Beth O'Hara: Is Your Autoimmunity Actually Mast Cell Activation Syndrome?

This week we are talking about Mast Cell Activation Syndrome (MCAS) and the effective approach to healing. My friend Dr. Beth O'Hara walks us through this complex health challenge and explains the overlaps with autoimmunity.

Show Notes

Today we are joined by Beth O'Hara, Functional Naturopath specializing in complex, chronic cases of Mast Cell Activation Syndrome, Histamine Intolerance, and Mold Toxicity.  She is the founder of Mast Cell 360 where she provides healing protocols for patients, as well as providers.

Beth's health journey began in childhood.  Growing up on a farm in a rural area, she was exposed to mold and Lyme and they didn't know anything about the risks back then.  A TBI threw her a curveball, and then a car accident that kept her out of high school for almost a year had her in bed and on pain meds.  College was a continued physical struggle.  Pain, fatigue, anxiety..all as she was working three jobs during her undergrad studies.  Although she had earned scholarships to medical school, which had been her lifelong dream, Beth knew that her health would never allow her to make it through residency, if she managed to survive med school.

By age 28 Beth was walking with a cane or wheel chair.  She was misdiagnosed with Palandromic Arthritis.
Because doctors didn't know what was wrong with her, they told her it was emotional.
Years of therapy were helpful, but not for her health.
Finally, Beth was diagnosed with Lyme Disease, but was too sick to tolerate treatments.

Eventually, she learned she had mold toxicity.  And she learned how to reboot her nervous system.
She slowly improved and was able to tolerate treatments.

She eventually became a Doctor of Naturopathy.  And now

What is Mast Cell Activation Syndrome
Mast cells are immune cells that are found throughout our body.

We have over 200 known kinds of mast cell receptors.  Their job is to keep us safe.  They respond to immune threats, like infection, and even stress.
The problem occurs when mast cells don't have a chance to reset themselves.

MCAS is a multisystem issue.
It takes an average of 10 years to get diagnosed.  It still isn't taught in medical school.

MCAS effect up to 17% of the population.

Mold exposures are all across the country and world.  And numbers are rising which is increasing MCAS as well.
EMF exposure increases mold activity as well.

Multi systemic:
with our without allergies
with or without anaphylaxis
with or without sensitivity
Presentations are different!

Mastcell360 is your resource for all things Mast Cell.
Free Symptom Survey
Courses are available for lay people and practitioners.

Healing takes time!
Lifestyle change.
We start with nervous system.  Vagal nerve system and lymbic system.
MC360 Method:
1-Stabilization of nervous system
-Structural issues top of neck
2-Remove triggers
3-Mast cell calming
modulate inflammosomes

The order of operations is key!

Message of hope.
WE CAN HEAL!!!!  AND DO!!!

One Thing to do
Alternate nostril breathing...it's free!

Learn more about mast cell activation syndrome here

Creators & Guests

Host

Julie Michelson

What is Inspired Living with Autoimmunity?

The podcast for high achievers who want to stay sharp, focused and full of energy despite their diagnoses. Those who know there has got to be something better than simply accepting decline.

Hosted by Julie Michelson, a National Board Certified Functional Medicine Health Coach who used to suffer from crippling Rheumatoid Arthritis until she learned the tools and strategies to take her power back from autoimmunity.

In this podcast, Julie brings you interviews with thought leaders in the Functional Health and Wellness space. You will get actionable recommendations to Take Your Power Back and catapult your health. No fluff, just concrete, useful steps to improve your health!

Welcome back to the inspired
living with auto immunity podcast.

I'm your host, Julie Michelson.

And today we are joined by Beth
O'Hara founder of mastcell360.

And we're talking about mass
cell activation syndrome.

Beth is a functional naturopath, and
she specializes in complex chronic

cases of mass cell activation syndrome,
histamine intolerance and mold toxicity.

We're discussing the connections between
mass cell activation syndrome and

autoimmunity, their root causes and the
steps we can take to improve symptoms.

Beth welcome to the podcast.

Oh, thank you so much, Julie, I'm super
strict about having this conversation

because there's a huge link between what
we're gonna talk about and auto immunity.

This may turn some light bulbs
on for people, and sometimes this

is, this conversation is a real
game changer in their health.

I couldn't agree more.

And, and I think that
this is an area where.

People just, they need the information
and I'm sure there will be listeners

that are gonna have, like you said,
that light, bulb's gonna pop on like,

Ooh, dots are gonna connect today.

So I'm excited for this.

So I know that you have had an extensive
health journey as of most of my

guests can you share a little bit
about your journey and your healing

and, and what you're doing today with.

For sure.

You know, it's, it was quite a journey
and looking back, I can't believe that

I'm here today, even just doing this
podcast, but I, when, when I was a young.

My family moved out to the
country into an old farmhouse.

And that same felt like a
big adventure at the time.

And they were renovating the farmhouse
and we were out in the country and

I was running around the fields.

And we didn't know, you know,
this was early eighties.

We didn't know anything about mold.

We didn't know anything
about tickborne infections.

Nobody knew anything about that, but
I started having some weird health

issues, a lot of allergy type things.

