This is a living document keeping track of my own experience living a low histamine lifestyle. My histamine sensitivity symptoms over the years have included: severe stomach pain, GERD, nighttime reflux (causing enamel erosion and severe tooth pain), increasing levels of anxiety, mood swings, moderate lethargy (aka "brain fog"), depression, joint pain, whole body inflammation, and an overly-full feeling anytime I eat anything.
Some of these may seem small and unrelated, but they'd been plaguing me for years and either disappeared or got markedly better after I went on a low histamine diet & started adding in healing supplements. Like most people dealing with HIT, I was not born with these issue but rather developed them over time.
Since I originally posted this, I've found a multitude of potential contributing factors for my HIT. These range from copper dysfunction from an IUD, black mold in my apartment, 20 months of low-dose Isotretinoin, deep and consistent levels of high stress, and an apparent genetic predisposition towards histamine issues and inflammation.
I'm still working on getting completely better, but until then, I'll be here. I hope my story helps you on your own health journey.
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💀 My HIT Journey: When Symptoms Started
The first time I remember having any symptoms I can associate with my histamine issues was in mid 2017, when I went to the dentist complaining of tooth pain. ALL of my teeth hurt, especially when I woke up in the morning, yet I had impeccable oral health.
I was 21, and I brushed with a soft toothbrush & fancy toothpaste three times a day; I even flossed nightly. Over the next year the dentist prescribed various sensitive toothpastes, removed all of my wisdom teeth "just in case," and gave me a night guard that I wore - and still wear - religiously.
The next major symptom began when I was traveling to Japan in fall 2017. I'd been flying since I was a few days old, but for the first time ever, I found myself worried about every dip and shake of the plane. My sister had to grab my hand for most of the flight, and this continued over the course of our trip.
I got my first taste of anxiety that day, but I wouldn't call it that for another few years. Fast forward to May 2020, and I was laying in bed in my childhood home, miserable and scared and in so much pain. My stomach hurt right around my esophagus, and I had SO just had enough.
It was 6am, and for the nth night in a row, I was being kept awake by racing thoughts and stomach pain. That night I vowed to finally start a serious diet that eliminated basically everything that could be triggering me. It had to be my food making me sick, because, well, there was nothing else going on in my life (except a LOT of stress and anguish).
For just over a week, I went down to just 15 organic foods: sage, rosemary, basil, ginger, himalayan sea salt, olive oil, pasture-raised organic chicken breast, carrots, arugula, cauliflower, broccoli, butternut squash, kale, blueberries, raspberries, and coconut milk.
To preface this, a year or so before trying the low histamine diet, a friend had recommended I try an anti-inflammatory diet for my then-bearable gastrointestinal symptoms. That friend has since proven herself correct for the 1000th time by accurately pinpointing the fact that my body was inflamed and just needed a damned break.
So I ate only those 15 foods for one week, and my stomach calmed down immensely. My brain started clearing up, and so did my ever-present bloat. I combined the autoimmune protocol, anti-inflammatory diet, and low histamine diet to get down to those foods, as mentioned in my sample low histamine diet.
🍃 My HIT Journey: Where it Began
May 2020 Snapshot: 40mg esomeprazole & an H2 blocker each night. I'm only 24 years old, and after nine months of taking meds, something was still clearly very wrong, maybe even getting worse. I didn't drink alcohol or eat spicy foods, I wasn't overweight, and I didn't have any physical deformities causing acid reflux. It felt like everything was making me sick, and I was beyond exhausted.
Entering week two of the elimination diet, I very slowly started adding in more foods, all of which were from the approved low histamine foods list sent by a trusty friend. By week four, most of the foods I'd added in were of the actively histamine-lowering variety.
At the end of that week I got several tests and panels done, as ordered by my new doctor, and I felt safe to start reintroducing some of the approved starches & grains, dairy, and eggs. While eggs and all of the starch flours I've added in have worked for me just fine, dairy was a screaming no from my system.
I OD'd on chocolate one night and was up until 6am having a mild anxiety attack. Never. Again. I've now successfully reintroduced lentils & chickpeas, eggs, several types of nuts, coffee, and coconut sugar.
I've learned a lot about supplements and some of my limits, and I'm working to ease myself fully off any daily supplements my meds (the aforementioned PPIs, which I stayed on for over a year before realizing that my GERD was caused by low stomach acid).
By 2021, I'd found out that one of the root causes of my histamine intolerance was heavy metal poisoning from my copper IUD. I'll discuss this more in upcoming posts, but the gist is that the internal inflammation caused by the IUD (it actually prevents pregnancy by creating this inflamed environment) set off major alarm bells in my body's immune system.
It was an inciting incident, if you will. My body then reacted by trying to break down the "intruder," releasing incredible amounts of copper into my body constantly for the three-and-a-half years I had the IUD.
This incessant barrage cause my body to store all un-detoxable copper in my soft tissues (where we store all excess heavy metals, like mercury), where it continued to accumulate and worsen my symptoms & nutrient deficiencies, not to mention keeping my entire immune system on edge for YEARS.
In this post I'll keep the focus upon my histamine issues, but there's unavoidable overlap. In the end, my body's attempts to rid itself of the excess copper— along with the mold and isotretinoin stressing my liver— led to an increasingly serious deficiency of most other essential vitamins and minerals in the body, including those needed for producing stomach acid, a.k.a. HCl (sodium, potassium, zinc, iron).
This caused low stomach acid production, which ironically has basically the same symptoms as high stomach acid production. A lack of proper digestion left my gut microbiome way out of whack (again, for years, while living abroad and regularly traveling internationally).
