I know not everyone is aware of MCAS as a medical condition, but it really grinds my gears when people come onto one of my posts and is like, “I don’t get it, just take iron supplements, it doesn’t need to be a big deal” (I already blocked them for being annoying so don’t go harassing them).
Meanwhile my medically complex ass has my two epi pens at the ready because depending on where the iron supplement manufacturer sourced their vitamin c addition, I might get to enjoy an expensive trip in the wee-woo wagon to the nearest emergency department.
Fwiw to my fellow masties, I seem to be doing okay with this OptiFerin-C blend from Pure Encapsulations.
The vitamin c is listed as “from calcium ascorbate blend” which didn’t tell me much but I tend to do really well with this brand (also Thorne) so I decided to just try it and see.
Normally my vit c reaction is pretty instant but it’s been a few hours now and aside from a bit of heart burn, which I get from iron supplements anyway, I’m non-reactive.
We’ll see how I am after a few days but yeah. Fingers crossed. 🤞
Update to the OptiFerin-C:
- I am still not reacting to the vitamin C which is huge for me. This used to be one of my biggest anaphylactic allergies.
- I am experiencing little to no stomach upset aside from a bit of heartburn which passes quickly.
Obviously, everyone is different but I wanted to pass this on in case it helps someone.
I don’t know how well I’m absorbing it yet–won’t know that until I get labs done–but I think it’s doing something.
I’m somehow more tired than I was before, but I think that’s my body going into sleep mode to do some vital maintenance it hasn’t had the energy to do for a while now. I’m slightly less pale too, according to the people around me.
I’m also noticing less tachycardia and less dizziness so that’s good.
Part of me wonders if it’s a placebo effect, but when your ferritin levels are in single digits, I have to imagine every little bit helps.
As a vet tech I can only theorize; I think that your body was subconsciously reacting to the hypoxia. Its very likely that your autonomous nervous system was constantly on the edge of panic as you got less oxygen.
Now that you are doing a bit better, your body is able to oxygenate and your nervous system allows you to fully use your parasympathetic nervous system. Proper oxygenation can cause better colouring in animals very quickly too (like if we give them blow by oxygen if they are in resp distress).
I kinda felt the same way when I started my B12, and also whenever I started something that made my hives stop. Anyway that is my theory and I have everything crossed for you
Yeah, I’m realizing now I was experiencing some of the symptoms of hypoxia which I had before when I had pernicious b12 anemia in 2019.
Not as severe (I was on the verge of multiple organ failure when that was finally discovered) but definitely present.
Unfortunately, this time around it was dismissed as my dysautonomia/POTS getting worse, which is what I thought it was too because my labs came back “fine” (didn’t know they weren’t testing my ferritin store), so I will need to be extra Extra vigilant about chasing my doctors up over labs in the future and make sure I’m not being dismissed based on existing complex diagnoses.
It’ll be interesting to see if hematology ops for infusions, whether my dysautonimia/POTS will improve if we can raise my ferritin to the recommended 100-ish range advocated for patients with chronic ailments.
Certainly can’t hurt to get my numbers out of single digits. 😵💫