April 3, 2025 • 49 mins
Are your mysterious health problems actually histamine intolerance or Mast Cell Activation Syndrome? Those unexplained allergic reactions, chronic inflammation, digestive issues, headaches, skin problems, and fatigue might all stem from a common source—an immune system that's gone into overdrive, reacting too intensely to harmless triggers.
Sharon and Elena dive deep into the complex world of histamines and mast cells, explaining why these natural components of your immune system can sometimes go haywire, creating cascading symptoms that affect multiple body systems simultaneously. You'll discover why conventional allergy testing often misses MCAS and why seemingly healthy habits might be making your symptoms worse.
We break down the surprising truth about "health foods" that can trigger histamine reactions—bone broth, kombucha, avocados, aged cheeses, and fermented vegetables top the list. If your morning green smoothie leaves you feeling worse, not better, this episode reveals why. We explore personalized approaches to managing histamine overload, emphasizing that genetic factors determine which supplements and treatments work best for each individual.
Beyond diet, we share practical environmental modifications, stress management techniques, and innovative therapies like neural therapy that can help reset overactive immune responses. This conversation balances scientific understanding with practical, actionable advice for anyone struggling with histamine intolerance or suspected MCAS. Whether you're dealing with seasonal allergies that never seem to end or mysterious multi-system symptoms that conventional medicine hasn't solved, this episode offers hope through a root-cause approach to immune balance.
DISCLAIMER:
This is not medical advice – we do not diagnose or prescribe. This conversation is for educational purposes only. Please seek advice from your health practitioner.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to the K6 Wellness Revolution podcast.
I'm Elena, one of thepractitioners here at K6
Wellness Center in Dallas, Texas, where we blend trusted
expertise, compassionate careand a passion for helping you
achieve optimal health, becausewellness isn't just a goal, it's
a revolution.
Today, we're diving into atopic that affects so many
people, especially duringallergy season histamines and
(00:23):
mast cell activation syndrome,or MCAS for short.
If you've ever struggled withunexplained allergy-like
symptoms, food sensitivities,skin issues or chronic
inflammation, there's a goodchance that histamines and
overactive mast cells areplaying a role.
But what if there was a way tobalance your body naturally and
get to the root cause of theseissues?
(00:44):
To help us break it all down,I'm, of course, joined by Sharon
, our fearless leader of K6Wellness.
Sharon and I have worked withcountless clients dealing with
histamine intolerance and mastcell activation, and today we're
going to share our expertiseand knowledge on how a holistic,
naturopathic approach can helpstabilize histamine levels,
(01:06):
support immune function andreduce unwanted symptoms of
getting to the root cause.
So, whether you're dealing withseasonal allergies, chronic
inflammation or unexplainedsensitivities, this episode is
for you.
Let's get started.
So, Sharon, why don't you kickus off with?
Well, what the heck arehistamines?
That's a good question.
Speaker 2 (01:27):
I think everybody hears histamines.
I'm like, oh yeah, it's ahistamine reaction.
But histamines are basicallychemical compounds that our body
creates and they play a crucialrole in immune system function
role in immune system functionWith regard to allergies.
(01:48):
They promote inflammation andthat happens by, like, dilating
the blood vessels.
You have increased blood flow,but you have it for a reason
because that histamine reaction,by dilating blood vessels, it
allows white blood cells, whichare our immune system in action,
to reach an infection or a siteof injury and then start
(02:09):
repairing that site or theinjury or whatever.
So histamines also do otherthings.
We need histamines because itstimulates stomach acid
production, which helps usdigest our food, and if you
don't digest your food, youcan't absorb the nutrition from
your food.
But histamines also act asneurotransmitters in the central
(02:33):
nervous system, brain andspinal cord and they help
regulate sleep and appetite anda lot of other functions.
And so I think in the contextof this conversation, we're
going to be looking athistamines not as the public
enemy number one, because it'simportant to realize that
(02:54):
anything our body makes is notall bad.
It's not always all good, butpeople who become intolerant to
histamines are actuallyexperiencing their bodies not
being able to break down thosehistamines.
It's not that, oh, you makehistamines, oh no, Everybody
(03:19):
makes histamines.
That can lead to allergicreaction type symptoms like
watery eyes, a runny nose orGERD or reflux is one of them,
Also urticaria or hives, itchyskin, things like that.
