Ep 83: Histamine Isn't the Problem — Here's What Actually Is

[upbeat music] Hello, hello, my dears, and welcome back to another episode of the Nutrient Dense Podcast.

Today, we're going to be digging into all things histamine and histamine overload, or you could call it histamine intolerance.

There is a lot that goes into this, so I'm gonna try to break it down as simply as possible with the biggest kind of goal here to let you really thoroughly understand, have you really thoroughly understand that histamine is not really the problem, right? So any time we're experiencing too much histamine, excess production, inability to clear it, histamine overload, we're having those, like, histamine-y symptoms, um, it's not...

histamine isn't the real issue, even though it can be contributing to the pain and discomfort that we are experiencing.

So let's break down why histamine isn't really the problem and what actually is underneath all of those layers.

So histamine issues are really often a capacity problem.

They're not just necessarily a food problem.

So we have to start to ask, why has my body become less capable of handling a normal histamine load? Where is the breakdown in the chain? Am I overproducing it? Am I having trouble clearing it? Is it both? And what is causing that underneath the surface? So what's at the core there, right? Why is my body struggling to break down the histamine that I am exposed to on a regular basis? So this can have many various root causes, and we're gonna dig into that today.

And a quick caveat here too, so histamine overload can overlap with MCAS or mast cell activation syndrome, but they are not exactly the same.

So MCAS stands for mast cell activation syndrome, and it's more complex than histamine overload or histamine intolerance.

Mast cell activation syndrome occurs when the immune cells become dysregulated, and they release an excessive and frequent amount of chemical mediators, which does include histamine, right? But it's not only histamine, so it can also be things like cytokines, tryptase, prostaglandins, leukotrienes, not only histamine.

When we're talking about histamine overload, we're talking about histamine being that real driver, right? When we're talking about MCAS, it's typically more systemic.

It's typically more severe, not 100% of the time, but I mean, in my experience, probably like 95% of the time it's going to be more severe.

People are going to have more sensitivities, and we're not just looking at a higher histamine burden.

We're looking at an overactivation of those mast cells altogether, and a frequent and excessive amount of those chemical mediators altogether.

So I'd say MCAS is more complex, and typically when we see people with MCAS, they are incredibly sensitive, right? So they're very sensitive to supplement interventions, medications, smells, chemicals.

This is not always the case with histamine overload.

We will also see kind of mold illness and mold toxicity overlap with this quite a bit too.

But you can absolutely have mold illness and not have MCAS.

I am like a walking example of that.

I had mold illness previously, but I never had MCAS.

And I did have histamine issues, but I never had full-fledged MCAS.

But it can get confusing, right? 'Cause some things overlap, and mold can absolutely contribute to MCAS.

It can contribute to histamine overload for sure, but they're not exactly all the same thing, right? So I would say with MCAS, we typically have big hypersensitivity, can't take interventions, don't respond the same way that other people respond.

It's a trickier, it's a trickier, more complex situation overall.

[upbeat music] Hello, hello, my dears, and welcome back to another episode of the Nutrient Dense Podcast.

Today, we're going to be digging into all things histamine and histamine overload, or you could call it histamine intolerance.

There is a lot that goes into this, so I'm gonna try to break it down as simply as possible with the biggest kind of goal here to let you really thoroughly understand, have you really thoroughly understand that histamine is not really the problem, right? So any time we're experiencing too much histamine, excess production, inability to clear it, histamine overload, we're having those, like, histamine-y symptoms, um, it's not...

histamine isn't the real issue, even though it can be contributing to the pain and discomfort that we are experiencing.

So let's break down why histamine isn't really the problem and what actually is underneath all of those layers.

So histamine issues are really often a capacity problem.

They're not just necessarily a food problem.

So we have to start to ask, why has my body become less capable of handling a normal histamine load? Where is the breakdown in the chain? Am I overproducing it? Am I having trouble clearing it? Is it both? And what is causing that underneath the surface? So what's at the core there, right? Why is my body struggling to break down the histamine that I am exposed to on a regular basis? So this can have many various root causes, and we're gonna dig into that today.

And a quick caveat here too, so histamine overload can overlap with MCAS or mast cell activation syndrome, but they are not exactly the same.

So MCAS stands for mast cell activation syndrome, and it's more complex than histamine overload or histamine intolerance.

Mast cell activation syndrome occurs when the immune cells become dysregulated, and they release an excessive and frequent amount of chemical mediators, which does include histamine, right? But it's not only histamine, so it can also be things like cytokines, tryptase, prostaglandins, leukotrienes, not only histamine.

When we're talking about histamine overload, we're talking about histamine being that real driver, right? When we're talking about MCAS, it's typically more systemic.

It's typically more severe, not 100% of the time, but I mean, in my experience, probably like 95% of the time it's going to be more severe.

People are going to have more sensitivities, and we're not just looking at a higher histamine burden.

We're looking at an overactivation of those mast cells altogether, and a frequent and excessive amount of those chemical mediators altogether.

So I'd say MCAS is more complex, and typically when we see people with MCAS, they are incredibly sensitive, right? So they're very sensitive to supplement interventions, medications, smells, chemicals.

This is not always the case with histamine overload.

We will also see kind of mold illness and mold toxicity overlap with this quite a bit too.

But you can absolutely have mold illness and not have MCAS.

I am like a walking example of that.

I had mold illness previously, but I never had MCAS.

And I did have histamine issues, but I never had full-fledged MCAS.

But it can get confusing, right? 'Cause some things overlap, and mold can absolutely contribute to MCAS.

It can contribute to histamine overload for sure, but they're not exactly all the same thing, right? So I would say with MCAS, we typically have big hypersensitivity, can't take interventions, don't respond the same way that other people respond.

It's a trickier, it's a trickier, more complex situation overall.