She suffers from anxieties which also cause the same symptoms because of the histamines released following an attack. I have always suspected her gut health as she was put on antibiotics at birth resulting in thrush etc and was fascinated to read your mention of it. I wonder if please you can advise how we can get this tested and what we could do to rectify it if necessary.
Hi Louise, Do you mean test for gut problems? Unfortunately, neither can be tested very easily. What causes this and are there any herbs or treatments that might help? What about accupunture? I was vegan at the time and was really surprised that during the pregnancy I could tolerate gluten and dairy. My period became regular within a month but I started sneezing and having blocked sinus immediately. I also fell pregnant immediately and have just recently had my 3rd miscarriage in a row.
The most recent the baby was 11 weeks. How devastating!!! Do you have any further information for me or ideas of where I can look for help? Thanks, Emma. First trimester miscarriages can be caused by low progesterone levels.
Your irregular periods might be a sign. You can also buy progesterone cream contains wild yam extract which a friend of mine swears kept her from miscarrying twice. I had postnatal depression after my youngest was born and have been on different medications since.
I had 2 nervous breakdowns in and hospitalised due to it. I suffer extreme pms which i was diagnosed with years ago. Would love any feedback from you on your thoughts. Thanks and sorry for so much info look forward to hearing from you.
Hi Donna. I have a similar story. Postnatal depression. Elevated heart rate, breakdown and vertigo migraines coming off them. Low histamine diet and magnesium help but now diet v v v restricted. Think Oestrogen dominant due to nefarious breast changes and frequent heavy periods. Not sure what to do next…. Hello Donna, I hope you are doing well.
As Mrs. This is a wonderful reset for the body. I found my body was able to use the supplements more efficiently after my detox and totally changed my nutrional approach. If you had 2 nervous breakdowns — make sure you support your endoctrine system a good accupuncutrist can be of help with the nutrion and supplements mentioned and find ways to align your mind. Good books and keep your vision during those changes.
Wishing you all the best. Brownstein — I read the book Iodine Crisis by Lynn Farrows as a friend pushed me into checking out Iodine — before I never could tolerate it and gave it up even though I suspected that it might be good for my hypothyroidism. Once I comebined the supplements as described in this protocol all free available in the internet. Major symptoms dissappeard tissue swelling , my mood changed not too tearful anymore — just back to a centered feeling, candida is finally at bay… that is definitely a factor I would look into if I were in your shoes… Blessings!
Hi Lara — such an interesting read. I wish I knew all of this 35 years ago! I think I have had this issue my whole life! I also suffered with what I thought was hay fever for a long time I seemed to grow out of it when I was about I am now perimenopausal and was recently prescribed Progesterone for Oestrogen dominance I have over the last 10 years experienced a lot of stress with both of my parents passing away with Mesothelioma — but the progesterone was the best thing that has ever happened to me!!
The only reason that i have recently read about histamine intolerance was that I had made my own Kombucha at home and had started drinking a small glass most days and found that it gave me terrible headaches! I did some reading and it all seemed to make so much sense — So i am now on the path of following a low histamine diet but really wonder what else is the best thing to do in the short term to get some more normality?
Are DAO supplements and probiotics with histamine degrading cultures the way to go?? There seems to be a lot of advice around things to try — but which ones should I start with?? Hi Lara, thank you for the fabulous article.
Do you have any advice for things I can Be doing that will help with a healthy pregnancy. I broke out into hives at around 6 weeks pregnant. They come and go very predictably… my skin starts to feel warm in the afternoon and by the evening I have hives in different areas of my body. Do you have any recommendations or thoughts? Lots of factors affect immune response and histamine and I would not necessarily think it means anything about your progesterone levels. I am a 58 year old female who has become histamine intolerant after withdrawing from the SSRI Zoloft.
Since I have tried cutting out histamine stimulating foods and histamine containing foods, I am doing better. But the diet is so restrictive, I still have bad symptoms at times. I have been taking vit. B6, and will think about possibly using small amounts of natural progesterone cream.
