Histamine issues? Here's your perfect list

[wmonique2]

Hi everybody,

I am finding out that my biggest issue is mast cells which means I have issues with histamine. Here's the best list of do's and don'ts I found. I've cut it and carry it in my purse for when I am out and shopping for food. In my case I have to pay attention to fiber as well so some of these are not a consideration.

Avoid or reduce eating canned foods and ready meals
Avoid or reduce eating ripened and fermented foods (older cheeses, alcoholic drinks, products containing yeast, stale fish)
Histamine levels in foods vary, depending on how ripe, matured or hygienic the foods are
As much as it is possible, only buy and eat fresh products
Don’t allow foods to linger outside the refrigerator – especially meat products
Ensure that your food preparation area (kitchen) is always kept clean – but don’t be manic!
Everyone has their own threshold; you will need to find yours
Consult a certified dietician about working out a balanced diet
Learn to cook! It can be loads of fun once you get into it

Low histamine level foods:

Fresh meat (cooled, frozen or fresh)
Freshly caught fish
Chicken (skinned and fresh)
Egg yolk
Fresh fruits – with the exception of strawberries, most fresh fruits are considered to have a low histamine level (also see histamine liberators below)
Fresh vegetables – with the exception of tomatoes
Grains – rice noodles, yeast free rye bread, rice crisp bread, oats, puffed rice crackers, millet flour, pasta (spelt and corn based)
Fresh pasteurised milk and milk products
Milk substitutes – coconut milk, rice milk
Cream cheese, butter (without the histamine generating rancidity)
Most cooking oils – check suitability before use
Most leafy herbs – check suitability before use
Most non-citric fruit juices
Herbal teas – with the exception of those listed below

High histamine level foods:

Alcohol
Pickled or canned foods – sauerkrauts
Matured cheeses
Smoked meat products – salami, ham, sausages….
Shellfish
Beans and pulses – chickpeas, soy beans, peanuts
Nuts – walnuts, cashew nuts
Chocolates and other cocoa based products
Most citric fruits
Wheat based products
Vinegar
Ready meals
Salty snacks, sweets with preservatives and artificial colourings

Histamine liberators:

Most citric fruits – kiwi, lemon, lime, pineapple, plums…
Cocoa and chocolate
Nuts
Papaya
Beans and pulses
Tomatoes
Wheat germ
Additives – benzoate, sulphites, nitrites, glutamate, food dyes

Diamine Oxidase (DAO) blockers:

Alcohol
Black tea
Energy drinks
Green tea
Mate tea

Debatable:

Yoghurt – depends on the bacteria culture used
Egg white – it is a histamine liberator only when in its raw state
Other

Yeast – even though it does not contain histamine as such, yeast serves as a catalyst for histamine generation during manufacture. There is no yeast in the end product.

Monique

[JFR]

Most complete list I have found:

http://www.histaminintoleranz.ch/en/dow ... st_HIT.pdf

Jean

[wmonique2]

Jean,

Great list. More detailed. Thanks you for that. For the last 3 weeks that I have paid greater attention to histamine foods, I've had no nausea.


Monique

[JFR]

Jean,

Great list. More detailed. Thanks you for that. For the last 3 weeks that I have paid greater attention to histamine foods, I've had no nausea.


Monique

That's great Monique. I used to be nauseous a lot. It's not been a problem for a while and am not sure why. It stopped being a major problem before I started paying attention to histamine. I'm just glad it is gone even if I am not sure why.

Jean

[barbiem]

I am new to list and am suffering big time with hives - tiny little raised bumps that come out when scratched and then turn into scabs. I had a mental breakdown last night as couldn't take the scratching anymore!! It's everywhere except feet stomach and face. Cant sleep so now take Ativan to help - stopped my mezavant just in case that is the culprit. All I have been eating daily are my shakes (24 hour SCD yogurt, honey raw, blueberries, banana, avocado) bananas x 3 a day, eggs, cashews, chicken , steak and asparagus. That is my diet right now so I am fasting for the next 2 days to see what the heck is causing this. I did have it back in march and the only common denominator was charcoal and Epsom salt baths.

