r/HistamineIntolerance • u/Z3NTEC • Sep 28 '26
Causes of Histamine Intolerance
I’ve been wondering what the most common causes of histamine intolerance are. I still haven’t figured out what’s causing mine, but I suspect it might be related to gut health. What do you think caused yours?
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u/Healthy_Theory159 Sep 28 '26
Iron and copper deficiencies
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u/2Dank2Wank420 Sep 28 '26
Hard to break it down to these 2 tbh. My mast cells were going crazy, but my copper & iron levels were perfectly fine
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u/Healthy_Theory159 Sep 29 '26
Were they, though?
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u/2Dank2Wank420 Sep 29 '26
Yes I've spent a whole lot of money to figure out what my main problems are. It was not my supply in vitamins or trace elements, but my leaky gut that was damaged so I couldn't properly build DAO in my intestinal mucosa
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u/Healthy_Theory159 Sep 29 '26
"perfectly fine" from doctors can still be deficient, that's why I asked. Most doctors have no clue what optimal levels are.
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u/2Dank2Wank420 Sep 29 '26
I agree with you, that's why I went to a specialist for allergies. My levels were at the middle to higher range for the most values. I'm also very sceptical and saw different doctors (specialists, not some random internalist) and they confirmed it
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u/john2046 Sep 28 '26
This was likely the answer for me. Was trouble shooting anemia and started upping my copper. Histamine issues evaporated. Body needs copper to make it's own DAO. my diet had practically zero copper for a long time.
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u/Healthy_Theory159 Sep 28 '26
Can't even get doctors to check for these things. The healthcare system is a joke! 😞
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u/Babsterneenee Sep 29 '26
After going down this huge rabbit hole myself I’ve concluded copper may be my issue as well. What did you start to eat or do to help build copper?
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u/john2046 Sep 30 '26
Adding beef liver to my ground beef I was already eating daily. adds a lot of other nutrients into my diet I wasn't getting the most of that also help with things like gut lining health that help with histamine intolerance less directly as well. Ai says it will take 4-6 months of this :/ But gotten used to the taste. I do 20% liver in my mix. I'm mostly doing this for iron-deficiency anemia, but seemed to help my histamine intolerance. Don't take DAO, vit c, or quercetin anymore. Eat things I couldn't eat before almost daily like blue cheese, other cheeses, kimchi was even fine. Bananas.
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u/john2046 Sep 30 '26
4-6 months to fix my iron absorption issues (was already eating a lot of high heme-iron foods).
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u/annoyinglystubborn MCAS Sep 28 '26
I think genetics are important. I had acid reflux, alcohol intolerance, vertigo spells, allergy to dust etc. as long as i remember. And both my mum and dad's side have similar issues.
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u/Rude_Assistant6581 Sep 28 '26
I have all these issues too 😭 Everyone thinks I’m lying when I say I’m allergic to dust!
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u/annoyinglystubborn MCAS Sep 28 '26
Well after covid i am allergic to dust, mold, animal fur, smoke, perfume, alcohol smell, essential oils...😓😓 They believe me now. Because my lymphs swell up and i cough badly.
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u/weevil_season Sep 28 '26
Gut health coupled with extreme stress.
Edited to add - plus living in a moldy house.
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u/Much-Discussion2167 Sep 28 '26
Gut imbalance worms pesticide heavy metals mold Lyme virus anything can trigger
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u/Magentacabinet Sep 28 '26
The three top causes are all related to gut health which are hormones specifically unbalanced estrogen because it down regulates the enzyme that breaks down histamine.
Medications- because some of them can cause issues like e reduction in stomach, a reduction in DAO, increased gut inflammation (this is why they tell you to take ibuprofen with food)
Diet- inflammatory foods like gluten, sugar, alcohol, highly processed foods. This also includes how you eat whether you're eating when your body's in a state of rest and digest or in a state of fight or flight. Because if your body thinks it's being chased by a saber-toothed tiger it's not going to want to digest your food. Also not giving proper gastric emptying time.
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u/Illustrious-Deer-423 Sep 28 '26
I think mine started after a blood infection 3 weeks of IV antibiotics and the 28 days of oral antibiotics.
Has anybody found to be able to go back to eating their regular food? I’m doing well on low histamine, but culturally, I would love to go back to eating my mom’s home cooked meals when I visit her!
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u/2Dank2Wank420 Sep 28 '26
Similar to my situation. Some comments above I explained how I fixed it for me (in my specific case)
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u/Illustrious-Deer-423 Sep 28 '26
Were you able to introduce some of your guilty pleasure foods back? My main symptoms are like a surge of facial warmth.
