One of the more interesting roads that Covid has led me down, which I am still exploring is that of histamine. This has opened up more pathways than I ever imagined, flipped much of what I previously accepted as "here's how chronic illnesses and inflammation" work upside down and inside out, and have had them fall into a slightly new arrangement in which I can feel the bigger picture with more clarity. (Notice I did not say "see" the bigger picture........because it's not there yet. I am feeling my way through it and it is slowly starting to piece itself together.......if I try and look at the whole of it right now, it is still quite discombobulated as some pieces are still blurry, and others branch off in a hundred directions connecting to 105 different things, all which seemingly make sense, if I look at them from a certain perspective....but then we get into bias and that which I assume to be true making the scales tilt one way or another, which of course creates 107 different stories, each of which fit in their own peculiar way..........so it's best just to FEEL and hold them and then see what relationships start to emerge and hold themselves into form over time - or the rule of three........when three conformations flow in connecting things in the same way with the same essences. Whenever 3 appear, I start to pay more attention and follow that thread, which. usually leads me to some very interesting things.). Research is like that. We can say this equals this, and yes this is true, but we left out 175 other things that are also related and when we realize that, we realize that all we really have is an idea, a possibility, one of many.......so best to wait for them to take form.
As I am watching things in my own body shift and change, I can feel the connecting points to inflammation..........(which is just becoming too commonplace lately) but then I must ask what is underlying that....because yes we have inflammation and we can simply reach for the turmeric or the steroid and that will probably. help.....for a while......and then it won't.......but we need to be asking Why the inflammation? What comes before? And I dont think many people are looking at that.
The answer that is seeming to be the most accurate, is histamine. And of course we will come to a place where there is more under that....where I will be asking "Ok, so why histamine? What comes before?...." and I assume it will come down to lifestyle choices, but I also feel there will be more.......and this is where I am at now...histamine.
What is fascinating is when you dive into histamine you realize that it is not limited to just the small area that we have decided to believe - that histamine is indicated by our typical allergy symptoms. Yes, this is a part of it, but that is just a crack in the iceberg. It is so much bigger than that.
MOST of our gut issues are actually histamine issues. This blew me a way....for a moment.....and then I sat with it and went "yes, of course!" It's not just the leaky gut, it's not just the sensitivities and processed foods causing the issues.....and its. not just the antibiotic use - which ties into leaky gut and gets most of the blame, and probably somewhat rightfully so...........but it is WHAT these activate and put into play in the body, which is the histamine response....and add a hundred of those choices a day that range from that enriched bread you are eating with folic acid (folic acid is a synthetic copy of folate and is actually not able to be processed by the body....and when. you add in MTHFR to the picture and all of it's possible variants, which I believe are far more common than we yet know........to what you breathe in.....to how angry you are at that person who "done you wrong" but inside you know it was really you and then you harbor resentment that you keep pointing a finger at "out there", so further and further away we travel. It is so much more complex than we have been led to believe.
And no...antihistamines are not the solution......again, temporarily yes, they will subdue the symptoms.....but then you open yourself up to a whole host of other issues from what they do to certain receptors in our body over long periods of time (enter dementia and heart issues and a bunch of other things).......and we have a whole new collection of problems.
And then we get the hottest new thing in the field of diagnosis of "Mast Cell Activation Syndrome" and people cheer at what appears as an answer.......which then gets wrapped up in another box and nobody is asking why? what? and how?
And we say....oh just give me a pill please to make it stop, and oddly timed (not really), Pharma steps in and says "funny you should ask, we just happen to have a thing...."
Back to histamine. I am still in my research phase, but am so excited with what I am learning that I am sharing it, as I go....as I often do, which seems to be helpful for folks.
And here are some of the things I am learning.....
Histamine is a response to things that do not belong, things that the body sees as a threat.
There are 4 types of histamine we know of....or rather four times of histamine receptors, which is more accurate. (Information here inspired by an article at News-Medical and a few other sources.)
The H1 histamine receptors are involved in allergic response. These are primarily in the smooth muscles of the peripheral nervous system. The activation of these receptors causes vasocontriction..........and blood vessel dilation, increased permeability, and so on....which result in your typical allergic responses of sneezing, congestion, etc. I recently learned that activation of the H1 receptor can inhibit potassium (another puzzle piece for my wild hospital visit years ago with stroke level blood pressure from low potassium levels).