And then when I was nine, I was
kicked in the head by horse and

I had a traumatic brain injury.

Nobody knew much about
traumatic brain injuries there.

And we were in a rural area.

So medicine was 20, 30
years behind the cities.

So I didn't have any treatment for that.

And there was a spiraling down
of health issues over the years.

So immediately after that, I had
dark depressions and anxiety.

Now looking back, oh my gosh.

The level of neural inflammation
that was going on, I started

developing all kinds of sleep issues.

Then after that I started
developing a lot of hypoglycemia.

and these blood sugar
drops and I'd have to eat.

My friend's parents would tease me because
I would always be in their fridge and at

home, I was always in the fridge, in the
kitchen, eating, eating, eating, cause

I had to keep my blood sugar stable,
but you know, it kind of made it along.

And then I just kept
having these hits though.

When I was 16, I was in a bad car
accident and I couldn't get outta bed.

I mean, I was just.

It was it's tremendous.

I was off from school for most
of the year and at home on pain

meds, which also didn't help me.

But it was an ex extraordinary pain.

So that was the best
that we had at the time.

By the time I was heading to college,
I had extreme anxiety, chronic fatigue,

but I could still push through.

I just really had to whip myself and
I would whip myself every day, but I.

Pretty overachieving.

So I was doing graduate level
courses as an undergrad.

I was working three jobs to put
myself through co I had a scholarship,

you know, covered my tuition.

And then I had to cover my living expenses
and just burning the candle at both ends.

But my big dream was to go to
medical school and I'd actually

decided on that when I was.

And I had poured everything into that.

And I started researching at 12, what it
was gonna take to get in medical school.

So I was prepared and I had multiple
scholarship offers to med school.

But by the time I got
to my senior year, I.

So ill.

I knew even if I made it through that
four years of grueling coursework,

I would never make it through an 80
hour, a week residency for four years.

And I had to turn those scholarships
down, which was just devastating.

And I had no backup plan, but
my, the fatigue and then the

pain was so severe at that.

I was going doctor to doctor, to
doctor and exhausted everything

traditional medicine could do for me.

I'd been given Gabapentin, I'd
been given high level pain meds.

I'd been given opioids and
these all made me feel worse.

So I didn't feel good about taking them.

And then I started into holistic
medicine and functional medicine

was just starting in its infancy.

And I just, you know, we didn't have.

Telehealth like we have now.

So I had who I could drive to.

And by the time I was 28, I was on a cane.

I could barely hobble across
the room to the bathroom.

I had to use the wheelchair of the powered
wheelchair to go through the grocery.

And I started seeing rheumatologists
and I was misdiagnosed with

PMIC, rheumatoid arthritis.

Which is considered rare, but
it's a form that can come and go.

I, I, I question whether that's actually
autoimmunity, but I didn't have autoimmune

markers and that was the big tip off,
but nobody could figure out an orthopedic

surgeon wanted to do exploratory
Sur surgery on my knees because

they had no idea what was going on.

I said, well, if you don't have a
theory, we're not cutting the open.

Brilliant.

And I just, I kept making the circuits
and I also probably because of the

severe anxiety and the depression that
I had and the severe insomnia, I mean,

I hit a point where I didn't sleep for
four years and that makes anybody crazy.

So I had been told multiple times that my.

Blood work looked normal.

I'm not sick.

I wanted to be sick.

There was something that was I was
attached to, or there some need I

had to be sick and or that it was
all in my head and it wasn't real.

And I heard that so many times that.

Kind of knew it wasn't true, but I
thought, well, I'm gonna explore this.

I did 10 years of therapy, very helpful
for my mental, emotional health did

nothing for my physical symptoms.

Other than it did help me manage
the pain and the just sheer

nightmare I was living in.

And it really was a nightmare.

I mean, I had no quality of life.

I quit working full time when I
was 26 and really struggled, but.

I, I just had this something
deep inside my bones that I knew

there was a way out of this.

And my late twenties, we knew
I had tick born illnesses.

We we'd figured out I had lime.

I had Bartella I had Baia.

So that's a big load.

Didn't know about mold toxicity,
but I'd gotten so sensitive.

I couldn't even tolerate
the treatments for any of.

And the sensitivities continued
to worsen looking back.

I was constantly exposed to mold.

I.

When I couldn't go to medical school,
gone into medical yoga therapy.

I taught from a chair many times,
and then I had gone into spiritual

coaching because the way I got through
was developing my own spirituality.

And I was supporting people who were
really struggling mentally, emotionally,

spiritually, and some similar experiences.

And.

You know, those things really helped
me pull through, but the big game

changer was learning that I had
mold toxicity, quite a lot of it.

And looking back the, the office
that I was working out of was this

beautiful historic building that
was built right after the civil war.

Looking back at all the places I'd lived
through college, the majority of, you

know, I was in 150 year old duplex.

It.

All this mold, but what I know as
well as most places in the country,

these days have mold issues.

It's become epidemic and it's
very challenging away from it.

But learning about the mold toxicity
and learning about how to reboot my

nervous system was the huge game changer.

And it took a while to
unravel all of this.

I stopped counting at 75 practitioners.

