Garylouisville

Gary what was the supplement you take for histamine intolerance? I believe a friend of mine is suffering from this due to use of PPIs.

Thanks Gary

Many UC'rs are low on the digestive enzyme DAO, which helps metabolize excess dietary histamines, which can give you UC like symptoms or make your UC much worse. It is well documented if you google it. There is a blood test for it but I didn't have one and I know of no one who has. I self diagnosed. I had four or five things, seemingly totally unlrelated that immediately and totally made my UC much worse. After much intense investigation I discovered that there was only one thing related to all of these things - they were all high in histamines. After ordering some DAO I then gave it the test by taking some and then purposely eating foods which would make me run to the bathroom 10-20 times in the next few hours. Nothing happened as the DAO was a complete success. I attempted to cure my UC with it but it did not cure me. It did however get rid of this histamine overdose which would make my symptoms much worse, forcing my UC to get better and my colon began the slow process of healing while at the same time allowing me to eat foods which used to make me much, much worse. Most all the treatments I do now are geared toward this histamine thing and it seems to be working. I am about 95% in remission with no pred, no immunemodulators, and no biologics. In fact, the only prescription I take for my UC is Pentasa.

No. DAO naturally occurs in the body but many UC'rs don't have as much as they should. I saw a video on it once where a doctor stated it was virtually impossible to overdose on it or have any negative side effects. He said you could take 10,000 bottles all at once with no consequences. You need enough DAO in your system to counteract the amount of histamines ingested. If you don't have enough you can have allergic reactions which include UC type symptoms. You only need enough DAO to counteract the amount of histamines and, unfortunately, this is all a big guessing game since you don't know how much DAO you need and you also don't know the amount of histamines you are ingesting. Your body only uses the amount of DAO that it needs so if you take too much it doesn't harm you but it doesn't do you any good either and is pretty much wasted.

Histamine wise:

Fruits and fruit juices (particularly orange), aged cheeses (particularly cheddar), tomato sauce products (especially those with aged cheeses like parmesan or cheddar), and anything containing a lot of yeasts (including the probiotic Florastor), and certain deli meats (particularly when not fresh). My wife made some homemade chili one night that contained several of these items and it was the best chili I had ever had in my life but, unfortunately, worked better than a colonoscopy prep. Now I can eat them all all long as I take enough DAO and my UC is very close to remission.

Most breads I can handle, although I take the digestive enzyme DAO before all meals. Some breads have much more yeast in them than others. I have never liked beer and don't really drink alcohol, maybe one or two drinks a year. I have been indulging in some fresh peaches from my yard the last couple of days - really good but I haven't taken enough DAO to counter the histamine so I've been going like 4 - 5 times the last couple of days when I had only been going 2 - 3.

One more question then Petah can have his thread back...

Where do you buy your Probiotics from? You mentioned you take a yeast free Probiotic and I thought that would be a good place to start for me because of the similarities in intolerance to high histamine foods.

sounds like a plan for someone with time and money -

me, I'd rather spend my time and money on other things - so I just avoid the few things that give me issues - no guess work, no pill popping, not much brain power needed (I'm low on that enzyme whatever it is ;-)) - easy peasy -

but hey, whatever works for you guys - I hope you all find the holy snail

(btw, what exactly IS a deli meat ?)

Hey Gary,

My girlfriend has been suffering from chronic migraines since she was 12 years old. Apparently histamines can be involved in migraines too. Hope you don't mind but I shared your story on HW's migraine forum.

www.medscape.com/viewarticle/811920

VIENNA, Austria — Preventive treatment with diamine oxidase (DAO), an enzyme that degrades histamine, significantly shortened the duration of migraine attacks and trended toward reducing the number of episodes.
Histamine is present in many foods, is released in allergic reactions, and is one of the chemical mediators that contributes to migraine. about 25% of the population may have an alteration in DAO that decreases its activity in breaking down histamine. The enzyme is expressed most in the intestine, kidney, and placenta.
"We diagnosed 137 patients who have a migraine, of whom 119 showed deficits of the activity of the enzyme, around 87% of the total patients that we have studied," said Joan Izquierdo, MD, from the Faculty of Health Sciences at the International University of Catalonia and the neurology service at Catalonia General Hospital in Barcelona, Spain.
He said normal enzyme activity is a score of at least 80 histamine-degrading units [HDU]/mL.
In a survey administered in 2006 and again in 2012, symptom scores correlated with enzyme activity. Symptom scores rose progressively as enzyme activity dropped below 80 HDU/mL, with scores 50% to 120% higher in the 30-40 HDU/mL range compared with enzyme activity >80 HDU/mL.
Speaking here at the XXI World Congress of Neurology (WCN), Dr. Izquierdo presented the results of his single-center, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial of DAO oral supplementation, called MIGRADAO 002, as a preventive treatment in patients with DAO activity less than 80 HDU/mL and episodic migraine with or without aura, diagnosed according to the criteria of the International Headache Society.
Participants were men or women age 18 to 60 years old with an attack within the previous 6 months. Most of the patients were women, with only 8 men in each group. The placebo and medication groups were well matched for median age (approximately 40 years) and age range (18 to 65 years).