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    Histamine Intolerance: The Essential Guide
    Histamine Intolerance: The Essential Guide
    Histamine Intolerance: The Essential Guide
    Ebook107 pages59 minutes

    Histamine Intolerance: The Essential Guide

    By Dr. Janice Joneja

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    About this ebook

    Histamine intolerance is a complex condition, often misunderstood and misdiagnosed. For many it can be severe and worrying. Symptoms can include itching, flushing, hives, tissue swelling, throat tightening, digestive problems, drop in blood pressure, increased heart rate and headaches. Histamine intolerance is often misdiagnosed as allergy.

     

    There are many reasons why you can build up an excess of histamine within your body. Symptoms can change constantly in terms of frequency and severity and each person's capacity to deal with it is different.

     

    Leading expert Dr Janice Joneja has spent over 30 years studying histamine sensitivity, and has developed a tried-and-tested programme to combat the condition. In this highly-acclaimed book, Dr Joneja shares her experience and expertise, along with rigorous scientific research, and provides a clear Histamine Intolerance Treatment (HIT) plan to relieve your symptoms.

     

    Dr Joneja reveals:

    • An easy-to-follow histamine-restricted diet
    • Hints and tips for following the diet plan
    • Clear advice on different supplements, probiotics and antihistamines
    • Q&As of commonly-asked questions
    • Case studies

     

    Histamine Intolerance: The Essential Guide will equip you with all the knowledge you need to manage your symptoms on a daily basis, and create a Histamine Management Plan that will form a bedrock for your overall wellbeing.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherCurlew Books
    Release dateSep 20, 2023
    ISBN9781912798254
    Histamine Intolerance: The Essential Guide

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      Book preview

      Histamine Intolerance - Dr. Janice Joneja

      CHAPTER 1: What is Histamine and Histamine Intolerance?

      Histamine is an important chemical that is needed for the efficient functioning of many body systems, particularly the brain, the digestive tract, the nervous system and the immune system. Histamine is released by the immune system when fighting foreign invaders in the body (bacteria, viruses, allergens etc.).

      Excess histamine is usually broken down by enzymes in the body. However, histamine intolerance or sensitivity happens when an individual cannot break down histamine quickly or efficiently enough, so that they end up with more histamine in their body than is needed for normal functions. This excess of histamine can cause unpleasant symptoms.

      Symptoms of Histamine Excess

      These typically include¹:

      •  Itching, especially of the skin, eyes, ears, and nose (known by the medical term pruritus)

      •  Flushing or reddening of the skin

      •  Hives (known as urticaria)

      These are red, itchy spots or blotches on the skin that can be quite large and seem to come and go

      Sometimes diagnosed as idiopathic urticaria, or autoimmune urticaria"

      •  Tissue swelling around the face and mouth and sometimes the throat (known by the medical term angioedema)

      Sometimes diagnosed as idiopathic angioedema

      •  Throat tightening

      •  Blocked nose (called rhinitis)

      •  Runny nose (known by the medical term rhinorrhea)

      •  Irritated, watery, reddened eyes (conjunctivitis)

      •  Digestive problems, including heartburn, indigestion and reflux

      •  Drop in blood pressure (called hypotension)

      •  Increased pulse rate

      •  Sensation of heart racing (also known by the medical term tachycardia)

      •  Chest pain

      •  Symptoms resembling anxiety or panic attack—breathing difficulties, heart racing, sweaty, feeling faint, sense of terror

      •  Headaches

      •  Psychological symptoms including confusion and irritability

      •  Very rarely, there may be a brief loss of consciousness usually lasting for one or two seconds

      Not all of these symptoms will occur in any one person, and the severity of symptoms will increase with the level of histamine in the body.

      NB:

      Many of these symptoms are the same as you would suffer if you were having an allergic reaction. This is because the body releases histamine during an allergic response. Because the symptoms are so similar to allergy symptoms and are so varied, histamine intolerance is seriously under-diagnosed, even though approximately 1 per cent of the population suffers from it¹.

      Why Can Too Much Histamine Cause a Problem?

      The symptoms of histamine sensitivity/intolerance, only occur when there is too much histamine in the body.

      Think of histamine intolerance like a bucket filling up with water. Everything is fine while the water is below the bucket’s edge; however as soon as the bucket overflows, serious problems can occur. Remember too that every person has a differently-sized bucket; the point at which the bucket overflows and symptoms appear is called a person’s limit of tolerance, and this limit varies between individuals.

      So, why does the bucket overflow at all? Because, for various reasons, histamine levels in the body can increase to a point at which the body can no longer cope with it.

      How Does the Body Usually get Rid of Histamine?

      Excess histamine is broken down and removed from the body by enzymes called DAO (diamine oxidase), and, to a lesser extent, HNMT (histamine N-methyl transferase).² If a person has low levels of these enzymes they will be able to tolerate less histamine—their bucket is smaller than usual!

      Under normal conditions, when histamine levels rise above a certain level, these enzymes quickly break down the excess. However, when the enzymes cannot break it down fast enough, the total level of histamine in the body rises. When it reaches a critical level, it reacts with specific cells in the body and causes symptoms that are often indistinguishable from allergy.

      This happens most often in people with lower levels of histamine tolerance. However, even people who produce normal levels of the enzymes can suffer symptoms (such as severe headaches and flushing)³ if they consume more histamine than their systems can process (i.e. by eating a meal containing massive amounts of histamine). Even a large bucket can be overfilled!

      Where is Histamine Found in the Body?

      In humans, the highest histamine concentrations are found in the skin, lungs, and stomach, with smaller amounts in the brain and heart. However, this is not the only source of histamine in our bodies: it is also found in the digestive tract, and is released from white blood cells.

      Why do Histamine Levels Increase?

      It is thought that the level of histamine-regulating enzymes— especially DAO—that a person produces may be an inherited trait. It is not uncommon to see histamine intolerance running in families.

      However, several diseases, conditions and hormone changes can affect histamine tolerance levels—the size of your bucket—such as:

      Inflammation and allergy

      When the immune system is triggered—when it is defending the body from injury or infection, or as the result of an allergic reaction—the first thing it does is release histamine, in a process called inflammation. White blood cells and proteins are stimulated, antibodies are released, and this leads to the release of defense chemicals including histamine.

      Think what happens when, for example, you scratch or scrape your skin. The injury site becomes hot, reddened, sore and swollen as a result of the action of the defense chemicals, particularly histamine. This can happen anywhere in the body, but, when the injury is internal, the outward signs may be hidden while the effects are felt in various tissues and organs of the body.

      Allergy is essentially an inflammatory reaction; histamine (together with other defense chemicals) is released when you come into contact with an allergen. Allergens include plant pollens, animal fur, mold spores, dust, insect stings and foods, among others. An allergic reaction occurs when the immune system mistakes these foreign (but harmless) substances for a threat.

      Mastocytosis and MCAD (mast cell

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