This has really been an ordeal. Thanks to everyone for their input. God bless you Kathy: this is the first time I see clearly in written that quitting antidepressants can lead to histaminosis. I found this to be the case for me. Vitex worked well for me as a natural way to lower estrogen over time and played a role in my histamine healing process. Now when I feel a bad histamine reaction starting I find that taking vitex and quercetin seem to reduce or eliminate it, thank goodness, which further indicates to me that hormones definitely involved.
Can you offer any reasons why this may be the case? Up the progesterone dose and look into taking DIM to better metabolize the estrogen and the newly being built with upping progesterone dose. Be patient as it can all get slightly worse before it gets better… months to get over the hump. FYI- research Linus Pauling one of the vitamin C giants — look into high dose vitamin c- that is what brings down histamine levels and builds back up DAO.
Understand bowl tolerance with dosing vitamin c to determine your baseline. Hey Lara, thanks for your article. I have been looking for reasons why my heart rate is increasing panic attacks around my period, disrupting my ability to go out during the day and sleep.
This helps to answer. Last night though — midway through my cycle, and otherwise doing quite well with a low-histamine diet, I took a lozenge containing herbs for reducing asthma symptoms so I could sleep. I noticed this morning the lozenges contain 5. So would you say as well that Thyme Oil could possibly contribute to feelings of anxiety?
Any known information on this? So do histamine issues have any affect on egg quality? I cannot eat anything fermented or I break out in a rash and one glass of red and the heartburn is wicked.
We are trying to get pregnant and egg quality seems to be our issue. Actually, some histamine is essential for healthy ovulation. Histamine intolerance would not be the reason for poor egg quality. Is this why taking an antihistamine can help with PMS? I have been telling my Dr. I have thyroid problems as well and am curious if these things are all linked. Thanks for the article. I struggle with many health issues that I feel are all related.
I was pleasantly surprised to find you writing about histamine, and I wanted to thank you for all of your great work. This is Interesting, I have never in my life had allergies and now that my functional Dr has me on high doses of Progesterone to reduce my Estrogen ,I get horrible allergies for the week before my period.
He said this is good as it means the progesterone is working to reduce my estrogen. I had a full hysterectomy 6 months ago. I have been taking Estradiol. My new functional dr prescribed progesterone, I took one pill and went anaphylactic!
My eczema rashes exploded within ten mins. The question would be: Did you react to progesterone or to the base it was in?
For example, Prometrium is in a capsule of peanut oil. You could speak to your doctor about a compounded progesterone in a different base. Thank you for this article! I had these for a year back in and both times have corresponded with my stopping birth control about three months prior. This time however, I also had a son about seven months before the onset. So, lots of hormones. I tried everything and was losing my mind!
Come January I got pregnant and the hives subsided almost immediately. Unfortunately, I miscarried and the hives started to return. I brought this information to my naturopath who had been helping me and she immediately put me on natural progesterone oil 2 drops a day first half of cycle and 4 drops second half.
The hives are drastically better, with more in the front half of my cycle and almost zero in the weeks leading to my period — really solidifying the progesterone link. My two concerns are… Will they ever just go away?! My ND says that low of a dose will not effect my fertility and I certainly want to trust her, but I am concerned.
Any insight from you would be wonderful. A few mg of progesterone should be okay in the follicular phase. But of course track your ovulations to be sure. Thank you so much for your reply! A little update… the hives started to return a little my second cycle on progesterone.
They got progressively worse the week I was ovulating, though still significantly better than they were. Two days after I ovulated my body erupted again — it was very depressing. I went back to my ND and she upped my dose of progesterone to 4 drops, twice a day so 32 mg per day — the hives responded after two days and backed off, though did not clear.
Turns out, I was pregnant again and the hives erupted right at conception or within a day or two. Unfortunately, this was a chemical at 4 weeks, 3 days, which of course was so disappointing having miscarried only two months prior.
My question is; is it possible that my estrogen receptors were beginning to whack out during my ovulation and then when I got pregnant they exploded even more, causing this? Meaning, the progesterone was working? I have ceased the progesterone in the meantime and the hives are so erratic. This is really interesting. I mean I thought I was going to die. It was unbelievably painful. I was lying on the bathroom floor in a cold sweat just praying I could crawl to a phone, but then the pain subsided.
