Suspected histamine intolerance

[holmessweetholmes]

Anyone got this? After years of intermittent and hard-to-pin-down symptoms (sneezing, flushing, hives, swelling etc) I found an article about this, having never heard of it before, and it really fits with what I've had. Having trouble eliminating things though, as the list of offending foods and drinks is loooong!

[eragon]

my son has some problems with some foods high in histamine but not all.

avoiding a very long list isn't that helpful in the long run.

what testing have you had done so far?
have you asked GP to do blood test to rule out environmental allergens?


two of my children have all the environmental allergies, and also has food allergies and one child this list as well , marmite/ game / tomato /blue cheese due to high histamine content. (hung game is high in histamine)

Also has OAS (oral allergy syndrome) to some fruit. again strawberries often over ripe and full of histamine.

however does eat other foods on high histamine list with no problem, like for instance spinach etc.

As for swelling, if its a symptom on its own, it may not be allergy related and needs investigation.
I would push for further help with NHS/ gp / referral and for advice ring allergy uk or anaphylaxis campaign.

good luck.

[holmessweetholmes]

Thanks! Haven't had any testing at all. I'm just coming out of a bout of 5 weeks of severe hives with occasional swelling round mouth and eyes. I had a similar bout 7 years ago. Most of my other reactions have been mild (sneezing, facial flushing) reactions to alcohol. The two longer bouts seem to be at their worst when I've had wine or beer but having cut out booze, it's clearly not just that.

When I went to the gp last time she said 'It's chronic idiopathic urticaria. Keep taking the antihistamines and it will go away eventually. ' Then eventually she sent me to a specialist, who said exactly the same.

It did go away in the end, but I think it was probably caused both times by eating and drinking (on holiday) lots of stuff that was high in histamines. And when I laid off the wine, cheese, salami etc at home it went away.

Not sure how useful testing would be - can they test for histamine intolerance or only allergies to specific foods? I didn't find the gp very helpful last time tbh.