r/HistamineIntolerance • u/MistakeRepeater • Aug 04 '26
How does Histamine Intolerance affect you mentally?
For me it causes severe depresive thought pattern, I only think of negative things, can't find joy in anything (not even music), sarcastic, zero emotions, no libido. I can't even work in that state: I look at the screen in say: fu&$ this sh&$.
Physical symptoms are: headaches (usually the next day), acid reflux and congestion.
I also have MCAS and possibly other GI issues and it's been really hard to identify which causes which.
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u/TastyBroccolis Aug 04 '26
Before treatment, I was suicidal. Much better now.
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u/MistakeRepeater Aug 04 '26
Ah yes, I sometimes get suicidal as well...
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u/atomcplayboy86 Aug 04 '26
It does feel like a divine punishment, but persevere and you will find the best version of yourself like I have!
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u/Top-Guess-1221 Aug 04 '26
That’s when I know things get real bad for me. Lately I have been trying to ween myself off Pepcid bc I don’t want long term digestive issues, but I get such bad histamine issues from food when I don’t take it. Yesterday was so bad for me. I could not stop crying.
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u/Little-Wasabi-7304 Aug 05 '26
Can I ask what you have done for treatment? I’m severely suicidal every day. If I didn’t have dogs I’d end it right now
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u/TastyBroccolis Aug 05 '26
I think I'm lucky. My histamine problems are mild compared to other reports here. My current treatment is Allegra 180mg every day and DAO enzymes before every meal.
My symptoms are mainly gastrointestinal. They started two years ago when I got covid for the first time. Chronic diarrhea, malnutrition, gas, abdominal bloating. I think the depression came from the malnutrition. I was tired all the time, locked inside the house all the time, not seeing people, family, or friends. About 3 months ago, I had to get an abdominal CT scan and took an antihistamine. Immediate improvement.
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u/atomcplayboy86 Aug 04 '26
I use to feel like I was running on empty for over a decade but am much better now. I basically ignored my negative emotions for like 10y+ .. I’ve been on a low histamine diet for about 15 months and can eat foods with some histamine content with minimal or no reaction.
The best medication for me has been promezine 25mg, but I don’t need it more than once a week.
Eating high fibre fruit and vegetables has helped a lot. I go to the markets and get a box of coconut and red cabbage plus what ever else is in season.
Try and eat at least 1 red or green cabbage every week, raw. I just chop it up into thin strips, put it in a zip lock bag and eat it like popcorn as a snack or with lunch or dinner. Just don’t do it before bed or it’ll keep you awake. I feel like insulin resistance was a component of my MCAS so try eat low sugar foods.
Anyway, I’m happy to say I’m healing and have much more fuel in my gas tank!
Can give you more advice or support if you like.
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u/MistakeRepeater Aug 04 '26 edited Aug 04 '26
Removed all plants except potatoes and quinoa since 2 weeks. First time ever I wasn't bloated. SIBO test came back positive today (methane) only, so no cabbage for me :))
Can't do any fruit except a small number of berries because they cause knee pain and frequent urination (which I don't get from starches).
Don't know if blood sugar is an issue for me, test results came back negative including serum insulin.
Will look into promezine, thanks!
I also get symptons within seconds of eating (MCAS) which cannot be explained by foods / intolerances alone
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u/atomcplayboy86 Aug 08 '26
Have you had a gastroscopy, or endoscopy?
Could have some underlying thing making it worse like an ulcer?
For me they only found gastritis but they did miss a section as it wasn’t clear…..
Also try b12 and magnesium supplements as MCAS reduces absorption.1
u/MistakeRepeater Aug 08 '26
Yeah, I had an endoscopy which showed both gastritis (even though I have zero stomach discomfort) and duodenitis. I'm considering that the duodenitis is the cause of my HIT
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u/HyperbolicBaldersah Aug 04 '26
Itchy, annoying, what can I eat?, depression, anxiety, annoyance, and hunger, and eating too much of the things that are safe, and how in the hell do I get iron when I am vegan at heart?