But the female nurse mentioned the possibility of a ruptured cyst. The thing was that I thought, Ok ruptured cyst, I should feel fine in a week.
So what has really been bugging me is IF it was a ruptured cyst, why on Earth should I have digestive problems? Granted, in Chinese medicine the reproductive system is intimately connected to the liver and gallbladder, but as much as I love TCM, I also wanted a nuts and bolts explanation. Which you have provided. So I guess my question is, would the ruptured cyst have caused histamine release, and therefore increased sensitivities?
I mean I know about mast cells and wound healing so that would seem to make sense. Or did my out of bounds estrogen levels lead to these cysts and their subsequent rupture?
In other words, which came first, the chicken or the ovulum? Thank you. The chicken or the ovulum! You are great at thinking this through! I had a bowel perforation. My bowel loops, ovary, tube, and a cyst on my ovary became fused together. My left ovary was affected so they assumed it was a bowel leak. Not to throw more at you but, I there is a lot going on in there. Scar tissue is a booger. It attaches to things.. I know that pain all to well.
If you ever run a fever go to the er. I hope you find the answer to your question! Hi Lara, I have been working with my doctor for the last year or so to address some of my estrogen dominance symptoms and menstrual difficulties. My doctor is in agreement that histamine intolerance might be what we are missing. However, I am completely overwhelmed by the low histamine diet. It is so incredibly restrictive and the lists about which foods to avoid often contradict.
I want to give the diet a real chance and for it to be an accurate test but also want to be sustainable. Any thoughts about what you have seen work would be most appreciated.
Many thanks in advance! I noticed allergies attack me before I have my period, then I go okay mid or after period. Hello, your page is one of the most informative on the web. It has helped me to isolate my issues with histamine overload.
My particular issue is with chronic pain meds and my hope is that by coming off them I can lower intake or prevent blockage of D. Thanks again. Hi Lara, and so great the link between menopause and histamine is highlighted. Having worked it out myself, as the doctor put me on strong antihistamine for my hives etc, I discovered a link between hypermobility too. As a Pilates teacher I see many hypermobile joints in my clients and when asked about histamine symptoms many responsed too that they suffer many of the symptoms too.
More connective tissue and higher levels of mast cells but little research here it seems in the UK! I am soo much better following a low histamine diet and progesterone cream!! Hi Lara, I was just wondering if histamine can cause vomiting and diarrhea at ovulation and period time, as well as intense pain. Also do you think DAO supplements can help?
I had day one of my period yesterday and despite eating low histamine I reacted to everything! Thanks for the info! MY histamine issues are unbearable. I had super low progesterone. Progesterone can be very helpful for histamine intolerance. I generally recommend to not take every day, but rather to take regular monthly breaks.
Thanks so much.. My histamine issues are a million times better. I am taking it everyday now because my cycle and spotting are so out of whack.
Hoping after a month or two it will even out and I can stop on my cycle days. Finally a Dr who addresses my life!
Birth control pills made me sick. My pregnancy was the healthiest time of my life. High histamine foods like broth make me feel bad. I will gladly buy your book if it offers more suggestions than just eat low histamine and use progesterone cream.
Will your book help me? Telfast or other over-the-counters. My skin changes instantly when I start to ovulate until my period arrives. You can work on some of the histamine-reducing reducing strategies I discuss in the post.
Treatment of histamine intolerance usually requires a combination of 1 improving gut health, 2 reducing histamine intake, and 3 supplementing B6, and maybe DAO. Well…not always. Testing is important. Estrogen tends to retain copper and progesterone retains zinc. Both copper and zinc are involved in histamine regulation. Likewise, some gut bacteria overproduces B6 and oxalates and contrary to popular opinion, it IS stored in the body, and can cause nerve problems in excess.
