Unlocking the Mysteries of Mast Cell Activation

Introduction to Dr. Meg and Mast Cell Focus 0:00

Welcome back. We're continuing our conversation on Reversing Crohn's and Colitis. I'm your host, Sinclair Kennally, and today I am joined by my wonderful friend and colleague, Dr. Meg Mill. Dr. Meg is a functional medicine practitioner, a Doctor of Pharmacy, and a mom of three. Her main practice is focused on healing your gut to balance hormones, increase energy, decrease anxiety and headaches, and reduce inflammation, clear skin issues, and restore your immune system. That's how she became such an expert on muscle activation syndrome.

Over years of practice and developing hundreds of helping hundreds of clients, she has seen firsthand that healing your gut goes well beyond reducing bloating, constipation, or heartburn. In fact, many people who do not even have gut symptoms experienced true amazement when simple gut healing protocols cause all because all of their other symptoms to vanish. In addition to working with clients, she hosts a highly ranked podcast called A Little Bit Healthier. The mission of the show is to empower you to take simple steps every day to improve your health and longevity.

Dr. Meg is has really focused of late on Mast cell, and that's why I wanted to bring her on so that you guys could benefit from understanding more deeply that the relationship between mast cell activation syndrome and really what Mast cells even do in the body. How would you know? This is even an issue for you. And compounding your digestive issues. So we're going to unpack that together for you today. Welcome, Dr. Meg, it's great to have you. Hi. Thank you so much for having me. So let's just dive right into the heart of this.

Talk to us about Mast Cell Activation. What are mast cells? What is this health condition that has just exploded in the last few years? Yeah. So I think to understand mast cell activation syndrome and what mast cells are, we need to just start by talking about the immune system. So you know, when we're talking about Crohn's and colitis, when we're talking about Mast Cell Activation, we're looking at the immune system. And like we've seen over the past five years, we've seen this explosion in immune dysregulation in different ways.

And so when we are mast cells are our first responders. So they're ready to go all the time. They're ready to attack and they're really not specific. So we have two parts of our immune system. We have our innate immune system and our adaptive immune system. So when you have like let's say a food allergy, you're getting a specific target that's more of an adaptive immune response. But those mast cells, they're just they're serving everything. They're just ready to go. They're ready to fire. They're ready to help the body do what it needs to do in order

What Mast Cells Are and How They Activate 2:46

to prevent you from really experiencing negative things, from pathogens and getting those pathogens out of the body. And we have these receptors in almost every cell of our body. So that's where when we're starting to see some of these symptoms, their full body symptoms, we start to see all of these different type reactions. Because you have mast cells everywhere. They're they're on alert. And we have actually more mast cells, which I think you and I are going to get into the heart of that in our GI tract.

So that's where a lot of these symptoms come. And we're going to dive more into that. But in general they're there. They're ready. They're on they're on alert to attack. And so when the mast cells are stimulated, they they do what we call granulation and they release all they almost like spit out all of these different things. And one of which is histamine. And so we when our mast cells become overactive, we start responding to things that aren't actually dangerous. We get what we call, you know, a cell danger response.

Our cells become afraid for various reasons, which we'll get into, and we start having this response to you. Maybe it's your food, maybe it's air, maybe it's heat. Maybe it's things that are it seem like, I can't even believe I'm reacting to this. But a lot of people start to become hypersensitive and overreact because their mast cells really become angry and just start firing at everything. Yeah, that's a really beautiful way to say it. So it and it's so interesting to me because, you know, mast cells can both, you know, contribute inflammatory and also anti inflammatory, you know, substances into the colon specifically and really the whole digestive tract.

So they could be releasing histamine or cytokines, you know if that's what is appropriate in the moment. But they also have potentially anti-inflammatory effects. So we're not saying that your mast cells are bad. You know that it's always ready. Fire aim. What we want to do together today is unpack for you guys some of the root causes for mast cells being over activated. And what are the signs and symptoms that that might be playing a role in your digestive condition. So why don't we start there, Dr. Meg, what are some of the symptoms of mast cell over activation.