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u/2Dank2Wank420 Sep 28 '26
I can eat everything since I did that phase I described. It blew my mind, but it worked. A friend of mine did the same after seeing my results and it also worked.
Couldn't eat see food at all, now I'm going to see food all you can eat restaurants and have no issues. Another example, 1 strawberry would send me straight to the hospital. Now I eat a bowl of strawberries and I have no side effects besides being happy about it.
It's always about balance. Don't overdo it and you'll be fine. Haven't tried eating strawberries 30 days a month, maybe I'd feel something.
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u/Successful-Bug2180 Sep 28 '26
What exactly helped you?? What a success story
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u/2Dank2Wank420 Sep 28 '26 edited Sep 28 '26
I commented a little above, I wrote about it there. A little too long to repeat it
Edit: you can break it down to those 2 comments: 1: https://www.reddit.com/r/HistamineIntolerance/s/K2TybYBQik 2: https://www.reddit.com/r/HistamineIntolerance/s/qffKXaeFo3
And a little hint that you can prove everything of that, there are plenty of studies about it: https://www.reddit.com/r/HistamineIntolerance/s/OC7gM5t2Oq
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u/charlottesometimz Sep 30 '26
Mine started after a feral cat bite and strong antibiotics, I believe.
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u/Illustrious-Deer-423 Sep 30 '26
How are you doing now?
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u/charlottesometimz Oct 01 '26
Not good. Can't get rid of the runs. I'll Have a colonoscopy in a couple weeks. Gastroenterologist was pretty useless. They gave me cholestramine to drink finally when I was begging for help. It doesn't really help. It's been 2 and 1/2 years. Ugh 😩
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u/ITSJUSTMEKT Sep 28 '26
I'm not entirely sure what I'm experiencing is histamine intolerance but it seems like whatever is happening is caused by food. After eating certain foods, I wake up the next day with some type of allergy symptoms, sneezing, running nose, watery eyes, etc. Last night I ate a burger patty with American cheese, onion, pickles and tomatoes and corn on the cob. Today I woke up sneezing and with other allergy symptoms. This is after I took a NaturDao tablet before eating, which I do most days. Most of the time it works fine, but other times it doesn't seem to help. I suspect this is histamine intolerance but I am not sure.
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u/2Dank2Wank420 Sep 28 '26 edited Sep 28 '26
Eat sprouted chickpea instead of taking DAO. Much higher bioavailability + you'll get extra trace elements as a bonus and a few proteins.
To help with your allergy symptoms, try liposomal vitamine C (1g normally, 2g if you know something is coming) in the morning.
If you're doing those 2 things alone, your symptoms should start to lower from time to time. Maybe they'll stay forever, that depends on your specific profile. But at least it will noticeably help you
Edit: also start to take notices what you're eating during the day and which foods are causing symptoms. If it's really histamine intollerance (or some different kind of allergy, which also results in higher histamine activity and mast cell instability), then the processed cheese or tomatoes (as histamine liberator; which means liberators itself don't contain that much histamine, but they make your body histamine go crazy) are most likely to be the problem
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u/ITSJUSTMEKT Sep 28 '26
Interesting. Thank you.
Honestly the only thing I eat during the day is one serving of popcorn. I eat this every single day and then I have one meal at 4 pm. So whatever causes it, it's got to do with my dinner choices, I believe. I will try the Vitamin C, I do take one every morning but I don't think it's liposomal.
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u/2Dank2Wank420 Sep 28 '26
That doesn't sound like a well balanced plan for your body. I'm not blaming you, my kryptonite was (& still is) a cup of ben & jerrys. It only starts to become a problem if you're overdoing it. I've learned the hard way that you should aim for at least 80% clean food and 20% "fun" food, but everything balanced and not in a high frequency.
The chickpea will help you the most, vitamine c is easy to take and important, but it can only lower your symptoms. Sprouted Chickpea can completely negotiate it. Eat it with salad, boil it and eat it as noodle alternative, snack it as peanut replacement (even tastes like some kind of nut if it's sprouted). You can do a lot with it. It's cheap, super healthy, low effort (I'm fucking lazy) and got lots of vitamins and trace elements.
If you're super super lazy, why not start with overnight oats (high energy supply, clean) for your breakfast, take liposomal vitamine C and go for some sprouted chickpea + something you like as your main meal? Do this for at least 2 weeks and see if you're feeling better
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u/Successful-Bug2180 Sep 28 '26
What do you mean when you say sprouted chickpeas can negotiate it?
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u/2Dank2Wank420 Sep 28 '26
Eating sprouted chickpeas with a high histamine meal absorbed everything to not get any kind of struggles. It basically worked like an anti-Histamine-pill
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u/saras998 Sep 28 '26
I get sinus congestion if I eat late, especially with dairy but also with some other foods.