The H2 receptors are primarily found in the stomach and the heart....but also some other places such as in immune cells. Activation of this receptor increases digestive juices. When activation of these receptors are combined with activation of H1 receptors, we can get increased inflammation in the upper respiratory tract. We can also experience some digestive issues (currently what I believe I am dealing with since Covid). This H2 receptor also explains why doctors often prescribe antacids for allergies, which never made sense to me, and none of them could every explain it when I asked, but now I know.
The H3 histamine receptors are distributed throughout the central nervous system....and is found mostly up in various parts of the brain - the cortex, thalamus, hypothalamus, hippocampus, and so on.......This receptor is highly involved with dopamine, GABA, acetylcholine, and norepinephrine. (Brain fog anyone?)
The H4 histamine receptors are mainly found on immune cells and those containing leukocytes (I won't define that for you as im not quite at the level to be able to do that confidently.) These receptors are found in the spleen, bone marrow, thymus, and also in the colon, lung, liver, etc.
Now the average person will say (im on repeat here), just give me an antihistamine to make it stop. And yes, this will do that....however, that will have other consequences and present other issues. Not to mention that as long as we are still exposing ourselves to the things that are triggering the histamine response......well....there is still going to be an effect on the body, only now we won't feel it and so it will have to express itself at a deeper level...which means bigger issues and bigger problems.
So what to do?
Well several things.........and then probably several more will emerge the more I (and we) begin to learn about this thing called histamine. (something they really should teach in schools amongst things like how to research and how to do taxes....and how to mend clothing.....I could go on and on.........)
We can bring in the support of herbs that help shift histamine. I learned about these herbs from Sean Donoghue, who has a brilliant formula that I have been working with and have been sharing with clients.....and there has been wonderful success with this. Baikal skullcap is one such herb that has been shown to help lower histamine levels in the body. More specifically it inhibits the release of histamine by the mast cells. (now we still HAVE to make life style choices that are in alignment with this.....as I said....if we keep bombarding our body with histamine triggers, we are never truly shifting things, we are just treading water and eventually our arms will get tired.) Another herb is red sage, also known as Dan Shen that works well in combination with the Baikal skullcap.....and I am still learning the pathways and the whys. I am a funny character in that it is often not enough for me to just know that these things work, but I like to understand them so that I can know why they work.....so onward with my research.
We can work on our traumas, our anxiety patterns, you know...that stuff we tuck deep down inside. Remember how I said histamine is released in response to something that feels threatening? This includes our thoughts and emotions.......because as I chant as a bit of a mantra......the body, the emotions, the mind.....are not separate from one another. How each of us chooses to work on these things will be unique to us. It may be the route of talk therapy, or energetic bodywork that works with those imprints. It may be meditation, breath work, or any combination of things. It may be bringing in supportive flower essences, which are wonderful supports for traumas (there is even a whole "Trauma Set" centered around Lillies, and essences that support the lilies from Delta Gardens.)
We can explore elimination diets, which may not be reduced just to foods........all of the things we take in count here........including social media, relationships, and something as seemingly benign as watching the news (I dont think it's at all benign.). We can start to pay attention to how we feel after we eat something or after we listen to a certain podcast. If it feels like it's stirring up things that don't feel good in our body, well, that's a really good sign that this might be worth eliminating to see what happens.
If I were going to sum it all up, it's all quite simple.......stop doing the things that make you feel bad or sick or just not wonderful............and choose more of the things that do. This includes......foods, environments, relationships, jobs, and so on and so forth. Easy peasy, right? It should be...and it's far from that. This is why I always say look to animals and to very small children (4 years and younger)........they are really and truly our best teachers.
Ultimately, be gentle with yourself. We have been brainwashed, indoctrinated, and haven't had the healthiest of models, even when those models meant well, which most of the time they did. It took a long time and many layers to get so out of whack - and even when folks might say....I felt fine until I got Covid or EBV or bit by that tick........Im pretty sure that you didn't.........the cup was getting full and that illness was just the top off that overfloweth your cup. And.........no sense in lamenting it - ok maybe a little bit because it is good to get that grief out..........but feel it, explore it, and then let it flow............because we cant change the past, but we can change our perspective about it....and it turns out that this is a very important thing indeed.
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