Some that you want to talk about symptoms okay. Yep. So we have them all over our body. And I think this is where it gets a little bit confusing for a lot of people because you're going to see overlap in your symptoms. You know you can see skin issues itching hives. But then you can also see headaches and migraines. You can see fatigue and same brain fog. We often will have like dizziness. The vertigo starts to come in. You can have heart palpitations. We see digestive diarrhea, nausea, bloating, other digestive dysfunctions, IBS type symptoms can be present.

You know even for further like we'll talk about. We can see weight changes, poor appetite, brain fog. You can even have anxiety, depression, allergy symptoms, hormonal imbalances, joint pains. We can see hypermobility. So it's really like we're saying because there are mast cells everywhere and there's different receptors all through our body. We sort of start to see all of these reactions. And so one of the things I think if you're if you're trying to pinpoint is this me, one of the things to look at is that we generally see not always, but generally we see sort of a hypersensitivity.

So if you're someone who feels like and that's me. So that's why I am here when I'm here. I mean, I my mom said to me at Christmastime, even this year and I'm well controlled. I, you know, I've been working on this for years, but, you know, we have something and flare us. And my mom said to me, you're just very sensitive to this world. You always have been. And I was. Like. Okay, so I am, but I manage it and I don't have all these symptoms that I used to have. And and you have to it is something that you have to manage.

So, you know, maybe you're the person like me who walks through the perfume aisle in the store and is like, oh my gosh, I'm sort of feeling nauseous. I want to plug my nose. I'm not like, oh, I love all the smell. Or, you know, you eat something or even take a supplement and you're like, why can't I take that supplement? Because everyone else can take it and I'm going to be reacting to it. So we start to see maybe more of this hyper reactivity for a lot of people.

Symptoms and Signs of Mast Cell Overactivation 7:08

And so that's kind of a sign to like, are you more sensitive? Are you sort of someone that has a multitude of symptoms? it's hard to diagnose. There's not many places that do really diagnostic tests. I mean, it's you have to do urine tests, you test triptans levels, you test histamine levels over time. But it's a lot more symptomatic diagnosis really in general right now. Then we're able to really get a full diagnosis. Yeah I think that's a really great point. And you know hopefully practitioners are waking up to what a big issue this is.

But I still find that this is kind of a black hole in awareness where we're talking about it in terms of food sensitivities or in terms of like anxiety, as if it's like a mental health condition or, you know, dermatitis. And it's all very a localized awareness when you go to a practitioner, depending on what symptoms are really the most prominent for you and it's true that you could go to somebody and get, you know, a diagnosis of Crohn's and get obsessed with just like a food elimination piece without becoming aware of the role that Mast Cell Activation Syndrome might be playing for you.

I think that's a really one of the points that I want to drive home here, too. Is that something that I see very often is that when you're looking at gut healing from a Mast Cell Activation Syndrome or histamine intolerance perspective, you want to do things a little bit differently because some of the things that are in the traditional gut protocols actually will actually make you react. And so, you know, when one of the things that mast cells are releasing is histamine, and that can create a lot of symptoms for people because we again have histamine, we have four different types of histamine receptors. All over our body.

So if your mast cells degree undulating it's releasing histamine. You have a higher histamine load. Then you can break down we need good gut health to be able to break down histamine with diamine oxidase, but you're not breaking it down if you're taking certain probiotics, if you're to eating fermented food. Fermented foods. Yeah. what a killer. Yeah. So a lot of these, like, staples and gut healing can actually trigger you. And that's really complicated because, you know, here you are. You're getting the answers.

You're finally like, okay, I'm on the track to get answers. If you're having this syndrome going on, you may be actually activating some of these symptoms without intention. And it is a little hard to unpack sometimes. Yeah, that's a great point. And I think it's really helpful for people to be able to see themselves in that. I thought of Michael, my partner, because we were both chronically ill together for years. It was a real joy. It was a lovely period. yeah. And, he was very histamine reactive.