Not to mention the fact that you need stomach acid in order to absorb the nutrients in supplements. So even if I had realized my deficiencies earlier, without addressing the stomach connection I was never going to be able to rebalance. Enter: the histamine connection.
An excess of copper & resulting depletion of minerals has a cascading effect upon the body, affecting hormone production, neurotransmitter function, gastric acid production, and more. The low histamine diet has helped me keep my toxicity symptoms under control because the copper excess likely triggered my histamine sensitivity.
The whole foods-focus of the diet is ideal for healing, especially from inflammation. This diet is full of more easily-digested foods, rich in necessary vitamins and minerals which my body continues to be low on as it detoxes.
Eating low histamine lessens the inflammation going rampant in your body, the potential toxins going into your under-sterilized gut (due to the focus on no-pesticide or organic foods), and often forces you to start taking some of the antihistamine supplements that support your body's calming.
Going on such a diet while recovering from copper toxicity or any other poisoning can ease the detox burden upon your adrenals and liver, and help you rid yourself of the heavy metal much more quickly. Not to mention, that avoiding sugar, alcohol, and other inflammatory food groups can prevent concurrent inflmmation from hindering recovery.
Due to my own unique genetic predispositions and how my HIT was triggered, my off-list foods are probably different from your off-list foods. Right now, I'm avoiding all gluten and almost all grains, as well as soy and all other high histamine foods (except small amounts of anti-inflammatory dark chocolate and the occasional spice, where noted).
I've also gotten a bit flexible with my meat, buying some uber expensive uncured, unsweetened bacon from a local shop. I had no reaction to it, so I've kept it in my diet (along with some other types of meat).
I'll keep this page updated as I get results back and attempt to reintroduce other foods (so far, everything else I've reintroduced has been off the low histamine food list linked above). Below is my "before" story, the long steps that got me to the point of even just trying a low histamine diet.
⭐My Health Timeline: 2017-2019
Below is an incredibly detailed timeline of how I got to the point of researching and trying the low histamine diet, and the MANY trials and errors I've been on since then.
Mid 2017: I got my IUD in a couple montha ago, I'm living abroad, and the "monster" in my tummy every morning demands I eat immediately. I assume that's just how I'm built; everybody's stomach rumbles as soon as they open their eyes!
Late 2017: my teeth start to hurt a lot throughout the day; I assume I must have more cavities, but the dentist finds nothing wrong. My sister asks if I grind my teeth, and I tell her I don't think so. Somehow, I've developed a fear of flying, which I attribute to higher stress levels and control issues.
Early 2018: It's been a few months and the pain in my teeth is only worsening. Anything sweet or acidic is the worst, but water and gum seem to help. I finally make it to the dentist, and before I can ask him a thing he asks if I realize I grind my teeth. 'That must be it,' I thought! The pain subsides for a few months.
Mid 2018: The tooth pain is back. I'm on half-strength accutane again. I attribute my joint pain, dry skin, dry eyes, and weird chest fullness to that & only that.
Late 2018/Early 2019: The tooth pain is really bad; I'm chewing gum all the time and rarely eat sweets or much of anything unless I have gum on hand. I can only brush my teeth in the morning and at night, because I'm basically always chewing xylitol gum.
I have a breakdown in a yoga class, due to stress from work and lack of communication skills in the foreign country I lived in, the stomach discomfort making it difficult to exercise, and bad joint pain. I'm incredibly unhappy and anxious, but moving away soon. I decide to soldier through, because surely it'll get better once I leave.
Mid 2019: I get off the accutane and wait for the side effects to subside. It's summertime, so I've taken to planning meal times really carefully so I feel most physically able to work out.
It feels like I'm starting to heal, even though my teeth still really hurt for some reason. I can spend more time in the sun, get a clean bill of health following the colonoscopy, and I'm really looking forward to getting out in the world to travel.
Late 2019: I'm still abroad, and my Mom is the one to suggest I might have nighttime reflux. I see a gastroenterologist for an upper endoscopy and an immediate prescription, and then I visit a dentist to see how melted my teeth really are. Over the next nine months, I range from 40mg to 20mg of esomeprazole per day, with some over-the-counter antacids added in.
For the first several months, admittedly, I basically ignored the problem. My anxiety got worse, slowly accumulating with each destination. After hobbling along for several months on the meds, slowly trying to heal my teeth from years of nightly acid baths, my breaking point came in May 2020.
⭐My Health Timeline: 2020
May 2020: I was feeling like a flat version of the person I was in college, always anxious and prone to paranoia and obsessive thinking. My stomach hurt constantly, and absolutely screamed after I ate anything.
By then I'd been sleeping on my back a wedge pillow, like a disturbed vampire, for several months. My racing thoughts prevented me from falling asleep until 5am or 6am, when my brain finally /forcedstop, so I spent many hours each night trying to find a comfortable position to read. I never did.
May 11th, 2020: I start a low histamine diet, and within a couple of days I feel way more clear-headed and most of my horrible bloat is gone. I have enough energy to cook my own meals, and I did so while looking for a new place to live (quite a stressful time, even as I was feeling a bit better).
June 2020: I start this site & move into a new apartment! I continue to feel better and better, and begin to dive into more research on eating low histamine and the science of what's happening inside me. The more I know, the better & more in control I feel.
September 2020: After an initial healing over the summer, I'm having the worst month of my life and mentally spiraling, with a midnight chocolate binge sending me over the edge. I thought I was developing borderline personality disorder, and after an anxious doctor's appointment, we get the ball rolling on a medical marijuana card.
