Your Body Feels Like It Is on High Alert for No Reason
You have been to the doctor more times than you can count. You have tried allergy medications, adjusted your diet, and you still find yourself reacting to everyday things—foods, perfumes, temperature changes, stress. Maybe your skin flares, your heart races, your stomach turns, or your brain fog descends like a cloud. The symptoms are frustrating, unpredictable, and sometimes downright scary. You want answers—but more than that, you want your life back.
There Is a Name for What You Are Experiencing: Mast Cell Activation Syndrome (MCAS)
Mast cells are a normal part of your immune system. They play a critical role in protecting the body by releasing chemical mediators like histamine in response to threats like pathogens or allergens. But in Mast Cell Activation Syndrome, these cells misfire. They release inflammatory mediators at inappropriate times or in exaggerated amounts, often without a clear trigger. The result? A cascade of symptoms across multiple body systems, from hives and itching to anxiety, diarrhea, fatigue, brain fog, dizziness, and more.
Mast Cell Activation Syndrome is a Multi-Systemic Disorder That Can Feel Like a Moving Target
What makes MCAS so difficult to identify and manage is the sheer diversity of symptoms it can cause. These may include:
- Skin: flushing, hives, itching, rashes
- Cardiovascular: low blood pressure, dizziness, tachycardia
- Gastrointestinal: nausea, abdominal pain, diarrhea
- Respiratory: shortness of breath, wheezing, throat tightness
- Neurological: headaches, brain fog, anxiety, depression
And because mast cells are present in nearly every tissue of the body, symptoms can appear nearly anywhere, often fluctuating in intensity or presentation.
You Are Not Alone: MCAS Frequently Occurs Alongside Other Complex Conditions
Mast Cell Activation Syndrome often coexists with other hard-to-diagnose or misunderstood conditions. This includes:
- Hypermobility Spectrum Disorders and Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome (EDS) – Mast cells may contribute to chronic inflammation and pain in connective tissue.
- Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome (POTS) – Many people with POTS also experience MCAS symptoms, suggesting a shared autonomic and immune dysfunction.
- Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (ME/CFS) and Fibromyalgia – Overactive mast cells may be one piece of the systemic inflammation puzzle.
- Environmental Sensitivities and Multiple Chemical Sensitivity (MCS) – These sensitivities may reflect heightened mast cell activity.
The overlap suggests these conditions may share underlying neurological or immunological dysfunctions, making a multidisciplinary approach essential.
The Conventional Medical Approach: Stabilize, Suppress, and Manage Symptoms
In traditional medicine, treatment of MCAS focuses on reducing mast cell activation and the effects of the mediators they release. Common treatments include:
- Antihistamines (H1 and H2 blockers) to reduce histamine-related symptoms
- Mast cell stabilizers like cromolyn sodium
- Leukotriene inhibitors such as montelukast
- Low histamine or anti-inflammatory diets
- Corticosteroids or immunosuppressants (in severe or refractory cases)
- Avoidance of known triggers—environmental, dietary, emotional, or physical
While these strategies can offer some relief, they do not address the root causes of mast cell dysregulation—and many patients remain symptomatic despite medication and lifestyle modifications.
What If Your Nervous System Is Contributing to the Problem?
From a chiropractic neurology standpoint, we take a different approach—one that considers the deep and ongoing conversation between the immune system and the nervous system.
The brain and immune system are constantly communicating. When the brain’s regulatory centers are out of balance—particularly those involved in autonomic function (like the hypothalamus, brainstem, and limbic system)—the body may become hypersensitive, overreactive, or stuck in a chronic fight-or-flight state. This is the environment in which mast cells thrive and misbehave.
Chiropractic Neurology Offers a Nervous System-Based Perspective to Mast Cell Dysregulation
Our approach is not to “treat” MCAS in the traditional sense, but to restore balance to the nervous system so that the immune system is no longer inappropriately activated.
Here are several key strategies:
1. Autonomic Nervous System Regulation
MCAS frequently coexists with dysautonomia. The autonomic nervous system—responsible for unconscious functions like heart rate, digestion, and blood vessel tone—may be upregulated or poorly modulated.
At Georgia Chiropractic Neurology Center, we perform a thorough evaluation of autonomic function using:
- Tilt-table or orthostatic testing
- Pupillometry
- Oculomotor exams
- Reflex testing
By identifying which areas of the nervous system are under- or overactive, we can create targeted neurorehabilitation programs to help bring the autonomic system back into balance.
