disorder muscle behavior really falls between the cracks of allopathic medicine because if you have

a skin reaction, you go see a dermatologist, if you have palpitations, you go and see a cardiologist,

if you have uterine, disordered and heavy bleeding, you see a gynecologist. Well, the mast cells are in

every tissue and they communicate so beautifully together that they are

causing multiple symptoms in multiple organ systems for many patients.

Well, Dr. Claire Ashby is a histamine intolerance and MCAS specialist.

Your IBS, anxiety, brain fog.

Well, she says they could all be signs of a disordered mast cell behaviour. I'm Liz Earle. Welcome to Age Better. My mission is to change

the conversation around aging because women's health, especially as we age, has frankly

been underfunded and overlooked for far too long.

And I do think it's time we pushed back. And through this podcast, I really want to share

the tools that can help you thrive in later life by taking action today. And I also want to

bring your attention to signs and symptoms and conditions that you

might be less familiar with, to arm yourself with the knowledge to advocate for yourself

in a healthcare setting. Well, Claire Ashby is a private GP. She's dual trained in allopathic

medicine and functional medicine, alongside the menopause she specialises

in histamine intolerance and MCAS. That stands for mast cell activation syndrome. Something that I got

to know about, unfortunately, all too well with my own eldest daughter, Lily. Many of you

will have followed her journey on podcasts here,

and it was really the root of so many of her autoimmune issues, and it took a long time to be

diagnosed and even longer, really, to be recognised by the allopathic medical profession.

It now is, of course, and she's now getting lots of help. But also, to a lesser extent,

...