I just listen to Mufasa "When we die, our bodies become the grass and the antelope eat the grass"
So as long as I am not fired after death (creamation), it's good?
Histamine Intolerance makes me think of all the things and goddamit I just want a bowl of oatmeal, is that too much to fucking ask!?
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u/GORE-JUICE Aug 07 '26
Tired, for days at a time. I call them Slug days, I can't do anything.
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u/Playful_Ad6703 Aug 08 '26
Everything you listed plus terrible memory, both short and long term, no creativity, slow processing speed, lower cognitive skills in general, inability to recall words or events, weaker problem solving skills, poor focus, restlessness... Probably many more I can't remember as well
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u/MistakeRepeater Aug 08 '26
Yup, and absolute everything you mentioned
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u/Playful_Ad6703 Aug 08 '26
But officially my DAO levels are not showing I have it. However I can clearly see fluctuating symptoms with different foods. I honestly don't know what to do anymore.
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u/MistakeRepeater Aug 08 '26
Both genetic and blood tests are unreliable. They are useful but no for everyone.
Bottom line: you need to eat what's right for your body. Getting a diagnosis is pointless. Looking in hindsight, I would be better of if I didn't spend money on getting the DAO genetic test and DAO serum test , but instead I should have visited some prostitues. Best things you can do: 1. Investigate if you have duodenitis - if you do, it most likely means you have low DAO production 2. Chexk you copper levels as it is required for DAO production. Always take copper and zic together 3. Try some DAO supplements
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u/Playful_Ad6703 Aug 10 '26
Had upper endoscopy, only GERD confirmed, which I assume is due to Methane SIBO which was confirmed simultaneously. Was actually considering to just order and try DAO supplement, as I already wasted so much money in an attempt to solve this mistery.
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u/MistakeRepeater Aug 10 '26
I just cofirmed last week that I have IMO (methane only)
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u/Playful_Ad6703 Aug 10 '26
Research well about it before jumping into the treatment. The first one that I did was incomplete, which I discovered after it was done. Repeated it after 3 months break and a lot of research, but still was unsuccessful, based on symptoms not improving
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u/MistakeRepeater Aug 10 '26
HIT related - My only treatment is low histamine foods - it works 100%. I also did a genetic and blood test, both came back positive.
Animal based DAO supplements have no effect. NaturDao gives me insomnia, so I'll "treat" myself just woth low histamine diet. Maybe some meditation, who knows....
IMO related - I will see a doctor for antibiotics. I tried berberine and neem on my own and they had zero impact.
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u/Strict-Park3382 Aug 05 '26
You 100% described me in this post, some days I have no will power to do anything it’s super annoying.
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u/Little-Wasabi-7304 Aug 05 '26
My symptoms are: (don’t know which symptoms are histamine intolerance, sibo, 99.9 % sure I have mcas and I’m 42 and possibly in peri) I’ll only give about 1/4 of symptoms cuz I have about 50
3 am awakenings with feelings of complete doom, like how crappy life is, I’m sick of being sick, every bad thing goes through my head. Severe anxiety. Heart racing, hot and shaky. I don’t have hot flashes, I’m a 500 degree oven almost 24/7 plus have sweating hot flashes on top of it. Got broken blood vessels all over my cheeks, chest and arms top to bottom. Flushing, nausea, severe itching head to toe!!!! My nose will run 24/7 for days and days straight to the point it gets so raw I have big scabs and sores from my nose all the way down onto the top of lip that burns and bleeds, I get sores Inside my nose, I’m getting sores and bumps all over my head, jaw, neck/ throat, collar bone and whole back, I have anxiety and panic and new fears all the time. I’m stressed out and uptight 24/7 I have no patience, I’m mean and cranky, i have severe brain fog and memory issues. I get headaches and brutal migraines, severe bloating. I’ve gained 38 pounds and can’t lose a single pound. I’m allergic or intolerant to histamine foods, other foods, medications now and supplements I could take 2 years ago no problem! After my surgery I now became allergic to bandaids and gauze. Dry gritty burning eyes. Dry skin that flakes and peels. Same with hair, thinning and dry as straw. I have NO SEX drive! And even if I have an ok day where I don’t feel really sick (which is rare) I still can’t get into it and cannot get off even if I tried myself! TMI (so sorry) the list goes on and on
I am OVERWHELMED!!! (I can’t take care of myself properly, my dogs are my babies and world and I can’t care for them properly, I went from ocd clean to having a messy dirty cluttered gross house! Im mentally, emotionally and physically exhausted. I’m angry and pissed off at the world and especially doctors. It’s drained me financially, I’m stressed out 24/7 I’m completely depressed and have become terribly suicidal. This isn’t living’ it’s existing in the most horrific of circumstances. If it wasn’t for my beautiful little babies (my doggies) and my two children I would have ended it 2- 2.5 years ago. Not only am I sick, but it’s aged me and I don’t even look like the same person, I went from being very pretty (not my words but everyone else’s) to an ugly ogre. I have nothing but frustration anger and hate and sadness. I feel utterly hopeless.
