Homeopathy At Home with Melissa
I am a Registered Homeopath and Lactation Consultant who loves Jesus and believes in the power of prayer in healing and restoration. God designed our bodies to heal themselves. We interfere with the body’s abilities by introducing medications which stop the action our bodies were made to do - heal! Homeopathy comes in and stimulates the immune system to help the body remember how to heal itself. ALL people are welcomed here, no matter your beliefs! I discuss mostly homeopathy here, but also I bring an encouraging word from the Lord and touch on the topics of parenting, homeschooling, marriage, and nutrition. Welcome to my world! It’s a beautiful, healthy life!
Homeopathy At Home with Melissa
Living with MCAS: Homeopathic Approaches to Histamine Overload
Send a text to Melissa and she’ll answer it on the next episode.
The mysterious world of Mast Cell Activation Syndrome (MCAS) takes center stage as Melissa unpacks this increasingly common condition characterized by an overactive immune response and excessive histamine release. What was once considered rare has become surprisingly prevalent, especially following COVID-19, leaving many struggling with unpredictable and seemingly disconnected symptoms.
Melissa explains how mast cells—crucial components of our immune system that normally protect us—can become hyperreactive, causing everything from intense allergic reactions and abdominal migraines to brain fog, tachycardia, and extreme sensitivities. The hallmark of MCAS is hypersensitivity across multiple body systems, with sufferers often experiencing "flares" triggered by minor stressors that can persist for days or weeks. These patients frequently react strongly to medications, supplements, homeopathic remedies, and environmental factors at levels that wouldn't affect others.
Diving into treatment approaches, Melissa emphasizes the importance of a gentle, individualized strategy for these sensitive individuals. Histaminum emerges as a valuable starting remedy to help regulate histamine response. Other helpful remedies can include Nux vomica, Belladonna, Hyosciamus, Carcinosin, and Carbolic acid. For MCAS patients, the mantra is "low and slow"—using minimal potencies (sometimes as diluted as 6C in water) and infrequent dosing (perhaps just weekly). Melissa also discusses the value of natural histamine binders like bentonite clay and zeolite, while acknowledging that conventional antihistamines have their place during acute flares.
Frustrated with having to avoid countless triggers? Tired of unpredictable reactions that leave you questioning your sanity? If you're navigating the complex world of mast cell activation, this episode offers valuable insights and practical approaches to help calm your overreactive immune system and reclaim your health. Subscribe now to hear about our upcoming comprehensive MCAS course that will dive even deeper into this fascinating condition!
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Welcome back to Homeopathy at Home with Melissa. Hey, Melissa.
Speaker 2:Hey Brie, I'm excited to talk about mast cell activation syndrome tonight. We're just going to do a little introduction. We're not going to dive deep, but it's going to be fun and I'm actually I'm looking forward to this.
Speaker 1:I'm sure I will have some questions, because I know enough and also not enough. So, as usual, I'll come with some good questions for you guys, hopefully. But before we do that, we have some fan mail, and this one is from Texas. So I'm going to read it and Melissa is going to answer it. She says Hello, I'm in Texas and very interested in becoming a practitioner. In your opinion, what is the best school to become certified? Thank you so much, leslie.
Speaker 2:I love this question because we need more homeopaths, and so the question is the best school to become certified? And you know you can get a certification from any school that you go to homeopath with the North American Society of Homeopaths. If you do, then you need to find a school. That is what's the word. I don't know if certified might be the right word, Like accredited or something. Accredited that's the word. Accredited, yeah, that's the word.
Speaker 2:So you can look on the NASH website, North American Society of Homeopaths website, to see which schools are accredited so that you can become a registered homeopath. You need to look at your state's laws. There's also a document, a PDF document, on the NASH website with state by state laws so you can see in Texas do you have to be a registered homeopath? Can you even practice as a homeopath? What can you say? What can you do? So that's the place to start is look at your laws in your state and then I'll give my opinion. Um, I'm not going to give my opinion, I'm going to keep that to myself. So the so che's, um che is centers for homeopathic education. They are in london. If you complete that program, it's an amazing program and then you can be um a registered homeopath with n Nash at when you complete that program. Um, of course, my favorite, my favorite favorite is Dr Murphy and um sweet little baby. I saw a sweet little arm.
