If you’re histamine intolerant, you’ll be well-experienced in the struggles and difficulties of searching for a histamine intolerance treatment.
You have to struggle with constantly trying to manage and worry about your low histamine diet, trying to navigate the social aspects of eating and dealing with a lack of recognition from medical professionals - even when you’re in the middle of an allergy-like symptom flare-up.
It can be so difficult to identify what's going on in the first place and, once you do, the repeat doctors visits and cycles of high hope waiting desperately for your next appointment, only to walk out feeling more deflated than ever, carrying the thoughts that you may never find a histamine intolerant treatment, and this may indeed be what the rest of your life looks like.
Believe me, I know the struggle because I’ve personally been through it. I suffered from histamine intolerance for years. And, today, I’m going to tell you my story and explain how I personally solved my histamine intolerance.
My Search for a Histamine Intolerance Treatment
When I was just 23, I became histamine intolerant - what appeared to be quite suddenly, actually.
It took almost a year to self-diagnose the issue and, this diagnosis only came accidentally, because I happened to stumble upon a single case of histamine intolerance during my Master of Science studies.
Before then, I had never even heard of the disorder.
As you may know, due to the multi-symptomatic nature of histamine intolerance, combined with the lack of awareness on the disorder, it is not only difficult to diagnose, but difficult to even catch wind of histamine intolerance in the first place.
Considering the lack of easily accessible information on the histamine intolerance, I understood that seeking out a histamine intolerance treatment was going to be a struggle.
Once I investigated histamine intolerance further, I decided to try out a low histamine diet as it was a free change I could make at home and said to work quickly if I was indeed histamine intolerant.
Sure enough, a low histamine diet began alleviating my symptoms within a little over a week. My symptoms were by no means cured and I would still flare up if I ate high histamine foods - but, I suddenly had a way to better manage them and there was absolutely an improvement from eating this way compared to the suffering I had been experiencing.
This diet was my first strong piece of evidence that I was histamine intolerant.
My diet took a little tweaking because, as you may realize, many of the histamine intolerance food lists out there appear to contradict one-another.
I had to do plenty of research to not only discover high histamine foods but, to discover foods that also encourage the release of histamine from mast cells, and contain compounds such as histidine which can be bacterially converted in the body to histamine.
This confusion is why I created my own histamine intolerance foods list. You may notice it’s a bit more strict than some of the ones out there - but, for good reason! I aim to eliminate the other offenders that, as mentioned, are common irritants and contributors to histamine symptoms, even if they are not necessarily high in histamine themselves.
Finding out all of the foods that should be restricted was step 1, and it helped me greatly in alleviating my histamine intolerance symptoms.
But, avoiding high histamine foods didn’t solve the problem and it certainly created awkward situations compared to living a 'normal' daily life.
Managing and worrying about my diet, preparing every single thing I ate, avoiding eating out for fear of ‘contamination’ from unknown ingredients, even living in fear and near social isolation due to the social aspects surrounding eating.
This new diet did not provide me with a histamine intolerance treatment but, rather, a temporary band-aid for symptom relief. It was great to begin with and got me out of the confused, suffering state I was in - however, I knew I did not want to live this way and I needed to seek out a proper histamine intolerance treatment to actually heal it from the root cause and get my life back.
I knew I had to take the next step. As the numerous doctors I saw didn't offer a histamine intolerance treatment - often dismissing the disorder entirely - I realized that my hope of treating histamine intolerance in this way was dwindling.
I was left with the options of either giving up or fighting the battle alone...
Thankfully, I come from a scientific background. I was in the midst of completing my Master of Science in Nutrition and, I had a Bachelor of Science in Human Biology and Psychology. All of these felt important as the studies of natural therapies combined with a great understanding of the human body and mind - both of which are deeply intertwined in creating your overall health state - well, it felt like if anyone could dive deep into the topic, it would be me.
I ended up focusing a lot of time and energy into researching histamine intolerance treatments. I was even lucky enough to do some of these as assignments for school and actually get feedback from professors and even the dean of my school on the research I was doing and the work I was handing in. It was an incredible advantage to have a team of highly educated practitioners behind me, ready to answer my emails or give me feedback over a call, all while being objective and not treating me like a 15 minute quick-fix patient that needed to be rushed out of the treatment room ASAP for the next ill person to take my place.
Throughout my research, this is what I found….