So it is important to test before supplementing either B6 or zinc. Hi there, I am 43 yr old, had a hysterectomy 9 years ago due to adenomyosis but still have both ovaries. I feel it is almost an allergic reaction to my hormones…is this possible?? Oh, and sorry: Menopause seems to worsen histamine intolerance because of a permanent down-regulation of DAO with the cessation of ovulation and progesterone. You mention that it can cause swelling. Do you think that it could cause swelling and soreness of the vulva.
I get swollen and sore every month — starts about day 6 and lasts till a few days after ovulation. I get a couple of days relief then it starts again for a few days before my period. Docs have no clue…. Years ago when I gave up grains and dairy my PMS and cramps were almost non-existent.
I still seem to be able to — baby born 4 weeks ago tomorrow — I wonder how hormones of breastfeeding influence histamine intolerance? My histidine level was very low on my nutra-eval test, as were many other amino acids.
Wondering if taking histidine would help…..? I am currently attempting for the third time in the past eight years to go off of birth control without getting painful, severe acne.
However, I still take daily loratadine, which often makes me feel slow and foggy, to prevent my pretty overblown response to histamine. My system has been so sensitive to histamine in the past decade or so, which, interestingly enough, coincides with my course on the Pill.
Whenever I try to go off of antihistamines I experience an uncomfortable, red rash on my face in addition to the common symptoms like itchy eyes, runny nose, and sore throat.
From age 14 to age 50, I suffered terribly from chronic urticaria hives. After endless trips to dermatologists, allergists, naturopaths, homepathic treatments, etc. During this time, I constantly told my doctors that my hives were worst before my period started each month.
I was told there was no connection between hormones and hives. At age 50, my period stopped and so did my hives!! I am living proof that hormones affect hives…. Now, I am 60 years old and my hives are back!!! I do not currently take any hormone therapy. I thought i had breezed through menopause without any major side effects.
I was wrong. My chronic hives returned about a month ago for no apparent reason. I have not changed my diet or my lifestyle. I have not contacted my family doctor yet because I suspect I will be put on some waiting list to see a dermatologist or allergist once again. I thought it was gone for good but it is back. Have you tried a histamine exclusion diet?
I would start with excluding histamine. Get some coconut and olive oil in your diet, along with zinc, magnesium, C and B6. If you see an improvement in a week, you are on the right track. I have had really bad breast cysts for over 20 years and have had them drained at least 10 times at up to 2 cups of fluid at a time.
Nothing else ever has. That goes to my assistant Lisa. I generally cannot offer distance consults to anyone in the US. I am 2 years menopausal. Histamine intolerance started during peri-menopause. I was clearly estrogen dominant then — multiple symptoms. Now there is only the HIT and low thyroid. I thought these would go into remission once I was in menopause, due to lower estrogen levels. I am wondering if they are estrogen related, why would they continue during menopause? Is there a brand you would recommend?
Hi Tricia, Yes, histamine intolerance can be worse after menopause. It may also relate to the big drop in DHEA that many women experience with menopause. That makes sense. Would it follow then to take supplemental progesterone or wild yam? I tried a couple otc progesterone creams and they made me very groggy. Is there one you could suggest?
I am concerned about the long term effects of HIT. Generally, I find low-dose progesterone to be very helpful in this situation.
And also think about vitamin B6 to up-regulate DAO. Please understand, this is not a recommendation or a prescription. Just some ideas that you can talk to your clinician about. Yes, this makes sense. Eating low histamine is not enough. I am going to shift focus to increasing DAO. This explains so much how I got worse when I made kombucha, kefir and sauerkraut and others thrive on it; I never saw benefits.
The human body is truly a mystery! Do you have any experience treating candida albicans, and understanding its influence on hormones? Hi Dr. I saw it a couple weeks ago and identified with the symptoms of histamine intolerance listed as mine too. My regular doctor just prescribed pain medicine, which I rejected, knowing my body is trying to tell me something. Why would I cut the warning light to the problem? I immediately tried Benedryl after reading this to see if it would reduce my symptoms.
After only a few days being on it I had definitely had a reduction in my symptoms. I have been supplementing magnesium citrate, B6 and 12, chelated iron, and a good multivitamin for the past couple years and have been eating a pretty clean diet. Anyway, although I would like to feel better immediately, I know this can be a long process to healing. But I thought I would ask you if you had any recommendations on what to try next. I would appreciate any help. Natalie, staying on Benadryl is NOT a good long-term solution!