Speaker 1:He's getting big enough he can sneak in now and unlock doors and stuff. Oh, if you guys are watching, you just got a little, a little glimpse of his arm, Yep.
Speaker 2:Um. So Dr Murphy, Dr Robin Murphy's program is my favorite. Um, he was an absolute genius. Anything you can learn from him, um, you're going to be, you're, you're going to be good, right, it's going to be really good.
Speaker 2:And then there's two different ways, though, to go through Dr Murphy's program. One is through the Lotus Wellness Cottage. That's where I suggest you go through the program. The other is Lotus Wellness Institute. No, Lotus Health Institute, Lotus Health Institute Not that that's a bad program, it's not.
Speaker 2:But what you're it's actually it's the same material. But through Lotus Wellness Cottage, you're going to get a lot more support student support, their student support calls you get to get you know your your personal questions answered. You're going to have a lot, a lot more support, which you need. Um, the Lotus Health Institute, you're on your own. I mean, I'm not saying there's no support and I definitely don't want to put them. I don't want to put that one down at all.
Speaker 2:Um, it's just, if you do Dr Murphy's program, all it's just if you do Dr Murphy's program, Lotus Wellness Cottage is going to be my top choice. So, and then, if you really want to wait, I'm in the very beginning stages of creating my own academy, and I will not create or release this academy if I cannot create or release this academy, if I cannot, if I can't be accredited through NASH. I just feel like, if you, if you're gonna go through my program, I want you to be able to be a registered homeopath. If you want to be so, it's going to take time. I'm in the beginning stages at the time of this recording, so whenever that happens, you'll get notified for sure by email.
Speaker 1:So excited for that, as you know.
Speaker 2:Well, you know the different what's what's going to be. You're going to have to have the basic. You're going to have to have everything through me that you have at any other school, but the difference is going to be that I'm a Christian, and so if that's a strong belief of yours, then you're going to be able to learn in a safe place where we won't get into non-Christian things. Homeopathy is not a spiritual thing. So I've been hearing this.
Speaker 2:I've been hearing this lately, where there was somebody that said you know, they just kind of put it out there Homeopathy is not spiritual. Why are we trying to make it spiritual? I'm not. I'm spiritual. I carry the Holy Spirit right, Living for Jesus. This is who I am, so I can't separate it from what I do. I can't separate myself from what I do. Therefore, it's in everything that I do. So, no, this is not going to be. No, homeopathy is not spiritual. But going through my academy, you're going to get encouragement, prayer and you're not going to be led into any non-Christian things that are big in the natural healthcare world. There you go, that's it. So let's talk about mast cell activation syndrome. You ready?
Speaker 1:Yes, let's do it.
Speaker 2:Okay, do you want to go through the definition? I?
Speaker 1:will.
Speaker 1:Okay, do you want to go through the definition, I will. Mast cell activation syndrome or MCAS, I believe right is what we say for short is a condition where the body releases excessive histamine causing an overactive immune response. Mast cells so M-A-S-T mast cells are a part of your immune system. They're made in your bone marrow and then they move through your bloodstream into your tissue. Mature mast cells live in tissues throughout your body and help protect you from hazards around you. They also help fight infections and regulate your organs. So in the activation syndrome is those are activated, really like over activated Um, so they're releasing that excessive histamine or the histamine causes that immune response. I'm sorry Um causes can include sometimes just post COVID because of the big immune system disruption and we see some weird stuff after COVID. Yeah.
Speaker 2:So listen, I'd never heard of MCAS until 2019. I'm not saying that it I'm not saying that it was new in 2019. But I never heard of it. I remember the first person that ever came to me and said like she wanted my help and she said she has MCAS.
Speaker 1:And I was like, well, it was very rare, I guess I mean my limited experience of the world. Yeah, I had maybe heard of it once or twice, even in the natural community, and it was really, really extreme.
