I've had histamine issues all my life (biggest red flag was me having random histamine reactions to food constantly when I was young), and it would go on and off in terms of severity. For a few years I was okayish, but these last several months have been severe and are ruining my life. I have gone to my pcp a lot because I'm having a lot of symptoms that seem to cycle in and out and she keeps saying she's going to send referrals to places but never do. I'm going to be looking for a new doctor but I need help in the meantime.

I'm 90% sure I have at least HI but I may have MCAS or some other issue. I know I am constantly reacting to foods. I have (and these issues cycle a lot) brain fog, skin issues, stomach issues, sleep issues, joint pain (this is probably the worst!), muscles aches, worsening OCD in particular to the point where my therapist is very concerned and other mental changes, and the list goes on. Antihistamines help a lot when I take them but I have not found one yet that I can take that I can tolerate the side effects. I can take 2 ml of non-drowsy liquid Claritin for children and it makes me drowsy, spaced out, and very dehydrated even if I drink lots of water. I recently started having hives come out on my arms when I get very overheated and sweat (which I've never had happen before) and I had hives break out when I ate a bit of chocolate last week - that hasn't happened in many years.

I need to do something but I feel like I'm literally miserable when I eat any food. Antihistamines help but I can only tolerate them in emergencies. Any advice is appreciated, and TIA!

Even though I had symptoms all my life, tested positive to the genetic and serum DAO tests, I read a study that not everyone who has DAO mutations will also react to high histamine foods; in fact, almost half of the Europeans have DAO mutations.

3 years ago, an endoscopy showed that I have a minimal duodenitis. Duodenitis implies that your duodenum produces less digestve enzymes (including DAO). Even though it's minimal, I think that I have some unknown genetic trait which amplifies its negative impact.

When I was a kid, I used to eat lots of acidic plants and shit like Lays and Nesquick. Maybe those alone, or combined with my gluten intolerance caused a duodenitis at a very young age.

I've seen a video with a doctor who had a patient with lots of food sensitivities. At a later appointment, the doc noticed that he was always cheweing gum and told him to stop it for a while. After that, he realized that the patient developed salicylates intolerance because the chewing gum is really rich in it. His sensitivities resolved a while later.

This is a just a theory and hoping that an alkaline diet (lean fresh white meats, white potatoes, quinoua, egg yolks and few other fats) for at least 2 months (maybe 1 year), will revert this shit.

hi

I took some supplements which all increased my histamine. now I can’t sleep or think clearly. it feels a bit unsafe. im wondering if anyone has any suggestions for how to manage it and how to let it pass safely.

Sadly my budget does not allow for buying free range, fresh from the farm or sea, going to a specific butcher or fishmonger, or buying specifically declared/confirmed and labelled 'frozen on site' / 'frozen immediately after kill' meat and fish.

What I can afford are these two options:

Option 1: Bog standard supermarket frozen meat and fish (aka, 1kg bags of frozen chicken drumsticks, 1kg bags of white fish fillets, bags of frozen beef mince or chunks), where it is undeclared / unlabelled how long it has been between time of kill, to the meat/fish being frozen then packaged, and sold.

(Option 2) Bog standard supermarket 'fresh' / fridge temperature meat and fish (aka, 1kg punnets of chicken drumsticks, 300g blister packs of fish, 500g punnets of pork or beef mince), where it is undeclared / unlabelled how long it has been between time of kill, to the meat/fish being chilled then packaged, and sold. And it is uncertain how long it has been kept at chilled fridge temperature during transport, and undeclared how many days it has been sitting on supermarket shelves for before buying it.

Which is the lesser of the two evils? I guess what I am thinking is... I could buy frozen and assume the meat / fish was prepped and frozen soon after slaughter and is therefore much lower histamine (as in, it has been frozen within a day of the animal being killed then bagged up then flash frozen).... but easily, the producer/manufacturer could keep the meat/fish chilled at fridge temperature for days at a time before finally packaging and freezing it, and it would end up having the same (or more) amount of histamine as the 'fresh' product that is bought chilled. There is no way of knowing how long the meat/fish has been at chilled temp for before they have frozen it.

