Carbohydrate, lactose and histamine intolerances go hand in hand
You may have heard of the histamine bucket: the idea there’s only so much histamine we can put into the body before we spill over into symptoms. I favour the inflammation bucket model, where we work out what inflammation-causing foods and lifestyle issues (stress, lack of exercise, low histamine foods that cause inflammation) are making […]
Triphala: Ayurvedic Antihistamine for Histamine Intolerance?
For over two thousand years the Ayurvedic remedy Triphala has played a key role in the practice of Indian traditional medicine. There’s been considerable research validating a number of these remedies recently, including the news that Triphala, a combination of three medicinal fruits, is a powerful natural antihistamine that also stabilises mast cells and acts as an […]
Histamine and smell
A small study has just revealed that scented laundry washes contain carcinogens that may raise cancer risk if inhaled. This is unlikely to be a problem for people with histamine and mast cell disorders given that our heightened sense of smell and reactions to scents, prevent most of us from using them. The question is […]
Latest findings on the microbiome and gut health
Here’s a little round up of stories that have caught my interest recently, as well as older bits of information that have piqued interest: the gut bacteria of people with chronic fatigue is different to most people’s and obesity may be contagious thanks to sharing microbes with family members and friends. We’ll also get into […]
Monk fruit: anti-inflammatory sugar free sweetener
Monk fruit (Siraitia grosvenorii) extract is reportedly 300-400 times sweeter than cane sugar but has no effect on blood sugar and has significant anti-inflammatory properties. Studies show this magical fruit can also fight fatigue and prevent cancer thanks to its significant anti-oxidant activity which prevents DNA damage. Several members of the curcubita family, which includes butternut […]
Can’t sleep? A natural antihistamine tea could help
There are many reasons that antihistamines make you sleepy. One reason is that histamine is involved in controlling the circadian rhythm/wakefulness cycle. And we can use that information to our advantage, even if we don’t use pharmaceuticals. Given that we know antihistamines can make us gain weight (I gained SO much) and a bunch of other stuff, it […]
Chronic Fatigue, histamine & mast cells
Chalk up another one to a dysfunctional immune system – Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS). Researchers recently proved (for the first time), that the condition is not psychosomatic (yeah, thanks for calling us hypochondriacs all these years). This wasn’t news to some: according to NHS funded researcher Dr. Theoharides, CFS is one of many mast cell linked […]
Estrogen & Histamine
Have you noticed that your annoying histamine intolerance and mast cell symptoms, particularly fogginess, bloating, headaches and tenderness, get worse just before your period? Yup, it’s your hormones, and the interaction between histamine and estrogen in particular. And now researchers tell us that estrogen is the reason that women have longer anaphylactic episodes than men. Estrogen surges […]
Histamine Migraine Fixes
Histamine can cause the recurrence of a headache that’s been treated with meds (like NSAIDs or migraine meds for example), make a pre-existing headache worse, and trigger an immediate or delayed headache. Yet studies on antihistamines as treatments have largely failed, with a few exceptions. I can tell you from personal experience that histamine is […]
How Histamine Affects Skin Pigmentation
Histamine affects skin pigmentation in a numbers of ways: my two old buddy’s melasma and vitiligo. You know those patches of dark skin on your face that are barely covered by make up, get worse when exposed to the sun, and are aggravated by pregnancy hormones? Yeah, we have histamine and mast cells to thank […]