Right. So he and he unwittingly and unfortunately would do all the normal gut healing things in the beginning, like the fermented foods, like the sauerkraut, and just get these unlivable skin issues. And it's like, well, that's not me. I don't have Marcel issues because I don't have that huge histamine flare. But I was still super chemically sensitive and I was still prone towards, you know, depression and social phobia and chronic fatigue and really unlivable gut pain, you know, down to three foods.

But because my Marcel symptoms looked different than his, I didn't think of myself as a histamine. A great point, because you don't know that they're they're two different things and they can be lumped into one. And you don't actually have to have a lot of people with mast cell activation syndrome do have histamine issues, but you don't always. And so you you that's an interesting thing how you're saying okay, well I was saying I don't have that because I'm not having that. So that's a really great point that the symptoms vary for each person.

They're very individual. So it's your checklist and how this is actually playing out in your own body. Yeah, absolutely. And the the frustrating thing that I one of the reasons why I wanted to make sure we covered this on this event is to help people navigate these conversations that they're having with their traditional guys and traditional practitioners who may not be keeping up with this information that's unfolding like the data is there. But if your doctor isn't somebody that's obsessed with keeping up in today's day and age, it's it's actually more likely that they will be undereducated about this.

And you could end up on Immunomodulators and and suppressors, corticosteroids to manage some of these symptoms without realizing it. That can actually cause further dysregulation down the line. And it can absolutely open doorway to pathogens setting up shop parasites that your immune system may be able to fight off in the first place, but now are actively aggravate your Crohn's and or colitis.

Histamine, Gut Healing, and Common Triggers 12:14

So there's it's a bigger picture. And that's why we want you guys to get familiar with these concepts now and really empower yourselves to dig deeper and seek out practitioners that are very, so, educated, you know, that are up on the the new data. What else would you say about that? Can you mythbuster a little bit? What else are you still seeing out there in terms of misconceptions in the treatment room? So I love that because there is more and more data right now. There's more studies that there are specific mast cell releasing activating microbes.

So there are actually microbes in your microbiome that can be contributing. It's fascinating really I know I get I geek out on this because it's like always the chicken or the egg. What's, you know, what's causing what we're always looking for. You know what is activating these masks. So we're looking at things like gut dysbiosis. There are certain bacteria that we can see are really, you know, causing this massive activation, you know, Sibo, leaky gut. Because then we're getting the intestinal permeability.

That's making it more systemic. We're looking at mold. So I get a lot. There's a big connection with mold and muscle activation syndrome. You can have underlying infections like Lyme disease and other viral infections. We can see allergens, chemicals like you're mentioning. Even emfs can start to be something that can activate mast cells, hormones and one of the things that really we can get into too, if you want to, but is, really the nervous system and working on that nervous system regulation.

And I think that's just so foundational, that piece that a lot of people are missing because your body becomes hypersensitive, like we're saying, your mast cells are over activating, and we actually need to teach our body that it's okay, it's safe. You can live in this body. You can feel comfortable in this body. Your body's not betraying you. And you start to feel like that. I mean, I think you you really do the hardest thing for me, it was. It was like, wait, my body actually is betraying me, and I.

I have no control over this. And once we can start to feel safe and comfortable and in control, we can start to change some of those neural pathways that can also bring some of that down and really relax things and start to regulate your immune system. Yeah, absolutely. You got that over activation of the amygdala where it's like the some, food that's coming in is scary. I'm going to have a bad reaction to it. You've already decided that. And then you're off to the races, you know, and I'm really glad that you're highlighting this piece.

We have also found this to be essential. We've included, nervous system support in absolutely every training or course experienced in every client's protocol for this reason, and I would love to hear what your tools, your favorite tools are for nervous system support, especially for mast cell folks and digestive issues. What do you see working right now? Yeah, so I do it three pronged. It's a three pronged approach. So we really work on the parasympathetic nervous system doing the breath work, doing the regulations.

