Mast Cell Activation Syndrome with Dr. Jessica Pizano

Mast Cell Activation Syndrome encompasses a consortium of imbalances in the body that results in suffering from sensitivities to foods, chemicals, and environmental triggers. These sensitivities seem to be mediated by over release of histamine and other inflammatory mediators by mast cells. The consequences are vast including digestive, neurologic, immune, dermatologic, endocrine , musculoskelatal, and psychological impact. This episode brings in an expert in this area Dr. Jessica Pizano to help us understand this complex scenario that often gets missed clinically or misdiagnosed leaving people suffering with out answers. About our guest. Dr. Jessica Pizano graduated with honors from the University of Bridgeport's functional nutrition master's program. She continued her education at Maryland University of Integrative Health (MUIH) where she graduated with a Doctor of Clinical Nutrition. During her years in academia, she became very interested in working with those with rare diseases. The mantra for rare disease sufferers around the world is "When you hear hoof beats, think zebra's, not horses. This is, of course, the opposite of what has been taught in medical schools. Dr. Pizano is also the owner of Mast Cell Advanced Diagnostics where she sees patients with mast cell activation disorders and other rare diseases. The practice provides patients with a comprehensive approach to rare disorders incorporating nutrition, nutritional genomics, metabolomics, neural retraining, and medical management. Her goal is to provide a comprehensive care solution for patients helping bridge the gap in care that these patients typically face. Dr. Pizano works very closely with some of the top doctors treating mast cell activation syndrome, Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome, immunodeficiency disorders, familial alpha hypertryptasemia, and autoimmune small fiber polyneuropathy. In addition to seeing patients from around the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom, she also frequently provides support to physicians working with these rare diseases via practitioner education and consults. In addition to the conditions listed above, Dr. Pizano has worked with multiple chemical sensitivities, Lyme disease, biotoxin illness, mood disorders, autism, autoimmune diseases, rare genetic deletions, mitochondrial disorders and other diseases. Along with her business partner Dr. Chrissie Williamson, Dr. Pizano is the co-owner of SNPed, a webinar-based series to educate practitioners in nutritional genomics and systems medicine. She has developed course work at the master's level at MUIH in nutritional genomic counseling, has published a series of peer-reviewed journal articles on the microbiome and contributed two chapters on nutritional genomics in a graduate level nutrition textbook.