To take and do, a non-pharma approach to living with histamine intolerance

Hello friends! Long time, no see! Still here, still have histamine intolerance, and you? I don’t want to spoil things for you, but I hope you’ll grab a cup (or glass) of something tasty or semi-medicinal (mine is nettle tea) and settle in for a few. Google tells me it will take you 3 minutes to read this. Man, you’re fast.

Also lookie here:

How’s it going with the histamines? No really, how’s it going? Here it is going mostly ok, though it continues to be a source of social stress, which is not my favorite. However, so long as I can control what I eat I can keep symptoms on the lowish side or even momentarily forget what I’m dealing with, in an ideal world.

But also, because I am not willing to only eat the kind of rations I think of as a reset meal, and because other things can fill up my histamine bucket, like stress and hormones and the weather and atmospheric pressure and for some people (maybe me?) pollution, smells, vibrations etc., and because let’s be realistic, no one is going to 100% solidly low histamine forever, let’s talk.

I wanted to collect a list of things other than eating low-histamine foods that I can consume or do to expand the bucket/ release some pressure on the system, so that even if things aren’t as peaceful as possible in the food/life/hormones/stress/pollution/allergies universe, I can still exist in the world, and not be balled up in bed under a duvet in the middle of the summer, shivering and motion sick in between trips to the bathroom.

So here is a list of non-pharmaceutical things I have found useful over the six (!) years I’ve been dealing with this gift from the cosmos. I am not going to get into deep science here because I don’t want to mislead you, and also I believe that you, dear reader, also have the internet. But basically, on the take side, I am looking for naturally-occuring things that act as antihistamines or mast cell stabilizers or binders. Your mast cells (a type of white blood cell) can degranulate and dump histamine into your bloodstream, and if you are histamine intolerant, this adds to your woes. Part of managing histamine intolerance is trying to keep that from happening so you don’t poison yourself from the inside. On the do side it’s even more woo. Turns out relaxing is good for you. Go figure.

So please read and take from this what you can, a list of things I sometimes take and do, and maybe you do, too. Maybe you have others. Would love to hear about them. I have heard of charcoal and bentonite clay and many other remedies, but have not tried them. Here are some things I have tried with varying levels of success. Also, disclaimer: if you are dealing with anaphylaxis, you are likely beyond these adorable woo remedies and preventatives. Get thee some pharmaceuticals.

To take

Quercetin: sold in caps or powder. I prefer the powder. It’s a mast cell stabilizer. Some people take it daily, but I don’t feel I need to, and pretty much only take it either with offending food or after if I start to get those kind of pre-histamine attack sensations.
Nettle tea: sold in bags or loose. Loose it’s very cheap, tastes grassy, inoffensive. I go through phases with this, sometimes drinking it frequently, sometimes less so, sometimes as a preventative and sometimes as a rescue.
Bee pollen: little granules, some people are sensitive and can only take a few at a time. In truth, I forget this exists until I see it in the fridge, but I do find it can help. People also say eating local bee pollen helps with environmental allergies. But as with all of this, your mileage may vary.
Camu Camu: (freeze dried) is very high in Vitamin C, and it is thought that this is both an antihistamine and mast cell stabilizer. It is also quite bitter, so I recommend having a chaser if you are taking just the powder, or maybe take it in capsule form, though I have it as a powder. I tried one that was dried and it made me itchy. I needed it to be freeze dried.
Zeolite binder: I did a bunch of research on this and landed on Alison Vickery’s suggested formulations. I don’t want to hawk a brand, but I will say that it is supposed to bind to histamine. The one I bought was expensive, and I only take it as a rescue, and very infrequently. I might or might not repurchase when I run out.
Natural antihistamine: this is 2 parts baking soda to one part potassium bicarbonate, mixed, and it is recommended take 1/2 teaspoon dissolved in warm water to relieve symptoms. I bought the potassium bicarbonate on Amazon. A friend who has tried this reports it tasting fishy and unpleasant, but I just find it strangely slimy, and drink water afterwards.

To do

Breathe deep/meditate: Maybe it reduces inflammation, or helps to reduce stress, or I don’t know. Try it. Couldn’t hurt. Often helps. Include in here: box breathing.
Let cool air in: Even though my histamine reactions make me cold, a cool breeze of fresh air will always make me feel better. For me, anything that would work with motion sickness also helps here (spoiler, not unrelated, dramamine is an antihistamine!)
Hum: They say it tones the vagus nerve. I have limited knowledge of what this really means, but it’s free to try and it might annoy your coworkers, but is otherwise pretty inoffensive. I also find it helps.

If you find any of these tips helpful, I would be so glad to hear. If you have other ways you manage your histamine intolerance, feel free to drop a line. Coming up soonish: experiments in taking pharmaceutical antihistamines, and yes, I went there.

Thanks for coming along, and I sincerely hope you’re finding your way.