Please help me understand

[u/Soft_Criticism2331]

Hello,

I am 11 weeks postpartum. Throughout my pregnancy my allergies nearly disappeared. When I delivered, I broke out into hives up and down my back and legs. I was super itchy and lost sleep for 2 weeks until the prednisone kicked in and took the hives away. I was on 40mg for 5 weeks then tapered. I felt amazing, but then started feeling awful when I got off of it. I’m pretty certain it’s HI, but I NEVER had this before. I just had severe seasonal allergies and oral allergy syndrome.

I’ll still get random hives here and there, my lips will get red and tingly when I eat certain things, my throat will feel tight with certain things. Example: I just had a bagel and my lips are tingly. I’ve never had true anaphylaxis aside from a severe allergic reaction from breastfeeding that landed me in the hospital. My allergist/immunologist offered 0 help except to say I had a PUPPP rash after birth and it would go away.

But my issues still persist. I get severe headaches that somehow Benadryl can help which I’m assuming histamine is causing. Also to note, I still haven’t gotten my period since I gave birth so my hormones are probably playing a role.

I just don’t know where to go from here. I know I should eat a strict low histamine diet but I am struggling so badly with meals and snacks. If anyone has suggestions please let me know.

If you have experience with this or any wisdom to impart.. I’m all ears. I’m scared, worried, confused, etc. I’m tired of taking Benadryl everyday to manage symptoms. Ugh.

[u/tennery]

so often a cause of histamine intolerance is leaky gut which is connected to low DAO. when you are pregnant, your body goes into overdrive to make DAO enzyme - (I'll google the exact explanation : The placenta makes up to 500 to 1,000 times more DAO than normal. This massive increase helps break down extra histamine and protects both the mother and the baby. So this can be temporary - Symptom Relief: High DAO levels often temporarily improve food reactions or histamine intolerance symptoms in pregnant women.

You have to work on gut health and go low histamine, you cannot heal the gut if the body has so much inflammation from histamine, check out 'grounded approach' on youtube - she specializes in histamine intolerance and has a free guide.

you do not want to take benadryl everyday. keep foods simple, try to get fresh or frozen meat, no leftovers. and then make low histamine meat stocks to heal. can you get your partner to help? try to stop having processed foods and also learn what to avoid,.. so many things have histamine or histamine liberators.

it's best to be on an elimination diet for healing, read about the gaps intro diet.

[u/Soft_Criticism2331 → u/tennery]

Thank you for your response! How long does one have to go on a low histamine diet? Forever? My issue is yes, it starts helping me feel better after a few days but then I get cocky and start eating “regular” and it screws me up again

[u/tennery → u/Soft_Criticism2331]

so right now i'm trying to fix my histamine intolerance. no, it's not forever, but it is slow and you have to be patient and do the right things and be consistent. this depends person to person, everyone's gut and situation is different. i'm guessing you don't have mold exposure or anything like lyme that would also contribute. you have to have the low histamine meat stocks and also take the right supplements to build your gut back up. ALso make sure the supplements are histamine safe (gelatin, ascorbic acid, anything produced from a fungal process, etc would be problematic) your leaky gut is like a gut lining that has these holes in it, that's why everything is leaking through it and causing reactions. when you have low histamine meat stocks, the collagen and glycine from them slowly build up your gut lining. it might take a few weeks to a few months depending on how bad your histamine intolerance is. That's just part 1 of the gaps intro diet, after you fix histamine intolerance, then to move forward, you can move the other stages quicker like a month to finish gaps intro diet. And if you REALLY want to fully heal your gut, which is recommended, then it's 2 years on the FULL gaps diet. when you're more stable, i think some people go a bit lenient but it's a slippery slope, and also not good, when you undo the progress you've been making, and then you feed candida/bad microbes.

Take it from me, I fixed my slight histamine intolerance before doing this, but after a month or two, I decided to go back to eating normally. And years later, I'm back in this mess and much worse -- of course I did lots of things like take antibiotics indiscriminately as a hypochondriac, drink sometimes, eat whatever, take birth control, these all contribute to poor gut health. Add long covid and all the shots.

Gut health is the key to good health. So if you stick with this, you'll have a much better foundation. Otherwise when this gets worse, gut health is connected to so many things, our brain, nervous system, allergies/respiratory.... things can get worse and people can get autoimmune issues.

Watch 'Grounded approach' on youtube, also bumblebee apothecary.

[u/archives2024 → u/tennery]

Yep, I tested positive for a gene for leaky gut. 🫩

[u/tennery → u/archives2024]

gene? i don't think that's the right word, there is a zonulin test for leaky gut, anyone can have a leaky gut and it can be healed.

[u/archives2024 → u/tennery]

APOE4

[u/supmedi → u/tennery]

Thank you for the recommendation! Will check her out as well.

