It does in mine. My son was diagnosed not long after I was and I suspect my two other children have it to some degree, based on symptoms they’ve displayed over the years. We were all constantly sneezing, had big black circles under our eyes and were generally fatigued but myself and my son who was diagnosed began getting worse as time went on.

Part of it may have been that he was here when I was running my in-home daycare for a couple years. Using bleach to disinfect (bad idea) and the happy stress that came with it definitely sent me spiraling downward.

It seems like nothing we do to get “healthy” works. Exercise, vitamins, healthy foods… they can all trigger us. Sitting in the sunshine to get needed vitamin D? Triggered. Swimming? Forget about it. You get it.

My oldest brother died after being bedridden for years for some unknown cause, which makes me suspect he, too, had a form of mast cell disease. We were estranged so I will never know but he’s not the only one. My mom and her mom also may have had it, looking back.

One thing that definitely runs in the female side of my family is endometriosis and I had it terribly for most of my life. Right up until I was diagnosed with MCAS and put on the medicines for that. My endometriosis cleared up, miraculously, but that’s a post for another day.

If you’re wondering though if mast cell disease runs in families, again, it does in mine. 😦