Since discovering my histamine intolerance issues my journey of healing from the psychiatric drug iatrogenesis has taken many positive and interesting turns. As I’ve written about many times in various ways, I’ve learned that as holistic beings everything matters. This includes what we eat and everything we put in and on our bodies as well as everything we do. I found out that I need to be very careful of my histamine intake. It’s a LARGE piece of my healing puzzle. It is not the only piece. I want to reiterate that. There are many pieces, but without this one I was missing a large and important part. I’ve recently written about the autonomic nervous system dysfunction too. Autonomic nervous system dysfunction actually creates and/or exacerbates many sorts of hypersensitivities. For me this included the histamine issue in a very big way. For this reason I think that for those of us with protracted withdrawal issues, the autonomic system dysfunction is even more primary.
To be clear, for me, without tending to the histamine issue it would be impossible to get to the bottom of the autonomic nervous system issues, so in that regard all things are equal. Histamine intolerance and understanding it is of vital importance for those of us affected. Other people will have other vital needs to tend to…most of us have a combination of many once we get very sick with protracted withdrawal issues.
For folks who’ve not gone so far as to take psych drugs for years and withdraw from them and get iatrogenic damage, eliminating histamine as an issue might just be life-saving. If you’re affected and you come to understand that, this missing link might allow you to simply miss out on the psych drug gravy train completely. It doesn’t mean there aren’t lots of other issues you’re dealing with like trauma, and grief and loss and general dismay of the state of the world and humanity, but it means you might be able to clear out one compounding factor and figure out more easily how to deal with the others.
For those who’ve taken psych meds a long time and find themselves ill, it may also be an important key to recovery. Since sharing my own discovery many folks who read the blog and many iatrogenically ill comrades I’ve met along the way in withdrawal circles etc have found that histamine issues are, indeed, relevant for them too. It’s worth considering if you’re on psych meds and especially if you’ve come off them and you are having problems. It doesn’t impact everyone, but it’s clear that some significant percentage of folks with a psych drug history have histamine issues. Also, recently I shared on twitter and facebook an article that clearly implicates some histamine involvement with some people who are labeled schizophrenic. Dr. Joneja in the interview I’m sharing below speaks to the frequency people with acute anxiety disorders of various kinds find it disappears when she starts working with them, too. It can affect most systems in the body so mood and basic peace of mind are clearly affected in lots of people.
The Low Histamine Chef shares her psych med story here: How histamine conditions mimic psychiatric disorders
So it’s clear, this sort of sensitivity unrecognized can lead to being drugged with psychiatric pharmaceuticals to begin with, so anyone taking any of these drugs might want to rule out this condition. Being that a lot of neuroleptics and benzos and it seems SSRIs too all have significant anti-histamine properties this may impact a good number of folks.
The Low Histamine Chef has done the most practical research and experimentation on how to live with severe histamine intolerance issues. Yasmina’s work has been an amazing gold-mine of information. My understanding of my body and it’s particular needs has grown in leaps and bounds since finding her work. If you suspect a histamine intolerance issue she can help you learn how to eat again which is perhaps the single most difficult thing for most people to figure out. I love discovering new foods and learning to cook creatively with new limits. It’s how I’ve made what can otherwise be a rather nightmare experience into an adventure. Yasmina has helped inform me in many ways. The fact remains we are all different so having others who are similar to help tease out the individual particulars is imperative.
For transcript of part 1 of the interview visit The Low Histamine Chef
For transcript of part 2 visit The Low Histamine Chef
I want to underscore what Dr. Joneja says at the end of part 2. Dr. Joneja is a serious researcher besides being an incredibly helpful clinician. Her final words to The Low Histamine chef in their interview were:
I’m so happy to have the opportunity because I feel for so many years that I’ve been this little voice in the wilderness – and, you know, I’m not terribly popular with certain clinicians as a result of them feeling that this is “alternative medicine”! And it isn’t! I’m an absolutely traditional scientist – I couldn’t be more traditional! You know, everything has to have evidence-based research – everything I do! (read more)
Just because her work is cutting edge does not make it woo. What is happening in our bodies is very, very real.
Access to much more information on my own personal discoveries about histamine intolerance and how it particularly relates to that which get labeled psychiatric disorders here: A mini histamine intolerance round-up — includes many links to much more information
These are my two original posts on the topic of histamine intolerance. There are many more links that go to many additional sources for information within the text of those two posts as well.
- Histamine intolerance (new discovery, likely to apply to others on psych meds and coming off them too) (includes a list of other resources from other blogs at the bottom of the post)
- The histamine intolerance link and how this paleo girl went vegetarian (even vegan, for the time being!) (update) I’ve been able to slowly add a bit of animal protein back in lately
See also Everything Matters: a Memoir From Before, During and After Psychiatric Drugs
SEE ALSO:
**POSTS ON BEING HYPERSENSITIVE IN GENERAL HERE
**Working with somatic issues from sensitivities here
Update 2016: Histamine issues are only a piece of the vast holistic puzzle that the drug injury left me with. The histamine link serves as one possible window to access the chaos that has been my injured nervous system. It was a very helpful window for a couple of years. It’s not the window I prefer or use primarily anymore, though the information I gleaned from using this framework moved me along in my healing in significant ways. I prefer to now use more holistic understandings of body/mind/spirit. Histamine is one tiny molecule in our bodies interacting with millions of other microorganisms and chemicals in our bodies. It really doesn’t need to be given such prominence in the long run. Lately I prefer to use Chinese and Ayurvedic medicine to understand the intense complexity that is our human body . Still, the below info on histamine may be very helpful if this is what is currently resonating for you.
Eating wholesome whole real food is important for body/mind/spirit health and well-being. I’ve written a lot about my adventure with diet and healing here: Nutrition and gut health, Mental health and diet
Everyone’s journey will be particular to them. Dietary needs vary greatly from individual to individual and at different times of life the individual may also have varying needs. Mine have changed dramatically as I’ve learned to pay attention to my bodies needs.
For a multitude of ideas about how to create a life filled with safe alternatives to psychiatric drugs visit the drop-down menus at the top of this page or scroll down the homepage for more recent postings.
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