Are you experiencing unexplained headaches or a lot of anxiety? Do you experience irregular menstrual cycles? Does your face blush when you drink red wine? Do you get an itchy tongue, throat, or runny nose when you eat bananas, avocados, or eggplants? If the answer is yes to any of these questions, then you most likely have a histamine intolerance.
Having a histamine intolerance can be very frustrating, as you may feel like symptoms often come out of nowhere. Fortunately, thanks to functional medicine, many people are able to identify histamine intolerance as the source of their sudden symptoms, and then determine the underlying causes of this condition.
What is histamine
Histamine is a chemical involved in the immune system, proper digestion, and your central nervous system. It works as a neurotransmitter, communicating important messages from your body to your brain. It is also a component of stomach acid, which is what helps you break down food in your stomach.
You may be very familiar with histamine from its relationship to the immune system. If you have suffered from seasonal allergies or food allergies, you may have noticed that antihistamine medications such as Zytrec, Allegra or Benadryl provide quick relief from symptoms.
This is because the role of histamine in the body is to provoke an immediate inflammatory response. It serves as a red flag in your immune system that notifies your body of any potential attackers. It causes blood vessels to swell, or dilate, so your white blood cells can find and attack the infection or problem quickly.
This is part of the body's natural immune response, and enzymes usually break down histamine so it doesn't build up. If for some reason your body can't break it down properly, it starts to build up and you start to develop what we know as histamine intolerance.
Because it travels through the bloodstream, it can affect your gut, lungs, skin, brain, and the entire cardiovascular system, contributing to a wide range of symptoms, and very often an intolerance can be difficult to determine and to diagnose.
Most common symptoms of histamine intolerance
• Headaches / migraines
• Difficulty to sleep
• Hypertension
• Vertigo or dizziness
• Arrhythmia or fast heartbeat
• Difficulty regulating body temperature
• Anxiety
• Nausea, vomiting
• Abdominal cramps
• Blush
• Nasal congestion, sneezing, shortness of breath
• Abnormal menstrual cycle
• Urticaria
• Fatigue
• Swelling of the tissues
What Causes High Histamine Levels
• Allergies (IgE reactions)
• Bacterial overgrowth (SBI)