And over $350,000 invested my health.

It's it's way over a half a million
now, but I just decided this

is not worth counting anymore,

Sure.

but I started to climb back out.

Of the hole that I was in and gone
went from not even tolerating, a tiny

sprinkle of queer sittin or curcumin
or Zulia, those would set my nervous

system off I sleep would be the, the
lack of sleep I had would be even worse.

I was able to turn that around to where.

In my mid thirties, I went
back to graduate school.

I got a degree in marriage and family
therapy and then decided, you know, I

wanna do even bigger picture than this.

I wanna go back to my original dream,
but from this journey I've been on.

place.

In this different place.

So then I also got a doctorate
naturopath and, and built mass cell 360.

And when I say I built it to be the, the
type of practice I wished had existed

when I was so sick, I really mean that
that's what we designed it around.

I.

And this practice is for people who
keep falling through the cracks.

It's not for people who
need a simple protocol.

It's not what we do, or they tolerate
all kinds of things and they can just

do something exactly out of a book.

And it works.

We specialize in the unicorns, the
people like me, who everything was

failing, nothing was working and
that's, that's where I am today.

Wow.

Really grateful you're here.

I UN I totally can relate to that
feeling of not, you know, sometimes

it's, it is shocking where we are now.

I didn't think I would live to see
50 and I'm 53, so, and feel amazing.

So I get it.

Wonderful.

I wanna cycle back cuz you said some
I'm sure listeners are like, oh, you

know, yeah, I have this or I have that.

Or I know someone with this and you
know, I, well, we checked for that.

Let's talk, bring it specifically to
mass cell and this difference of for

example, I was diagnosed with RA.

I later then found, you know, one of my
big triggers was mold toxicity as well.

But I don't have mass cell.

So let let's talk about,
you know, what it is.

And like you said, it is unfortunately
more and more common unicorn,

you know, unicorns are getting
more common than they used to be.

But, but let's just start at square one
for listeners, you know, what are mass

cells and what is mass cell activation?

Sure.

And.

Maybe hold it open that you
may have mass cell involvement.

So I'll go there with the connections
with the autoimmunity here in a

little bit, but mass cells are
really critical immune cells.

There are frontline
sensing, defending cells.

They're in every tissue, every
single tissue in our bodies, except

the retina they're in the brain.

They're in the whole nervous system.

They actually line every nerve sheath
and they're at every nerve ending.

They are completely throughout the skin.

They line the GI tract from the
mouth down, the esophagus, the

stomach, the entire intestines
they're in all of our organs.

They're in our muscles.

They're made in the bone marrow
and they migrate out of the

bone to the rest of the body.

They're in the tissues around the eyes.

They're in the ears, lots in the
sinuses in the bladder, vaginal

canal, all of these various areas.

We have mass cells and they
are completely on the outside.

The cell membrane covered in
different types of receptors and

there are over 200 known receptors
on mass cells and these receptor.

Can sense every molecule of air,
every particle of anything, or drop

of anything we put in our mouths,
they also are sensing injury.

They're sensing pathogens, viruses,
bacteria, molds, CanDos parasites.

They are sensing every thought.

And this is huge.

Every

it again.

thought they mass cells experience
and respond to is their location.

At the nervous system, they have
receptors for the neurotransmitters and,

and hormones and all of these various
things, everything that goes through

your bloodstream, they pick up on.

So they're picking up on
stressors, pathogens, toxin.

So that's really key.

Their job is to keep us safe.

So simple example, you cut your
finger, don't get it cleaned out.

Well enough, maybe you're gardening.

So there's lots of dirt in
there and it starts to get red

and swollen and kind of itchy.

That's the mass cells starting
to mobilize a response and then

calling and orchestrating the rest
of the immune system to come in,

clean this up, keep that bacteria
from getting into your bloodstream.

It heals.

And for most people you
never think of that.

Cut again.

You don't even remember you.

Same thing happens.

You twist your ankle,
a gets really swollen.

It's actually a healing response that
inflammation helps your ankle heal.

Hopefully it heals just normally
you forget to ever sprained your

ankle and you're on your way.

Even when we get sick, the mass
cells have a role along with other

immune cells, but a role in the
inflammation, the sinuses and the nasal

passages and the throat and all those
things we associate with having a.

The problem comes when we have an
continual onslaught of toxins and

stressors and new pathogens and the mass
cells don't get time to reset themselves.

So if we think 200, 300 years ago,
You know, really, if we go before

the industrial revolution, we
lived in a very clean environment.

We did not have all this air pollution.

We didn't have people in dense spaces.

We also had much slower lives.

We weren't going from, I
wake up in the morning.

I gotta get the kids off to
school and make their lunches.

And, oh my gosh, I
forgot to pay that bill.

And now I've gotta get
myself to work on time.

And then.

At work.

Oh my gosh.

Johnny got in trouble at school.

I've gotta leave work, but
I got this work deadline.

How am I gonna hit that
and get Johnny home?

Oh gosh.

We're out of groceries.

I gotta get the groceries.

I gotta pick up the kids.

Get the groceries.

They've got two extracurriculars tonight.

I gotta get them fed.

