Environmental Allergies, Digestive Issues, Hives, Skin Flushing and Itching, Anxiety and Brain Fog - How Are They All Related? Simply put “Histamine”.
- mjbrown11
- Apr 21
- 3 min read
Let’s cover a few different histamine reactions that may help explain some symptoms.
Most people understand histamine in the context of seasonal allergies. Antihistamines such as Reactine and Claritin ease the symptoms of allergies and some skin reactions. But how does histamine work in the body?
In a healthy person, histamine can be detoxified and broken down rapidly by the enzyme diamine oxidase (DAO), whereby people with low DAO activity are at risk of histamine reactions. During pregnancy, DAO increases by 500 times and why we often hear women with a history of allergies or food intolerance say they felt amazing during pregnancy.
In migraine patients, plasma histamine concentrations have been shown to be elevated both during headache attacks and during symptom-free periods.
Headaches during menstrual periods…..the uterus and ovaries are rich in mast cells able to release histamine. Histamine-intolerant women often suffer from headache that is dependent on their menstrual cycle and from dysmenorrhea. Besides the contractile action of histamine, these symptoms may be explained by the interplay of histamine and hormones. Histamine has been shown to stimulate, in a dose dependent manner, the synthesis of estradiol via H1, a strong estrogen hormone.
If someone has a history of responding poorly to an ATP stimulant, like exercising – this strongly suggests they already have high histamine in their biology. Symptoms could either be headache and/or migraines or skin reaction like hives, flushing and itching induced by exercising.
Cycle of Allergy and Food Addiction
Triggering food Histamine Release Adrenaline surge Energy Level Increase Feel Great Followed by a crash.
After an hour or so, the adrenaline wears off and the energy goes down.
The person will want to feel good again and associate eating that food to feeling better….they have a condition response paired with the food triggering a histamine/adrenaline and a feel-good response.
Questions to ask yourself:
What foods do you crave, love, can’t do without? The likelihood is you are reacting to that food immunologically speaking.
When someone reacts to insect bites, insect stings are Mast cell activators with degranulation - histamine release. This tells us they are histamine sensitive.
People who are intolerant to chemicals, perfumes, scented products, new building scents, they lack the enzyme aldehyde dehydrogenase required to make the end products imidazole and N-methylimidazole acetate needed to clear histamine. This enzyme requires specific nutrients and when migraines or headaches and debilitating symptoms ensue, we may have to add these nutrients to break the cycle.
When someone presents with a few of the above symptoms, or they suffer from acid reflux when eating tomatoes, spicy foods, citrus fruits, or alcohol, we may want to assess their overall histamine load.
Histamine intolerance is an imbalance between histamine intake and the capacity for histamine degradation. Consider the following action of histamine:
If you get hives, react to insect bites, blotchy with a glass of wine, headaches before or during your period, have seasonal allergies, digestive cramps, some cases of acid reflux, you are more than likely unable to clear histamine.
Mast cells have a high release of histamine, and this diminishes brain level of serotonin, acetylcholine and norepinephrine. In essence, your anxiety, low mood and brain fog may be related to your biology’s inability to clear and deal with histamine.
When evaluating someone’s biology, the overall symptoms help guide us in understanding what their immunology is telling us. Histamine intolerance is an immune “over reaction” and could be the cause of many of your symptoms.
If you experience any of the above scenarios or know of someone who may benefit from my expertise, please share my contact information.
MJ Brown
1-709-728-3001
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