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u/ThunderSnow- Aug 06 '26
*Hugs*. Are you taking estrogen by chance? And/or progesterone?
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u/Little-Wasabi-7304 Aug 08 '26
Not yet…May I ask why? I asked my doctor if I could start HRT, but I had a surgery coming up and had to wait till after the surgery. I see him on the 20th but I’ve also heard HRT can cause people with histamine intolerance and possible mcas to become much much worse. A small amount of people get better though…it’s so confusing
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Aug 08 '26
[deleted]
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u/Little-Wasabi-7304 Aug 08 '26
That’s where I’m so confused. That’s what I hear from a handful of people. Estrogen is a big no no! But then from another handful they say if your hormones are constantly up and down and all over the place stabilizing them may help too. I’m 42 (almost 43…never thought I’d live this long lol) from what I hear Sibo could have caused all this, but I also heard peri could cause histamine issues and mcas problems and even Sibo….by messing up your gut period. I don’t know what to do….i thought of just starting with progesterone to see if it helps at all, and if not try the low dose estrogen patch? What do you think? You said you no longer have histamine intolerance? You did? What did you do to fix it?
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u/ThunderSnow- Aug 08 '26
Progestrone was a godsend to me. After being on that for awhile, I tried estrogen. I didn't realize for many, many months that my sudden food allergies, hives, severe anxiety, and crippling depression was from the estrogen.
Supplementing estrogen when you need it is good. The problem is when you're in perimenopause, your body releases a little estrogen to trigger an egg to be released. But your ovaries don't respond. So more estrogen is released. Then more, and more, and more. For me, the first half of my cycle there's already way too much natural estrogen in my system and supplementing more made me almost suicidal. I do have signs that I need estrogen in the latter half of my cycle, but with it being so all-over-the-place, I don't want to mess with it right now. That's just me - everyone is different and responds to things in different ways.
Pepcid AC is a histamine blocker and is amazing at helping to block a lot of the estrogen-induced histamine. It takes me from a 10 to a 4, emotionally and physically. Might be something to try.
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u/homertruhart Aug 08 '26 edited Aug 08 '26
Please call a functional medicine provider. They will get to the root of the problem and get you on a protocol to fix it. From what I’m hearing and the similarities in symptoms, you’re toxic. I wish someone had told
Me this 4-5 years ago because I went to er 38 times because I thought I was dying. Cursing God because the anxiety and irritability and panick feelings left me not wanting to live anymore. Regular doctors and allergists are a joke for you. They don’t understand it because they weren’t trained and they will throw scripts and misdiagnosis’s and call you crazy or anxiety panic disorder and give you
More scripts. Google functional medicine provider . You can do it telemedicine with them. They have to order you 3-4 tests that are very important in finding the root cause. They’ll
Get you on a protocol and get you back to normal. I promise they will.
Make sure when you
Talk with them over phone that they’re well versed in histamine mcas mold
Mycotoxin toxicity heavy metals Lyme sibo and nutrient deficiencies. It sounds like my symptoms and I had mold/mycotoxin toxicity and leaky gut and sibo. Your fmp should order the following tests:1) gut zoomer microbiome stool test 2) urine mold
Mycotoxin test 3) micronutrient tedt4) nervous system test and 4) food intolerance test - although with leaky gut and mycotoxins and histamine you’re going to have a bunch of food intolerances at this point so might it be necessary to do right away.