So allergies in and ofthemselves it's a reaction to
(03:44):
just something benign.
I mean, it could be like apollen or a food and it can
result in you know thosesymptoms that we just talked
about.
But if you think about it,especially here in Texas, like
ragweed, mountain cedar, thoseare things that we hear about a
lot, right, and everybodycomplains about congestion and a
(04:04):
runny nose and hay fever cedarfever as it's called in Central
Texas and it's from histamines.
But it's not because cedar ispoisonous.
Cedar actually makes a greatcloset.
Right, we put cedar in ourclosets to keep bugs out, Helps,
(04:25):
keep the moths away.
But allergies are definitelyjust an over-response.
Usually it's ahistamine-mediated reaction and
histamines are a neededsubstance in our body.
But it can get out of hand andthat's where we're going to go
with a conversation today, andthat's histamines, right?
Speaker 1 (04:48):
There's such a confusion over exact histamines
or mast cell reaction.
So I think it's important tounderstand how mast cells
function and what theirsignificance is in allergic
reactions, Because a mast cellis a type of white blood cell
that your immune system makes,and it's found in mucosal and
epithelial tissues throughoutyour body and all the areas that
(05:09):
create a barrier between youand the outside environment,
which are your skin, nasalpassages, your GI brain, et
cetera.
They help protect you fromparasites, bacteria and even
toxins.
You find them anywhere there isinteraction between you and the
environment.
Toxins you find them anywherethere is interaction between you
and the environment.
So, when a threat isencountered, mass cells release
substances that create aninflammatory response in order
(05:31):
to neutralize the threat.
You know they act like a shieldin the best of circumstances
and they burn down their ownhouse in the worst of
circumstances.
I always picture a personlighting their shirt on fire in
order to kill a mosquito thatlanded on their shirt.
Speaker 2 (05:47):
That is MCAS, and so MCAS is the acronym for mass
cell activation syndrome, likeyou just mentioned.
And when somebody's sufferingfrom MCAS, I mean basically
they're in a state of immunesystem dysregulation and they're
burning the house down.
I always think of those.
(06:07):
I think we see all thishyperbolic or these crazy
analogies, like people lightingthemselves on fire to get rid of
a bug or something like that.
It's kind of crazy, but typicalallergic reactions or an
allergic response by the body,they go away on their own right.
Like people say well, I hadallergies yesterday but I'm
(06:29):
better today.
Or I had this itchy spot butit's gone.
And your immune system or yourhistamine response is supposed
to kind of act like the policeright or a security guard.
It's like they show up whenthere's a problem and then they
go away.
They fix the problem and theygo away.
(06:51):
If you have dysfunctional mastcells or a dysfunctional mast
cell system, there's really noback off mode, right, it just
keeps attacking and your mastcells release mediators that we
consider them to be toxins, andthey're the soldiers like keep
(07:15):
fighting, keep fighting, don'tstop, don't stop.
Well, mast cell activationsyndrome in and of itself keeps
you in this inflamed state whereyou just continue to react to
everything, you eventually beginto feel like you're allergic to
everything in life, right, andI think you know especially like
20 years ago we called itmultiple chemical sensitivities
(07:40):
Just it was a very broad termlike environmental illness.
But I wonder how much of thatis really just like mast cell
activation syndrome in peoplewho are very sensitive.
Because, two, this affectsmultiple systems.
It affects your gut immune axis.
It gets noticed via the releaseof histamines which can affect,
(08:02):
you know, ear, nose and throat,skin, gut, and I think that
it's important to know.
Okay, yes, there is this thingJust because you have a
histamine reaction doesn't meanyou have mast cell activation
syndrome, but also the reverseof that is true.
You don't actually have to haveallergic symptoms to have MCAS.
(08:27):
Some MCAS patients don't eventest positive for allergies and
we see that a lot People who getblood tests and that would be
like an IgE test there's noimmunoglobulin E and it's like
technically then there's noallergy and it's like
(09:05):
technically then there's noallergy.
But MCAS is when it gets going.
It's kind of like you turn thestereo up and you broke the knob
and now you can't turn thevolume down on your stereo and
you really want it to be quietand it won't be quiet.
And that's kind of what happenswith our immune system.
It's like you can't figure outone thing to fix the whole
situation.
