Antihistamine and Reducing Budesonide

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Pam V
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Antihistamine and Reducing Budesonide

Post by Pam V »

I have been taking 6 mg Budesonide/day since late June and have been doing pretty well. Some days I don't poop at all, some days it looks so normal I feel like snapping a picture, and there are still some days when it's pretty soft. For the most part, formed and softish. I've added almond butter on rice cakes into my diet (I have never tasted anything so delicious!), as well as a little chopped celery in my white rice. Occasionally, I'll have a little overcooked carrot, zucchini, or green beans. Also, I've been having rice cereal with almondmilk for breakfast instead of my rice/protein for every meal. I sent away my package to Entrolab yesterday. My plan has been to drop to 3 mg Budesonide at the end of August with a slow taper through the end of the year. I never had seasonal allergies as a child but developed them in my 30's. For the past several years, I have been taking a Zyrtec most days (this started after a particularly bad fall when my eyes puffed up and my eye doctor recommended an antihistamine. (Interestingly, I was going through a high stress, busy stretch right before my MC kicked in last April and had not been taking the antihistamine regularly at that time). I have read with interest how some people have done very well with Allegra in the AM and 2 4 mg. Chlorpheniramine in the evening. Would this be a good time to switch from Zyrtec to this regimen? Currently I take Kirkman Magnesium 3x/day, Thorne Methyl Guard Plus 3x/day, 3 1,000 IU of Vit D3/day, 1 or 2 Calcium Supplements (250mg)/day, one Fish Oil Capsule, and a Zyrtec in the AM. Occasionally, I will take a Benadryl at night.

Thank-you in advance for your help!

Pam
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tex
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Post by tex »

Good question. The main hitch to doing that is that (like Benadryl) chlorpheniramine has anticholinergic properties (meaning that the continued use of it carries cumulative risks (lifetime accumulation), including increased risk of developing Alzheimer's or age-related dementia. Aside from that, it seems to work pretty well.

I have found that after I corrected a magnesium deficiency, taking the active form of vitamin B-6, Pyridoxal 5'-phosphate (P5P), seems to cause my lifelong pollen allergies to fade away (after several years), and my sensitivity level to histamine in general is greatly reduced. I suspect the reason this works is because:

1. magnesium is necessary to help insulin transport nutrients to the cells

2. P5P is required to activate diamine oxidase (DAO) enzyme, and DAO is used by the body to purge excess (unused) histamine. When DAO isn't working properly, histamine tends to build up in the body causing all sorts of miserable problems.

Obviously you should be getting plenty of P5P from the Methyl-Guard.

For another treat, try cashew butter slathered onto a frozen banana (peeled and frozen in a zipplock bag just as it barely becomes ripe — as a banana gets ripe, the histamine level increases until it becomes a high-histamine food after it becomes fully ripe).

Tex
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It is suspected that some of the hardest material known to science can be found in the skulls of GI specialists who insist that diet has nothing to do with the treatment of microscopic colitis.
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Pam V
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Post by Pam V »

Yikes!!! I had no idea that there was a cumulative affect of taking Benadryl (chlorpheniramine)!!! So much to learn. Thank-you, Tex, for the info - I'll keep taking my magnesium, D, and Methyl Guard. That banana with cashew butter sounds wonderful - I can't wait to try it:)
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