HISTAWHAT? Part 2
“So, how did you find out?” is the most frequent question I get.
The answer is: I didn’t. My daughter, Alexandrea (Copper Key Photography) did. She has been seriously ill for over 3 years and unable to get much help through the medical establishment. She did have one doctor test her for Alpha-Gal Syndrome and it was positive. Alpha- Gal Syndrome is an inability to digest mammalian proteins. Alpha gal (galactose-alpha 1, 3-galatose) is a sugar molecule found in most mammals (cows, pigs, bison, deer, rabbits, etc.). The Texas Tic (so named because of a shape on it’s back that looks like the state of Texas) bite causes Alpha-gal Syndrome which is “a serious, potentially life-threatening allergic reaction” (CDC website) to alpha-gal. So once bitten by this tic one is unable to digest pork, beef, rabbit, lamb, venison, elk, etc and all products from mammals including gelatin, cow’s milk and milk products including cheeses. I placed a Vitamin D capsule into our smoothie and in one gulp Alexandrea had a serious reaction. Looking of the bottle she found that part of the source for the Vitamin D was beef. Her sensitivities are very high and her reactions often quick. The tic bite went undetected and untreated. I have heard of some people getting over this reaction. This information and the ensuing meatless/dairyless diet helped, but it did not solve the problems. She continued to have debilitating reactions to many things and making sense of it was a nightmare for her and for me.
Alexandrea was reduced to a severely limited diet and had difficulty getting enough calories to run her body. After depleting the medical resources and tests available to her, she turned to a Black Forest Hair Analysis which gave her a long list of food allergies. Pouring over this list to find commonalities, a friend one day said,
“Oh, those three are high histamine foods.”
That was the key. Internet searches revealed the foods on her list were high histamine stimulators. The searches revealed much information about low histamine diets and this was a major key to her getting well. She also noticed that the condition can be genetically linked. My father suffered greatly from the symptoms (bloating, extreme intestinal distress, swelling, arthritis like symptoms). He figured out that he needed to avoid dairy and when he did so, he was better. Holidays were especially difficult times as relatives would cook with butter and probably other foods that stimulated his symptoms which we now believe to have been histamine responses. We knew he also had pre-diabetic reactions to sugars. He loved his coffee with two heaping teaspoons of sugar accompanied by a sweet roll. We knew to leave within 20 minutes because if you did not, he would start a fight with someone. Sugar rebound. Sugar is also not your friend on a low histamine diet. She suspects her paternal grandmother also had this syndrome, so she may have inherited it from both sides of the family making her even more susceptible/sensitive.
My symptoms included bloating, gas, swelling, arthritic-type symptoms (joint aches and pains and lack of flexibility possibly due to inflammation), cold like symptoms including sore and rough throat, cough, mucous production, occasional blurry vision, breathing problems including wheezing, bronchitis-like symptoms and shortness of breath and racing heart beat. My least favorite is swelling of the tongue and mouth sores. The tongue swelling can be so bad that it feels like my tongue has been repeatedly cut by a razor! The reaction has lasted as long as a week before I understood it was a histamine response.
As I get myself well on this low histamine diet, I am more sensitive to what is causing my symptoms and I now know that I sometimes need an antihistamine to help alleviate my symptoms, at least until I find out root causes. I am using the two teas I mentioned in the first post (Tulsi Rose and Moringa) and they work well most of the time. If I have a large reaction, I need to take an antihistamine. What I take is OTC Benedryl and Zertec. Alexandrea takes Hydroxazine (she says it puts her to sleep but it works). This raises the question for me: what does histamine have to do with sleep and I also want to know what it has to do with body temperature regulation.
Last night I attended a gathering of women and enjoyed the first hour. Slowly I started feeling my throat being effected, my sinuses started producing mucus, and when a headache started and my eyes started to itch I went to the bathroom to put cold water on my eyes. There is where I found the culprit. A candle with a loud scent. I left quickly after that and it took an anti-histamine, a cup of Tulsi Rose tea and several hours (more than 4) to get to where I could go to sleep. Body aches and pains were high as well making it hard to sleep and I did not want to take aspirin.
As you try this diet, don’t despair. I just talked with a friend who is trying it and she had a setback. After much discussion, she reported she tried some of her husband’s sauteed vegetables sandwich filling avoiding the bread.“
“That’s it! That is enough to set off a reaction especially when you are starting to heal your body. The veggies were not organic and the oil they used was probably histamine producing or stimulating.”
“It was a French restaurant, it could have been butter.”
“Yes, and that would do it too. I rarely eat out anymore and when I do it’s at a restaurant I can trust to do exactly what I request. Usually it’s a fillet of fish pan seared in Olive Oil with garlic and thyme and a plain salad with Olive Oil on the side. I use the oil as a dressing and add salt and sometimes pepper. I could also bring my own Olive Oil for the salad dressing. I would add thyme, garlic and salt to it. I only go to restaurants I trust to use the best of ingredients. One day I met a friend for lunch and all I could find on the menu that I could eat was a small side of melon. That restaurant didn’t even have olive oil!”
Keeping a food diary is something that might help you identify what is causing your symptoms. Every bite counts for me.
In addition to salt, garlic and thyme are the two seasoning that works for all three of us. They are able to use white pepper. I don’t think it’s good for me. lt is better than black, but I still feel I react at this point in my recovery/healing process.
A special note on citric acid. Make sure how your citric acid is sourced. Some is made from corn and most corn is GMA, stored way too long (often contains mold and mildew). I am in the process of researching this as well. (Thanks Jen for telling me about this.)
For future posts, I will be looking for answers to questions like: why histamine effects me so strongly? What causes such a response? What does histamoine have to do with body temperature? What does it have to do with digestion? Does histamine have an effect on blood pressure?