They gotta get their homework done.

I gotta get to bed.

When did I have time to breathe today?

Day?

it.

I'm exhausted.

Just thinking about it, right?

That that's how so many people live.

Our, we live our lives and this
pandemic gave us a chance, you

know, as, as challenging as it
was a chance to step back and go,

is this how I wanna live my life?

Yes.

Yeah.

So tying all this in there's one other
piece that these muscles I wanna share is

that they also have inside the mediators.

And these mediators are their chemical
signalers that they release out and the

best known most people know is histamine.

The other thing that's become a
household name now is cytokines.

Mass cells are one of the
major producers of cytokines.

There's all kinds of types.

There's actually inflammatory
and anti-inflammatory cytokines.

They make interlukins, they make
substance P they also produce

neurotransmitters and neuropeptides.

So there's a continual communication
between the mass cells in the

nervous system, the mass cells in
the rest of the immune system and

everything else happening in the.

So over a thousand
mediators, that's a lot.

So this is why there's so
many different expressions of

mass cell activation syndrome.

So again, that syndrome's happening
once the mass cells become

dysregulated, they're overly sensitive.

To things, to triggers and overly
responding and producing inflammation.

So this condition is a multisystemic.

Meaning if you just have
seasonal allergies, that's

not mass activation syndrome.

It's multiple systems in the body.

So it could be skin and GI tract.

It could be brain nervous
system cardiovascular.

It could be tissues around the eyes, sinus
issues and problems with urinary burning

and interstitial cystitis type symptoms.

So

things that, that your typical
Western docs won't connect, cuz

they're typically system focused.

Yes.

And many people go specialist
to specialist to specialist.

It takes studies of show
on average 10 years.

To get properly diagnosed.

And this just got a
diagnosis code in 2016.

It's still not taught in medical schools.

I have med school students as
clients, and they tell me why

aren't we being taught this?

And I said, go talk to your,

Yeah.

your, your advisory board at the school.

But it, it's gonna take a
while for this to catch up.

The population studies show that this
is affecting between at the very low end

9% of the Western population up to 17.

And it's likely closer to 17% of
the general population that includes

people who are chronically ill and not.

Wow.

When we look at the
chronically ill population.

When I talk with my colleagues
who specialize in this field,

we really think it's 75% of
the chronically ill population.

If not drastically higher, we just
wanna be conservative because we

don't have research on this yet.

But it may be 90%.

Any, anything that's creating
any inflammatory condition that's

affecting two or more systems has
mass cell involvement doesn't matter.

What it is.

And mass cell activation syndrome
and the research literature has been

tied to every form of autoimmunity.

and part of this is because of their
role in the th two system, when you

teach two dominant for a long time.

And I know some people may
not know this, so that's okay.

Just wanna share it for practitioners
or people who understand this.

When you teach two dominant for a long
time, that can branch off and people

with certain predispositions to teach 17.

Auto immunity and that, so if
we really wanna unwind auto

immunity, we have to come back and
address these mass cells as well.

So hopefully again, kinda an.

I'm nodding and nodding, and I'm thinking,
you know, my, my brain is going a million

miles an hour because I'm thinking,
well, going back to, if, if you start

with, when you have multiple systems
involved, I'm thinking, well, how many

people have 2, 3, 4, 5, eventually
different autoimmune diagnoses because

different systems are getting hit.

I know, I, I had a few also just the,
this whole thought of when you think of

drivers, I'm guessing the reason numbers
are growing and growing would be the same

as what we're seeing in, in autoimmunity,
whether properly diagnosed or not.

When you're talking about, you know,
the toxins and the molds and the stress,

the chronic stress we all are living
with and not necessarily managing well.

That.

I mean, these are the, the, the numbers
are only going to continue to get bigger

and we've got not only more and more
buildings getting older and older,

but our new buildings don't breathe.

So

That's exactly right.

That's and because of a combination of
climate change factors that are increasing

humidity, there's increased anywhere that
gets hit by hurricanes is a big issue.

Places that have had fires.

And so I think, you know, I'm thinking the

everyone's almost one or the other

The entire us.

The, so we, I, I consult across the
United States and our, our clinic

works across the continental us.

The only places we on occasion find
people who come to us without mold

in their homes is in the desert.

And sometimes they'll still have
issues cuz the type of air conditioning

or a water leak in their house.

Now that's not to say everybody has mold
issues, but if you have autoimmunity,

this is the absolute hands down.

Number one trigger we're seeing
for mass cell activation syndrome.

And my practice number two is the
tick borne infections, which are also

on the rise and they are finding.

Just looking at the Burelli species
that drive lime, they're finding new

species every two years on average.

So we can't even keep up with the testing.

This is just, it's a whole other tangent.

It's the testing issue.

and this is much like mold.

I live in Colorado and people used
to say here, well, when I moved here

20 years ago in the housing industry,
you know, oh, there's no mold here.

There's plenty of mold here.

It's everywhere.

And oh, there's no Lyme disease, you know?

Oh, you have to be in the north.

No, it's not true.

It's it's now all 50 states.

I don't, I don't care where you live.

So

It's across the, almost the entire globe.