During that same appointment, I get the hint that maybe it's my IUD wreaking all this havoc. After all the blood tests, stool tests, urine tests, and the many bottles of supplements, the root causes were inside me the whole time. Looking back, this is also a couple of weeks after I started reintroducing grains, which in late 2022 I fully removed from my diet; see below.
⭐My Health Timeline: 2021
Winter 2021: I've thrown myself into researching copper toxicity as well as inflammatory and autoimmune disorders. I'm convinced that I'll have detoxed my stored copper and feel all better within a year. If only.
Spring 2021: We've tested my hormones for the nth time and I'm officially diagnosed with PCOS, endometriosis, "adrenal insufficiency," and IBS. After a long cooling off period in which I'd nearly seemed to have healed my histamine intolerance, I'm suddenly having reactions all over again.
I attribute these to the stress of once again moving apartments; I go back on a low histamine diet and feel much better. I develop joint pain in my elbows and a bit in my knees, but nothing I can't handle.
Summer 2021: I've once again thrown myself into research, this time on neurotransmitters and naturally boosting your brain (sort of like biohacking), as I add fibromyalgia, mold toxicity, and lead poisoning to my now-confirmed copper poisoning diagnoses. My doc declares me "the most toxic patient she's ever seen," in response to the aforementioned findings. Great.
I see a rheumatologist who tells me that my joint pain isn't severe enough to fit into the box of anything he can diagnose and treat with pills, and so he doesn't feel he knows how to help me. I begin what ends up being 4 months of physical therapy that not only hurts immensely, but doesn't help my back pain.
Fall 2021: I start experimenting with amino acid therapy for my neurotransmitter deficiencies, and go back on iron supplements amidst a general detox protocol, which I follow for 3 months. By the end, I feel somewhat better in some ways and somewhat worse in others.
As the weather darkens, I definitely feel more down, but my personal life takes on more stresses, as well. Posts on this site markedly slow down.
December 2021: I got my booster shot in early December, and within a few days I started noticing that my arms were going numb really easily when I slept on my side. By the end of the month my hands were losing dexterity in the cold, and it took hours for feeling to return.
⭐My Health Timeline: 2022
January 2022: At the end of January I spent a whole night awake with uncontrollable tremors, my arms going in & out of feeling, and a terrifying sense of doom. My mom took me to the ER the next morning, and after a visit with a doctor who declared my complains "non-life-threatening," we made an appointment with a neurologist.
This month I start low-dose Naltrexone and my depression very slowly begins to lift, but my anxiety remains concentrated on my ever-numbing arms.
February 2022: I started feeling lightheaded at random times, before we even had our visit with the neurologist, and ended up in the ER once more. A series of 7 spinal MRIs ruled out MS or any other structural cause. My joint pain had gotten much worse, but that felt like the least of my worries. A more comprehensive chronic Lyme Disease panel comes back negative.
I didn't connect the timing of my shots with my symptoms until I desperately read some posts on Reddit that brought up the possibility. While I'm glad I hadn't had the disease itself, which would unquestionably have been worse without the shots, I do wish I'd been made aware that your immune system could be thrown off and it could affect you neurologically.
On February 8th I start an arthritis supplement protocol, though looking back I think the LDN made more difference thna anything else.
March 2022: One month later, the protocol has reduced my arm numbness by about 90% and reduced the joint pain by maybe 40%. My doctor still hasn't ordered repeat tests to verify that the excess lead and copper were removed back in the fall, but I don't really care.
I begin acupuncture, holistic physical therapy for my back, and make an appointment with a rheumatologist at a local hospital. I'm hopeful she may be able to adjust my protocol and stop the rampant inflammation, allowing me to rebuild my muscles and heal. I believe I develop an esophageal ulcer sometime in the middle of the month, though the searing pain heals over within about two weeks.
April 2022: I resettle back with my parents after a stressful roommate situation and very up & down recovery makes it unreasonable to live alone for now. My osteopath has me start drinking lemon juice in warm water first thing every morning, which actually seems to help regulate my bowels while I take it every day (though I always need to chew xylitol gum immediately afterwards).
May 2022: I go on a very stressful but necessary business trip, and end up with 3 weeks of diarrhea, on and off comensurate with how often I drink my morning lemon juice. It takes many days of only almonds, water, and bone broth to calm my stomach down enough to be able to eat my usual safe meals. I can't really focus on anything else.
For a few days after that it still takes a careful combination of cannabis and DAO to be able to consume most foods I tolerated before, but then things settle down. I have a hopeful visit with the rheumatologist at the end of the month, but tests reveal nothing (unsurprisingly).
Summer 2022: I go back on the lemon juice each morning for two months, then try to get off it for a week and quickly return to it. Eating low histamine definitely calms my stomach, but just in case my nutritionist puts me on a broad-spectrum natural anti-viral (about 20 different herbs combined in a 3-pill packet you take twice a day).
Once that's done and I still have a sensitive stomach, I focus on stress reduction and slowly transition (over a month later) to taking a different set of herbs from my acupuncturist, who basically became my GP after my own functional medicine doc made the 6th expensive mistake in a year.
The herbs completely stopped my food cravings, but made me sharply anxious and depressed, so back to the drawing board for me.
Fall 2022: Over the course of the fall, I feel like cannabis keeps less & less control over my stomach pain and the rising feeling of depression/unease/anxiety that seems like it's both a part of whatever's going on with me and a symptom of it.
My stomach pains get worse all the while, and I start tai chi and regular meditation just as I begin having worsening heart palpitations. They sort of seem to happen right as I finish dessert, sometimes after eating higher histamine foods, which I'd started to do since my diet didn't seem to help my symptoms anymore.
