Question for Mast Cell/Histamine Conquerors

crervin · Post by **crervin** » Fri Sep 18, 2015 7:51 am

I know everyone is different, but what was your typical symptoms when you believed to have histamine overload? Was it immediate WD after a meal? Or itching or both? I can't seem get a handle on it.

I am taking Allegra 180 mg everyday, then 25 mg of doxyalamine succinate at night. I have been waking up to swollen eyelids this week and about 4WD a day when this happens. Also, some itching and a flushed face occasionally. I took a Pepcid today in addition to Allegra just to see what happens. Also trying to stay indoors too.

I had one good day, couple of days ago with one almost normal BM. One step forward, 3 steps back. I'm afraid no remission or gut healing for my falls or springs, if this is even it???
Just wanted to see how someone conquered their histamine overload?? I appreciate any and all suggestions!! Maybe time is all I need and I'm focusing too much on each day?

Thanks guys

Gabes-Apg · Post by **Gabes-Apg** » Sat Sep 19, 2015 3:26 pm

I had a combo of symptoms in super heightened histamine/mast cell mode;

chronic Gerd /reflux. (would vomit when trying to tie laces on runners)
nausea
runny nose/snuffling
itchy tongue when i had high histamine foods
Gas

I was taking anti-histamines most days of every week, for over a year.

When I fixed key nutrient deficiencies (magnesium, Vit C, Zinc) the histamine reactions hugely reduced and fixed the leaky gut and cleared excess toxins.
NB - get Zinc/Copper levels checked before doing supplementation with high levels of zinc.

lots of reasons for this Mag, Vit C, Zinc, helps the adrenals, so the immune reactions are reduced,
Vit C and Zinc helps the cells rebuild and use Vit D3 properly
Vit C and Zinc also help clear toxins etc that are affecting the villi on the leaky gut

next stage - I started taking methionine and since then I have no histamine issues whatsoever - first time in my 45 years!!
for most of my life, i could not enter a house with a cat. now I can nurse/pat cats
for most of my life I could not be upwind of horses without getting hayfever/asthma - now i can pat horses

http://www.naturaltherapypages.com.au/a ... methionine

Methionine has a number of benefits for the body. It can treat depression, inflammation, liver diseases, and certain muscle pains. It is beneficial in people that are suffering from estrogen dominance, where the amount of estrogen in the body is excessively high when compared to the opposing hormone progesterone. Methionine converts the stronger and carcinogenic estradiol into estriol, the “good” estrogen.

Other benefits of methionine are as following:

• improves tone and pliability of hair, skin, and nails as it is essential for the formation of healthy collagen
• chelates heavy metals, allowing them to be eliminated from the body
• helps prevent premature ejaculation
• helps prevent chronic depression
• reduces the levels of inflammatory histamines in the body
• helpful for treating urinary tract infection as it stops bacteria from sticking to and proliferating in the walls of the urinary tract

http://aminoacidstudies.org/l-methionine/

L-methionine is also responsible for the reduction of the level of histamine in the blood, which is why it can positively affect the symptoms of allergies. In addition, it is important for the regulation of the acid-base balance and provides sulphur atoms for various chemical processes.

Post by **tex** » Sat Sep 19, 2015 4:09 pm

I don't know if I have finally resolved my methylation issues, or if eliminating a magnesium deficiency (or a combination), was the key, but ragweed pollen is at high levels these days, and my symptoms are so minor as to be insignificant.

I haven't seen any need for an antihistamine since the pollen season began. In past years, I had to take an antihistamine daily, and I still had symptoms on bad days.

Tex

JFR · Post by **JFR** » Sat Sep 19, 2015 5:12 pm

I too have almost no symptoms of a ragweed allergy that has plagued me all my life. Daily antihistamine use was a must during ragweed season but for the past few years, since I have avoided all my food sensitivities, my allergy is a thing of the past excluding occasional short lived itchy eyes and the occasional sneeze. It's so minimal that if I didn't know that I had a ragweed allergy I would hardly notice it. I've been taking 600-800 mg of magnesium glycinate for at least a decade so it's not the magnesium alone that is responsible. I attribute it to my diet but there's no way to know precisely what's responsible. I'll take it whatever the cause.

