How High Histamine Levels Are Affecting Your Overall Health
This blog is PART 3 of our 4-part April Allergy Series, where we dive into the causes, symptoms, and natural solutions for seasonal allergies. Be sure to check out the other posts in the series to learn how Functional Medicine can help you breathe easier this season!
As we continue our April Allergy Series, it’s time to address a critical but often misunderstood factor in allergy responses: histamines. Many people associate histamines with sneezing, itching, and congestion during allergy season, but histamines do much more than trigger seasonal allergy symptoms.
High histamine levels can impact your overall health in ways you might not expect. From affecting digestion and metabolism to contributing to mood imbalances and fatigue, histamines play a central role in many essential body processes. But when histamine levels get too high, they can create a cascade of unwanted symptoms that go beyond seasonal allergies.
What is Histamine, and Why is it Important?
Histamine is a chemical messenger produced by the immune system to trigger an inflammatory response when encountering allergens, pathogens, or injury. When histamine is released, it causes:
✅ Blood vessel dilation: This increases circulation to the affected area, allowing immune cells to reach the site quickly.
✅ Increased vascular permeability: This allows immune cells to pass through blood vessels and attack invaders.
✅ Mucus production: This helps trap allergens and protect the body.
But histamine isn’t just involved in immune responses. It also regulates key processes in the gut, brain, spinal cord, and nervous system. Histamine helps control stomach acid production, influences the sleep-wake cycle, and affects neurotransmitter balance.
However, when histamine levels become too high, they can contribute to chronic symptoms that go beyond typical allergy responses.
Histamine Intolerance: Could It Be the Root of Your Symptoms?
In a healthy system, histamine is broken down by an enzyme called diamine oxidase (DAO), which helps metabolize histamine and prevent buildup. But if you have low levels of DAO or your body is producing excess histamine, the imbalance can lead to histamine intolerance.
Histamine intolerance occurs when the body struggles to metabolize and clear histamines efficiently. As a result, histamine builds up faster than it can be broken down, triggering a range of symptoms that mimic allergies but may not respond to traditional treatments.
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Symptoms of Histamine Intolerance
If histamine builds up in your system, you may experience a variety of symptoms, including:
🔹 Itchy skin, hives, or flushed skin
🔹 Nasal congestion, runny nose, and red eyes
🔹 Headaches or migraines
🔹 Gastrointestinal issues such as bloating, diarrhea, or constipation
🔹 Heart palpitations, dizziness, or low blood pressure
🔹 Anxiety, panic attacks, and brain fog
In more severe cases, histamine overload can contribute to conditions like chronic fatigue, hormone imbalances, and blood sugar dysregulation.
Food Allergies or Histamine Intolerance?
It’s easy to confuse histamine intolerance with a food allergy because the symptoms can appear similar. However, these conditions are not the same:
✅ Food allergies trigger an immediate immune response to a specific protein (such as gluten, shellfish, or nuts), resulting in an allergic reaction.
✅ Histamine intolerance is triggered by a build-up of histamine from certain foods (like aged cheeses, fermented foods, alcohol, and cured meats) or excessive histamine production in the body.
If you’ve experienced inconsistent reactions to different foods or environmental triggers, histamine intolerance could be the underlying cause.
Why Functional Medicine is Essential for Addressing Histamine Intolerance
The challenge with histamine intolerance is that it often mimics other health conditions, leading to misdiagnosis and ineffective treatments. Many healthcare providers focus on treating the symptoms rather than addressing the root causeof histamine imbalances.
At Back On Track 2 Wellness, we take a Functional Medicine approach to histamine intolerance, focusing on personalized solutions to rebalance the body. Our method includes:
DAO-Supportive Supplements: Enhances the breakdown of histamine to prevent buildup.
Low-Histamine Diet Plans: Reduces high-histamine foods to decrease the overall histamine load.
Gut Health Optimization: Improves microbiome balance to regulate histamine production.
Stress Management Techniques: Helps regulate cortisol and modulate immune responses.
Detoxification Protocols: Supports the body’s ability to eliminate histamines and other toxins.
Supplements to Support Histamine and Allergy Needs
To help manage histamine levels and alleviate allergy-related symptoms, we offer high-quality supplements in our office that support immune balance and histamine metabolism. Our carefully selected supplements include:
💊 DAO Enzymes: Breaks down excess histamine and prevents buildup.
🌿 Quercetin and Vitamin C: Natural antihistamines that stabilize mast cells and reduce inflammation.
🧬 Probiotics: Supports a healthy gut microbiome, which plays a critical role in histamine regulation.
⚡ Anti-Inflammatory Supplements: Helps reduce immune system overactivity and modulate histamine responses.
These supplements can address the root cause of histamine imbalances and provide relief from uncomfortable symptoms. If you’re interested in learning more about which supplements might be right for you, we’re happy to guide you during your next consultation.
How High Histamine Levels Impact Overall Health
Left unchecked, high histamine levels can affect much more than allergy symptoms. They can have a domino effecton several aspects of your health, including:
⚡ Energy and Sleep: Histamine regulates the sleep-wake cycle, and high levels can contribute to insomnia and chronic fatigue.
🧠 Brain and Mood Health: High histamine levels are linked to anxiety, depression, and brain fog.
🍎 Metabolism and Blood Sugar Stability: Histamine affects glucose regulation, which can make it harder to maintain balanced blood sugar levels.
🔄 Hormone Balance: Histamine interacts with estrogen, and imbalances can contribute to hormone-related issues.
Are You Ready to Get to the Root of Your Symptoms?
Next week, we’ll wrap up our April Allergy Series by exploring how Functional Medicine can help minimize allergy symptoms and histamine responses over the long term.
If these symptoms sound familiar, histamine intolerance may be at the root of your discomfort. At Back On Track 2 Wellness, we’re here to help you identify histamine-related issues and create a personalized plan to bring your body back into balance. Schedule your consultation.
Schedule Your Telehealth Consultation
We would love to sit down with you and chat about your experiences and current health complaints.
The information on this website has not been evaluated by the Food & Drug Administration or any other medical body. We do not aim to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any illness or disease. Information is shared for educational purposes only. You must consult your doctor before acting on any content on this website, especially if you are pregnant, nursing, taking medication, or have a medical condition.
By Dr. Todd W. Bunning
Dr. Todd W. Bunning’s Chiropractic and Functional Medicine services reach far beyond the local Roseville area, with webcam consultations available for patients in any location. With over 21+ years of Private Practice experience, Dr. Todd continues to focus on the individual: science-based methods to address whole-body health factors.
Dr. Todd’s education didn’t stop when he graduated from Life West Chiropractic College in 2003. Today, he’s continuing to receive training and is chipping away on numerous post-graduate degree programs. This unique blend of clinical health investigation and Lifestyle Medicine application helps people of all ages find the underlying factors that result in chronic disease.