Histamine is a chemical found in the body and in certain foods. When the body overproduces or cannot breakdown histamine, a person starts having allergy-type symptoms.
Personally, I experience the following symptoms:
- subdermal itching all over my body
- itchy eczema-like rash on my hands and legs
- runny/stuffy nose
- sneezing
- headache
- bloating
- flushing
- cramping
- shortness of breath
- bladder pain
The body uses a DAO enzyme to breakdown histamine. It’s possible someone with histamine intolerance has low levels of DAO in their body, but experts are unsure why that would happen. I think a messed up gut microbiome is one reason.
Histamine is like a bucket. Once the bucket overflows, you start having those allergy-like symptoms, so someone with histamine intolerance must avoid food high in histamine in an effort to reduce the amount of histamine the body has to manage. In turn, this hypothetically reduces symptoms.
The problem for me is that my histamine threshold changes according to my menstrual cycle, I also have salicylate intolerance which causes histamine to be released, and I have suspected mast cell activation syndrome. Mast cells release histamine. Foods low in histamine are often high in salicylates, so that narrows what I can eat even more.
There’s a lot of foods I have to avoid, and I have to avoid leftovers as much as possible. Histamine levels grow exponentially after a food is cooked or processed. Within a few hours, a meal can already be too high in histamine for me to eat. I try to cook with the freshest ingredients possible and make all my meals from scratch.
I take H1 and H2 antihistamines every day. It helps manage the sinus symptoms, but doesn’t always help with the itching symptoms. It does not help with bladder symptoms. I take cromolyn sodium which is a mast cell stabilizer, and this medication helps the most for bladder pain.
The Chelsea Chronicles 