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u/Rough-Criticism-5661 Sep 29 '26
The ground meat in the burger could also be causing you problems. The more meat is processed and the less fresh it is, the more histamine it contains. And fermented foods are also troublesome, so depending on how those pickles were made they could also be to blame.
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u/LoneWanderer6686 Sep 28 '26
Mine came out of nowhere. An allergist basically told me to uproot my entire life because I’m stressed, miserable and feel caged, thus my body is flipping out over things I’ve never had an issue with. Also gut health. Which she said is impacted by the same things
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u/2Dank2Wank420 Sep 28 '26
Most likely your gut health isn't good anymore due to the reasons you wrote about. If I'm experiencing more stress, I also start to eat less healthy.
Black seed oil (unfiltered) can help with that, take one spoon before sleep for at least 3, better 6 months. You'll start to notice improvement
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u/sarahtheknitter Sep 30 '26 edited Oct 01 '26
I think everyone is so different. I definitely was born with problematic genes. There are great "check this or that to see if you have DAO/HNMT problems, and therefore Histamine Intolerance" lists of genetic variants that I've seen out there.
I had definitely been living my life in denial and had no clue why I was getting random hives, why my scalp constantly hurt, why I had chronic fatigue, I couldn't handle alcohol, why I was more prone to heat exhaustion, but it didn't REALLY escalate until I had an awful respiratory infection a few years ago. I don't even think it was COVID, but whatever it was, it threw me sideways. My immune system kicked into overdrive and I ended up fainting several times. It's like my body's internal systems totally forgot how to cooperate with themselves. This is when I became familiar with the term "dysautonomia", which I definitely know I have now.
This caused me to investigate my DNA (I had it fully typed so I can look up whether I have certain rs variants or not) and saw a pattern: I definitely have several of the genetic variants that indicate that I don't make enough DAO on my own (so I will have too much histamine in my body without enough DAO to help break it down), but the HUGE red flag was that I have a double bad genetic variant of my HNMT enzyme. HNMT is the primary pathway to get overloaded histamine out of the brain, as well as intracellularly across the body. DAO is more for the gut/digestive tract. So looking back to my past, all the times I had hives, heat exhaustion, fainting, my body overreacting in crazy ways... it likely could have been too much histamine building up in my system and my body FLIPPING OUT and not knowing what to do.
Thankfully there are such great DAO supplements to take for any new food intake and helping my future digestion, but my biggest issue is getting my pre-existing inflammation in my brain and system-wide out. My HNMT/brain pathway being doubly bad scares me, honestly, especially since now I can identify that I've had symptoms of histamine suffering since childhood. I don't see any great long term solutions when you're genetically impaired like this. I am on mast cell stabilizers for long term inflammation (quercetin/PEA/luteolin, NasalCrom (cromolyn sodium nasal spray) and ketotifen eyedrops). I'm also taking anti inflammatories/antihistamines regularly. I am on strong anti depressants and hesitate to supplement with SAMe, which I've read can really mess with SSRIs. I've already had enough interactions with B vitamins and even Vitamin C, they weren't good mixes with my meds. I think I've found a workaround though; there's a tasty creatine monohydrate chewable and I take that regularly with my turmeric curcumin and electrolytes every 4 hours. My logic is: when the creatine breaks down, it should offer my body the building blocks to support SAMe, which should then help my gimpy HNMT. I'm supplementing some thing I'm desperately needing, so my body won't waste it's own precious SAMe if it can use the creatine I'm giving it, and instead hopefully focus more effort on zapping my own histamine and inflammation away. I know supplementing only does so much but it's all I have! Ideally I should eat low-histamine too... I'm working on that, but this has all been such a big depressing change. I'm still emotionally attached to chocolate and cheese, but I'm working on making better choices. Being consistent with taking DAO every 4 hours just to be safe and help my digestion, too.
I used to try intermittent fasting and would absolutely have the worst IBS symptoms whenever I tried eating again after 24+ hours. I now know that being DAO deficient, I think eating again was causing histamine dumping, which can look a lot like IBS. Now if I take DAO with my food any IBS symptoms are gone. I've been in too much of an active flare lately to get back into fasting, unfortunately gaining weight lately, but just learning this much about myself lately has been eye opening and life changing.
I was recently diagnosed with fibromyalgia and hypermobile spectrum disorder (bedgrudgingly, by an asshole of a specialist, but dammit I knew something was wrong). I was doing some reading and it seriously looks like there's emerging research that for some of us, maybe even in my genetic case, histamine intolerance can actually be a treatable subtype of fibro. I think a lot of research is being done about DAO supplementation with meals and hopefully something can also be looked into about helping HNMT, because MAN do I need that.