I think that's really if you're listening and you're like, what can I do? First thing right now everyone has to breathe so we can take our take too. I always like if you don't have time, take two minutes a day. Just give me two minutes. That's like, not that much. Will build the muscle memory and we'll do some regulating breath work so we can start to regulate. And then we look at the way we do some bagel nerve work and and exercises there. So we're looking at that gut brain connection. So we'll try to do some things I incorporate that.

And then I also have some limbic work like you're saying that we do and have some limbic exercises and thought retraining and try to rewire some of those neural pathways in order to feel more safe. I one of the analogies I love that someone use one time is, you know, if you smell a rose and you touch a stove at the same time, and every time you smell the rose, you touch the stove, you're start to get this association, even though it's a beautiful smell with a negative feeling. So you. So someone takes the stove away and you're still smelling the rose you're going to like, oh, that's uncomfortable. I hate that smell.

Like it's not going to feel good because you've had this association. So we need to break those patterns and start to calm your body down and and break those associations too. Yeah. That's a really beautiful way to say it. Our nervous system is is a learner and a sensor. You know, it wants to learn and make associations and it wants to draw upon that information so it can feel like we're on the back foot, like, the, the last thing I want somebody to take away from this conversation, though, is that your nervous system is fragile because what literally what doctor and I are saying is that this is very resilient.

Retrain able. Your brain is very plastic like plasticity is proven this these associations can be formed but then they can be reformed. That's the good news. So conference I will bring this up because I was at a conference this year on the at the Allergy Immunology National Conference, and there was a physician there that said to me, we were talking because I've been doing a lot of talking about, cats and really trying to bring awareness. And we were there and there was a physician that said to me, oh, well, this just isn't there's nothing you can do about it.

Like, this isn't even, like basically worth it. And I was like, oh my gosh, I see every day people make these dramatic health steps. So I just I want to bring that up to like, yes, you don't let anyone tell you like Sinclair saying you're nervous, system fragile, that you can't make huge shifts. You just need to really take it one step at a time and put these pieces together. And if you're patient with yourself and you listen to your body, we see, like, dramatic, like you do is dramatic transformations every day.

Yeah, absolutely. I totally agree with you.

Root Causes: Dysbiosis, Mold, Toxins, and Stress 18:10

So when you say, I love that piece about starting with breathwork, it's a great tip. And, love the vagus nerve stimulation stuff. We've covered that elsewhere on this segment. limbic system retraining. Can you define that for the audience? Yes. So your amygdala, you have a limbic system and that's another one where you the like the army is is a good you know, there's soldiers there ready to go. But but basically in an easy way to kind of just think of it is there's certain pathways in which your thoughts are our normal thought patterns happen.

So think of it that 90% of our thoughts are the same thoughts you thought yesterday or the same thoughts. And we're going to keep thinking these thoughts. Sometimes they're just kind of the natural pathways. And what we're trying to do is change those pathways basically. And you don't your body and your brain don't really want to sometimes because it's just more kind of comfortable to be like, this is the way I know to think this is what do you what I'm used to and I, I like that I. Figured this way out.

Yes, I figured it out. I'm safe in this box. Like this is what I want to do. And so we need to do some exercises that help you form a new pathway. And so new possibilities, new react. And like, new things are coming and we're trying to create that. And your brain will do it. It just takes a little bit of time and practice. Yeah. That's really well said. Thank you for sharing that. I was trying trying to teach where I know instead of getting into the sometimes I can get too much into like the, the, the sciency details.

But that's kind of what we're trying to do. I know. And that's, that's fine that I always want this to be grounded and, you know, the, the experience of the patient or client because, you know, you don't need to know the neuroscience in order to heal your own nervous system. And maybe you're somebody that enjoys learning that. But in my experience, people are super brain foggy, overwhelmed, and yeah, honestly, let's just start doing the stuff that works. As long as you know that it works, and a little bit about why it works, that's usually enough to enroll, you know, your consciousness into like, you know, I'm going to make this a priority.

Yes. And it doesn't have to take so much time. You can. Do it. Yeah. And the truth is like our understanding about science in today's day and age is extremely malleable. And it's it's honestly shifting all the time. So when anytime somebody is saying this is the way your body functions, this is the way it happens, it's a hypothesis that has some proof against it, and it will shift guaranteed within the next ten years. So it's just it's a metaphor for our understanding, our experience today. Let's use it to our advantage. Let's use it to heal.

