“This is real. This is happening.”
Unnoticeable. Unmistakable.
When everything changed
Claudia, 37, is a physical engineer working in the public sector in Chile. After contracting COVID, she began experiencing unfamiliar symptoms that never went away.
What started with chronic pain and extreme fatigue developed into new allergies and other unexplained symptoms. After a year and four months, Claudia saw a specialist who identified mast cell activation syndrome (MCAS) as a possible condition associated with her long COVID.
Claudia considers herself fortunate to have found answers relatively quickly, but adjusting to life with MCAS has been difficult.
More than just an allergy
Living with MCAS has changed how Claudia approaches everyday life. She describes the experience as a series of losses, including grieving the health and freedom she once had.
She now carries an adrenaline auto-injector and medications wherever she goes, knowing that reactions can affect multiple systems in her body.
For Claudia, MCAS is far more than a simple allergy. Its impact can include prolonged digestive symptoms, brain fog, fatigue and anxiety.
Making the invisible unmistakable
Claudia wants the medical and scientific communities, along with the wider public, to recognise the reality of living with mast cell disease.
“This is real. This is happening.”
Her message is a call for greater recognition of a condition whose impact can go unnoticed by others, but is unmistakable to those living with it.
Unnoticed by most. Unmistakable to the person living it.
Every story matters. Share yours.
Like Claudia, many people living with mastocytosis, MCAS and other mast cell diseases face challenges that others may not see or understand.
By sharing your experience, you can help raise awareness, build understanding and remind others that they are not alone.
Your story deserves to be heard.