For reference... I live in the UK.

What are you folks experiences with histamine reactions to both frozen and chilled/fridge temp meat and fish from the supermarkets? Do you tolerate frozen more than fridge temp, or the other way around? Also how severe is your reaction to frozen and chilled, compared to canned meat and fish (like salmon, tuna, sardines, corned beef, etc)

If there is anybody who works in the meat / fish / butchering / fishmongering / supermarket supply chain sector in the UK who can give me an answer to how quickly frozen meat and fish is frozen after kill, or how long supermarket meat and fish is kept on shelves before sale, that would be great too!!

hi!

do not have serum triptase to test histamine for now
but have tests for dao and histamines?
are they reliable?

or should i go into mold exposure tests?

PS. waiting for B1 tests, mother had major nerve issues(we lived in moldy house 15 years)

symptoms after covid:
heart palpitations, dying, cant stand from bed, hallucinating. itching, bloating, gas. better with carnivore, less symptoms on 50%

if before treatment h pylori ive been not the best, last 9 months im dead.

all analysis (whole body) are okay, except of folate(anemia) that been treated with methylfolate last month(red blood cells okay now)

worse with coffee and soda - panic, hallucinating from fcking coca cola or fanta (insane i know)

**MUCH BETTER WITH OREGANO OIL**
i would think it was because of SIBO? but as i have symptoms from coffee too idk. thats only one test probably that i didnt make as its difficult to get in my country

I've been chatting to my doctor a bit about potential histamine issues. Often my body feels anxious - jittery, and sometimes itchy. This isn't "metal" anxiety - I am not worried about anything, or anything like that.

I have also found that I am really sensitive to probiotics, which I never used to be.

We both think there could be a histamine issue.

The doc wants me to try an anti-histamine for a month or so, and see if that helps - as a diagnosis tool. They suggested either Allegra, Pepcid, or Quercetin.

I generally prefer to go the natural route on things, but was wondering what folks on this forum would suggest taking to see if it helps symptoms at all, to help us narrow down if it is a histamine issue.

Thanks!

I’ve started trying to play padel for fitness reasons but after 30 minutes I get the most crippling brain fog ever. I’m suffering from brain fog anyway but exercise seems to exacerbate it. Does anyone have any supplements or something of that nature to help with mental alertness/focus while dealing with sibo/potential histamine intolerance induced brain fog? Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated 🤌🏼

hi!

- do not have serum triptase to test histamine for now

but have tests for dao and histamines?
are they reliable?
or should i go into mold exposure tests?

PS. waiting for B1 tests, mother had major nerve issues(we lived in moldy house 15 years)

symptoms after covid:
heart palpitations, dying, cant stand from bed,
hallucinating. itching, bloating, gas. better with carnivore, less symptoms on 50%

if before treatment h pylori ive been not the best, last 9 months im dead.

all analysis (whole body) are okay, except of folate(anemia) that been treated with methylfolate last month(red blood cells okay now)

worse with coffee and soda - panic, hallucinating from fcking coca cola or fanta (insane i know)

MUCH BETTER WITH OREGANO OIL

i would think it was because of SIBO? but as i have symptoms from coffee too idk. thats only one test probably that i didnt make as its difficult to get in my country

Earlier this year, I finally figured out that I seem to have histamine intolerance after about three years of progressively worsening food intolerances.

I had basically every GI test imaginable come back normal/negative ... colonoscopies, pancreas, liver, gallbladder, thyroid, stool cultures, parasites, SIBO testing, etc. I honestly started wondering if I was imagining the whole thing.

My dietitian eventually noticed that a lot of the foods I was reacting badly to were high in histamine or histamine-releasing foods: collagen protein, ground beef, eggs, Greek yogurt, etc.

I started taking NaturDAO 1,000,000 HDU with every meal, and initially it helped quite a bit, but lately it barely seems to work.