Jean

crervin · Post by **crervin** » Sat Sep 19, 2015 7:52 pm

Thanks guys! This sounds like a dream to me. Oh I so hope to get where you guys are at! Will try to get my vitamins checked, Gabes! Going to look into the methionine, good information! Maybe, i could request my estrogen levels.

I feel like this is a problem for me right now and keeping my gut from healing. I could be wrong, but I can't pinpoint anything else.

I am trying to stay indoors, but with 3 young kids it's hard. I keep a sinus headache in the fall and migraines in the spring with ears stopped up and congestion. I live in a valley between 2 mountains on both sides and the pollen just gets trapped in. Today, I have been breathing in hot salt water, woke up with sinus headache and had gut upset all day. I also feel nausea, no appetite. I had gas all last night and really for no reason, I didn't eat supper.

I am probably not using enough magnesium oil, it is time consuming. I need to use twice a day, but once is all I can do most days. Also, I've been using MOM as deodorant.

I will keep pressing on with meat, rice, d3, magnesium oil, Allegra, questran, and hope winter shows evidence of some healing.

Thanks again this really gives me hope!!

Post by **tex** » Sat Sep 19, 2015 8:20 pm

Martha,

Regarding symptoms of histamine issues, these can appear in various forms, and they seem to vary by the individual. Here is a copy of some information that I posted in another thread, that includes a description of how I react to histamine in food:

Since we are all different, some of us have to take more steps than others in order to resolve mast cell/histamine issues (just as is the case with controlling our MC symptoms in general). So we tend to develop our own particular protocol, based on whatever seems to work best for us personally. A low histamine diet alone might be sufficient in many cases, but frankly, most of us who have significant mast cell/histamine issues find it more expedient to both limit histamine intake from foods, and take 1 or 2 antihistamines each day, in order to get prompt and reliable resolution of symptoms. After a while, we can usually wean off the antihistamines, and as our intestines heal, we may be able to allow more histamine in our diet, also.

It's usually easy to tell if an antihistamine is helping, because we will typically see an improvement within a day or 2 if the histamine is beneficial for us. Sometimes changing the brand (type) of antihistamine makes a big difference, also. IOW, if one doesn't help, try a different brand. Here is my theory of why there is so much confusion among various lists of foods rated by histamine content:

Virtually all such lists appear to assume that histamine content of food is a static (constant, unchanging) number, and that's simply not true. Histamine content of food is constantly changing (increasing as it ages). IMO, histamine in food is primarily due to the invisible growth of mold. Histamine is a byproduct of mold, and as the mold continues to grow, the histamine level continues to rise. That's why a banana that is just barely ripe is not a high-histamine food, but a banana that has been ripe for 2 or 3 days or more has become a high-histamine food.

Most people assume that food (including leftovers) placed in the refrigerator is stable and safe from mold growth or any other changes (at least for a few days). But that's not true. Mold continues to grow at refrigeration temperatures (even though we cannot see it until enough time has passed for the mold to become obvious), and the histamine content of food stored in the fridge continues to rise. I can eat leftover chicken soup that has been stored in the fridge for a day, without any problems. But by the next day, eating it will cause me to have a slight amount of gas/bloating. By the third day, eating it will cause me to have significant bloating, and diarrhea (from the relatively high histamine level), and even itching on my lower legs or forearms.

In order to stop the growth of mold in food, it must be stored at deepfreeze temps (zero degrees F, or below). Therefore, most of us who have histamine issues, promptly freeze all leftovers and thaw them in a microwave just prior to reheating them for a meal. Some foods (chicken, fish, etc.), are more prone to mold growth than others, and therefore offer higher risks of more rapid histamine increases.