I am now taking reactin as well to see if that helps but it does nothing. I steam shower as water touching my skin is making me itch and scratch more!

Any advice ? Do you think I have a mast cell issue as well?

thxs
barbiem
Lymphocytic colitis Jan 2013
entocort feb 2013 for amonth no success
mezavant for the last 30 days (better but now hives)
Ultrasound recent shows all organs good, small intestine good but large colon distended and full of diarrhea

[dfpowell]

Babs,

Welcome! Sorry you have having such a hard time, good idea to build your diet around foods that you know are well tolerated. I do not have much experience with the mast cell issue, others on the board will be more helpful in that area.
However, at one time I was following the SCD diet and experienced only a limited response, what I did not know at the time was that I needed to avoid eggs and dairy. That is not true for everyone, so you need to find out what foods you could possibly be reacting to. Have you tested your tolerance for those foods you have been eating? It usually takes more than a few days to get this figured out, it can be an ongoing process. What has helped me is keeping a food and symptoms journal, I find that it keeps me on track.
Hope you can find some relief.

[tex]

Hi Babs,

Welcome to our internet family. To cut to the chase, yes, it appears that you definitely have mast cell issues. Have you tried an over-the-counter antihistamine? You may have to experiment to find one that works best for you, and you may have to experiment with the dosage, also. Allergists sometimes recommend up to 4 times the labeled dose, in severe cases such as yours, if a lower dose is not effective.

Also, as Donna pointed out, most of us here are not only sensitive to gluten, but we are also sensitive to casein, and other foods, so you might at least try doing without the yogurt for at least a few days, to see if that helps. While the probability is low, it's possible that the Mezavant could be contributing to your mast cell degranulation, because for anyone who is sensitive to NSAIDs, mesalamine can trigger the production of pro-inflammatory leukotienes.

Antihistamines and a corticosteroid cream are the fastest way to control hives/rashes in most cases, but the key to preventing them is by avoiding the foods that promote them. Many of the foods that you are eating either contain histamines or promote the release of histamines, including yogurt, avocado, eggs, banana, etc. You can see a basic list of the most common foods that cause histamine issues at the link below:

http://www.michiganallergy.com/food_and_histamine.shtml

Again, welcome aboard, and please feel free to ask anything. And please keep us posted on your progress.

Tex

[JFR]

I also followed scd. It helped some initially but eventually things went downhill. I have discovered that I am sensitive to casein (no more 24 hr yogurt), eggs (used to have them every morning) and chicken (no more chicken broth). I also have histamine issues and have to avoid avocados among other things. You can figure this out but there simply isn't a one size fits all diet.The closest thing to an absolute seems to be to avoid gluten.

Jean

[barbiem]

thank you for the nice welcome to the group! I have been avoiding all gluten since October and was still eating rice etc. and only getting worse. SCD doesn't allow any rice/starches etc so the only thing I could eat was the yogurt / eggs / cashews etc. I have been tested both by blood test and NAET allergy tests and am no allergic to lactose or casein so figured it was okay with yogurt. I also did the lactose breath test which was negative. Also the celiac was negative too. I am allergic to collagen hence the reason I get very nausea with chicken broth and gelatin on the SCD. Extremely nauseas. I was also nauseas after drinking our water filtered thru brita only to discover it doesn't remove the chlorine. I have since obtained a new system and can finally drink WATER!!! I have never been sensitive to NSAIDS but isn't mezavant from the 5ASA group? I never took aspirin before and if I recall it made me nauseas many moons ago! THe only item ingested this morning with water was s.boulardii - I went back to bed and slept for 5 hours (due to Ativan last night to help me sleep - it makes me very very sleep .5 mg). When up at 1 - the itching was insane again. So maybe s.boulardii as well is a flare for me. I am trying not to eat anything that I usually eat for the next few days and see what happens. Although it sounds like it takes forever for stuff to leave the system UGH I will be starving by then!! I will just eat from the list of the least histamine producing foods. Will stick to beef and broccoli. If I am allergic to gelatin does that mean no chicken or just no bone of the chicken? So glad to fine this group. I will be posting another question in another section about success with SCD alone - not sure if staying on the SCD is good for me as have lost too much weight and have becoming more sensitive to more foods - at least that is how it seems. I have nothing left to eat. :( thanks! I was in the midst of a mental breakdown last night from all this that is happening and you have given me some new insight. What does one do if they have a histamine problem??

