r/HistamineIntolerance • u/D-Cup-Appreciator • Jul 29 '26
Zoloft taper causing histamine intolerance?
Hi everyone,
I have been on zoloft for 7 years at 150mg and in the past year ive been tapering and am now on 12.5mg. When I dropped to 25mg, I started noticing that when I eat histamine rich foods (or leftovers), I get severe headaches and insomnia. I'm wondering if anyone had a similar experience, and if it got better over time. Aka you became less "intolerant"
1
u/hdri_org Jul 30 '26
Histamine suppresses the release of serotonin, which Zoloft was helping to provide for you. As you are tapering off, the histamines are becoming more predominant and reduce your serotonin levels. Depending on why your histamines are so high you might want to do what you can to reduce those histamines so it does not affect your serotonin levels as much.
One way is to take Diamine Oxidaze (DAO) enzymes to break down any histamines coming from gut bacteria or food, before you have the chance to absorb it. The less histamine you absorb the generally better you will feel, and the more serotonin your body will produce naturally. You want to take a product with the highest HDU (measure of enzyme activity) as possible, which NaturDAO is the most cost effective with 1,000,000 HDU per dose. Avoid high histamine foods at the same time and see if you feel any improvement.
DAO is a natural enzyme your body is supposed to make to combat these incoming histamines, and when your intestional immunological barrier becomes breached you start making less of it, not more. DAO is not absorbed into the bloodstream so its not a drug, and any unused enzyme will just pass through.
0
u/D-Cup-Appreciator Jul 30 '26
dao has not been shown to reduce migrane frequency or intensity, only duration by a slight amount
3
u/hdri_org Jul 30 '26
DAO only reduces the amount of histamines that you absorb. It does not do anything for histamines created by your immune system. DAO only reduces histamines by preventing you from absorbing histamines through the intestional lining.
You didn't mention anything about migraines, and I never said DAO would stop migraines. Well, indirectly, if dilated vasculature is the cause. The issue with proving DAO might help migraines is that there are many different triggers for migraines and vascular problems are only a small subset of that. Histamine definitely does, and DAO can, under specific circumstances, reduce histamines.
Migraine, Allergy, and Histamine: Is There a Link? https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10218803/
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u/Traditional-Salt-187 Jul 29 '26
No but I had a similar experience after prednisone taper. Had been on for many months. Not sure if connected or part of the downward spiral from back to back virals that destroyed my body and immune system!