I've colored what I consider to be the most important part, blue.

Low Histamine Diet Sources?

Tex

crervin · Post by **crervin** » Sat Sep 19, 2015 8:51 pm

Really good and interesting info! My mom has been taking Allegra and started when I did. She just told me today, she's switching to something else as it's not helping. I'll try a different one. Gosh, I also take a unisom at night too. You would think, I'd get enough. Plus I am limiting my food variety to very little right now, just to figure this thing out. I have even stopped eating salmon, that I so dearly love! It's really bad, when I eat it, itching all over the next day.

Thank you Tex! Boy I dread the Spring, maybe I'll have a handle on it before then!

Gabes-Apg · Post by **Gabes-Apg** » Sat Sep 19, 2015 9:04 pm

A good way to increase magnesium spray usage easily, buy little spray bottles, they hold about ?50 ml or so, put some of the mag spray in these...

I have one near the loo, and spray the tops of my legs when I go to the toilet.
One by the computer, spray neck, arms, stomach when on the computer
One by the bed, so I can use it when I first wake up, and when I go to bed.

Once it is part of the routine of these locations/timings, getting high dose daily is easy.

crervin · Post by **crervin** » Sun Sep 20, 2015 7:01 pm

Gabes,
Do you wipe the oil off after 20 min? Thank you!

Post by **tex** » Sun Sep 20, 2015 8:55 pm

When I use the magnesium oil spray, I apply it roughly 20 minutes before I take a shower.

Tex

jlbattin · Post by **jlbattin** » Sun Sep 20, 2015 10:00 pm

And when I spray it, I just leave it on. It doesn't bother me.

crervin · Post by **crervin** » Mon Sep 21, 2015 5:21 am

Thanks guys, I put it on before shower. Now if I can identify what is triggering my WD since I started......that is the 1 million dollar question. Rice is the only constant, so going to steer clear for 3 or 4 days. But now what to eat to fill me up......I weigh now what I weighed a freshman in highschool, I'm 40 now!

Post by **tex** » Mon Sep 21, 2015 7:36 am

Rice is the grain that's the least likely to cause a reaction, so I'm not aware of another grain that can be used as a safe replacement in an exclusion diet. If rice turns out to be the problem, try corn (after avoiding rice shows rice to be the problem), unless you already know that you are sensitive to corn. Corn chips can add a lot of calories to your diet if you eat enough of them.

What to eat in order to satiate your appetite in the interim is indeed a tough question. Are potatoes or sweet potatoes not an option? If they are not, then meat wins by default. But be sure to choose fatty meat, if this should turn into a medium to long-term diet, in order to prevent a malnutrition condition known as rabbit starvation.

Eskimos Prove An All Meat Diet Provides Excellent Health

Tex

crervin · Post by **crervin** » Mon Sep 21, 2015 3:24 pm

Thank you Tex! Very interesting read! I really feel like an Eskimo right now, but without the cold thank goodness. Could it be possible that it is rice, even though I showed no sensitvity? It is jasmine rice from Thailand. I buy it in an Asian grocery......

I've been eating potatoes, but 1 cup of rice almost daily for 2 months. I will try sweet potatoes, they use to cause me gas. Will try corn again. Last time was at the very beginning and they could have had butter in them when I reacted.

I will continue meats and fatty ones. I've been rotating lamb chops, ribeye, ny strip, roasted turkey, and ground turkey. Occasionally salmon, but causes histamine problems next day I believe.

Going to lay off rice, would I know in 3 days or week? Thank you all so much for your help!!! Tring to take care of myself while raising a very energetic family is so hard!

Post by **tex** » Mon Sep 21, 2015 9:33 pm

You should know within less than a week, I would think, because the half-life of anti-orzenin antibodies should be approximately 6 days (IOW, the level declines relatively quickly — by contrast, the half-life of anti-gliadin antibodies is 120 days). Orzenin is the prolamin protein in rice that is the equivalent of wheat gluten.

Tex