[wmonique2]

Babs,

I won't add to what Tex and others already said. I suffered horribly from nausea as well and s.boulardii just made it worse. Within minutes after taking it, I'd be sick to death. I have serious mast cell issues but I took the Enterolab test and I started eliminating foods that were irritants. I added more foods from this list here and I seem to do better. But my doc also prescribed amytriptiline (elavil) and that helped a lot to calm the gut and start eating. Like you I wasn't eating at all and had lost a lot of weight. So good luck to you. I've been where you're at and wasn't seeing the light at the end of the tunnel but it does get better. Just hang in there. You'll find what's right for you and things will get better.

Keep talking to us. It'll keep your spirit up and you won't feel alone. Stay strong.

Monique

[barbiem]

Hi Monique,

Just wondering abouit Elavil - isn't that an anti depressant? How does that help heal the gut and the food reactions? If it works, I am going to ask for it. I do have hashi's and have been on syntrhoid and Prozac for years.

barb

[wmonique2]

Hi Barb,

Elavil saved me. It is an antidepressant (the old generation of antidepressants) but it is given to IBS patients in small doses. At 10 mg it helps calm down the gut and makes you start eating. It doesn't do anything for depression at this dose. The standard dose for it is more like 50mg. I was dying slowly, I was thin, under nourished and in bed like 4 months. I wasn't eating. Within 24 hours I started eating and got out of bed. It works on the mast cells in the gut. It will take care of the mast cell issue, I guarantee it. For me it was the miracle drug. The elimination diet works but it takes a lot of time to get it done. When you're very sick, you want to see results immediately. And Elavil did that to me. Just 10 mg would do it. Some board members take one and half pill (15mg) but I found that 10 does it.

I got off of it for a while thinking that I didn't need it anymore. Boy, was I wrong. I started having nausea all over again. And that sort of nausea is very debilitating. Couldn't function. Nausea means you have a mast cell issue. A histamine issue.

I hope it works for you.

Monique

[barbiem]

thanks Monique - I see you are on mesalamine and allegra as well? Did you try entocort? I started back with entocort last night in hopes it will calm the hives. I am going to my dr. on Tuesday and I will ask for 10 mg for sure!!

thxs sooo much - I hope this will be my answer!!
barb

[wmonique2]

Babs,

When I got off Elavil, I went on Allegra which is an anithistamine as you already know. However, it didn't do a very job of keeping the nausea at bay. Maybe because I wasn't following the histamine list above. I had eliminated all the major irritants like gluten, soy (a tricky one to eliminate because it's everywhere) dairy and eggs and others. I had eliminated all the stuff that Enterolab said I tested positive for but apparently it wasn't enough because I was still symptomatic. Not until 3 weeks ago when I eliminated more offenders that I became symptom-free. Now I only take Elavil. No Allegra.

Yes, I also take mesalamine which I have been on since I was diagnosed. It stopped the D for me immediately and the cramping which was awful. I have never had any D since but when I tried to cut it off, I had horrible cramps which were eliminated when I went back to it.

I was en entecort as well but it is a steroid and you don't want to be on that one for too long. I was on it at the very beginning two years ago and when I flared a few months back. I stayed just a few weeks and wean myself off of it.

I hope you'll find your answer soon.

Monique

[barbiem]

Did you ever try Humira?

barb