After my second attack in which my heartbeat ranges from 90 to 240+BMP while just sitting, I head to the ER for the third time this year.
They don't have any advice at the ER, and by the time I'm seen hours after arrival, I feel mostly better anyway, so we finally leave around midnight. After my emergency trip, I see a cardiologist who confirms my heart rate and blood pressure are all over the place, but my heart is strong and structurally sound.
All anyone can say is to reduce my stress levels; well, easier said than done. So I read more about fighting depression through diet, and in early October I start a low FODMAP version of the low histamine diet, also going low sugar, grain-free, nightshade-free, nut- & legume-free, and dairy-free. There wasn't much left to eat.
By late October I'm still having semi-constant stomach pain, have had another gastroenterologist appointment with no leads, and am feeling more depressed about finding answers than ever.
November 2022: I nearly throw in the towel and go on antidepressants in November, because the black feeling gets really really bad. Then my acupuncturist recommends the deflame diet, which is anti-inflammatory rather than specifically anti-histamine (which is anti-inflammatory in a different way). It's no grains, little to no sugar, and no omega 6-rich seeds or their oils.
It's also generally nothing fried or processed, so there's very much overlap with low histamine (I still avoid almost all high histamine foods, with bone broth and the occasional chocolate being an exception). Cutting out grains and all sugar was the only real difference, but it's made all the difference.I had the flu from mid-November into early December, but each day I felt the black feeling fade and bloat in my belly calmed.
December 2022: I had several days off from being sick, and then someone brought covid into my household and I didn't realize it for four days, at which point I lost my sense of taste & smell. Before that I had a fever for a few days, but the fun kind where you don't really feel the pain and are a bit floaty.
The day after my week of tasting nothing, when I could finally eat again, I broke a tooth and could only have bone broth for two days. In recovering from covid over the last few days of the year, finally I've felt myself coming out of a bad place.
It was lighter version of that blackness & anxiety that I've felt on and off this year, which came back for a bit while I was trapped inside with covid. The deflame diet seems to be it for me. But I'm also working on reconnecting with friends, getting back to light exercise, and finding my place in my community, and things to do outside of the house.
I sort of got a diagnosis, as well, as I seem to have some form of JAG-A with MCAS, though that's just a name for all the symptoms I've talk about above. I've been following this version of grain-free low histamine until now, doing my best to eat low sugar and avoid high omega-6 plant oils.
⭐My Health Timeline: 2023
Winter & Spring 2023: As I travel for vacation and over-indulge in sweets and lactaid-assisted ice cream, I start to gain back any weight I've lost in the grain-free diet. This is the beginning of some burnout, which I do my best to stave off over the next couple of months - after all I feel so unquestionably better than I did just a few months before.
A few times I fall off the dietary wagon a bit with a lot more sugar than usual, as I deal with burnout for some weeks, plus a long work trip. It takes a lot of low histamine snacks to get me through even a week-long trip.
Summer 2023: I have a busy social calendar, but start to work on relaxing activities along with meditation & brain retraining, and hopefully this will help me get my life back consistently. Starting my Master's program has put a dent in my time and raised my stress levels, but I'm learning SO much, and a lot is starting to click into place.
Unfortunately, near the end of the summer I decide that it's time to experiment with activated charcoal as a way to eat some bread again around my birthday - it is SO HARD to live with wide food restrictions, as you likely know - and by the time the cumulative effects hit me a week later, I've derailed my life for about 2 months.
I have such bad and scary intrusive thoughts that I take the fall trimester off from school, and I start the antidepressant prescribed to me the year before. I didn't know where else to turn, or who to turn to. Everything is so deeply difficult, like swimming through algae when the shoreline keeps moving, that I have to step back from every obligation in my life for a few weeks so just get through each day.
I take the prescription at the lowest dose dutifully, but after about 2 months I'm feeling mostly back to normal - intrusive thoughts notwithstanding, unfortunately - and after 5 months I stop taking them because we don't actually know how antidepressants work, and the fact that the side effects can be worse than the illness personally makes me deeply wary.
Fall 2023: I start getting back to regular life, though the website was hit by a google update around this time, reducing any income I was making to below what it costs to sustain the site. This has not yet changed, but I wouldn't take this site offline even if it made no money - I've never made a profit, for the record - and if this continues I'll have to reduce my freelance assistant's hours.
It's just more stress, and it doesn't help the situation. But one thing does: I get married! The man who's silently held my hand through this craziness since 2021, offering photography & recipe feedback, holding me when I cry, and telling me everything would be okay even when it didn't feel like it said I Do, and it's still one of the happiest days of my life. Now, to plan the big wedding!
⭐My Health Timeline: 2024
Winter & Spring 2024: I'm back to school, trying to manage my clinical nutrition classes, working to manage the intrusive thoughts, and somehow managing to work on top of all this, as we plan our big wedding for August. It's overwhelming and expensive.
There's a honeymoon and more than one breakdown that happens in here - thank you from the bottom of my heart to all of you who reached out or answered the call to get me through each of those tough days. Burnout has arrived, and once I get through the August wedding, I'll be taking a larger portion of my day to calm down my limbic system, which has been on-edge for years at this point.
Summer 2024: I've put on a few dozen pounds this year, and it's all stress weight. As we look forward to the wedding and starting to try for a baby, I know that I need to lose this weight by shedding the excess stress from my life. I can't focus and I constantly over-eat, and after trying for over 6 months to lose the weight, I know that it will keep coming back unless I make a huge change.