But that's all it's good for here. Here. Yeah. I'm just a clinician. I want to make sure that everybody actually gets well. That's all I care to. That's all I agree with you I that's me. Do. Yeah. As a as quickly and easily as we can as it can happen. Yeah. Exactly. Yeah. So let's go into some of those practical things that people may be overlooking. I love what you were talking about earlier about those, some of the reasons for Marcel Activation Center to be exploding the last five years. I do agree with you.

You know, the increased prevalence and increased toxicity of molds, the increase of emfs. You know, I think a lot of mast cell issues is total body burden. So overload of toxins or the default is leaky gut because of our ongoing exposure to glyphosate in traditionally grown and packaged foods, for example. so you're, you know, you have this backdrop of leaky gut and then your immune system has to try to function within that and beyond it. and then also, yeah, so a lot of undiagnosed electro hypersensitivity, you know, the data is there. That's very interesting.

But I do think we can be increasing our resilience through lifestyle shifts, you know, looking at our environment and, taking a fresh look at, you know, our diet and also, of course, nervous system retraining. What do you think, are do we leave out any of the root causes that are worth exploring for methyl activation syndrome? And this prevalence of digestive issues and serious conditions like Crohn's and colitis, anything we left untouched? You know, I think it is I think it's really like we were saying just the variety.

So what it think of yourself, think of putting like weights on your shoulders and you're like, okay, what can I put on? I have another thing, I have another thing. I'm filing all this stuff on my body. And what where is the point of breaking? And that's kind of what we get to. It's like it's generally not one thing. And I think it's an interesting thing because in functional medicine we say the root cause. But I always see root causes because there's not generally one thing that tipped you over.

It's like, what are all the accumulation of, you know, is your I love to start with the gut. That's why I think this is a this is a great summit because you know what's going on in your microbiome? What is activating your immune system that way? What don't you know about what imbalances are we having these massive activating microbes in there. Do you have a good healthy microbiome. And then, you know, going through the layers, like have you really looked into mold mycotoxins that that's so often connected with that when the talk of mast cell activation.

And I'm not saying that mold isn't, but it's it's not the only I guess that's like it's not like, oh, that's just it's just a mold thing. It's a, it's a whole body thing that we're looking at. What are all the factors. And you may or may not have mycotoxins, you know, like I say, people who don't. And so I think that that's another factor that we're looking at. But it's not like, okay, that's just the only thing. If I don't mold, I'm not I don't have that. So I think there can be a misconception there.

And then, you know, looking at everything in your environment, do you have, you know, chemicals that are around you? Are you do you have heavy metal exposure or do you have allergen exposure? What does your environment look like? Emfs like we're talking about, viral infections, tick borne illnesses. Those can what are all the things that are putting this load on your immune system where it's like, hey, I'm done. I'm angry, you're putting too much on me, and I'm just going to start reacting. Yeah, that's so beautifully said.

I agree with you. It's definitely about a total body burden assessment for people. And what I think, what people don't realize is that this has happened very, very quickly, that we have completely changed our food production system, the way food has grown, you know, it's been totally overhauled within the last couple of decades. The way food is processed, we're living in a more and more synthetic world. And just because that's legal doesn't mean that it's biocompatible. We're like one of the sickest countries in the world now, and we drop in health outcomes every year.

You know, we're going to be the sickest, fattest country in the world if we aren't already. By by any measure. And there's a reason for that. Our EPA, our FDA, these government agencies are not actually designed to protect the consumer. It's the role of the consumer to prove to these agencies, hey, this has ruined my life, and take a corporate giant to court and prove that legally so that these agencies

Nervous System Regulation and Limbic Retraining 25:48

can turn around and go, hey guys, maybe don't make that chemical. And then right behind it, those mega giants have several other variations that are legally different, but still have a similar detrimental effect to your health. So the system itself is not designed for us to just let somebody else do the thinking for us. So it's not your fault that you don't feel well. And if you're looking around and going well, but everybody doesn't feel like you're right and it's not age, it's not just stress.