And there's so much misinformation about
both of these and the, the only other

factors that a lot of environmental mold
specialists are noticing is as routers

came into homes and wifi, it seems to me
we need more studies on this and actually.

Ran a study.

But I didn't get clear outcomes
and decided that exposing myself

to the mold wasn't worth it.

Somebody needs to run some clear
studies on the, the impact of EMFs.

On mold growth, but what is being observed
by these environmental specialists?

Who've been in this field for 40 years.

So they saw houses before routers came
to the house and we had smart houses.

And then after is that it seems like
mold registers the EMFs as a threat.

It's growing faster and it's
releasing more toxic malt toxin.

So even schools, schools have
gotten bad before we had all of.

Studies were done to see how
prevalent mold toxicity is in the us.

85% of commercial buildings,
over 50% of homes.

And at that time, 30% of schools.

And again, that was before we
had these changes in the last

20 years with climate change.

And before we had the, all the
routers and smart devices going

home, so it's gonna be higher.

Sure.

Absolutely.

So I, you know, we're not here
today to bump people out or

make people feel hopeless.

whenever I start talking about
mold toxins, refs, it starts to

sound like really gloom and doom.

And that is absolutely not why we're here.

These are all things.

We need to know about and,
and we can take steps.

We, you know, nobody needs to go
live in a bubble, you know, in

the middle of, of the jungle or

Don't go with the jungle.

yeah, I was, I just, as I was saying,
and I was like, oh, don't go there.

I, I want to kind of highlight,
so for people listening, cuz now

it's like, okay, well then who.

It just feels like, and, and I know
you just said the numbers are probably

really high, you know, it feels like
everybody could have mass cell activation.

Right?

So for listeners that are, are,
their interest is peaked, right?

They're wondering now they've, their
heads are kind of swirling with,

like, I wonder if my three autoimmune
conditions actually are, are mass.

What, you know, what do they do
or, or who should be wondering, I

Yeah.

the point to me.

Well like, well maybe, you know
and the reason I take myself out of

that category, I, I feel very lucky.

I'm not some, I, I never had
the, well, that's not true.

I was gonna say never
had the sensitivities.

I was always able to manage treatments.

But I do have chemical
sensitivities still that I am

still working on with my toxicity.

So.

Well, let me, let me frame it in a way
that is gives people some boxes to check.

Perfect.

Not all people with mass cell
activation syndrome have sensitivities.

So it's multi inflam multisystemic
inflammatory with, or without allergies

with, or without sensitivities
with, or without anaphylaxis.

And so that kinda

So everything, anybody ? No, I'm

Well, you know, there are plenty of
people who, who don't have these symptoms,

but you're gonna see something in these
systems, the classic, but there are

lots of people who don't have this.

The classic are itching, hives, rashes,
any kind of skin eczema, psoriasis you

know, flushing, those types of things.

Now a lot of practitioners were taught
when they learn about mass cell issues.

If you don't see that there
can't be a mass issue, that's

not true because the mass cells
may not be involved in the skin.

They may be normal in the skin and
dysregulated at different tissue.

The other things you'll see, I'm
just gonna go through the most common

things and I'll tell people about
how they can do a survey for free

and, and just really look at it.

Anytime there's an immunity,
Mass cells have to be involved.

There's no way to not be involved.

So addressing the mass cells.

The reason I say that is because
addressing them as a game changer

in dealing with auto immunity.

It's not that it's mass cell and
not the auto it's the, it's what,

you know, what's really driving the.

And then as you calm the masts
down, the immunity can calm down and

then you gotta get your triggers.

And there is huge amount of hope.

And I'll get to the hope here in a bit.

There's huge amounts of hope.

And I see people get their
lives back every day.

It's, it's amazing, but
you can have GI issues.

Heartburns common constipation or
diarrhea, abdominal cramping in the liver.

Sometimes people have.

Quadrant on the right side, the liver,
some inflammation with mass cells being

there, or the left side can be the spleen.

It's often the spleen bladder irritation.

Those are some common symptoms.

Now everybody gets it, breathing
issues, tightness in the chest

or asthma or anything like that.

Hashimotos is linked.

Rheumatoid arthritis is linked.

Graves is linked.

I mean, we can just go
right down the list.

Every form of auto immunity for the GI
tract for the skin has been linked, but.

If people really are
getting peaked and going.

Hmm.

I think I need to look at this.

I have a free symptom survey.

It was built off of the research
literature for which symptoms

are definitely tied to mass
cell activation syndrome.

There's lots of other
people can get, but this is.

Honed into exactly what the
research literature says

is tied to mass activation.

So people can find that at mass
cell three sixty.com and in the

menu, just go to symptom survey.

It's very easy.

You just do it yourself, but that's there.

That's why this has been so mystifying.

So if you think about, you've got every
location in the body, except the retina.

And the brain used to be thought
they weren't in the brain.

And they were found in the limbic
system in the brain and they'll

migrate across the brain anytime
there's neural inflammation.

But if you think about all the locations,
200 different types of receptors

that can get triggered in over a
thousand mediators, you have an almost

incalculable number of presentations.

Sure.

So that's what makes this challenging.