As much as I love and cherish this site, it was hit by yet another google update in March, and so I need to keep it on the backburner until I'm able to give it some real focus. I'll continue to share new recipes and roundups as I'm able, but I just can't physically or mentally afford to be as active here as I have been in years past.
🧠 Final Thoughts
My own breaking point came in Spring 2020, when my emotional instability created a rift between me and my family. They didn't recognize me anymore, and I certainly didn't recognize myself.
They couldn't understand why I'd become such a lazy, irritable, sad human, and the transformation after one week eating low histamine is the reason why I started this site. My story is still being written, but maybe it can help someone else understand their own mysterious health issues.
If any of these ailments sounds familiar to you, consider trying a low histamine diet. It could literally save your life (not to mention your sanity).
Cynthia says
Thank you so much for what you are doing here!!! I have researched so many different sites regarding histamine intolerance and yours is the most helpful, user friendly and completely candid site I have found. I will be closely following you and wish there was a way to support your efforts here because I know this must take a lot of effort while you are trying to make a living in the real world also. I will be praying for you to fully recover while you are helping others to learn more about their own battles with histamine. I know it is not one diet fits all as we each have different genetic makeup and root causes but you are helping me understand much more about histamine intolerance which I have come to realize is a big problem for me.
lowhistamineeats says
Cynthia, you have just made my day. If my mom weren't literally in the room with me right now, I'd have thought she wrote this! I'm just trying to build the resource that I wish I'd found when I was first trying to understand my reactions.
I just wish I had more time to work on the recipes side of things, because I literally have over 100 ideas sitting in drafts, but no time and a little too much brain fog to get through them at the moment. I'm hoping that once I've calmed this most recent flare-up of HIT, I'll have enough energy to get back at it, but the best thing you could do to support the site is definitely just sharing it on social media, or with friends you think may benefit from it. I want to keep all of the information and my work on here free and easily accessible, so joining an ad network actually gave me the option to hire someone for a few hours a week to help me with the site. Once she starts working in July, hopefully I can start putting up weekly recipes, and eventually even cut back on work.
I'm just trying to get along best I can with what I've learned about my own sensitivities, so I really feel for people just starting to understand their own reactions. I hope I can keep sharing pieces that help you solve your own puzzle, because as you know, it's all so individual and unfortunately under-researched!
Memo says
Thank you for your post. Your story has been so alighting. I have struggled with health issues since being over exposed to a pesticide for termites used in my home several years ago. I became so ill that I had to move out of my home permanently. The many doctors I have been to have been unwilling to discuss the Multiple Chemical Sensitivity I was diagnosed with after this over exposure. MCS is considered by many as a psychological issue. In the years since of stomach issues, skin rashes, teeth grinding, anaphylaxis and more, I have been diagnosed with severe allergies to at least 10 foods and most medications. Thyroid and many other tests came back normal. Even when I am extremely careful about what I eat, I still experience many of the symptoms associated with histamine intolerance. I have been researching HI and experimentally eaten a low histamine diet a few times and felt much better. Honestly, I have not been steadfast about eating low histamine because I am so tired of having to deal with one more health issue that I have been in denial about histamine intolerance. After reading your story, I have realized I need to get serious about it. With your honest story, the information, recipes and web links you have provided, I believe I will have a good start on this next step on my health journey. Thank you and I wish you much luck towards better health.
lowhistamineeats says
I'm so sorry you've had this experience, Memo. I'll admit that I don't have much experience with MCS, but I've recently read a book (Through the Shadowlands by Julie Rehmeyer) that gave me some idea of how incredibly impactful and how largely ignored it is, and I can only imagine the difficulty. It's a huge things for most people to change their diet, so I totally get it. Most days I drag my feet with making low histamine picks, but I end up doing it 90% of the time, because I've found that I almost always regret the other 10%. Thank you for sharing some of your story, and I sincerely hope that following a lower histamine diet helps ease your symptoms and make life that much more normal!
Rae says
Hi there, have you experienced worse symptoms at the same time as ovulation or PMS? I know most women get moody, tired, hungry, sore, have cravings, etc. But have you experienced that the mood symptoms are just unbearable? Like PMDD? My depression and anxiety go way up during these times, and it feels like they increase too much than what is in the normal realm. I haven't done a lot of research, but there seems to be a connection between copper, estrogen, progesterone, and histamine.
Also, I tried to gather from this post and comments how long it takes to detox from elevated copper levels but don't quite get it. Am I reading that it takes years to detox from too much copper?
lowhistamineeats says
There definitely seems to be a response, yes, as histamine is also a hormone released in the face of stress, and stress messes with the delicate balance of all your hormones. So while there may not be a direct connection, there seem to be a cascading of events which occur around these particular substances. But I was so deeply depressed and anxious for most of the last two years that it was pretty hard to tell if my period affected it at all. I had my hormones checked many times, and all the inflammation seems to have caused my testosterone to spike, my progesterone to drop, and some cysts to grow. We've gotten the hormones under control, but the other side effects of so much inflammation may take years to fully heal.
What I'm saying is that yes, it can take years to detox from elevated copper if you've had very long-term exposure (5+ years with a copper IUD, for example) or very high levels of exposure to copper. I'm not a doctor, but from my own research & observations, it takes some women years and it takes other women a few months to recover form any damage. I'm now 18 months post-removal, and while I believe I've gotten rid of the excess copper, I'm still dealing with the effects of my immune system being totally thrown off. I expect it will take another year or so to fully recover this part of my life and get over my constantly-flaring histamine intolerance (though I'll always be extra vulnerable to histamine issues), but all of this is downstream from the copper. It's all very complicated and connected, and the faster you gather a good team of doctors, the better off you'll be. Good luck!