5 Tips that Treated My Histamine Intolerance
In my long, expensive, and repeatedly-hitting-dead-ends search for a histamine intolerance treatment, here is a summary of what I found during my scientific research and, what led to solving histamine intolerance for me and now thousands of my clients, for good:
1. Identify and treat the root cause of histamine intolerance
There are many root causes that can underlie histamine intolerance.
Everything from pathogenic microbes and bacterial imbalances to mast cell disorders to genetically inherited mutations could be the initial trigger. Exploring and eradicating the root cause is key to being able to heal your histamine intolerance.
Although there are many roots to explore, one of the most common underlying issues is Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori), a bacteria residing within the digestive tract. Approximately 50% of the population actually possesses H. pylori, with many of them being asymptomatic.
However, in many cases, H. pylori both underlies and perpetuates the disorder of histamine intolerance and is essential to eradicate in order to improve or solve symptoms. Depending on your symptoms, testing for H. pylori can be one of the best places to start.
As I mentioned however, H. pylori isn’t a firm cause and there is a long list of additional causes that are simple to explore and test for.
I’ve included a more comprehensive explanation of all common causes and their interventions in the How I Solved My Histamine Intolerance Course, which shares step-by-step how to identify the root cause.
2. Gut health is key in histamine intolerance
Gut health is one of the most important factors underlying your intolerance. And, a lot of people don't even consider the gut when seeking out a histamine intolerance treatment.
As scientific research persists, evidence is increasingly revealing that the gut is the epicentre of health. The gut can be thought of as the soil your body grows on. It is responsible for breaking down food and absorbing all of the incoming nutrients that your entire body relies on.
If the health of your gut is compromised, every single organ and body system has the potential to be compromised. Poor gut health can quickly lead to nutrient deficiencies and exacerbate histamine intolerance issues by compromising the function of systems in your body required to regulate histamine release and breakdown such as mast cells and levels of diamine oxidase enzymes, which are responsible for degrading histamine.
The gut is becoming a hot topic in the health world - and, for good reason! You can find plenty of info on improving your gut online by doing a quick search but, it’s important to keep in mind a lot of the best interventions for your gut (fermented foods, bone broth, standard probiotics) actually make histamine intolerance worse due to containing high levels of histamine.
It's important to remember that anything fermented or aged is typically going to be high in histamine. These can make your symptoms worse so it's important to eat gut healing foods that are low histamine.
Only specific gut health treatments should be used in the case of histamine intolerance, so you should opt for particular gut health therapies that are specifically for histamine intolerance. I detail all of these in my solving histamine intolerance course.
3. Take the right probiotic for histamine intolerance
Bacteria are involved, either directly or indirectly, in every single system of the body. And, unlike your genes, you can change your bacteria - for better or for worse.
Underlying issues (such as H. pylori, other pathogens, poor diet, antibiotics, etc.) can lead to bacterial imbalances that can easily increase internal histamine levels.
For example, it is a natural process that several species of “good” bacteria produce histamine within the body. However, even if the populations of these “good” bacteria grow too large, you can end up producing more histamine than your body can handle.
This is exactly the reason why taking probiotics can make histamine intolerance worse, unless you know the specific low histamine probiotic strains that are histamine intolerance friendly.
This is just one of the ways bacteria can impact histamine intolerance, but the list is fairly extensive considering their in-depth involvement in all bodily processes.
Balancing bacteria using a method specific for histamine intolerance is, therefore, an essential part of improving your gut environment and microbial profile.
Although I discuss everything I discovered about the relationship between bacteria and histamine intolerance in the How I Solved My Histamine Intolerance Course, for now, the current histamine-safe probiotic I use with my histamine intolerant clients can be found here.
4. Nutrient deficiencies and insufficiencies are common in histamine intolerance
Imbalances in biological nutrient status can occur for many reasons. Dietary imbalances, a compromised gut that prevents absorption, medications, comorbidities, the list goes on.
Although healing the gut and balancing bacteria can help to resolve nutrient issues on their own, there are still a variety of common nutrients that are depleted in histamine intolerance and may need supplementation in order to return to normal levels.
One common deficiency seen in histamine intolerance is magnesium. Magnesium is involved in over 300 reactions in the body, so depletion of this nutrient can cause big interruptions in standard biological processes. It can also be contributing to the anxious feelings that are common among individuals with histamine intolerance.
Other common deficiencies or insufficiencies seen in histamine intolerance include zinc, omega-3’s and vitamins A, C and E.