And the diagnostic criteria is very new
and it requires in addition to there

being two systems with inflammatory
mass symptoms, there being certain blood

markers that are elevated, but there's
lots of challenges without testing,

and only about 10% of people with.

Clear mass cell activation or
getting positive tests and requires

a positive response to a mass cell
mediator medication or stabilizing

medication or an antihistamine.

But all of those meds have some kind of
excipient that can trigger mass cells.

So a lot of people will react
as inactive ingredients.

So this is where it's just,
it's still being abated.

Yeah.

Yeah.

And it's still settling out.

What the official is to
me, it doesn't matter.

It's really about getting people.

Absolutely.

And I, I wanna highlight just
from experience and experiences

that, that my clients have.

Unfortunately you mentioned, you
know, it's a newer diagnosis.

As you know, somebody who went
to med school 20 years ago

did not learn about mass cell.

They're not learning it.

Now.

Somebody graduates this year is not.

if you're thinking, you know, I'm
gonna ask my rheumatologist about this,

or I'm gonna go to my GP, you know,
I'm seeing my GP next week and I'm

gonna ask them don't be discouraged.

They may have, they, you know,
may have very little, if any

information about it at all.

And they may not be able to guide you.

That this is it.

Is it it's new?

I know.

Ju just like, just like, if you
go to your rheumatologist and you

say, does it matter what I eat?

If I have RA many, most of them
are still gonna say no, so

But we know gluten triggers are a,

know better.

trigger it.

We know dairy triggers it.

And, but the good news is a lot more
practitioners are getting on board.

We have had so many practitioners take
our courses, which makes me really happy.

Cuz I developed them for lay people.

I develop them for just an average
person, but so many practitioners

are hungry for this and they're
working hard to get up to speed.

It's just gonna take time.

Yeah, absolutely.

Absolutely.

So.

We, we kind of, we covered root causes.

We, you, you know, people can go,
they can, they can take the survey,

they can see where they fall.

Or they're, we're gonna tell them
how to find you . What else, you

know, what, what are some first
steps that, that people can do?

Yeah.

So I developed what I
call the MC 360 method.

And this was after working with
hundreds and hundreds of people

dealing with these issues.

So it's not just based on my.

History, but it's tested and tested
and tested and refined and tested.

And we have a really good success rate
with people who stick with the program.

And that's the key is sticking
with it, cuz it takes time.

This is not a, I'm gonna take an
autoimmune drug and feel better next week.

It's not prednisone.

This is really digging in and
doing the deep work and it's

a, it's a lifestyle change.

Yep.

The first place we start is
what I call my stabilization.

And we actually start with the
nervous system because again,

mass cells are the interface.

They're the complete interface between the
nervous system and the rest of the body.

If you wanna calm down all those T
reg cells and all those other cells

involved in autoimmunity, you've
gotta calm down the upstream operator.

And if you're gonna calm that
down, you've gotta calm down the

nervous system signaling to it.

So we do that through two special ways.

A lot of people are doing meditations
on YouTube and things like that.

Wonderful.

Please keep doing that.

But there are two very specific
systems in the nervous system

that have to be addressed.

The vag.

Nerve system and the limbic system.

And I'm sure you've covered those.

So don't go into too much depth,
but a lot of people think that

they're doing these and they're not.

So making sure that this really
truly is a limbic program and really

truly is working on the Vaal system.

You can pick one limbic program,
but the vagal system is so complex.

It.

As many modalities, you, you bring on
way beyond Garling or singing or humming.

Those are good too.

Keep doing those, but we're talking
about the specialized auditory programs,

VA nerve stimulators, any of those
things, and the more severe the health

condition, the more of those people need.

But truly, usually if people get the right
compliment of limbic and vagal support,

And they're calming their lifestyle down.

They're not writing themselves ragged.

They'll usually start to see
improvements within six to eight weeks.

Wow.

See, and to me, because
I know that that's fast.

That really is.

and it's really about
getting the right mix.

So, and I do have a course all on that.

I don't wanna get in, use our time
to get on all the details, but

people can learn all about it.

It's a low cost course then, and it
takes you through how to make your own

choices based on your own circumstances.

Wonderful.

So we've got the nervous system piece.

The other part of that is some
people have structural issues

at the top of their neck.

And I go through this in that course,
but if you've ever had any kind of

neck injury, head injury, whiplash, If
you had weird, I shouldn't say weird.

If you had unusual unusual birth
circumstances where they'd use forceps

or something like that, it was hard
to get you out of the birth canal.

If you were born by C-section, C-section
actually doesn't allow the cranial sutures

to have the compression they're supposed
to, to finalize what the development

of the, the structure anyway, all that.

If you headbutt, if you played soccer
and used to headbutt the ball, I mean,

there's so much we don't think of, we know
now is, you know, tr trauma that we didn.

Ever consider to be trauma.

So it doesn't need to be that
you lost consciousness somewhere

because you hit your head that hard,

Absolutely.

And what it really is, it's both that
neural inflammation side, but also

it can pinch the vagal nerve where it
comes out at the very top of the neck.

And there are other cranial nerves
that are very critical in this.

