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    Created in 2008, Phoenix Rising is the largest and oldest forum dedicated to furthering the understanding of and finding treatments for complex chronic illnesses such as chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS), fibromyalgia (FM), long COVID, postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome (POTS), mast cell activation syndrome (MCAS), and allied diseases.

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Ive heard antihistamines can help with Long-Covid, are there any dangers in trying them for M.E people?

Guwop2

Senior Member
Messages
227
Hi, since May Ive experienced what seems to me to be long-Covid like symptoms as a consequence of taking the AZ vaccine. I have read that there has been some improvement to LC by taking antihistamines and would be willing to try if there werent any major dangers to doing this for someone with M.E. I did try Loratadine a year ago (an M.E doctor recommended) and after taking 1 they made me extrememely drowsy and i didnt try any others for fear they might be doing me harm. I bought some Benadryl (so am ready to go), but before I try it I thought i'd better post to see if there was anything I should know... is there?
 

SWAlexander

Senior Member
Messages
1,897
Hi, since May Ive experienced what seems to me to be long-Covid like symptoms as a consequence of taking the AZ vaccine. I have read that there has been some improvement to LC by taking antihistamines and would be willing to try if there werent any major dangers to doing this for someone with M.E. I did try Loratadine a year ago (an M.E doctor recommended) and after taking 1 they made me extrememely drowsy and i didnt try any others for fear they might be doing me harm. I bought some Benadryl (so am ready to go), but before I try it I thought i'd better post to see if there was anything I should know... is there?

I´m taking antihistamines but only 1/2 hour before I go to bed. Works perfect for me.
One other thing is very important - drink at least 1/2 gal water during the day to keep colons active and flush kidneys.
 

Guwop2

Senior Member
Messages
227
I´m taking antihistamines but only 1/2 hour before I go to bed. Works perfect for me.
One other thing is very important - drink at least 1/2 gal water during the day to keep colons active and flush kidneys.
Thanks for the advice. By 'works perfectly' do you mean they improve your symptoms?
 

Guwop2

Senior Member
Messages
227
Very much so. It not only improved histamine intolerance, it also reduced my mast cell problem/symtomes (but not cured).
Makes life much better.

Thank you. Curious how long did it take for them to work, and is there a duration for which I should take them for?
 

Learner1

Senior Member
Messages
6,305
Location
Pacific Northwest
. I have read that there has been some improvement to LC by taking antihistamines and would be willing to try if there werent any major dangers to doing this for someone with M.E
Many ME/CFS patients have problems with mast cell activation. It's an emerging problem in long COVID, too.

Treatment typically consists of H1 and H2 antihistamines and mast cell stabilizers like quercetin and cromolyn sodium.

You might find this helpful:

https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.1515/dx-2020-0005/html
 

Guwop2

Senior Member
Messages
227

hapl808

Senior Member
Messages
2,052
Ill look into it. My symptoms are that I get PEM very fast with my legs becoming very weak.

I have similar symptoms - very low energy envelope with bad PEM and weak legs all the time but worsens with PEM. Unfortunately I didn't see a big change with antihistamines - maybe a small improvement, but not worth the side effects (for me). I do use quercetin for some of my allergy issues, but doesn't seem to affect PEM or leg weakness.

I also get bad reflux after anything that triggers PEM. Things like Pepcid were unreliable, but I've found some relief by taking slippery elm and marshmallow - that at least delays the PEM and slightly reduces the severity. I also take BCAA and ALCAR with maybe another (very small) improvement in weakness. Unfortunately leg weakness is still one of my main issues.
 

Guwop2

Senior Member
Messages
227
I have similar symptoms - very low energy envelope with bad PEM and weak legs all the time but worsens with PEM. Unfortunately I didn't see a big change with antihistamines - maybe a small improvement, but not worth the side effects (for me). I do use quercetin for some of my allergy issues, but doesn't seem to affect PEM or leg weakness.

I also get bad reflux after anything that triggers PEM. Things like Pepcid were unreliable, but I've found some relief by taking slippery elm and marshmallow - that at least delays the PEM and slightly reduces the severity. I also take BCAA and ALCAR with maybe another (very small) improvement in weakness. Unfortunately leg weakness is still one of my main issues.

Did these symptoms come from Covid directly, or did you have M.E before? - I got these symptoms directly after havig the vaccine, though possibly did have Covid over a year earlier.
 

hapl808

Senior Member
Messages
2,052
Did these symptoms come from Covid directly, or did you have M.E before? - I got these symptoms directly after havig the vaccine, though possibly did have Covid over a year earlier.

Mine are from ME. I've had it for 20 years, but after getting sick and a minor injury about five years ago, everything got significantly worse. My legs were always a bit 'heavy' feeling with ME, but now they're too weak to get around at all, and even worse during any PEM crash.