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Author Archives: anna lyndsey

Carpe Nubem – Seize the Cloud

“The condition waxes and wanes,” says Mast Cell Action’s useful and informative website. And goodness, how true that is. Since I last posted here, I’ve had a good phase, a bad phase, a good phase, a terrible phase and a period of wild oscillation.  I’m now in an in-between phase, which is so weirdly particular it deserves its own post:

The key question in my life at present: “Is it reliably dull?”

My top two websites: BBC weather and the Met Office.

The phrase that irritates me most: sunny intervals.

My most unexpected object of aesthetic appreciation: the wonderful variety of overcast skies – from flat white to puffed and wrinkled grey to ordered stripes stretching into the distance like waves on an upturned sea.

My best recent meeting with old lost friends: the red kites circling over our suburb, giving their long melodious whistling cries. They are nine-to-five birds, and for a while I have been crepuscular again, a creature of dawns and dusks. Our paths have not crossed.

The strangest part of all of this: the need for me to play against type. I am obliged to become wildly spontaneous, to act without delay or deliberation on the promise of a cloudy morning or afternoon. If the weather looks promising, I throw on my coat and hat, bundle my husband into the car, and head out. Sometimes our destination is unglamorous: Boots the Chemists or the big Post Office in the nearby town. But one day, we drive along winding back roads to the Vyne, where, in the walled garden, the daffodils are in bloom.

An Australian Experience

I’m delighted to host another guest post, this time from Brandon in Australia. He had very similar burning symptoms, like me, with no visible sign. My name is Brandon Green. I am 34, male and from Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. I was very fortunate in finding Anna’s website right when I needed to in late 2021.… Continue reading…

And finally…it’s Mast Cell Activation Syndrome

Can you get a disease before it actually exists? Turns out you can!I first became ill in 2005 and ended up completely in the dark in 2006. For the next eight years I tried all sorts of things in the hope of finding a cure. Sometimes I managed to get well enough to go out… Continue reading…

Another Girl Out of the Dark!

I am delighted to publish this guest post from A. in the USA. She lived in total darkness too, and has found her way out. My journey back into the light also started with a friend called J. I was at my lowest point in my health problems and the closest I have ever been… Continue reading…

Sadly Not Unique

A black heart is a person living in the dark Since Girl in the Dark was published, I’ve had letters and emails from people all over the world. Some are from people leading normal lives, who simply love the book – thank you. Some are from people who’ve experienced chronic illness, who relate to the… Continue reading…

More about Food

Various people have been asking about the low-histamine diet. Unfortunately, there’s a lot of contradictory information on the web –  I’ve seen the same foods on a “do not eat” list on one site and a “totally ok” list on others; googling can send you quietly mad.  So I thought I’d share some info, based… Continue reading…

Holiday!

I’ve just been on holiday. In our caravan.  In the part of Hampshire where the South Downs is just beginning to roll.  In a week of crazy totally unseasonal September heat (30° on some of the days). Under glorious blue skies and strong sun. We saw the majestic pines on Lepe beach, the arboretum and… Continue reading…