I love the Fall – the changing of the tree colors, the temperature cooling down from summer heat, and when my children were little, the excitement of a new school year. Along with that love is the challenge of managing numerous conditions that flare in the Fall, if you’re like me and my family. Pollen allergies, asthma, Mast Cell Activation Syndrome (MCAS) and/or Eosinophilic Esophagitis (EoE) can heighten during the Fall season and be a beast to manage.
I’ve written previously about Mast Cells and the Fall Flare on this blog, and I’ve learned some new ways to manage the Fall Flare, so I wanted to write about this topic again.
The main new item that I can share, is that waiting until the Fall to manage symptoms that arise doesn’t work for me. By the time I’m feeling nasal congestion or the tightness in my stomach (from EoE), it’s difficult to take enough medication to calm down the symptoms without making myself feel sick. I need to pre-medicate, beginning in July, with small amounts of Zyrtec, Ketotifen (a mast cell stabilizer that also helps keep eosinophils at bay), and Nasalcrom. I slowly increase the dosage of these medications as I move into Fall to manage pollen allergies and MCAS symptoms.
For me, EoE isn’t a year round issue. It is at its worst in the Fall. I begin to use swallowed Flovent or Budesonide slurry every few days in July, slowly increasing the dose to twice a day as necessary through October when we have our first freeze or snowfall. Then, like magic, once the freeze comes my EoE symptoms disappear!
For my son, managing his asthma is a year round focus. Upper respiratory infections in the winter exacerbate his asthma, and pollen in the spring through the fall also can set him off. And of course, COVID is still roaming around, and he wants to ensure that his asthma is well managed should he get another round of it.
Year round, I see a Network Care Chiropractor to keep my nervous system calm. During the winter months, I go every 2-3 weeks. In the Fall, I see him every week! The Fall Flare really triggers my mast cells to activate, which in turn activates my nervous system to be on high alert. This makes sleeping difficult, and it also creates anxiety. It’s a bad combination and for years, I was almost unable to function through the Fall. Now I’ve learned to take the extra time to take care of myself and visit my doctor so that I can feel as well as possible during the high pollen season.
I have also increased my daily practice of Zhineng Qigong to 2+ hours a day. This practice has helped my body to heal so much since I started it 5 years ago. I have had several teachers through the years, however I do the practice solo most of the time in order to do the specific practices that help my body to feel good. Practicing year round has helped me to not only feel better in my body, but also to have a higher threshold when Fall comes around. What that means for me is that if I am stressed for several days on end, and the pollen counts are high, I’m less likely to have a mast cell meltdown where I feel like I can’t get out of bed. Lowering that threshold for triggers to create havoc has made my life much more livable this year! I ensure that I’m taking care of myself year round to be at my best health when the Fall Flare starts.
I hope all of you are taking care of yourself at this time of year and enjoying the beauty of Fall!