Jillian Wilson says
You mentioned having a booster shot in December 2021, and then later say that you hadn’t connected your neurological symptoms with the shots. I’m curious to know if you’re referring to Covid-19 vaccination shots? My good health has deteriorated since my 1 and only Pfizer shot, 6 months ago - recurring ME/CFS from having been headed back in 1997, with strange symptoms. Am now on a low histamine diet. Can you comment?
lowhistamineeats says
Yes, that I am, but I got the other main corporation's shot. I don't want to talk about it much one here, as I know that Google is still blocking some posts that talk about it without medical credentials, and I don't want this post (or site) blocked. But I found way more info on dealing with negative long-term effects from either corporation's shots on Reddit, to be honest. For my own symptoms, I personally found 2g of high-quality Omega 3s + 1g l-arginine to be a game-changer. Lowering stress and taking colostrum and other immune-regulating supplements have continued to lessen my symptoms. But once I feel markedly better, I do plan to write a more thorough overview of what I've dealt with (hopefully with a lot more scientific research to back up any treatments).
I'm sorry you're dealing with what you are, but I highly recommend doing some research on Reddit into what has helped some other people with long-term effects. From what I've gleaned from my own reading, you (& I) are dealing with a relatively small version of what would have happened had we actually gotten sick, so the procedure would be similar for if we were dealing with long-term effects from the illness. I DID also start taking an immune-regulating medication called "low dose naltrexone" in early February, and to be honest, I think that + time has made the most difference. It's worth asking your doctor about low dose naltrexone (LDN) and doing some research yourself, as it's also been looked into as a treatment for ME/CFS.
Jann says
I'm literally combing your site now and gleaning SO MUCH info from your health journey. Like everyone else I'm so grateful to have found you and your story! 👏
Last month, My Functional medicine doc put me on a detox diet and it was full of pea protein smoothies and lots of high histamine foods. I knew I had " some' histamine problems but I thought it wasn't major- just itchy skin. However, the detox diet confirmed that my main 7+ year struggle with symptoms was connected to histamines! ( after hypothyroid Hashimoto's and Thyroid Eye disease). It was a LOVE/HATE moment! So, I'm currently on the low histamine diet, and I'm starting to sleep better and have very few internal tremors now. However, I still wake 2-3 times per night and feel slight tremors and have to calm racing thoughts, and I still have a case of the itchies on my upper back and face flushing occasionally, so I'm still a work in progress! 🤦♀️
I'm now determined to study to be a nutritional health counselor/ coach. And even though I have scoured the internet and health podcasts, It seems that symptoms vary as well as some of the food's histamine levels depending upon which website you are on.
I want to know more! What Facebook and Instagram groups are you, members, with? What other low histamine resources do you have? I pray that you are feeling well these days and thank you for all of your help! 🙌
lowhistamineeats says
Thank you so much, Jann! I can definitely relate to the love/hate relationship with those moments of realization. Anyone with a chronic, mysterious illness knows what we mean. But definitely keep track of any lingering symptoms (after a month or more on the diet), and keep a food diary to note any non-histamine sensitivities or preferences (For example, I do best at night with grilled meats + veg for dinner).
The nutritional counselor approach is one I've thought of often, but I just haven't had the bandwidth the last few months to do much research. I even thought of going back to school to get my degree in dietetics, but even the thought of all the paperwork needed to apply makes my brain want to explode, so that tells me it's too soon in my journey to take on something so big. If you find a program that's credible and takes a year or less, please leave another comment, as I'd love to hear about it! This seems to be a common pull for people of a certain disposition once they've dealt with something so life-consuming, and I wish you great luck! Right now I'm not in any Instagram groups, but I follow several people on the platform who do great advocating and info-sharing about histamine issues; you can follow the link to my profile to see who that is, because I haven't scrolled through in awhile. As for Facebook, I'm only in the main group for histamine issues, as I don't like to spend much time on social media, when I can help it.
I try to share everything I have on the site, but I'm also working on a post about the books that have helped me the most & other low histamine bloggers for people to check out. Those should be up soon, but until then, honestly my favorite book has been one for practitioners (that you could def find cheaper elsewhere): https://www.bookdepository.com/Biochemical-Imbalances-Disease-David-S-Jones/9781848190337
Jackie says
You've been through so much and are an encouragement to those who are searching for answers. Remember, losses are wins in disguise as we learn from them and soldier onward. As you know, sharing these experiences with others is a double-win, as they may help others, and knowing we are not alone in the struggle encourages us to keep trying. I have Lyme & Borrelia (tick-borne co-infection) with neurological symptoms and Breast Implant Illness (BII). Since Lyme & Co bacteria produce a biofilm that may adhere to breast implants, I'm working on getting them removed so that (hopefully) the treatments will be successful. For years I thought I had rosacea, as my skin is always flushed. Now I know otherwise (symptoms began after the implants but I never made the connection) and am going to pursue the AIP/low histamine diet until I can get in for the surgery. Your info has been very helpful. Thanks for putting your story out there - it has helped!