For one thing, antihistamines decrease libido, and who needs that! I have genetic variants on 23 of the 29 genes that degrade histamine, so I have to eat this way for life. It helped me lose 20 No more cheese except ricotta and no more tachycardia in the middle of the night. SO worth it! Have developed egg allergy and lots of other food intolerances. Wondered whether my placentas only produced loads DAO in 3rd trimester? I had severe insomnia when 1st child was months old which disappeared overnifht when I cut down breastfeeding to return to work.
If you can lengthen that time, would you ovulate, and is that a possible thing to change at any age while you are still menstruating? How does one lengthen their luteal phase over 40? If you have a luteal phase at all, it means you ovulated. A normal luteal phase is days, and Yes, it can be lengthened at any age although it is harder to do over The treatment is to treat your underlying health including thyroid, gut, insulin etc as I explain in my book.
Hello Lara, My husband and myself decided to start trying to get pregnant. After making this decision I stopped taking my birth control pill. I was in process of seeing an allergist to receive immunotherapy shots due to the severity of symptoms but have not returned due to the lack of symptoms. I thought it was bizarre my symptoms decreased. Would this article explain why my allergy symptoms decreased? I have noticed, though, that when I occasionally drink a red wine I will get stuffed up.
Nice to know why! Lara are you able to advise the best way to treat to overcome histamine intolerance or food intolerances while pregnant? That makes sense, but not that easy to do. My approach with patients is to avoid histamine-releasing foods such as dairy throughout the pregnancy, and also maintain a healthy intestinal bacteria.
And then if histamine intolerance symptoms are really bad after delivery, I would consider using natural progesterone cream. Amazing read! Would you have any idea why I suffered reactions tachycardia, anxiety, insomia, trouble breathing, postural hypotension after eating high histamine foods during pregnancy? I was hoping histamine clearance would have improved, but it worsened. It began happening around the 6th month. I will say it was an unpleasant experience and is a deterrent from wanting to go through another pregnancy.
Thanks for your insight! Meeka, I had tachycardia, anxiety and insomnia consistently until I started on a low-histamine diet permanently. I have interstitial cystitis and I believe it is a histamine related disease.
It is very painful and there is no cure right now. It began for me 13 years after I stopped mensus. Do you have any thoughts on this? It is interesting that the foods to avoid are the same as you list plus many more such as onions tomatoes citrus.
Anything acidic…I am really curious as the research seems to be going no where. Lara, I loved this article. Thank you!! Hello again Lara! Which do you think is more suitable for histaminosis? I write you from Spain. Hi Lara good and informative website I sent one comment in 28 Dec I am 48 I used vitex for more than 9 monthes but suddenly my period was gone for two monthes Shall I proceed using vitex Thank you in advance.
I was curious to your opinion on Magnesium oil sprays. Are they effective? I though I have read before that magnesium is best absorbed transdermally, but in your book you only mention oral forms. Hi Christie, for a long time, I was unconvinced about transdermal magnesium, but recently I have seen evidence that it can deliver a therapeutic dose. I discuss it in the comments of my Magnesium post. I suspect some products are better than others.
As fermented foods, do raw miso paste and good yogurt fall into the category of high histamine foods? Not sure about yogurt. I started having reactions to cheese, avocados, bananas, chocolate, and various other foods after my second pregnancy. My face would turn red, I produced a lot of mucus, and I had terrible bloating.
My sister had been having digestive issues and had found that taking caprylic acid helped her and suggested that I try it. I continued to eat high histamine containing foods without the usual symptoms, however I believe casein was the issue all along.
After adding cheese back to my diet, I began to have acne, I had very bad pain in my teeth and gums, and my blood tests showed I had high ANA levels. Once I eliminated cow dairy, my skin cleared up and my mouth stopped hurting. Good morning Lara, I love your blog. Is there any test I could ask my doctor for? Thanks a lot. Great question Sarah. Some doctors are not familiar with SIBO, but many are willing to discuss it these days and may decide to order the breath test that needed to diagnose it.