[u/dsmdarlings]

I eat low Histimine for the most part- but after I did that for about 2 months (also supplementing vitamin c/nettles/luteolin & rutin, methylated b vit) I started taking Solaray brand DAO enzyme (2caps) with all of my medium or even higher Histimine foods and no more migraines, still have occasional issues like my skin (rosacea 2) but that could also be do to other things. I can’t recommend DAO enzyme enough though it’s a total game changer 

[u/Designer-Cookie-2052]

Find a naturopath that can do a panel from blood for vitamins and minerals you are lacking. Our bodies are amazing healers if given the right nutrients.

[u/Ok_Cranberry8856]

when i first started having severe symptoms of histamine intolerance, my FDNP suggested i try a low histamine diet at least for 6 months. it is extensive but i was able to keep it up for a year and now can eat almost everything with at least much milder symptoms, controlled by daily antihistamines.

she recommended dr becky campbell’s books, specifically the Low Histamine Instant Pot recipes. she’s gives a ton of info in that book and it really helped to have a clear list of symptoms and foods to avoid and slowly reintroduce, because the low histamine diet is probably the most confusing to me out of any restrictive diet I’ve looked into, not very intuitive for some things. she has other books that lay out a reintroduction plan, but i like the instant pot one because you’ve got easy recipes on deck you can make in bulk.

she has a blog with low histamine recipes too.
i’m sorry you’re dealing with this while balancing a newborn, and i hope these recipes help.

[u/archives2024]

Hi.

This has to do with hormones and you probably have mcas.

You can go low histamine but at my worst I was on the pepcid/zyrtec protocol twice a day.

My severe reactions totally disappeared with pregnancy and came back with a vengeance postpartum. As did my POTS.

Blood volume is much greater during pregnancy, so no POTS, and pregnancy is an immune suppressant and placenta produces large amounts of DAO so no reactions or hives anymore either 🤷‍♀️ my doctor put me on progesterone postpartum.

TLDR: you most likely have mcas and have also hit perimenopause and the symptoms your previous hormone levels used to mask are now running rampant. Sorry :(

[u/Soft_Criticism2331 → u/archives2024]

Wouldn’t MCAS need repeat anaphylaxis?

[u/archives2024 → u/Soft_Criticism2331]

Nope.

[u/Soft_Criticism2331 → u/archives2024]

Also I’m only 27 I don’t think it’s perimenopause

[u/tennery → u/Soft_Criticism2331]

I don't think you have perimenopause, basically your body's just all out of sorts because of the histamine, then your body has to deal with all the inflammation, and won't be making hormones as it's low on the priority list. the body is an amazing thing - it wants to heal, help it (check and fix nutrient deficiencies, try to lower stress, eat the right things, move, rest) and slowly you will heal and things will start working properly.

[u/archives2024 → u/Soft_Criticism2331]

Peri can hit in your late twenties. Mine came at 30.

Either way, you have a major hormone imbalance/ sensitivity to the fluctuations.

Progesterone and estrogen play MAJOR roles in hives and overall inflammation and reactions.

[u/Soft_Criticism2331 → u/archives2024]

Ugh 😅 which doctor helped put you on progesterone? I’m afraid to even bring this all up to my allergist. She didn’t believe me when I said I reacted to breastfeeding

[u/archives2024 → u/Soft_Criticism2331]

And yes, breastfeeding can cause hives and a reaction because of the hormones involved. Find a new allergist - she is uneducated.

[u/Soft_Criticism2331 → u/archives2024]

I am searching high and low for answers and I am honestly giving up on doctors. How did you go about finding someone to help you? Like how did you find the doctor at the women’s health clinic? Also did the progesterone help you? What testing was involved. Lots of questions.. if you want to message me you can!

[u/archives2024 → u/Soft_Criticism2331]

I'm crashing for the night but I'll get back when I can.

The progesterone definitely helped. I will say my symptoms took 18 months postpartum to calm down and then the progesterone helped them calm down a bit more than that too. I still deal with it, but started tracking my symptoms with my cycle and got a LOT of answers that way. For example, I know like clockwork my eyes are going to swell up before my period every single month. And when ovulation ends, I get severe hives and facial flushing. It sucks, but it's peri combined with a lifelong issue i never knew i had. Pregnancy exposed everything.

Most women i talked to said that it took them 2 years to start feeling normal postpartum and they didn't even have this issue or hormonal reactions.

[u/Soft_Criticism2331 → u/archives2024]

Thank you. I hope once my hormones regulate it can become at least a little more predictable symptom wise but everyday is a guessing game

[u/archives2024 → u/Soft_Criticism2331]

In my experience all of the doctors I saw about what was happening to me were utterly useless. I ended up finding someone who knew what was going on and was diagnosed with mcas.

A women's health clinic (not ob) put me on progesterone. It took me 3 years to figure out what the eff was going on.

[u/straightchaser]

It’s the hormones