PS - I was watching a 3-part video on YT about prolotherapy and the vagus nerve. It appears as though, when the vagus nerve is pinched and/or malfunctions, all organs of the body can be affected because they can no longer fully perform their usual functions. This may slow down or even prevent the healing we are working so hard towards, just the way toxic mold or copper can also interfere with our healing. While this info may or may not be helpful to others with histamine intolerance, it may be a missing puzzle piece for some and is something to perhaps consider.
lowhistamineeats says
Thank you, Jackie. Your kind words mean a lot, as even if I've been through hell, I've made it back. Having compounded illnesses is extra tough; I'm so sorry you're going through all that, and I hope you can get the implants out soon. My goal in sharing my story has been to help other people start to sort out their own mysterious illness, so I'm glad to have aided you in any way on your journey. I always go back strict low histamine in any times of stress, so it's certainly worth trying a low histamine diet while you know your body is focusing its anti-inflammatory fight elsewhere!
I've been reading even more about HPA Axis dysfunction, lately, and the connection between physical symptoms & psychological stress, and the vagus nerve certainly plays a large role. I haven't yet sussed out the mechanics of why my body seems to be locked in a fight-or-flight/trauma state, but that will definitely be the topic of another post, once my brain fog lifts a bit. I had my first holistic PT appointment today, so the fight continues! Good luck with everything, Jackie, and thank you for the leads-- I'm sure they'll help multiple someones who read this.
Becky Ackroyd says
Also, I'm so grateful you mentioned about your teeth hurting. My son's teeth ache if he eats crunchy foods (like carrot sticks) and it didn't make sense with his dental history. So many things are clicking into place!
lowhistamineeats says
Yeah, this was still one of the craziest symptoms, in my opinion, as it took so many steps to have gotten to tooth pain! I highly recommend he try using MI Paste every night for a couple wees and seeing if it help. You can buy it on Amazon.
Becky Ackroyd says
Thank you so much for your awesome website. My 18 yo son has Lyme disease and we've just realized that high histamine foods massively increase his pain and his brain fog (and likely his anxiety too). Your website is lovely and personal and so helpful and feels like it will be such a help on this journey. Thank you so much for sharing your knowledge and experience!
lowhistamineeats says
Hi, Becky! You're very welcome. I'm so sorry your family has been dealing with that, but I'm glad you've realized some of his triggers and are working to lessen the stress on his body. I hope the site continues to be of service, and good luck with the recovery!
Dawn says
Your website has been a game changer for me. I've been told I have high histamine in my gut as well. The mouth/teeth hurting is all too familiar. I've had allergy testing, autoimmune testing, inflammation marker testing all completed and they are normal. I'm working on tapering off prednisone right now after a particularly bad flare up. I'm following your 5 day meal plan and feel remarkably better on day 3. Your website is fabulous. I'm looking forward to using it as a tool for managing this issue. I'm hopeful to taper off the Allegra and Pepcid once as I get my diet under control. This is hard, especially hard when I have three kids that want nothing to do with these foods but hopefully they'll come around. Keep up the good work. Oh, and thanks for the insight about the IUD. I've wondered the same about mine.
lowhistamineeats says
This is such a sweet comment. Thank you so much for taking the time to sit down and write it, because I really really needed to read it right now. It's been one of those beyond-stressful days where everything goes wrong and nothing gets done, but this made me feel like I've made a difference today. So thank you. And I'm so sorry you've been dealing with any of this, Dawn; it's absolute rubbish, and it's not fair, but there is an other side. I've seen it, and I hope to get there one day, but we're infinitely stronger together. I'm really impressed that you're doing this with three kids to care for, as well! You'll be in my thoughts, and I hope day 4 is even better for you!
Elaine Butler says
Thank you, thank you, thank you for taking the time to put this website together. I run a website myself and know just how much time it takes. I've self-diagnosed myself with histamine intolerance after 3 years of mild symptoms and then 1 year of hell. So grateful to you for sharing what you've learned. Elaine
lowhistamineeats says
You're very welcome, Elaine! It does indeed take up much more time than I was expecting haha but I've learned a lot from the experience-- I'm sorry for your years of mild annoyance and hell, but I really hope the hellish era has come to an end!
Camille says
Hello, have you been tested for SIBO? It can trigger histamine intolerance, and can also be treated. I also would look at acutane as a potential root cause, all of my issues (similar as yours) started 3 weeks afters I started this treatment... It can create such an imbalance in the intestines...
lowhistamineeats says
I was tested for SIBO last summer and it was negative. DAO has helped my stomach symptoms, so it really does appear to be connected to histamine, but I've kept accutane in my medical history exactly because I believe it was likely a contributing factor to my overall malaise. I'm glad you sussed it out for yourself so quickly, though, and I hope it helps you find answers!
K says
Hi there,
I found your page because I was looking for low histamine breakfast foods--and I love your fried rice idea! 🙂
I just wanted to reach out because I read in your story that you have stomach pain and I thought I'd share something that happened to me that might be helpful. I started getting severe upper abdominal bloating a few months ago. It was next level painful. Not like regular bloating; this made me feel sick and dizzy and I had to walk around and massage my abs until the feeling passed each time it happened, which felt like every time I ate something. I thought something was seriously wrong with my digestion or perhaps that I had developed gastritis. But then one night (after a particularly bad attack), I noticed a tin of peppermints on the table. I had been eating these mints for a while at the time, but I had forgotten to add them to my food diary. For some reason, I looked at the pack closely and realized that they were actually sugar-free mints. Their main ingredient was sorbitol, which is one of the main sugar alcohols. Anyway, to cut a long story short, I worked out that sugar alcohols (like sorbitol, mannitol, maltitol, isomalt etc.) wreck havoc on digestion. When I investigated, there were case studies in the UK where patients presented with years of stomach pain that was completely resolved when it was discovered that the people chewed sugar-free gum. Because the sugar alcohols were also in the mints I'd been eating, I stopped eating the mints and my stomach pain has 100% vanished. When I read your timeline, I wondered whether the gum you were chewing because your teeth hurt could be inadvertently causing your stomach problems? I have to eat low histamine too, but this is separate from the stomach issue for me. Anyway, I hope this finds you well!
lowhistamineeats says
Hi, K! I'm so happy you found the breakfasts post, and that it's got some good ideas for you to mix up the routine.