It just keeps going and goingand going and the volume just is
loud, loud, loud, with immunesystem overreaction.
Speaker 1 (09:17):
Well, and that's where understanding some of the
common symptoms associated withMCAS can be helpful, because in
the world that we're in right,we're dealing with a lot of
people who have been to everyoneelse first and they come to us
and we want to look outside ofthe box.
So considering MCAS is animportant thing that I always
like to do.
(09:37):
I know you too, Sharon, and alot of the common symptoms
associated with MCAS.
They're symptoms that are justeasy to think that something
else is wrong.
But some of the most commonsymptoms are basically allergy
symptoms of hives and rash, buteczema, reddening of the skin,
maybe dizziness and migraines,just to name a few.
(09:58):
But migraines, they're actuallyalmost always a result of
histamine intolerance or MCAS.
But some of the more serioussymptoms that you can experience
are tachycardia, low bloodpressure, shortness of breath,
heart palpitations, feelingwinded, constipation or diarrhea
Imagine that.
But some of the more overlookedsymptoms are edema, that's,
(10:21):
swelling of your arms and legsor just the whole body, but
swelling of the tissue, but alsofatigue, anxiety, depression,
sleep apnea, insomnia, heat orcold intolerance, chemical
sensitivity, irregular, heavypainful periods for women, and
then also like digestivebloating.
So to the untrained eye it cantake time to isolate these
(10:43):
issues down to mast cellactivation, because that covers
a lot of different systems.
A good indication, though, isif these problems all become
chronic and if the symptomsbegin to build on each other,
and my favorite rule of thumb isthat if two or more systems in
the body are having symptoms,you probably have MCATs.
And you know, is everyone atrisk for it?
(11:04):
No, not everyone's at risk forhistamine intolerance either,
but some people have apredisposition, and you know,
MCAS can express itself with agenetic predisposition, but also
from exposures.
Toxins are a big one, and youknow, when the mast cells become
dysfunctional to a point wherethey don't turn off, that's when
(11:25):
you start getting thesesymptoms stacked on top of each
other.
And hey, it's important toremember, though, that even past
emotional traumas and upsetscan act as a trigger or added
assault to the immune system.
Speaker 2 (11:37):
That's true.
I mean, the emotional assaultsare just as real as an infection
or a physical reaction to afood, if you will.
And those allergic symptomsthat we get are the outward
manifestation of elevatedhistamines.
Right, whether it's itchy skinor sneezing or watery eyes or
(11:58):
GERD.
If your histamine production'sincreased, of course, those
outward allergy symptoms,whatever your flavor is, is
going to likely increase as well.
So you know, it could be theitching, it could be hives, it
could be a flushing right whenyou're, just like I have hot
(12:18):
flashes or I turn red and Ican't control it Headaches, like
you said, and migraines andthen just general congestion.
I think it's very easy forpeople to just excuse round.
It's more likely to be food andnot environmental or pollen
(12:47):
related, but boy, has the faceof of health changed.
I think the whole paradigm isvery different and that's
because of the increased numberof toxins that we have in our
environment.
But you know, we have to look alittle more closely.
If you're presenting, I think,for our listeners out there, if
you're presenting with rapidheart rate or tachycardia, if
(13:11):
you've got ongoing GERD nomatter how you change your diet,
or the hives and the flushing,the headaches and nothing makes
it go away you've got to reallyconsider is this more than just
histamine?
Or is maybe my immune system alittle more involved than I
realized?
Speaker 1 (13:30):
Well, and it isn't easy to test for a specific
histamine or MCAS number, whichcan make it a little difficult
because histamines themselvesdon't last in circulation very
long before the body clears themout.
So when you're testing bloodlevels it's not going to be very
helpful or accurate, becausetypically a histamine sensitive
or MCAS person is going toexperience a flare up that then
(13:52):
subsides to a more manageablestate until the next exposure.
You can always look at theinflammatory markers in labs,
but even then I don't thinkthat's always helpful or
accurate.
I find the symptoms themselvesto be a lot more telling than
anything.
And when you have apractitioner who's familiar with
MCAS which I like to think thatyou and I are we know how to
(14:12):
spot the sooner than later.
Therefore, we are able to beginsupporting it right away, or at
least sooner than later.
Speaker 2 (14:19):
Right.