Speaker 2:And the people that I did hear about it in and then COVID came along and I believe, just turn that on, and so many people activate it.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, that's so interesting to think about what else Causes can be environmental sensitivities, exposure to triggers that overstimulate those mast cells, kind of like COVID or other things, and then immune system dysregulation. So those are kind of the same, different ways of saying similar things, but that symptom, the symptoms can be intense allergic reactions, vomiting normal foods, fainting spells, abdominal migraines, blurred vision, brain fog, tachycardia, which is a rapid heart rate, inability to regulate body temperature, constant sneezing, dry cough, a flushed face, especially after drinking wine, the need for beta blockers to prevent passing out, the need for antihistamines, widespread inflammation and hypersensitivity to various substances. Mcas can cause a whole body effect beyond just your typical allergy symptoms, and may require a comprehensive treatment approach which could include so homeopathic remedies that we're going to talk about, histamine, reducing supplements or foods, like maybe for a period of time, adjusting your diet and addressing underlying causes.
Speaker 2:Yeah. So I want to talk through the symptoms that Okay. So somebody comes to me with blurred vision, brain fog, sneezing and dry cough, I'm not going to automatically think MCAS. Right, those can be a million different things. It's the intense allergic reactions. Possibly the fainting spells, possibly of the abdominal migraines might make me think MCAS. But you know, tachycardia, I think, is big. The inability to regulate temperature could be a hormone issue, so I'm not going to automatically think MCAS. The flushed face when somebody tells me they drink wine, they get a flushed face. I'm thinking. I'm thinking histamine response. Right then.
Speaker 1:No, but you continue. Cause, then I have a question about some of these.
Speaker 2:So the? Um, I don't. I haven't really met anybody in these beta blockers to be to prevent passing out, but that would be a big, a big bell in my mind. The need for antihistamines just to live and function. Yeah, that's a histamine problem.
Speaker 2:You know, if the, if the antihistamines make them feel better, um, widespread inflammation, I mean, that's like fibromyalgia and IBS. You know all the umbrella terms, um, but here's the number one thing hypersensitivity to everything. They're hypersensitive to chemicals, hypers, they get headaches when they smell perfume. Hypersensitive to chemicals, they get headaches when they smell perfume. Hypersensitive to medications and remedies. So they have big reactions. They can take a lot less of a medication, a lower dose or less frequent, and get the same response as someone who needs the full dose. But they also have these people overreact to homeopathic remedies. Most often, when I see people are having big fat reactions to every homeopathic remedy, that's and I don't do it right away, so I don't start right away with oh my gosh, you must have MCAS. It's a process. It's a process that over time, I'm like oh, you're doing this every time with every remedy. Therefore, I want to, I want to look at MCAS.
Speaker 1:And do you think? Something that stands out to me when I'm thinking of when MCAS would come to mind is when there was a a pretty significant sudden change, even if it was like so, most of the life they've been fine, but maybe they got sick, or over the past couple of years, after mold exposure, after something else. Then there's these pile on, like piled on um allergic reactions to things, or when there's a lot of them that are all over the place, so like if somebody just comes with seasonal allergies, it's obviously in the spring and the fall and then they're okay. Or you know some of these symptoms that present very specifically to a food but it's almost the people I have seen anyway with it have. They have weird responses to it's all across the board and it's very unpredictable and it's respiratory or it's digestive or it's headaches and it's all over. Then I that's at least kind of where my mind goes is you're kind of your body is overreacting, it's oversensitive to all kinds of things, that there's no pattern, there's not consistency and it just escalates.
Speaker 2:Would you?
Speaker 1:agree with that.
Speaker 2:Yeah, absolutely it's that. That's the. That's the thing. It's the overreaction to all kinds of things. You know that you just shouldn't have so, even stress. You know, a little tiny stressor comes and there's this big. You have this big, terrible, um, flare, that's the word. I hear flare, oh, I'm in a flare because I had this, you know, this stressor or whatever, and a flare could last a day or a week or a month, you know where. Then you're just like knocked out down. You know, no, no energy, all the things. It's just, it's a very, it's a very different. I don't want to say weird, because I definitely am not calling any person weird, but it's a very different thing.