2. Limbic System and Threat Perception Recalibration
The limbic system, especially the amygdala, plays a central role in evaluating threat and triggering mast cell responses. When this system is hyperactive—due to trauma, stress, injury, or chronic inflammation—it can send persistent danger signals, leading to chronic mast cell activation.
Our goal is to calm this loop by supporting the frontal lobe’s inhibitory role (as “the brakes” on an overactive threat response). This can involve:
- Specific eye movement therapies (e.g., saccadic exercises)
- Vestibular stimulation
- Sensory integration therapies
- Neuroplasticity-based training
These interventions promote frontal lobe activation and parasympathetic tone, shifting the body away from a defensive state.
3. Visceral and Myofascial Work to Reduce Local Inflammation and Nociceptive Load
Soft tissue therapies are used not to manipulate the spine, but to affect neural input from the fascia, viscera, and muscles. Chronic inflammation and tension in these tissues contribute to a sensitized nervous system.
- Gentle visceral mobilization helps reduce congestion and improve lymphatic flow.
- Myofascial therapies relieve localized tension, reduce peripheral sensitization, and lower nociceptive drive.
- These interventions are particularly important for those with connective tissue disorders, whose tissues may be more fragile and inflamed.
4. Nutritional and Lifestyle Support for Neurological and Immune Health
Rather than focusing on avoidance alone, we work with patients to support metabolic and neurological resilience.
- Blood sugar regulation: Glucose instability can flare mast cell activity and increase sympathetic tone.
- Essential fatty acids: Omega-3s support neuroimmune modulation.
- Targeted supplementation: Nutrients like magnesium, quercetin, and curcumin have both neurological and mast cell-stabilizing benefits.
- Sleep optimization: Essential for limbic system downregulation and immune balance.
5. Individualized Brain-Based Rehabilitation
No two cases of MCAS are the same. Some patients have vestibular dysfunction, others have post-concussive symptoms, and many are coping with long-standing emotional trauma. That’s why we create custom programs based on:
- Neurological exam findings
- Functional brain mapping
- Autonomic testing
- Patient tolerance and pacing capacity
The goal is always to calm the nervous system, improve sensory integration, and reduce the triggers that are keeping the mast cells in a chronic state of alert.
You Can Begin to Feel Safe in Your Own Body Again
MCAS can make the world feel unpredictable and dangerous—but with the right tools and support, healing is possible. You do not have to live in a state of constant reactivity. By addressing the neuroimmune interface through chiropractic neurology, we help patients move from survival mode into a state of resilience, regulation, and recovery.
You deserve answers. You deserve options. And most of all, you deserve a nervous system that supports, rather than sabotages, your health.
Ready to Explore a New Way Forward?
If you suspect Mast Cell Activation Syndrome is affecting your life, or if you have been struggling with overlapping conditions like dysautonomia or hypermobility, reach out to us at Georgia Chiropractic Neurology Center. Our team is here to help you understand your body’s responses and reclaim your sense of control—starting with your brain.
If you or someone you love is suffering from mast cell activation syndrome and you would like to learn how chiropractic neurology can help, contact the team at Georgia Chiropractic Neurology Center today. We look forward to hearing from you.
Written by Sophie Hose, DC, MS, DACNB, CCSP
Peer-Reviewed References
- Afrin, L. B., Butterfield, J. H., & Raithel, M. (2016). Presentation, diagnosis, and management of mast cell activation syndrome. Hematology/Oncology Clinics of North America, 30(1), 179–193. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.hoc.2015.09.011
- Molderings, G. J., Haenisch, B., Brettner, S., & Homann, J. (2011). Mast cell activation disease: a concise practical guide for diagnostic workup and therapeutic options. Journal of Hematology & Oncology, 4(1), 10. https://doi.org/10.1186/1756-8722-4-10
- Theoharides, T. C., & Kalogeromitros, D. (2006). The critical role of mast cells in allergy and inflammation. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, 1088(1), 78–99. https://doi.org/10.1196/annals.1366.052
- Weinstock, L. B., Brook, J. B., Myers, T. L., Goodman, B., & Afrin, L. B. (2021). Mast cell activation symptoms are prevalent in Long-COVID. International Journal of Infectious Diseases, 112, 217–226. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijid.2021.08.016