So if these nerves have pressure
on them, doesn't matter much

meditation you do, or limbic Vaal,
you've gotta go upstream to that.

And the jaw is really important that too.

So we have jaw dysregulation.

So that's step one, stabilization
assessing what's going on, looking

through your history, looking
through what factors you're facing.

Then number two is remove the triggers.

These are foods.

We talked about food triggers.

A lot of them in this
audience are gonna be.

Gluten dairy sugar.

You know, those things that everybody
should know about by now, histamine

and lectins, lots of free blog
posts for people on our website

on those histamine and lectins.

Now, my issue was with my
joints was actually oxalates.

And when I came off, it was
like walking on ground glass.

And when I came off the oxalates,
I was off that cane for good.

And today I don't do it often,
but I can wear cute shoes.

I can wear high heels.

I can hike for 2, 3,

Isn't it amazing.

Oh, it's so wonderful.

Every time I get to go for a walk,
I'm just immensely grateful that

I don't even own dance goes anymore.

That was literally the only shoe I used to

Mine was doc Martins, cuz
they had that support.

We all had like the one thing, you
know, I couldn't be like in anything.

Yeah, it was so painful.

Now, if somebody's gonna look at
oxalates, please read our blog post.

Please go off of those
slowly, do not go cold Turkey.

You can trigger kidney stone.

So really know what you're
doing with the oxalates.

Then the third part in this method,
I'm just going with step one.

Ation.

The third part is the mass cell calming.

And I wanna share some of my
favorite ones, particularly

in the realm of autoimmunity.

Some of my favorite are actually
bicarbonates baking soda.

If people have low blood.

Potassium by carbonate.

If they have high blood pressure,
if you're on blood pressure

meds, absolutely work with your
prescriber before you use those.

But by carbonates modulate the mechanism.

That pushes inflammasome production
creates inflammation in the body.

Very simple.

Almost everybody can tolerate that
unless they have super low stomach acid.

So my other favorites, queer satins, huge.

Most people in this audience
probably tolerate it.

I get a lot of super
sensitive people who don't.

We have all kinds of other options, but
queer, I'm gonna go with my less sensitive

ones, vitamin D vitamin E vitamin a.

I use a form of it's kind of
like omega threes, but they're

called SPMS called special.

Pro-res resolving mediators,
huge in resolving inflammation.

If you tolerate them.

Well, they're lower histamine than fish
oil, and you've gotta get the dose up

to about three caps, two times a day.

For most people.

Now, these are just ideas and
it's not prescriptive for anybody.

Zinc is a big one.

And then one of my two last
favorites are peri extract.

That's a, the peri Perilla is a Asian herb
wonderful mass cell supporting properties.

And then Bain Chinese skullcap extract.

Also really good people
have neural inflammation.

Great properties.

Now, there are hundreds actually
mass supporting agents and people.

A lot of people get relief using combo of
H one H two blockers and things like that.

LDN, huge and autoimmunity and people
probably talked about that on here.

Then once we bring things
down, a few notches, So we'll

a little more stabilized.

We've got the symptoms.

They're not gonna be gone,
but we've just got it down.

So there's some bandwidth, there's some
room cuz by the time most people see me,

they're kind of at the end of their rope
and they can't handle flaring anymore.

They're in continual flare most of the
time and the people I'm working with.

Once we get things down a
few notches, then we're gonna

go really gentle mold detox.

And if people need one step to.

Learn about mold.

Learn how to test yourself, learn
how to interpret those tests

because they often look normal.

But most people with immunity are
poor excers of toxins and the levels

are gonna look artificially low,
but you see anything there, take

it seriously and then learn how
to start to step yourself through.

We have a great guide course
that steps you through.

Step by step by step.

Now it was for more sensitive people.

But you know, that's a great course.

There's other resources
out there find something.

And I have had almost no one out of
the hundreds and hundreds of people

have come through a clinic almost
no one, who's not had mold toxicity.

That doesn't mean everyone
has mold toxicity.

It just means in the population I see.

Also in the population.

I see.

So it is, I mean, to say it's prevalent,
it's such an understatement and

everybody, and it used to be one of
those things that if the needle wasn't

moving like expected, then we would look,
we just we're testing right away now.

I mean, there's, it just doesn't
make sense not to because it's,

it's that kind, if you already have.

Autoimmune symptoms, autoimmune
diagnosis know you have mass cell

issues that you gotta look you

mold, mold toxins are toxic
to the nervous system.

They're toxic to the immune system.

They're great.

Disruptors, okra, toin AFLA
toin are highly carcinogenic.

And the higher, the more the
auto immunity, the more risk

of cancer doesn't mean you'll
get it, but the risk increases.

So we've gotta bring
those risk loads down.

And I would rather have tick
borne illnesses again than to have

mold toxicity again, with what I,

and when, which we see, so, so often
as well, just like with you, we, we see

the two together and you really, you
need to treat that mold first to, to

you gotta, gotta go after that first.

And that's the key with sensitive people.

Cause I know there's gotta be
some sensitive people listening to

this is the order of operations.

So if you have failed and failed
protocols, don't despair, don't give up.

It's really about getting the
right things in the right order.