Speaker 1:Well, I think that the syndrome, or whatever they call it condition, is weird, meaning like it's it is a pretty, but like when I hear of these people it is, it's is weird. Meaning like it's it isn't pretty, but like when I hear of these people it is. It's hard to track, it's hard to follow. They aren't even always sure they're not weird, but their symptoms are weird. Like it doesn't connect to normal stuff, it changes and it makes it difficult and I mean I would not blame people if they're feeling crazy about it. You know, like their mental state feels crazy because they can't figure it out right right because we want to figure it out.
Speaker 2:Yeah, a lot of us feel better when we have answers, and that's why I love homeopathy. I don't have to have the answer, I just need to know the. I just just need the sign. Tell me which. How do you avoid the?
Speaker 1:thing If you don't know what's going to trigger you that day or where it's going to happen. If it is the chemical sensitivity, well how do you know where you're going If they have the thing that's bothering you? And that's a hard way to live really hard, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2:So some natural, oh, go ahead. What?
Speaker 2:I yeah, yeah, so some natural oh go ahead what I was going to say, so options that we have good options for that. Natural treatment options include, of course, homeopathic remedies, and um, histaminum is a big one. Histaminum is a great homeopathic remedy for MCAS, a great place to start. You can also consider I've never used these, but you could consider homeopathic versions of supplements Like I don't even know if I'm saying these right Deo, luteolin or quercetin. You could use homeopathic version, right, those supplements in potency? Nuxvomica, belladonna, hyosciamus Carcinocin, I would think would be a really big one. Uranium for intense cases and I can't tell you why that is, I've never used uranium. You'd have to read it in the Materia Medica. Carbolic acid for reducing histamine, but also histaminum helps you. Okay, so it sounds like carbolic acid reduces histamine, but histaminum helps your body to. Um, I want to. The dog barked and scared me. I want to say use the histamine correctly. Does that even make sense?
Speaker 1:Well, it brings balance to that part of it, right? I would say that that's true, instead of like over-releasing the histamines. That's true. It calms them with that, yeah.
Speaker 2:Yeah, bring balance. That's exactly it. Yeah, because we have histamine we just need. It's not doing the right.
Speaker 1:Well, we just need. We can't do it. Well, we want it to happen when there's a problem. That's right. So you know that there was a problem, but you don't want it to happen all the time when, like it's acting like there's a threatening thing, when there's not. Um, and that is, I think, what makes this hard for me to understand is because these people react to a food that their body's not actually allergic to, but it's misreading the problem and treating it like an allergy. So how do you know if it's the? And, like, cutting the food does help, but they don't come up and show they're allergic to everything.
Speaker 2:So right, which is why histaminum is such a great first choice. Yes, yeah, okay. And then binders to calm histamine are bentonite clay, zeolite, which is a Novotase, lemu Z6 is a zeolite, and charcoal Z6 is a zeolite and charcoal. And then some additional things you could do are removing underlying cause of overreaction, which we don't love, especially not long term. Addressing environmental triggers, potentially using over-the-counter antihistamines like Benadryl in crisis situations. Listen, seriously, I left this note in here about Benadryl because in a crisis situation, if histaminum isn't working in the moment because you can use histaminum acutely or chronically, then take the Benadryl and don't beat yourself up. Right, we're going to get through the crisis and then we're going to keep going and doing the best we can.
Speaker 1:Um, people who were taking antihistamines once or twice a day all the time over time. They don't need them as much, but they're still. We'll use it if there's a well, what you said, a flare or whatever. Yeah.
Speaker 2:Yeah, do it. Yeah, um, castor oil to help to help move toxins. And dietary modifications. Dietary modifications which, again, I don't love as a long term answer, but short term, yeah, you could change your diet. Well, okay, dietary modifications. If you're not eating a good diet, then yeah, we want you to change it in that way. But just removing whole food groups? Um, you know, I don't, I don't agree with that long term. So we want to heal the gut. Um, there may be, there may need to be, a um multi-layered approach combining remedies to lower histamine response and addressing root causes. Um, I also wanted to just so I listed the remedies, the main remedies for MCAS, write those down, read them in the Materia Medica For potency, go low and slow when you don't know, and we are going to teach a class specifically on MCAS in the future.
