meals!!

Masto Monday

Well the day started out like any other. Then by 1pm I was starting to itch and not feel good. I thought, well there is enough pollen in the air to down an elephant so I took an extra benadryl and just hung at home.

Well my son needed material for his school sewing project so I picked the kids up from Track practice and we went directly to the store. My daughter began immediately harping about how hungry she was. She is always hungry!

So we stopped at Cold Stone Creamery for some ice cream before our shopping. MMMMMM it was so good, a great way to start the week, or so I thought.

Then half way through shopping, it hit.... my mast cells way out of control. My face was red, my temper flared, I felt sick to my stomach, and I felt like dying. Needless to say I knew I needed to get home. My son and I stayed focused on the task at hand, finally picking out material and getting into the car.

He had no idea I was feeling bad, by now its 7pm we had no dinner yet, and I knew I had to get home. The kids fought the whole way home, causing me to blow up once we arrived. Not a pretty picture. Red faced and feeling crappy I started the grill to cook up the chicken and the hubby shows up. I put on my game face and finish dinner, promptly sit down in front of the computer and start feeling my throat close.

Now mind you this is when doctors will tell masto patients to use their epi-pens, however it was my esophagus not my airway, and I downed 50mg of benadryl and 20 of claritin 50 of doxepin and an aspirin and sat to wait it out. My hubby looks over and says "are you okay"?

No I'm not, its a masto monday for me!! About 2 hours later, I crawl into bed and blissfully fall asleep. For the first time in weeks I slept like a baby, a nice way to end a terrible masto monday!

Masto Meeting

Well our masto support group meeting went off without a hitch!!! Dr. Butterfield from the Mayo clinic came and spoke with us regarding how to read our bone marrow biopsies and how to monitor our labs. We also decided to do a Minnesota walk a thon to raise money for research!!

It was a great meeting and I was so happy that 15 people showed up!!! We had 5 new people who had never been to a meeting before!!

On the home front allergy season is upon me with a vengence!! Swollen eyes, itchy skin (more than usual) and the swelling never seems to quite go away!!! I hope everyone out there in masto land is doing well.

Too long a break

Well it seems like forever since I posted. My masto has been fairly under control with the itching, and stomach issues being the worse of it.

Family has been great with my husband giving me the best gift ever... time for myself and the money and encouragement to branch out and get fit and healthy.

Yes I started working out!! Very scary I know with the masto, but its going fairly well. There are times when I know I have to relax and take it easy, but overall I am really pleased with my progress so far!!

The teenagers continue to give me heart ache. My son is all about girls and being cool, my daughter is learning about make up and cool clothes... ahhh the trials and tribulations of being a mom.

If you don't follow masto mamas blog please check it out and put Gavin on your prayer list. mastomama.blogspot.com

Have a great day!

Allergies and dealing with them

Well, I pushed my body beyond its limts yesterday. I took my daughter to her first diving lessons. She has decided to put gymnastics aside and give another sport that isn't so hard on her body a try!!!

I am allergic to chlorine. I itch, swell, get fatigued, and my mast cells generally go crazy. So I sat in the pool area for 2.5 hours slowly feeling life seep from my body. By the time we left, her elated, me in pain, we got home and I took some benadryl and went to bed.

This morning I got up fed the kids asked the hubby to take them to school and crawled back into bed till 1130am. WOW it was just exhausting sleeping!!! I was up for 4 hours then back under the covers to rest. Hubby made dinner (God bless him) and the kids did their thing.

The family has decided that maybe, just maybe, I need to quit being super mom and let dad take her to diving!!!

I feel like I have let everyone down. This disease just chips away slowly at everything in your life. I don't know a time when I wasn't sick. I have spent my whole life trying to prove to myself and others that I'm not ill. People look at me and don't see an ill person. They see a spotted mom who does a lot for her family.

2009 is supposed to be the year I get healthy. I have lost 6 pounds, and started working out, and now this set back!! I hope I can persevere and get through all this. I know I can, I just need to stay positive and remember people are counting on me!!

Not Me Monday

Its that time of the week when we moms post all our misgivings for the week. Be sure to check out McKMama's blog, she started this and deserves props!!



Okay so my son and daughter (both middle schoolers) are very active in sports. My daughter broke 2 bones in her foot doing competitive gymnastics in December. She was also hurt last competitive season. Gymnastics is really expensive and the hubby and I were lamenting paying an obscene amount of money all year for a sport she has been unable to compete in for 2 years due to injuries. SOOOOO I most certainly did not set up an appointment and interview with the local swim team, and I would never speak with the local dive team coach to see what her options were. As a supportive mom, I would never suggest maybe she try a different sport after 8 years and $50,000 later!!! No I would never do that based on money, and fear for her health. No NOT ME.

On top of that I would never allow my son to stay over a friends house on Friday night after the ski trip. Even though he had texted me and said he thought he broke his finger.... I would never brush off the text and allow him an overnight, thus putting the burden on another mom. No NOT ME!!! And I would never call his basketball coach at the last minute and inform him of the said broken finger that was now in a cast!! No I would never procrastinate so long, NOT ME.

And finally for all you out there who suffer from any disease of any type, I would never purposefully delay taking my meds so that the meds were at their peak performance while taking my daughter to her first swim team practice. Why you ask, I am deathly allergic to chlorine!! Nope not me, I would never put myself in jeopardy for my kids, surely I wouldn't do that.... NOT ME!!
Mishele

Mom "girls suck!"

Well my debonair son in 7th grade has been obsessed with girls since about 4th grade. He has girlfriends like the rest of us drink coffee!!!
Well he was bummed after school yesterday, and whenever he acts like this I can pretty much be assured its a girl. Soooo we sat in the car and he spilled that his current girlfriend has been going to another boys house and he knows this because her best friend and one of his best friends BOTH told him on the same day!! Ohhhhh the drama of middle school. My heart bleeds for him. He is a very social kid, and enjoys the intricacies of school, he does not enjoy being lied too or being mislead. Good traits in a man, but in school everyone is misleading and destroys what we at home try hard to build up in our children. UGGGGGG...... well, today I am sure he will have a new girlfriend, and hopefully things will be back to status quo.