That makes all the difference.

And we have people come
in who can't drink water.

I mean, even our water, we have people
who come in and they, they can hardly eat.

And they, you know, they get
huge improvements when we do

things in the right order.

So that's the key.

And I love to end with just a little
message of hope for people, which

is that, you know, I went from being
bedridden, unable to read a book.

Unable to hardly walk across the house
to, I run a busy, busy practice, and

we're expanding our practice with
more practitioners that I'm training.

And we, I have a really busy life.

I have to work on that balance piece
every day, but I exercise, I feel great.

I process very complex cases.

My brain is functioning fully, and
I've had people who came in in a

wheelchair with 20 seizures a day
couldn't form a full sentence.

Couldn't even handle being on a
call for more than 15 minutes.

One woman in particular.

A couple years later is
going back to college.

And, you know, we see these things all
the time and what we can really frame

this as, because you're exactly right.

This is on the rise.

And even when I started 10 years
ago, The types of cases were

not what, what we see today.

And when I talked to my
mentor, Neil, Nathan, who's

been doing this for 50 years.

He says, absolutely clearly it's people
are more complex and they're more sick

than they were 30, 40, 50 years ago.

We do live in a very toxic world.

It's not sustainable.

And what's happening to those of us with
auto immunity, with mass cell issues.

Those of us who get really sick from
old toxins versus the people who are in

the same environment, don't get as sick.

And I see this in families all the time.

There's one person really sick.

It's happening to all of us.

It's just expressed differently.

Those of us with the auto immunity,
with the mass issues, with the

sensitivities, whatever it is, we
are the canaries in the coal mine.

We're the ones waving the flag
going, Hey, this is dangerous.

And it's whether does it show up right
now or does it show up 20, 30 years later

in stage four cancer or Alzheimer's or

Alzheimer's.

so at least when it shows up, now
we have time to turn our health

around and make a difference.

And my hope for all of us is that we
are gonna be the leaders in this change.

absolutely.

It's the, the butterfly
effect can be amazing.

I always say even with my clients, I'm
sure you see the same, you know, it's

not, it's not just, I healed you healed.

That we're helping other people heal.

It's their families, their friends, the
people they come into contact with that

wanna know how, what did you do that?

This is how we're gonna start
that shift in the right direction.

Absolutely.

and it's for us.

It's for our children, our
grandchildren, our great-grandchildren.

And it it's for me, it's not
just about getting people back

to eating in restaurants again.

You know, walking in heels again,
or whatever, you know, getting to go

mountain climbing, whatever we wanna do.

It's really about getting people back
to living their lives, giving back

to living their hopes, their dreams.

And what's our mission here on
earth, just to make this planet

a better place for all of us.

Absolutely.

Absolutely.

So I always ask at the end of the
episode and you've already given us

many, many, but one thing anybody
listening can do starting today

to start to improve their health.

Yes, one free thing you can do actually.

I'll go with this one.

Some people might have some congestion.

They may not be do it.

It was actually alternate nostril breath.

Super simple.

You can look up videos on YouTube on
how to do it, but you're just closing

when nostril inhaling through the left,
closing the left, exhaling through

the right, and then inhale through the
right close exhale through the left.

That's a great Vaal nerve support.

It's simple.

It's easy to do.

You can do it.

When you're sitting in traffic, you
can do it on your bathroom break.

So that's a wonderful one.

And I just wanted to add one
more resource for people.

If I could, which is we have a summit
that is going on October 18 and

it'll be going until I believe the
I'm gonna give you the exact date.

I should have it in my head here.

It's gonna be October
18th through October 25th.

It's the reversing mass cell
activation histamine tolerance summit.

And there are over 40 free interviews.

You can access that week on all aspects
of this, including autoimmunity.

So I hope some people can join us
and loses really a huge labor of love

to get this out for free to people.

Amazing.

And for those that are gonna listen
later, will they be able to access that if

Yes.

Yes.

It'll be available.

Evergreen.

It'll be available for purchase,
but that, and it's still low

cost, but that week it's free.

Yeah.

Fantastic.

We'll have all of these links in the,
in the notes, but for people that are

listening on the go and they wanna
learn more about you, what you're doing,

what's the best place to find you.

Two places, mastcell360.com.

It's M as in Mary, a
S in Sam, T as in Tom.

Masked like a ship masked cell
360 and that's our website.

Then we have a Facebook page as well.

Same name masked cell 360.

And we have free Facebook lives,
most Mondays, lots of resources there

for people and a lovely community.

So people are so supportive.

So we'd love to have you join us.

Amazing.

You Beth have been that this is a treasure
and you're such a leader in this space.

So I wanna thank you for taking the
time to share with us and educate

us and just give us the gift of this
knowledge of, you know, what we maybe

thought was really, really rare or
hadn't even heard of is actually

something that we all need to know.

Thank you, you know, if I can help just
one more person, get their health back

way faster and way less money than I did.

Then what I went through was worth it.

Amen.

Thank you so much for everyone listening.

Remember you can get the
transcripts and show notes by

visiting inspired living.show.

I hope you enjoyed this
episode as much as I did.

I'll see you next week.