#40 Anne Maitland, MD: Mast cells, connective tissue & the nervous system
Why should we care about mast cells? Well, we can’t live without them! Mast cells, part of our innate immune system, are critical to our survival and reproduction. Researchers are just beginning to uncover their complex and important roles, as allergies, asthma, and mast cell disorders have become more prevalent.
In this episode, Dr. Anne Maitland explains connective tissues are the brick and mortar of our bodies, while our mast cells are our security system, and our nervous system is our electrical system. She discusses how day-to-day optimization is required to protect these systems from our environment and how the Western “magic bullet” approach is not enough to address chronic conditions.
We discuss mast cells’ role in COVID-19 and the complexity of our innate immune system, for example in case of food allergies. Dr. Maitland underscores the need for multidisciplinary medicine to address the triad of mast cell activation syndrome (MCAS), Ehlers-Danlos syndrome (EDS) and hypermobility spectrum disorders (HSD), and dysautonomia. She ends the conversation by emphasizing the importance of listening to the patient.