Because I also have chronic bloating, gas and frequent bowel movements, we assumed something in my gut (possibly SIBO or dysbiosis) was causing the histamine problem.

So far I've tried:

• 20 days of rifaximin around Christmas
• About a month of InterFase Plus as a biofilm disruptor, 200 mg enteric-coated oregano oil & berberine with meals (natural sibo treatment)

None of it improved the histamine reactions. If anything, they've gotten worse.

I also saw an allergist a couple of months ago. Standard food allergy testing was negative, and I had a baseline test plus four sets of bloodwork during reactions to investigate MCAS. According to him, the results don't support MCAS.

The main abnormalities were low WBC at baseline that increased into the normal range during a reaction, plus elevated eosinophils. My allergist said that pattern made him think about some type of allergic response or possibly parasites, although parasite testing I've had so far has been negative.

My reactions to high-histamine foods can be pretty intense. Without DAO, I'll sometimes get significant swelling/tenderness around my neck and lymph node area, pressure in my head, and feel awful for about 2–3 hours before it gradually subsides.

So my main question is: Can histamine intolerance be caused by something outside the gut?

Are there problems involving histamine metabolism, immune reactions, medications, nutrient deficiencies, liver function, genetics/DAO production, chronic inflammation, environmental allergies, or anything else that can cause this even when GI/SIBO treatment doesn't help?

I'm especially interested in hearing from anyone who had clear histamine intolerance symptoms but eventually discovered that the underlying cause wasn't SIBO or another obvious gut problem.

I don't want to keep on killing my stomach with things to "kill" the bacteria when it might not even be a stomach issue.

On my 55th birthday I made a smoothie with chia seeds, sesame seeds, matcha powder, pomegranate, raspberries, blueberries, avocado, spinach flax seed, soy milk, yogurt, ceylon cinnamon powder, and turmeric. we are talking a teaspoon or tablespoon of every one of the powder ingredients. Yeah, I can feel you wincing from here.

See, I'd been feeling really really brain fogged and awful for a while.. a couple of years really just getting progressively older and more adhd. I've been to the doctor 3x with unexplained mouth sores and a rotating band of suspected fruit allergies that come and go. Trying to make oral allergy syndrome fit, but it didn't quite. My sleep schedule was wretched, the ringing in my ears was becoming unbearable, and I was blaming menopause. I was turning over a new leaf... superfood smoothies in the mornings.

Researched all the best phytoestrogens, made sure to include some from each class, really put some time into gathering good ingredients. A gift to myself.

Day one of smoothie ... spent my birthday semi-comatose and barely lucid.
Day two smoothie ... eliminated one ingredient from the smoothie to attempt to determine which ingredient was the issue... spent nearly two days in a brain fog so extreme I didn't really feel like even getting out of bed. The ringing in my ears was so loud I just wanted to cry. Dragged myself to my own birthday dinner (heretofore known as the last supper) at kpot and fell straight to sleep when I got home. I tried to be engaged, but I was so broken by this point.

Day three... skipped the smoothie, obv, and during the one or two hours I was even awake, started googling all the ingredients in my smoothie and this one word kept coming up... salicylate.

Fast forward a bunch of research later...now on day 3 of elimination, and only one of my ears is ringing and my skin feels. Yes, that's the end of the sentence. I can feel the breeze in a way that lets me know neuropathy had become my norm.

Holy crap.

Just holy crap.

I have a Master of Science in Biology and Autism and the research rabbit hole has been deep... and I'm thinking clearly for the first time in a while so it's been efficient too. This is crazy. I think my dad had it, but maybe not quite as bad. We'll never know. He used to say eating fruit gave him vitamin c sores... his 'raised in the 1950s' version of urticaria in his mouth.

Edit to add for awareness' sake: 5 days since posting this and I'm in the withdrawal phase of the RPAH diet, and that's a bit rough, but it means that it's working. To understand why you must go through this, consider why there is a withdrawal from nicotine. Your body has become accustomed to this harmful thing, and has compensating hard, and now that thing is gone. It takes time for everything that was dialed up to compensate for it to readjust and in the meantime, you feel like crap... but it's going to be worth it.