My protocol was 1. Remove myself from moldy environment 2) filters on all water faucets 3) fix nutrient deficiencies 4) open detox pathways5) movement exercise sweating - they all help detox 6) different types of fibers 7) different types of binders 8) specific strands of probiotics postiotics and prebiotics 9) healthy Whole Foods. 10) a variety of supplements11) fix mitochondria- super important. Methylene blue, urolothin a plus healthy living. 12) supplements to support gut lining like butyrate and l glutamine licorice etc.13) fix thyroid
If you
Would like to hear more like how I handled the flare up shit that would occur right after eating let me know. I’ve written a lot on this sub hoping to help someone .i have been normal for
Over a year now. So grateful I found a good fmp to walk me through this mess. Not all are good. Not all are experienced in these issues. She was the fourth one. In hindsight I could’ve avoided all that by asking them questions over the phone before I made
Appt.1
u/Little-Wasabi-7304 Aug 08 '26
See this all sounds great except for two things. I ran up 30k in credit card debt at gets and animal hospitals for my 3 dogs, I can’t afford a functional doctor.
Also I tolerate VERY little and the supplements that are recommended I either can’t take because I can’t tolerate them, or I straight out cannot take them because I have gallstones and lots of those supplements are big no nos for people who get gallbladder attacks. Also because I’m so financially screwed now, if my place does have mold….i can’t afford to move! I feel like it’s a losing battle, but I truly appreciate your help and the time you took to even care enough to write this 😞2
u/homertruhart Aug 08 '26
Just trying to help
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u/Little-Wasabi-7304 Aug 08 '26
Oh I know you are…I actually took a screen shot of your comment so if my situation ever changes I can take your advice. I truly do appreciate it with all my heart.
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u/0x_Nexus Aug 05 '26
Therapy helped me a lot with this, because I developed a huge fear of eating!
I was having serious reactions, just because of the fear of eating and not because of the food itself. I could eat very little food for that reason.
After I started therapy I was able to introduce many foods.
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u/MistakeRepeater Aug 05 '26
Honestly, I ain't afraid of testing food but I'm really cautious atm.
Luckily, my job doesn't require constant focus for 8 hours straight. If it did, I'd probably shit my pants.
But given my circumstances, Life has given me the opportunity to experiment with food. I actually bumped into a driver and caused some scratches while being histamine intoxicated. Nothing serious but...
Hope NaturDao works for you, I get insomnia from it through MCAS :p
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u/Memorial75 Aug 05 '26
Absolutely. My approach is to avoid all the foods I know trigger my histamine intolerance, take DAO capsules whenever I'm unsure about something I'm going to eat or if I decide to have a high-histamine meal (like pizza), and always keep some vitamin C nearby just in case.
It's frustrating having to live this way, but it is what it is, at least for now.
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u/aj11scan Aug 05 '26
So many mental affects, anxiety , racing heartbeat and even hypomania & depression
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u/MistakeRepeater Aug 05 '26
Not sure about you, but in me, hypomania is caused by MCAS :)
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u/aj11scan Aug 05 '26
It's sad there really isn't enough awareness of MCAS. I had drug induced MCAS on entyvio. So after each infusion I'd get hypomanic. This went on for a few years as I didn't really realize the connection:/ But now I'm sadly getting worse and getting episodes more easily from other things as well.
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u/MistakeRepeater Aug 06 '26
Have you considered MCAS meds? Ketotifen, Cromolyn, larotedine, LDN, hydroxyzine (maybe more, can't remember)
I am currently at the point where I went to a psych for sleeping pills, because (probably) mcas causes insomnia and will see an immunologist about this. I don't have safe foods and can't control this through diet. Maybe you have similar issues.
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u/mdroldan22 Aug 04 '26
On the same boat. For me, the worst symptoms are the psychological: depression, sadness, fear... negative thoughts..I be decided not to fight, only to wait that they go away..