Histamine intolerance and food allergies

[csavery8753]

Hi

I was wondering if anyone on this platform with hashimotos/hypoythyroidism suffers with the above.

Up until the end of last year I started to suffer with both.

If you do, can anyone give me some advice.

thank you

[elaar]

When I researched it a while back, I seem to remember there being a link between them, as Mast Cells have the ability to express Thyroid hormones when activated, and some evidence suggests they both can be caused by gut dysregulation.

I believe I have a degree of histamine intolerance, it's very hard to prove though.

[Pray4health]

Hello. I believe that I do but as elaar say, it is hard to prove. I have awful flares after consuming aged cheese, alcohol, soy, fermented food and some at times it can be items I am not aware of or interaction betweem certain food or medication. When I have a flare, the symptoms are unusual and involve eye 'floaters' and a nerval-muscular attack including pins and needles. It is very unpleasant and its hard to describe, as I know its possibly rare. However, the trigers are mostly clear to me, and it took me decades to observe and be certain about it. Once I cut these items from my diet, I have much longer flare free periods. I hope that you will find what upsets you and cut it off to find relief.

[bookish in reply to Pray4health]

Hi, interesting that you know that you get a nerve reaction - the mast cell and the nerve are so closely connected that they can be considered as one. If the myelin on the nerve is damaged, you are likely to get overactive triggering between the two. So it would be worth making sure that your vit B12 and cofactors are where they should be. A serum B12 test alone is not enough, and taking oral B12 may mask a deficiency, so please don't start oral. If you already supplement, testing will likely be confusing for your doctor. There are secondary tests which may help pin it down. Cheers

[Pray4health in reply to bookish]

Thank you. What are the secondary tests?Its interesting as some CFS doctors recommend b12 injections as treatment even if results are 'normal'

[bookish in reply to Pray4health]

Yes, they do indeed and I know that it can make a considerable difference, in combination with other treatments.

To try to pin down a B12 and/or folate issue (the two are very closely linked and a deficiency in one generally means a deficiency in both, although both can be anywhere in range and still be deficient), you would want, ideally: Serum B12, serum folate, a full blood count, active B12 (holotc), anti-gastric parietal cell antibodies, anti-intrinsic factor antibodies, serum gastrin, homocysteine and methylmalonic acid (MMA). Any may help show a deficiency if present, but all can be 'normal' and there still be a deficiency. There are many stages to metabolism and no effective ways to test for faults in some of them - except for having B12 injections and symptoms improving! Other Bs are also involved, particularly B2 and B6, plus magnesium, iron, thyroid......

Obviously there can be many causes, not just lack of intake (vegan or meat avoiding), but medications (PPIs, metformin, methotrexate....), other illnesses and things like previous abdominal surgery,

[CoeliacMum1]

Do you notice more flares at certain points of the month or seasonal?

Have you had covid or diagnosed with long covid?

Reason I ask is hormones can exacerbate these area for women, more than men.

At moment my daughter still struggles with various things, although she’s 80% better, diagnosed with long covid … her GP suggested possibly MCAS and it maybe part of her problem now , whether covid/long covid has triggered this we don’t know, or it’s just exacerbated things she already had.

The symptoms seem to be very individual to people, so can’t really go on others symptoms as such, and it is not always a reaction to food in first instance … we have looked at hormones, and kept food diaries, basically eliminating one thing at a time with no one thing we can pinpoint at the minute and without very extreme diets for this area she has started to do more yoga and basically self care and helped a lot … some may see this as self indulgent and bit hippy like, but we can’t keep putting others first… you can’t pour from empty cup!

Obviously there’s a list of high histamine foods to avoid.

NOTE: I am not encouraging anyone to eliminate any food group … please do this with guidance and get relevant tests done first to avoid future problems… nutritional deficiencies can occur without proper nutrition guidance and other long term health problems.

She hasn’t yet looked into this MCAS deeper, but it’s probably highly likely, as she has had histamine problems since child predominantly rashes and rhinitis and bad hay fever type symptoms, and now she is much older has very stressful job, although this job area can’t be helped it’s just the nature of the job, and just very challenging at times…so her cortisol levels will exacerbate this problem.

So any levels of anxiety and stress can trigger flares too, as it can with most conditions … stomach issues usually are something that shows up a lot when anxious.

Try keeping diary of when your symptoms are exacerbated… then present this to your GP.

Look if any supplements or medication can be a trigger too.

[CatsofCatford]

I think I've got histamine intolerance too . . . it took a long time to work it out, but I've found I can avoid symptoms by cutting out alcohol, preserved meats, fermented foods, soya and tinned fish. If I exclude these for the most part, I can have the occasional fry up, tuna sandwich or glass of wine and be ok. Of course it's not good cutting out big categories of food and I hope by working on my general health I'll eventually be able to eat more of what I'm currently excluding. An important thing I've learned is that leftovers contain a lots of histamines, so if you do want to eat them, it's important to freeze them as soon as possible; don't leave them overnight in the fridge. For me, apart from the bloating, I get a really unpleasant feeling of being speeded up which is particularly hard to handle at night. I didn't realise this was a symptom until I read Yasmina Ykelenstam's website healinghistamine.com where she mentions it's a symptom she had too. The website I've found the most helpful however is Alison Vickery's which is full of good information freely shared. I love her sensible, down to earth approach. You can find her at alisonvickery.com