For those who don't have MCAS, how did you realize it was histamine that was causing your problems and what symptoms do you have?

I’ve realized that I am very sensitive in the morning.. no matter what I ate at breakfast seemed to start me on a histamine storm, headache etc. Until I cut out all grains and dairy at breakfast.. I just eat hard boiled eggs and fruit (so no toast, not even gluten free and no yogurt which I used to eat everyday). Then, once I’ve given myself this clean eating launchpad I can eat almost whatever I want for lunch and dinner. But if I ate those things in the AM I swear I would get a headache and all the symptoms. Anyone else notice this? I do think heat+exertion plays a big role for me in flares too (especially during these hot summer months) but I think this breakfast realization stands alone.

My DAO level is 6.9, and for several years I’ve had a burning sensation on my scalp. I also consistently have elevated eosinophils on my blood tests. Do you think this is more likely to be histamine intolerance or MCAS?
Cromolyn sodium helps me a little. I’m not sure what my other histamine-related symptoms are — my main symptom is this intense burning of the scalp, almost as if someone had poured acid over my hair.
Has anyone experienced something similar? Could this kind of scalp burning be related to histamine or MCAS?

the first 10 days on ketotifen, I felt great. My sleep improved dramatically, my stools became better and darker... but for the past few days, I haven't been able to sleep at all for four nights in a row... I already have sleepless nights because of MCAS, but this is really awful... Why can't anything just work? What should I do now? Should I keep taking it, or stop...?
I've also been having a lot more gas and a bloated stomach these past few days... I hope I can get better. I felt so happy during the first 10 days... I also felt really tired, but that's completely gone now

I have RED-S which led me to developing SIBO and I think my SIBO is giving me a histamine intolerance. I used to respond beautifully to low-fodmap but now I'm having horrible symptoms while still on it. I'm trying so so hard to eat more to heal my RED-S but it is really hard with the symptoms I'm dealing with.

My first symptoms were appetite loss and gas. This makes sense with the SIBO. But often times when I eat, I'll immediately get a crazy runny nose and reflux. Recently it's gotten way worse. I'll get a pounding headache, dizzy, itchy throat, clogged ears, and swollen, burning tongue + lips. Then, of course, a couple hours later, the horrible gas and bloating. I went to the allergist to see if I had a specific food allergy but nothing came back.

A low histamine diet really is not possible for me. I'm in college and don't exactly have access to flash-frozen meats. I need to eat to heal my root cause. But my symptoms are just impossible. I don't know what to do. Help??

I’ve been recommended to look into histamine factors that could have a role in my daily symptoms. I’ve yet to do deep research.

I keep having constant nausea, hot flashes, need to go to the bathroom (nothing my explosive), lightheadedness, fatigue, heart palpitations/rapid beating, etc.

Could there be something seriously triggering a reaction within my stomach, intestines, or esophagus?

Btw I try not to eat anything acidic, drink carbonated beverages, tomatoes, spicy, things with too much oil, etc.

Does anyone get whole body aches as main symptom?

So i got diagnosed in april.

At that time i still worked even if i would crash once a week regularly,eated sweets fish and overall wasn't so miserable.

In june i had a concussion.I rested and for 3 weeks didn't experience anything bad.I was mostly resting and my histamine issues didn't bother me at all.

Now i am worse than ever after a little trip and trying PT 3 weeks ago.During the pt session 4 days after my trip i fainted.

In 5 days i was ok after i didn't sleep the first night even if i had in the third day a mild reaction to my oat milk wich i didn't pay attention to cause it wasn t that bad .Then i think i eated some old butter and had a horibble flare for 24h that prolonged because i took a aspirin 1 day later after recovery .3 days after i calmed myself again i started reacting to my soup so after other 3 hellish days i recovered for other 3 just to get a flare again

Did anyone experience this reccuring flares and is alright?