Speaker 2:So then we're going to go into detail about how to choose which remedy, how to choose potency, case management, case taking, all the things. But I want to point out that there is a Banerjee protocol located on homeopathic remedies online, the first line protocol. It says on there to do it for three months and it has. I just wanted to share.
Speaker 2:It's been my experience that most people with MCAS cannot handle all these remedies and this frequent dosing. So I'm not saying you shouldn't use it or try this. I think it could be really individual. If you love Banerjee protocols and you've had great success with those, we've had great success with some Banerjee protocols not all of them. We've had great success with some bandergy protocols not all of them. But it just because it's been my experience that people with MCAS are highly sensitive. I can't even imagine what they would do with all these remedies and these high potencies. And and again, everybody's different, so not everybody's going to have big fat reactions, but this would. This would intimidate me a little bit to try so um, so of course, an aggravation of a remedy is not dangerous. What are you going to say, brie?
Speaker 1:Um, I wonder, and I truly don't know, how many people are actually diagnosed with it. I feel like we see the symptomology, but do your, do you have clients who've, like those people, have been diagnosed? Do traditional medicine diagnosed MCAS? That's a great question.
Speaker 2:You know, when people come to me and say they have MCAS, so just like every, you know other things, other conditions that we've talked about. If someone comes to me and says I have MCAS, what does that mean? What does that look like for you, what are your symptoms? So I'm still going to be asking the same things and addressing the presenting symptoms. So that's, you know, that's why, um, I don't, I don't think. I think that's why I haven't asked are you, you know? Were you diagnosed by a traditional doctor or how was this diagnosed? But you're right, in a Banerjee protocol, it should be a diagnosis that you have from a doctor.
Speaker 1:It looks like it is, I mean it's recognized in Western medicine.
Speaker 1:It looks like what it looks like it is recognized in Western medicine, but I don't think there's very clear, just from my quick overview, very clear parameters. Okay, so that was just a question I had, so and the point of that really was to just say, kind of like a thyroid, kind of like the thyroid protocol, If you are not diagnosed hypothyroid I don't know that I would say, use the protocol, right, you know something like that where, just because you have presenting symptoms, there are still remedies you can use to treat the symptoms. That will treat mast cell if that's what it is without using this protocol, or you know, that is pretty. That's a lot of remedies in general for any protocol. So especially for something like mast cell, that's quite a bit.
Speaker 2:It is, yeah, bovista 200, lachesis 200, antimonium Crudum 6C, arsenicum Album 3C and Liquid Ipecac 30 and Apis 30. Um and so. And then it has clear instructions on the website on how to take these. Um, you know when, how, all the things. So very clear instructions. So if you choose to go with the Banerjee protocol from homeopathic remedies online, you can look that up when you go to their website. You can just click on or you can search. You can actually search MCAS, m-c-a-s, and it'll come up. So what we're going to do is teach a course on MCAS because it's become so prominent and because it can be confusing. It's become so prominent and because it can be confusing, and I just want to. I want to help people that have this to. Here's what I'm trying to do with somebody that I suspect MCAS. I'm trying to calm their histamine responses so that we can actually use remedies to address their symptoms. That's what I'm doing.
Speaker 1:And so what do you think of Calcarb in a situation like that? When I hear overreactive immune system, I think, just in my experience with Calcarb, it sounds like a good remedy, right? Yeah, I think it could be For the immune system in general.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yep, that's a great idea, so you know low potency. Yep, that's a great idea, so you know low potency. Here's the thing with some of these these people with um, mcas, because they overreact with um to remedies is they might need a six C in water, one drop once per week. I mean I've I've got people that are doing that and then they don't have, they don't overreact that are doing that and then they don't have, they don't overreact. So, yeah, all right. Well, um, if you're subscribed to emails, you'll hear about the course when we get it out, and thanks for tuning in.
