Scattered Thoughts . . .

It doesn't happen often but, every now and then I awake in the middle of an episode of anaphylaxis.  Sometimes the episode can be rather violent.  Sometimes it is relatively mild.  Regardless, it always leaves me exhausted, weak, shakey and in a bit of pain.  This is no way to awake in the morning! These episodes can happen anytime but usually occur while I'm awake.  While awake, I usually have some warning signs that anaphylaxis is approaching so I often have a fighting chance at minimizing its effects with emergency medications.  My warning signs often include feeling lightheaded, difficulty breathing and my legs become exceptionally weak.  These symptoms are the result of my blood pressure crashing. Typically, if I feel these symptoms coming on, I will pull out my epinephrine and some other medications reserved for emergencies.  When this happens, I know I must quickly find a place to get off my feet before I end up being a heap on the floor gasping for air.  Lying down

I have had a few friends ask questions about my health recently. These questions were not specific technical questions indicating a familiarity with this illness but were very general questions about my illness indicating that some explanations and information might be useful to my family and friends. I felt the answer would be to post a link to a website as well as a link to a YouTube video, but unfortunately, I could not find any concise material to link so I decided to write about my personal experiences and struggles with my chronic illness here. My chronic illness actually consists of two versions of Mast Cell Disease and multiple spinal injuries, exasperated with occasional bouts with cancer. A little more than ten years ago I developed Systemic Mastocytosis which involves numerous internal organs. A few years later I developed another version of this illness which involves the skin called Cutaneous Mastocytosis to add to my systemic illness. Mast Cell Disease is cla