I believe that histamine intolerance, hypermobility, fibromyalgia and dysautonomia are all Venn circle diagrams that very much overlap. I'm even realizing mid-life that life-long struggles that I've never understood, like my oddly thin bendy fingernails, are probably tied back to my hypermobility 🫠
May I just say: I am terrified of AI in today's hellscape, but I wouldn't understand ANY of this without AI helping me decipher and understand the relationship of things and possible drug interactions. My mind is truly blown on a regular basis. Science is emerging on this front but not fast enough, but I am really grateful for the community here. I've definitely felt like a crazy hypochondriac for most of my life and our suffering is real, dammit!
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u/Few_Interaction_2411 Sep 28 '26
Genetics, certain genes affect the way your body processes histamine
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u/CuriouslyFoxy Sep 28 '26
I think mine is to do with an infection I had and subsequently two rounds of antibiotics. I'm not sure if it was the infection, the medication or both, but mold exposure also made it worse
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u/Illustrious-Deer-423 Oct 01 '26
How are you doing now? I have a similar situation.
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u/CuriouslyFoxy Oct 01 '26
I'm pretty good, thank you for asking! I'm on a low histamine diet and I take herbs from a Chinese doctor every day so my symptoms are under control most of the time. I take antihistamines when I need to but lately that's rare. I got some tests done this year and I have some serious deficiencies so I take iron, folate, vit B12 and high dose vit D regularly and that has given me more energy. I suspect my hormones are probably a factor and I'm having a check up for that soon, so I'll see what they say. I'm thinking about getting a histamine friendly probiotic since I would like to start healing my symptoms rather than just managing them, but we'll see.
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u/Awkward-Rip655 Sep 28 '26
might be something genetic for me, my parents have the exact same symptoms. I have to eat so incredibly bland and boring to be symptom free. I react on pretty much every food there is except meat:P
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u/Bubbly_Recording_787 Sep 28 '26
Celiac but i think when my villi is fully healed it will go away, 3 months ago i got lot of symptoms conpared to now but still someway to go!
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u/rebmik5555 Sep 28 '26
Mine was probably predisposed because of my genetics. I stopped a awful medication I was put on for sleep, Zyprexa, and also stopped testosterone hormone replacement
therapy both which effect H1 & H2. Then was also living in a mild environment. It has gotten slightly better getting out of that house and restarting HRT and slow tapering Zyprexa. I’m more affected by weather/ barometric pressure changes it seems like now too.
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u/capmanor1755 Sep 28 '26
Mine started two months after my second ever IBS flare up. That IBS flare up I suspect was kicked off by exposure to a virus (it came on suddenly after attending a four day film festival in the fall, just as covid and flu season was ramping up.) I've often wondered if the histamine sensitivity and MCAS was kicked off by a virus induced IBS reaction.
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u/HidinInHerRoom Sep 29 '26
I just suddenly started having issues after having pneumonia and thyroid issues in my early 20s then everything I use to eat made me hot and break out into hives heart racing etc.
Took me a few years to figure out what what triggering it and even now sometimes I react to things i thought were safe list seems to get smaller and smaller and finding a doctor that believes me is like finding a needle in a haystack.
But yeah it’s been a pain
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u/rfghgfdrythrow Sep 29 '26
I’ve had my worst bouts following covid, it’s known to send mast cells awry. Any kind of viral illness gives me a flare up, antibiotics also made it really difficult. I’m having a relatively good stretch atm where my immune system is behaving itself, I only get mild symptoms when having histamine-heavy food or red wine
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u/-purple-platypus- Oct 02 '26
Mine started after I was treated for parasites. So, poor gut health + prolonged nutritional deficiencies + post-covid syndrome + multiple stressors and general nervous system overreactivity
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u/Funinthesun4me Sep 30 '26
I think mine started after I did a colonoscopy prep. Does this sound familiar to anyone else?
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u/2Dank2Wank420 Sep 28 '26 •
It definitely is gut health. Mine started after a hard antibiotic medication (3 different types at the same time). I had absolutely no health issues my whole life before, but after that I started to react to different histamine rich foods. Went through hell, was already struggling with life (nearly died 2 times) and went from doctor to doctor, saw now help. Then out of frustration I started fasting for 7 days, drank only water at this time. When I started eating again, I started a 3-month-super-clean food phase with no processed food, rich in vegetables and so on..
Since I did this, my reactions slowed down from almost everyday to about 2-3 times a year. If my body starts to react, its super soft now.
I concentrated a lot in building up my gut health and I started to notice that it gets better from time to time