3 Little Known Causes of Histamine Intolerance
Do you feel like you developed histamine intolerance out of no where?
One day you were fine, no symptoms, able to handle all the seasons and then BOOM!
You're struggling to get through the day without popping a Claritin or sleep without a Benadryl?
I remember experiencing the same thing. One day I was fine and the next I was getting hives, experiencing hot flushes followed by feeling absolutely freezing and let's not even get started on all the gut symptoms.
I had no idea that 3 these were contributing to developing histamine intolerance later in life and filling up my bucket for years.
3 Unknown Causes of Histamine Intolerance
Antibiotics. Nearly all of the client's I've had have some history of antibiotic use and often times it is more than 1 cycle. Antibiotics were technically first used as a chemotherapy treatment, meaning they don't differentiate between healthy and sick cells- they just kill them all. This is what happens to the bacteria in your gut and it causes the opportunistic bacteria (think MRSA, C-difficile or H-pylori) to overgrow and take over your terrain (aka gut flora).
NSAIDS. Did you know taking NSAIDs temporarily cause leaky gut putting you at risk for getting pathogens in your blood stream? They also stimulate your body to release histamine which can cause symptoms within minutes to hours of taking them. Many of my clients have a long history of taking NSAIDs, even if it's "just" a couple times a month, every single month. It adds up to a lot of gut damage and adding to your overall histamine bucket.
Birth control pills. We never realize when taking that tiny little pill just how many side effects we could potentially have. This is largely impart due to the lack of informed consent and how it is a panacea for every female problem. Unfortunately due to their ability to negatively impact gut health, putting us at higher risk for developing UTIs, bacterial vaginosis and yeast infections, this means it also increases the risk for SIBO as it is known to slow down gut motility, one of the hallmark signs of SIBO. They also put your body at risk for developing a variety of autoimmune diseases which means it's putting your body in that TH2 dominant state that we don't want. TH2 dominance is associated with histamine intolerance and mast cell activation disorder.
Combine these three causes with a bit of alcohol, high histamine foods and some toxic environmental exposure like mold, and you have the perfect recipe for histamine intolerance and/or MCAS.
If you've used or still currently use any of the 3 causes above, I highly recommend checking your gut health using an Organic Acid Test and/or GI-map to look for harmful bacteria, mold and parasites. There is a good chance you have one or all three of those issues which need to be addressed properly and in the right order so you can restore homeostasis within your body.
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