So there's certainly components, you know, this is about us taking our health and our future back into our own hands as a collective, as a community. And it starts with you guys. So I know it feels frustrating to be like the canary in the coal mine. Sometimes we're like, why am I the most sensitive one in the family? Why am I the weirdo that's always exploring, you know, and trying a different diet and trying to get relief? It's because you're awake and aware. And yes, you have the dubious distinction of having the most visible sensitivities, but actually, that's way better than suddenly finding out I had stage four cancer.

And you couldn't. See it coming. True. And that's where some of these things, like your body's telling you stuff and you're seeing signals that maybe someone else's body isn't healthy either, but they're just not getting the signals. And and so lean into it and say, okay, this is my opportunity to discover why this is happening. Not, this is happening to me, and there's nothing I can do about it. And I have to live this way. It's like, okay, this is happening. What are we going to do? And that's a really that's an empowering choice because you do have choices.

And and as we're sharing with you, there's a lot of factors that you can control in this whole puzzle. And so I think you need to be empowered, be empowered, take control in that. Because there's things you can do to make a difference. What are some of your favorite things for people to look at, taking control over first? Like what are some overlooked, you know, contributing factors to mass cell activation syndrome that people can take control over right now? Yeah. So one of the things that you can try is even just starting to try a low histamine diet and see, okay, do you see a difference if you eat low histamine foods.

And so we can use that as a tool. I don't think that's necessarily a long term plan. So I think that's the other thing people say like oh I just have to be on a low histamine diet forever. Well, no, there are healthy foods on there. We don't want that to be your long term solution, but it can be a very good investigative tool to start and see, like, okay, if I pull these foods out, do I see some of my symptoms go away? Am I having histamine reactions? Because we talked about histamine is one of the things that's being released from the mast cells.

It's one of the most obvious symptoms I would say it's a symptom trigger. so you could start there and just see like, okay, do these histamine foods bother me? And if pulling them out makes a difference? One of the things, though, that I just want to mention is that if you're going to do a low histamine diet, you also have to be careful with preparation. So meal prep is is really not a good thing when you're trying a low histamine diet because histamines can grow in foods. So even if it's not a high histamine food, it can grow in the food if you eat leftovers.

So if you're a meal prepper, just flash freeze it after you cook it, and then in portion sizes and pull those out when you're ready to eat them. Yeah, that's a really important distinction. Thank you. It's what people often overlook right. Or they'll hear about the carnivore diet. They'll get excited because they're friends with metabolic syndrome or histamine issues. I've seen some, you know, great symptom relief from it. But what they don't realize is there are actually really high histamine ways to ingest animal protein.

And some animals are cured for longer, like beef has a longer aging rate, typically of 21 day is the lamb which is 15 days. So and that can make a huge difference for you. So there are also now low histamine meats out there. So we got to think about this logic, Lee, because the longer a food is aged, the more that has to dine or has it breaks down into histamine. Yes. Yeah. And that's a good and a lot of times people I think feel better like you're saying on the carnivore because they're pulling almost all foods out.

But is that really the way to go either long term. So it's like where is the the balance in really long. Like I think it's like, okay, what can I do right now? And then what can I do? What do I need to do long term to really get to the root of this? Yeah. Excellent point. anything else that folks can start exploring today when it comes to, you know, mast cell over activation and how that might relate to their chronic digestive conditions. Yeah. So I guess my advice there would be to find a practitioner who can help you really dive into this.

Because, you know, I could tell you like cleaning up your environment, getting an air filter, filtering your water, like all the things that probably everyone else has told you that you've probably heard these in the summit, that we're just cleaning up our environment. But, you know, this is a comp, this is complicated. And it's not necessarily like, oh, you can just do this one thing and it will change. And and as you mentioned earlier, there's different symptoms for each person. There's different triggers for each person.

