Histamine Intolerance FAQ with Anita Tee

Today I'd like to share a bit more about my personal story of how I solved my histamine intolerance.

 

I have dealt with so many clients over the years, and what I find interesting is the impressive amount of overlap I experience in nearly every case.

 

On calls, I sometimes give a dose of a personal story simply because the client is identifying with such a similar experience, and I can not only guide them professionally but, also, provide some encouragement from my own experience to know that things can and will get better.

 

So, below, I've listed some common questions I get on calls or through email, and my answers to these questions. If you have any questions, please also feel free to email us at any time and, for those questions that are asked commonly, I do my best to create a resource to answer these.

 

Q: How long did it take you to resolve your histamine intolerance?

 

A: Like many of you, the exact time can be confusing because, often, you can be trying therapies before you actually realize you're histamine intolerant. As you know, there are a lot of therapies for histamine intolerance that overlap with other issues you may have thought you had. For example, if you assume an inflammatory condition and are taking curcumin. On the other hand, there are a lot of therapies that can be used for other conditions which actually make histamine intolerance worse. For example, if you have digestive issues and have been taking probiotics that contain histamine or eating fermented foods.

 

I did quite the combo of both, so it's hard to say how many steps forward versus back I took for the first few years. After I identified it was histamine intolerance and actually managed to find a protocol that works, it was within half a year that I could really eat most things.

 

In the meantime, following a low histamine diet while doing your therapies is really important. You can get my free low histamine diet by clicking below.

 

 

Get the low histamine diet

 

 

Q: Does relieving stress actually help? How do I do it effectively?

 

A: I totally get this question because, first of all, it's hard to "de-stress" when you're basically afraid of food and feel like garbage most of the time. Second, I was doing all of the stuff to "de-stress" and it simply wasn't enough - to the point it almost made me feel more stressed.

 

Now, I will say we all have to find our own way to de-stress and find emotional balance. Some people reach it mainly through meditation, some mainly through exercise and some, like myself, through a lot of therapy (hypnotherapy, talk therapy, and trauma work). That's not to say I didn't combine it with meditation, exercise, hobbies, and a bunch of other forms of relaxing, healthy habits. They're all important. But, in my personal case, I always exercised and enjoyed hobbies so, I personally found that trauma work was almost a completely missing area in my life and, adding that in truly helped me a lot. 

 

So, I would say, instead of focusing harder on the healthy habits you already have, to try diving into an area of "de-stressing" that you might be lacking, on top of your current routine. If you currently meditate a lot and do a lot of emotional work but don't exercise, then maybe adding in much more exercise is your missing form of de-stressing. On the other hand, if you're someone who works out intensively and regularly but has never tried meditation, journaling or other forms of emotional therapy, then perhaps upping these activities will be your form of de-stressing that makes a difference. 

 

Q: I feel more anxious since becoming ill - will that go away?

 

A: One of the most interesting patterns I've seen is that nearly every single person I have ever consulted with histamine intolerance has accompanying anxiety. Histamine generally has an excitatory effect which can be an underlying cause or contributor to anxiety (1).

 

Anxiety just plain sucks, truly. However, a positive of this is that, as your histamine symptoms improve and your intolerance heals, you will generally notice a diminishing of your anxiety. This change is just one of the reasons why it's so important to work on healing your histamine intolerance - because, as you can see, it impacts so many different parts of your body and your mind. It will reduce your overall quality of life, in general, so you want to resolve it to ensure you're living your life to the fullest - eating what you want, feeling generally calm, happy and healthy and just being able to be present and live in the moment more without the underlying uninvited guest that is chronic illness.

 

Q: What are the top supplements you recommend for histamine intolerance?

 

A: Although there are plenty of supplements that can assist histamine intolerance, and additional ones that target specific symptoms, there is a trio that's really unbeatable.

 

Taking a natural antihistamine will stabilize mast cells to reduce internal histamine release is the first one. This supplement will allow your body to be in a more homeostatic (balanced) state internally when it comes to histamine production and release, therefore reducing ongoing symptoms.

 

The second is diamine oxidase enzymes, as these are the enzymes responsible for degrading ingested histamine - it will help you to reduce histamine that comes from the foods, therefore reducing reactions after eating.

 

The third one is a low histamine probiotic. As you may know by now, bacteria commonly produce histamine - this is fine for individuals that don't have a histamine intolerance - but, for those that do we want to reduce that number of histamine-producing bacteria. These histamine-producing bacterial strains are actually in most probiotics, which is why you may react to both probiotics you've taken before and / or fermented foods. You need to ensure you're taking a low histamine probiotic to repopulate the gut with bacteria that either do not produce any histamine or help to reduce levels of histamine.

 

This trio of supplements is the baseline for almost everyone on a low histamine protocol (2), while others supplements are then added to build on this routine. 

 

Q: Does histamine intolerance develop into other health problems if left untreated?

 

A: This question is one that everyone needs to pay attention to because it has an unfortunate answer of yes. And, this applies to most disorders, to be honest. The issue is that when we have a disorder in the body of any kind, it is impacting multiple biological pathways that are involved in various functions of the body. So, you can think of it as a domino effect. Maybe, at first, you will just have issues with the first few dominos, but as they are connected to other parts of the domino chain, eventually you will begin to see other parts of your health fall, too. 

 

Any symptom you're experiencing shouldn't be ignored and, one of the unfortunate issues with our overburdened medical systems is that they simply don't have the capacity to treat most of these issues until they become a more aggressive disorder or disease.

 

Chronic illnesses cause a significant deterioration regarding quality of life (3), and we of course all want to live comfortably and enjoy making memories without an illness by our side. Taking care of your symptoms as they arise using dietary and lifestyle modifications, as well as evidence-based therapies that you can implement at home can act preventatively against a variety of issues and their progression into full-blown diseases.

 

If you are histamine intolerant, I encourage you to have a look at the How I Solved My Histamine Intolerance Course, which has a 97% success rate at improving and eliminating histamine symptoms, while also addressing overall health and progressive disorders that result from histamine intolerance. You can try the course for 30 days to see how your health improves. If you don't notice improvements, you can simply return it for a full refund.

 

Additionally, if you're not addressing the basics of health such as eating whole foods, getting regular exercise and sufficient sleep, etc., then be sure you're covering all of these categories first.

 

Wishing you the best of health,

 

Anita Tee, Nutritional Scientist

 

References

 

1. Hrubisko, M., Danis, R., Huorka, M. and Wawruch, M. (2021). Histamine Intolerance—The More We Know the Less We Know. A Review. Nutrients, [online] 13(7). doi:https://doi.org/10.3390/nu13072228.

2. Martin, E.I., Ressler, K.J., Binder, E. and Nemeroff, C.B. (2009). The Neurobiology of Anxiety Disorders: Brain Imaging, Genetics, and Psychoneuroendocrinology. Psychiatric Clinics of North America, [online] 32(3), pp.549–575. doi:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.psc.2009.05.004.

3. Megari, K. (2013). Quality of Life in Chronic Disease Patients. Health Psychology Research, [online] 1(3), p.27. doi:https://doi.org/10.4081/hpr.2013.e27.