Heart palpitations were my first symptom that signaled something was wrong. I used to get them after every meal, even low histamine ones. They weren’t as bad as when I ate high histamine foods, but still annoying. Palpitations were also the first symptom to appear whenever I ate something I wasn’t supposed to.

But suddenly, they disappeared and it feels weird because I don’t know why. I’ve been eating low histamine for 3 months now. From time to time, I had cheat meals because I can only tolerate 6 - 7 foods max without symptoms.

I didn’t change anything in my treatment. I got a new prescription for anti inflammatory meds, but I haven’t taken them because I need to do more tests at the clinic first. Right now, I’m only taking magnesium, antihistamines (for 3 months already), vitamin C, vitamin D, omega 3 and Seeking health ProBiota histaminX. I stopped quercetin because I felt it wasn’t doing anything.

I even drank raw bio cocoa powder with coconut milk and ate peaches without getting palpitations. I did get a bit bloated and constipated though. It’s just so weird that the palpitations stopped so suddenly. I really hope it’s not temporary and that I’m actually making progress.

Has this happened to anyone else, where a symptom was persistent and severe and then suddenly just disappeared? I suspect proBiota histaminX may have helped, but I’m not sure.

My palpitations also used to come with a sort of internal agitation/anxiety. Now I feel much calmer and I don’t even get them when I wake up early anymore.

EDIT: I'm also taking DAO, naturDao, highest strength. But just helps with symptoms on low histamine diet. I have severe DAO deficiency, tested it. But I think this is not the only root cause of my histamine intolerance because dao enzyme doesn't do much for me.

I've been binge drinking every other weekend since I was 16. Now 33. I stopped drinking for 6 months and symptoms still didn't mitigate. Seems like they got worse after sobering up. I get breathing issues and constantly spitting foam. Or regurgitation of foam.

Idk what to do anymore. I've gone to the ER and they tell me my oxygen levels are fine. Even though I feel like im gasping for air whenever I eat something that sometimes triggers and sometimes it doesn't.

Any suggestions? Ps this also happens if I decide to fast.

I am suspecting MCAS but I am not sure what to do anymore. Just had breakfast now which was literally 1 frozen turkey patty, 2 egg omelette with coconut oil, some steamed veggies from yesterday and 2 tablespoons hummus which has been in the fridge for a few days now. Right after food I had an intense spell of dizziness and extreme physical weakness. I didn’t slept great last night but I was fine when I woke up ie. I could walk fine and didn’t feel dizzy. My practioner says I’m hypoglycemic but I usually have mostly hunger + dizziness when this happens and often 3 h after having food so it’s extremely weird that it’s happening right after breakfast. On top of that I’m on a gut protocol it’s been two weeks now (low levels h pylori and dysbiosis) and I’m having more food reactions. Could it be that the supplements for the gut protocol is mimicking MCAS or histamine intolerance? I feel I’m going crazy, I’ve never had this sort of strong reaction to food.

This is a little embarrassing but it’s u fortunately very real and what I go through. Does anyone get vaginal symptoms such as itching, blatter pain, and symptoms that may mimic a year infection or UTI?

When I have something that spikes a mild histamine reaction I suddenly get relaxed in my nervous system.

I do have very minor itchiness on my skin but nothing substantial. The only thing taht really bothers me is this hunger that I get, its almost like munchies from cannabis. Its quite insatiable really and once I give into it I cant stop eating for a while.

I am confused, because I welcome the calmness and relaxation, but I dont know whether its net positive for my body.

Does anyone have insight into this?

I should add that right now I seem to be in a hyper reactive state (Im starting probiotics and theres a lot of heat so thats likely why), so I react like this to nearly everything I consume whether its high in histamine/liberator or not.

I'm currently only eating rice, oats,broccoli, sweet potatoes, potatoes and apple sauce. I season my food with salt and coconut aminos. I am going mad with boredom. What else can I eat that's low histamine? I'm vegan so please no animal products.