Thank you for your answer Lara. I have histaminosis and I hope there will be a solution for all of us soon! Good story. I have had histamine intolerance and various other intolerances for several years. I now take Prescript Assist- a soil based probiotic, and Histame with high histamine foods, although I usually avoid these foods. The soil based probiotic has helped a lot. Many probiotics increase your histamine response, especially the acidophilus ones.
This leads many experts to believe that they are working through a different pathway to reduce PMDD. Because they work so quickly in PMDD, SSRIs can be taken only in the luteal phase , between ovulation and menses—or, they can be taken the whole month long. Drospirenone-containing oral contraceptive pills The second conservative treatment is drospirenone-containing oral contraceptive pills DCOCs that contain estrogen.
Second line treatments Some doctors especially in the UK use estrogen patches transdermal estradiol with intermittent courses of progestin pills to prevent ovulation and therefore suppress hormone cycling.
There are some possible physical risks of this approach, particularly for those with family histories of estrogen-sensitive cancers, that you should discuss with your doctor.
This approach is easiest and most commonly used in those who are beginning the perimenopause. Some doctors especially in the UK use estrogen patches transdermal estradiol with intermittent courses of progestin pills to prevent ovulation and therefore suppress hormone cycling. Antidepressants that slow the reuptake of serotonin provide effective treatment for premenstrual dysphoric disorder PMDD. These drugs alleviate PMDD more quickly than depression, which means that women don't necessarily have to take the drugs every day.
Hormone therapies provide additional options, but are generally considered second-line treatments. Brain areas that regulate emotion and behavior are studded with receptors for estrogen, progesterone, and other sex hormones.
These hormones affect the functioning of neurotransmitter systems that influence mood and thinking — and in this way may trigger PMDD. But it's not clear why some women are more sensitive than others. Genetic vulnerability likely contributes. Other risk factors for developing PMDD include stress, being overweight or obese, and a past history of trauma or sexual abuse.
Also, it's important to rule out other conditions that cause symptoms similar to PMDD, such as depression, dysthymia, anxiety, and hypothyroidism.
A key challenge in PMDD diagnosis is differentiating between mild premenstrual symptoms, which may be annoying but are not disabling, and those severe enough to interfere with daily life.
Antidepressants that slow the reuptake of serotonin are effective for many women with PMDD. Options include selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors SSRIs such as citalopram Celexa and fluoxetine Prozac ; the serotonin and norepinephrine reuptake inhibitor SNRI venlafaxine Effexor ; and a tricyclic antidepressant that has a strong effect on serotonin, called clomipramine Anafranil.
Other types of antidepressants, which target neurotransmitters other than serotonin, have not proven effective in treating PMDD.
This suggests that serotonin reuptake inhibitors work in some way independent of their antidepressant effect — but their mechanism of action in PMDD remains unclear. These drugs also alleviate symptoms of PMDD more quickly than depression, which means that women don't necessarily have to take the drugs every day. Instead, women can take them on an intermittent basis, also known as luteal-phase dosing because it coincides with the roughly day span that begins just after ovulation and ends when menstruation starts.
The decision about whether to take a serotonin reuptake inhibitor every day or on an intermittent basis depends on the type of symptoms a particular woman experiences and if the symptoms of PMDD are superimposed on a more persistent depression. Intermittent dosing is sufficient for treating irritability or mood, but daily medication may be necessary to control somatic symptoms such as fatigue and physical discomfort.
Side effects of serotonin reuptake inhibitors are usually relatively mild and transient. Nausea, for example, typically subsides after several days of taking a drug for the first time — and the problem tends not to recur even when the drug is taken intermittently.
Sexual side effects, such as reduced libido and inability to reach orgasm, can be troubling and persistent, however, even when dosing is intermittent. Of course, PMDD can also lessen sexual desire, so as a practical matter, taking a serotonin reuptake inhibitor on an intermittent basis may still seem like an acceptable strategy.
Hormone therapies may be helpful for some women.
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