Histamine intolerance - anyone got that?

[filfla4]

Hi,

I'm just catching up with this thread. I had my second appointment with Prof De Meirleir last week and have started on his treatment protocol (see GcMAF thread). He also found (through hyrdogen breath testing) that I am very lactose intolerant and slightly fructose intolerant. A food allergy test sent by KDM's clinic to US Bio Tek has resulted that I am also very allergic to eggs and oysters.

I also had a 2-hour session with his nutritionist, Christine Tobback, and she has made her dietary recommendations. Essentially, apart from the above she has recommended a low histamine, low gluten, no dairy, no eggs diet - and that's simplifying it a lot as I have a detailed sheet on eating particular fruit and vegetables in very limited quantities. I have to cut out all sugar and she recommended using rice syrup to sweeten drinks or as a spread on rice crackers.

I'm still trying to get my head around all this information, particularly the low histamine bit. Fortunately I live in the Med, so I'm used to avoiding dairy and drizzling olive oil on my food - she highly recommends this. She also said no herbs and spices at all, only salt and olive oil.

If any of you have any good information/links on low histamine, I'd appreciate any help I can get right now!!

Thanks!!

 

[richvank]

Hi, Athene and the group.

For what it's worth, I think that the GD-MCB hypothesis can explain the histamine-related problems in CFS. The reason is that one of the main pathways for metabolizing (breaking down) histamine requires methylation. With a partial block in the methylation cycle, which most PWCs appear to have, based on testing, I think it would be expected that histamine would not be broken down at normal rates. For more information on this hypothesis and the treatment based on it, please see www.cfsresearch.org and click on CFS/M.E. and then on my name.

Best regards,

Rich

Hi, all.

I've learned a little more about histamine metabolism, so I want to add something to my earlier post. There are two enzymes that metabolize (break down) histamine. One is the histamine N-methyl transferase that I was referring to in my earlier post. It requires methylation, and is probably inhibited in ME/CFS because of the partial methylation cycle block.

The other enzyme is diamine oxidase, and it is the main one in the gut. so if there is a high histamine problem in the gut, it may be a result of inhibition of this enzyme. It requires copper and vitamin B6 as cofactors, so if either is low, that could inhibit this enzyme. Actually, it needs the active form of B6, which is P5P, and the FMN form of B2 is needed to convert B6 into P5P, so low B2 or inability to convert it into its coezyme form, FMN, could also be responsible.

Best regards,

Rich