I'm sorry you were dealing with that sort of stomach pain, and for so long; it definitely reminds me of my own, though mine preceded the gum use by many months. I still credit that gum with getting me through some really tough days, but since moving back to the States I switched to Simply Gum (only 5 ingredients on a chicle gum base, and sweetened with raw cane sugar), and I still chew it almost every day. It's more expensive, but I'd read the same sort of studies on sugar alcohols as you must have, and it seemed worth it to lower my stomach's irritation load. So even 16 months later, I still get that weird stomach pain occasionally, but usually in conjunction with IBS (sorry if TMI), and I really think I still chew the gum mostly because of the years of tooth paranoia still pushing some of my anxiety-induced behaviors. Healing is a process, and I'm not ready to give up that crutch yet, but I'm grateful for your input, and hopefully it'll cue someone else in on something that may be hurting more than helping!
Tina says
Hi, I just found your page and I am so grateful for everything you are sharing! It makes me feel in good company on a similar journey with GI issues (which have a root cause in high histamine levels, no doubt, as I also broke out in a rash recently after eating a shrimp ceviche...)
Your insights are so very helpful. I am looking forward to cleaning up my diet. Thank you for sharing about your experience!
lowhistamineeats says
You are certainly in good company, Tina! There are lots of us struggling with histamine issues, and in the year or so since I started this blog, soooo many more people have joined the histamine Facebook groups I'm in. Clearly the issue is both growing and being better-identified by people like us. But just remember the histamine issues aren't a root cause, but merely the name for a group of symptoms we're experiencing (stomach pain, rashes, etc.) , and those symptoms have a separate cause-- for me it's copper, but it could also be SIBO, mast cell issues, DAO deficiency, etc.
I wish I could post more often, but between my job and my unpaid internship in being chronically ill, it's usually just a few times a month. Hopefully that will change as I continue to get my health under control, though, as I'm looking to share more info I wish I'd had when I started out cleaning my diet! Good luck with the transition, and please let me know if you have any questions!
Rose says
Love your story & page.
1. How did you detox from copper?
2. What test did you take for vitamins & minerals?
Thanks for all your help, I can use it 🌹
lowhistamineeats says
Thanks, Rose! I'm actually still detoxing, and I expect to be for probably another year or so. It really REALLY sucks, to be honest, but I can tell when I'm detoxing because my anxiety goes through the roof. I'll write about this more in-depth soon, but my current routine is: 3g of chlorella tablets crushed into a glass of water once a day, and then ~200mg of black radish twice a day. Last night I actually started on a formula that will hopefully help even more, that's a blend of ox bile and black radish, but you can also take digestive bitters to stimulate your own bile production (bile is released to help digest fats, but it also helps your body remove excess copper). To sort out all this stuff I took an HTMA (hair test), but honestly, most of what's happening to me is still a mystery. Even 4 years after it all starting, I have good days and bad, and I'm still continually having more and different inflammatory issues pop up. I'm just doing my best to deal with the symptoms, though, as I detox the copper and can hopefully eventually get my life back.
lisa says
Just out of curiosity were you ever tested for H. pylori? Some of your symptoms could be attributed to that. It is a simple test you can ask your doctor for. Get a stool one not blood which can result in false negatives.
lowhistamineeats says
Hi, Lisa! Yes, I tested positive for H. Pylori and have been fighting it off without prescription antibiotics since the results came back in July (mastic gum, oregano oil, etc. from my functional medicine doc). If it isn't gone after the next stool test, I'll probably try the antibiotics. But what's actually been causing all my symptoms is copper toxicity from my copper IUD... I've felt much better since getting it out and working to balance my vitamin/mineral levels, gut microbiome, and hormones, but I've found that the low histamine diet helps a lot with keeping my overall inflammation down as my body work to heal itself. I'll be posting more about copper next month, though, so keep an eye out! Thank you for your advice. 🙂
Bogdn says
Honestly, I wouldn't touch H. pylori if you have it. Based on my research, I have a strong belief that it's a big scam created by the medical industry to lure people into a long path of treatments. Treatments = Money. I'm not saying that H. pylori don't exist. It exists, and I think that it's a very important bacteria that helps to balance out other bacteria, parasites, etc. in your body. There is a reason why it comes back very often after antibiotic treatment. Your body is smart and is trying to restore the microbiome that you have destroyed with the antibiotics. And people that had a "successful" treatment where it didn't come back...well, consider them cripples. If you are having digestive issues with your stomach(99.9% it's low stomach acid), then it's NOT H. pylori. Leave those cute little swimmers live in peace and stop eradicating themXD You need to experiment with your diet until you find the food that is making you feel normal. Don't get frustrated. I know it's easy to feel hopeless and frustrated–I've been there. Just keep on experimenting with food until you hit something that works and then you'll slowly get into the momentum of figuring things out. Persist until success happens.
Cris says
@Bogdn, No. This is terrible advice and conspiratorial hogwash. The medical industry is not a scam. If anything, medical "professionals" (with accredited licensure) are just hugely apathetic and incompetent. Not scammers and grifters. I STRONGLY recommend treating H. pylori. As a note, Pepto-Bismal can help treat H. pylori, but I would also recommend considering the antibiotics.