In my step-by-step protocol of the How I Solved My Histamine Intolerance Course, I go deeper into nutrient deficiencies and why supplementing with them at the start of your histamine intolerance journey can actually be a bad idea and turn out to be a waste of time and money.
5. Stress and histamine intolerance cyclically impact one-another.
We all know stress is bad for our health. But, did you know that stress from having a chronic illness actually imposes some of the worst biological impacts on your body and health.
This type of stress is known as inescapable stress because, no matter how hard you try, you still have to deal with histamine intolerance every day.
You should use certain methods that reduce the overall stress on the body in order to minimize inflammation caused by chronic stress and rebalance biochemicals that can be thrown out of whack during a long, stressful period.
This includes eating a healthy, low histamine diet, getting regular exercise, mindfulness meditation and, you can even try things like cold showers to give you a great cognitive boost and reduce inflammation further.
You can learn more about the relationship between stress and histamine intolerance in this blog post.
It’s important to note that although many people think they are living healthy lives, a lot of the information we believe is healthy actually is contradictory to our health and a lot of us simply do not realize that we are automatically living under huge burdens that our bodies have not adapted to.
Working a 9-5 with a scary boss, environmental pollutants, pesticides, relationship issues, social media, drinking alcohol, eating packaged foods.... all of these are seen as pretty normal things in our society that do contribute major stress almost just by existing!
And, on the flip side, trying to avoid these all in order to improve health becomes a stressor in itself, since these things are quite difficult to avoid while still living in society and maintaining normal relationships.
It can really feel like a lose-lose - but, I promise, once you get the hang of things and understand healing and exactly how to balance prioritizing your health with your enjoyment of life, you're going to be even healthier from doing less! It's about doing the right things, rather than the most things.
In my Histamine Intolerance Course, I detail all of the most effective interventions for both solving histamine intolerance and keeping your body healthy to prevent further issues and symptoms from returning.
Ending the Search for a Histamine Intolerance Treatment
Throughout my search for a histamine intolerant treatment, I gained the knowledge to combine the info I found into a step-by-step, actionable plan which solved my histamine intolerance for good.
It took months of work to develop, and several more months to put those interventions into practice to test things out myself.
But, what I noticed, was that each step of the way I was able to eat more and more foods, while experiencing less and less symptoms.
I felt better and I could tolerate more foods until, eventually, by following the steps I had created, I was able to eat everything again without symptoms.
I was able to stop worrying about my diet and stop being afraid of social events. I was able to start going to my favourite restaurants again (sushi nights every Friday!) and start eating my all-time favourite treat - chocolate - all while experiencing no reaction.
The whole process from becoming histamine intolerant to healed was a long one.
Seeking out a histamine intolerance treatment while being turned away by medical doctors was discouraging.
And, doing my own research on histamine intolerance treatments didn't feel much easier.
I ended up sharing my protocol with approximately 100 people in exchange for feedback and it ended up working for them too!
I dove deeper into the research in order to put this protocol together into a course, along with adding in any other common questions people had or filling any gaps. I also added in therapies for common histamine intolerance symptoms that I wasn't experiencing, such as diarrhea or the presence of H. pylori, so that each stage has a straight forward protocol with an optional section that is customizable depending on your unique symptoms.
Everything you need is laid out in step-by-step videos within the How I Solved My Histamine Intolerance Course.
Click the link to learn all about what the course has to offer. You can also click here to see the testimonials!
"By far the best resource I've found in my search for a histamine intolerance treatment. Two months in and have never felt better. And, I can finally eat some of my favourite foods again! Thank you." - Liz C., United States
"Diarrhea, skin rashes, fatigue and anxiety - all gone! Hallelujah!" - Susan S., United Kingdom
"It's a great feeling to be able to spend more time with my family and kids, compared to managing and worrying about my diet and symptoms" - Tiana B., Australia
Put your health in nature's hands.
Anita Tee, Nutritional Scientist
Anita Tee
My name is Anita Tee. I'm a nutritional scientist who specializes in histamine intolerance. I hold a Master of Science in Personalized Nutrition and a Bachelor of Science in Human Biology and Psychology.For the past ten years, I have used my experience in nutritional and medical health sciences to create a scientifically backed, natural approach to healthcare that relies 100% on evidence-based research.As I previously suffered from - and overcame - histamine intolerance, my focus is to increase recognition and expand the available resources and protocols available for resolving this particular disorder. To date, I have helped over 4,000 individuals fully resolve or better manage their histamine intolerance symptoms.
