Battling Histamine Intolerance

After Veganism Destroyed My Gut I was crippled with digestive issues, fatigue, brain fog, and a general malaise for years. In addition I’ve had other symptoms that I never would have thought were part of the same problem – scratchy eyes + sneezing, acute anxiety + mood fluctuations, heart palpitations and visual problems. Recently I’ve realized that histamine intolerance, which I’d underestimated as just one of several problems I was experiencing, is actually the chief culprit for years of struggle.

What is it?

Histamine intolerance is actually a bit of a misleading name. It’s not the same as having a gluten or dairy intolerance for example. ‘Histamine incompetence’ or ‘histamine overload’ would be better names in my opinion, because what’s actually happening in this condition is that there’s too much histamine in your body and this causes a multitude of symptoms. – This is due to insufficient capacity to metabolize histamine by the body, or an excess production of histamine within the body. Or, – both.

The analogy of a ‘histamine bucket’ is very helpful in to conceptualizing what’s going on with this condition: The bucket represents the body’s capacity for histamine. If the bucket fills up faster than the body can empty it due to factors like diet, histamine-producing bacteria in the gut, or impaired metabolism, then it overflows and unpleasant symptoms ensue.

So, if we’re suffering from histamine intolerance, we need to ask ourselves what’s filling up our bucket, and what’s inhibiting our body from efficiently emptying the bucket before it overflows..

The prevailing methodology:

Everywhere you look regarding histamine intolerance it seems you’ll encounter the recommendation that you should follow a low histamine elimination diet and supplement with DAO (the main enzyme responsible for metabolizing histamine in the gut). Sure, that’ll help manage your symptoms, but it’s not very sustainable and the symptoms will just come straight back if you don’t address the root cause – unless you follow the low histamine diet for the rest of your life… This is why I view it as a band-aid solution.

The root cause:

Why can’t my body break down and clear histamine efficiently?

I used to eat whatever I wanted without a second thought, and without debilitating symptoms. Then veganism happened to my gut and now I’m here. Which leads me to the confident hypothesis that histamine intolerance is indicative of compromised gut health.

Leaky gut and dysbiosis

Leaky gut, (also known as increased intestinal permeability) occurs when the lining of the small intestine becomes damaged, allowing harmful substances like toxins, undigested food particles, and bacteria to leak into the bloodstream, potentially triggering a range of adverse symptoms.

Gut dysbiosis is an imbalance in the gut microbiome, where harmful bacteria outnumber beneficial bacteria, leading to digestive issues, and various potential health problems.

I have actually explored these topics in their own post here.

As stated, they can cause a myriad of issues, and histamine intolerance is absolutely one of them.

The aforementioned DAO enzyme responsible for breaking down histamine in the gut is significantly impacted in both of these conditions. The enzyme is primarily produced in the gut lining, given the damage to the gut lining in leaky gut, it stands to reason that DAO production would be affected. And with relation to gut dysbiosis, excess bad bacteria in the gut can eat away at the production of DAO. Knowing that you need to fix your gut health and potentially address leaky gut or dysbiosis (or both) is half the battle. It makes such a difference to know your enemy.

Fix leaky gut and dysbiosis

As mentioned, I’ve written a whole post about the protocol I’ve been following for addressing these conditions (which I linked before). I’ll summarise the contents of that post and protocol very simply here:

• 1 teaspoon of glutamine powder in water first thing in the morning to refortify lining of the gut wall
• A powerful probiotic supplement also taken first thing in the morning (100 billion CFU) to repopulate the gut
• Supplementation with berberine (an antimicrobial herb) for killing off some of the bad bacteria
• Avoidance of gluten, dairy, processed foods, sugar and alcohol during the recovery phase
• Supplementation with beef liver because it’s so nutrient dense. – I consider it the antidote to a lot of common vegan nutrient deficiencies. I get mine here

Further considerations

I know that I specifically have gut dysbiosis and leaky gut. But my point is not that they’re the only two conditions responsible for histamine intolerance, but rather that if we’re struggling with histamine intolerance we need to look to our guts for the root cause. Which is best done under the guidance of a functional medicine doctor.

Histamine and hormones

Another lesser known reason that you might have an overproduction of histamine is your hormones! Specifically – too much estrogen and too little testosterone.

Quite simply you can be afflicted by a diabolical estrogen-histamine loop, in that high estrogen levels can elevate histamine production within the body, and conversely, high histamine levels can increase estrogen production. This is a nasty self-perpetuating cycle that can really compound your pre-existing gut health, and histamine intolerance problems. I know this firsthand as despite being a 27-year-old, 6’2″ and 90kg (200 pound) man who should be in the prime of his life, I have very low testosterone, depleted DHEA levels, and alarmingly high estrogen. And a skinny-fat body composition to match… but that’s a problem for another post…

I don’t believe in coincidences when it comes to health, so where both high histamine and high estrogen levels are present, I have to assume that they’re part of the same problem. Fortunately there is some overlap in addressing these issues as fixing gut health is obviously conducive to overall health, including hormones.

Specific hormones fixes

I intend to go into greater detail in a future article as my hormonal problems (and related physique transformation) have been a battle of their own. But for now here’s some very simple (and effective) things we can do to address the goal of raising testosterone and lowering estrogen.

1. Optimize Sleep: This is as fundamental as it gets. If you don’t sleep well or enough, you can say goodbye to healthy hormones.
2. Reduce Stress: Take steps to become a more joyous, fulfilled person and shun toxic stress. Find purpose in life, make time for leisure and hobbies, and don’t be negative. Constant stress is not conducive to optimizing your hormonal health.
3. Pursue a Lean Body Composition: Excess body fat is the friend of estrogen and the enemy of testosterone. If you go from 25% body fat with a gut to an athletic 12-14% body fat, what do you think would happen to your hormones?
4. Eat a Nutritious Diet: Give your body the right fuel, most of the time. A nutritious diet with plenty of animal protein, supplemented by vitamin D, beef liver, and fish oil is a blueprint.
5. Get Stronger with Bodyweight Exercises: You can be fat and perform impressive feats of strength on the bench press and in the squat rack. But, what do you think you would look like if you could do 30 strict push-ups? 15 pull-ups? Multiple pistol squats? This style of training is nowhere near as taxing on your recovery and stress.
6. Use Tongkat Ali: Embrace nature’s testosterone elixir. This herb has been the subject of several studies that have indicated promising results on subjects’ testosterone levels. Personally, I have had a positive anecdotal experience with Tongkat Ali.
7. Experiment with DIIM. (diindolylmethane) can assist the body in reducing the aromatization of testosterone to estrogen, thus reducing estrogen levels. Personally I haven’t had much success with this route though.

In my case, I have had great success thus far and am confident that by continuing to address leaky gut, dysbiosis and hormone optimization, I can soon say goodbye to the misery of histamine intolerance for good.

I hope you have enjoyed what I consider to be a very comprehensive approach to fixing histamine intolerance. Goodluck in your own battle.

Cheers.

The content on this blog reflects my experiences on a personal journey of transformation. All information is purely anecdotal and should not be construed as expert advice of any kind. Regarding matters of healthcare, always seek guidance from your doctor.