So really finding someone who's well versed in understanding mast cell activation can actually really cut through some of that guesswork that you're really trying to do on your own, maybe, and give you a clear path in order to eliminate some of these symptoms and really bring your body back into balance.

Low Histamine Strategies and Practical Next Steps 31:28

Yeah, I think it's a great point. Guidance is really essential. I also want to end with a just a couple of frames that I know you'll agree with. one of the things that is super characteristic of people with Mast Cell Activation Syndrome and also Crohn's and Colitis, is to have disproportionate reactions to stressors as well as healing tools. So just know that if there's a standard dose for a supplement, you're probably going to be well below that standard dose. It doesn't mean that that supplement is not an appropriate healing tool for you, but you should be thinking about your total body burden and your total body stress.

How to simplify and reduce that on a daily basis. Like Dr. Meg suggested, looking at your environment, reducing those inflammatory sources and things like it's it makes sense that your body wouldn't want to be poisoned when it's already over, inflamed and over activated. Like, let's be kind to ourselves. Let's stop asking, why aren't I tough like other people and say, Thank God my body's telling me that this is actually poison because you don't want to find out what it feels like to be a tough person with sudden bad health news down the line.

It's affecting everybody biologically. You just have the benefit of getting signals earlier than they do, and they're finally bad enough that you're willing to pay attention. That's why you're here. I'm learning. So let's reduce total body load in terms of incoming exposures every day, really simplify our lives so we can learn and be a detective about what are my inflammatory triggers. It's not forever. It's just what's happening right now in this chapter. And then, simplifying our foods. That low histamine diet is great.

Like Dr. Meg said, that is not a solution. That is a remedy and an essential one. So you're not poking the bruise like that. You're trying to heal. Right. But this is a really important point that she's making here. So I'm just underscoring it for you guys. And then of course we would love to see you take into account, what are the root causes. So of my mast cell over activation. Because mast cells aren't bad. Histamine isn't bad. These are essential parts of staying alive and functioning or just over activated at this time.

And why is that? There's always a good reason. Your body's having a logical response to the stress that's been put under. Anything you want to share about root causes. Dr. Meg, to wrap this up. Yes. Yeah. No, I think that that that was very well said. I did want to say that actually another interesting thing that there is research showing that whenever you were mentioning how we have to take lower doses and how you're more reactive to supplements and, and that is true. You know, you want to be you want to listen to your body.

And just because you can't take a whole capsule of something doesn't mean you can't take a fourth of it or a granuloma or something until you're ready and you can build. But there is some data showing that you might get more benefit. Actually, as a sensitive person, to that lower dose than someone else who can tolerate the higher dose. So I just because you can't take the whole dose of that someone else could it just it doesn't mean that you're not getting the benefits. So that's an that's an interesting there's data there that I feel like find interesting.

So I just wanted to mention that too and say okay you know what. Listen to your body. But you're still getting the benefits by doing what you can do. And the more consistent you can stay with it, you start to see some bigger jumps. So you might have these like little steps, little steps, little steps until you're like, wait, all of a sudden, here I'm at this place where now my body's ready to take off. And so I see that regularly too. I did too. That is such an encouraging thing to end on. I totally agree with you.

I see that clinically all the time we have, and our recoveries that we have, we call the pink Line. It's it's gentle, handled with care. So everything is color coded for them. I'm like, let's go super low and slow. But they still make tremendous progress on low doses. And that was certainly true for me as an ultra sensitive person who just like, look at a supplement and get nauseous and crash, you know. Talk about needing nervous system retraining. Yes. Like I see it, I know. Yeah, what a wonderful, uplifting note to end on.

So where can people find your work, Dr. Meg. Yeah. So I my website is MegMill.com. I also have a podcast called A Little Bit Healthier. And I share all of this information on the podcast. And I'm over on Instagram @drmegmill and so I'm like, yeah, I'd love to connect with you. Reach out, I'm open, and you actually get me. I think a lot of times the old thing I'll respond to like, is that really you? I'm like, yes, I want to connect with you. It's I'm very passionate about helping you heal. That's awesome. Thanks so much. Thank you.