And because we are infunctional medicine, because
we're a holistic health coach,we're a traditional naturopath.
Yes, I'm a family nursepractitioner, but nobody lands
here at K6 Wellness Center onyour first go right.
You're here because somebodyelse at least one somebody else
(14:40):
wasn't able to solve yourproblem, am I right?
Speaker 1 (14:42):
Right.
Speaker 2 (14:44):
It's the chronic, chronic unresolved health issues
that we see.
So when we hear somebody talkabout what we've just discussed,
like Elena's saying you know,um, the ongoing problems with
test results that don'tnecessarily correlate with the
physical symptomology, I meanour spidey senses are all over
(15:07):
it because it's like, ooh, thismight be the immune system,
right, it could be MCAS.
But yeah, and you have toconsider if you're a person, if
you're listening to this andyou're like, wow, I wonder if I
have this.
I mean, again, there's no MCAStest, right, but you've got to
consider how do you respond topollen in the air?
(15:28):
But even things like chemicals,especially the scented products
and I always ask people if I amsuspecting phenolics and
phenolics are biochemicalderivatives of a lot of chemical
compounds that are found innature, but it's also synthetic
fragrances.
But even like the smell of cutgrass is a phenolic, right.
(15:50):
But chemicals and scentedproducts, especially the
synthetic ones, foods,pesticides, herbicides, vocs,
things like that those candefinitely trigger a mast cell
response.
Heavy metals and mold toxinscan too.
(16:10):
Weather changes, where thebarometric pressure is changing
or we have higher or lowerhumidity, that can be a problem.
But even things like breastimplants for women, it's a
foreign object right that can bea toxin to a very aggravated
immune system.
(16:31):
And dental materials, somedental implants, surgical meshes
we see a lot of men who havehernia repairs with the surgical
mesh and they come back yearslater and they're like I have
all this pain and they don'tfeel like it was.
It was fine for a while andthen it wasn't fine and I think
more advances are being made inthis arena.
(16:53):
But it's hard, with meshesspecifically, just to go down a
little rabbit trail because onceyou've implanted something in
the body it's kind of hard tojust go take it out, especially
if you're covering up, you know,a hernia or a tear in a wall,
that mesh you can't just pull itout.
(17:13):
So person who say may have justbeen susceptible to histamine
reactions could, with any ofthese exposures, now become a
very sensitive person to notjust one or two things but
seemingly everything in theirenvironment, everything they eat
(17:35):
, everything they smell,everything they touch.
Speaker 1 (17:38):
Well, and the food is a big one.
There's a lot of high histaminefoods that a healthy person can
handle, no problem.
But if you have asusceptibility and or you have
been exposed to a toxin or anexperience that is going to
trigger this, some of thesehealthy foods that we eat and
(17:58):
promote in the health world havehigh levels of histamines, and
some of these all right.
So alcohol, that one's not toosurprising.
Alcohol is shocking right, butbeer, wine and champagne are
going to be the worst.
And processed meats thosearen't really healthy for anyone
, but it could also be smoked orcured meats.
And then cheeses that's a bigone.
(18:18):
Aged cheese is very highhistamine.
And then how about this one?
Avocados?
They're a healthy food, right?
Well, good fiber If you canhandle the histamines.
They are naturally high inhistamines.
And then some vegetables like,well, tomatoes kind of
technically a fruit, but we'llcall it vegetables tomatoes,
(18:38):
eggplant and spinach.
And then other very healthythings, some tropical fruits
like pineapples and bananas andpapaya, or citrus fruits and
strawberries.
You know these are commonhealth foods.
Then, hey, they get even betterFish.
Not everyone loves fish, butthat can be high histamine.
The really surprising ones arebone broth, kombucha, sourdough
(19:00):
bread and all fermented foodslike sauerkraut and kimchi.
These things have naturallyhigh levels of histamine and if
you have a hard time breakingthem down or your threshold has
been lowered, these health foodscould actually exacerbate all
of your symptoms.
Speaker 2 (19:17):
Yeah, it's interesting too to me, you know,
when we consider the highhistamine foods and I actually
just finished with a clientearlier talking about histamines
and you know we're seeing allthis finally like on this low
histamine lifestyle and all ofthese GI problems are now
resolving and endoscopies arelooking better and it's like oh
(19:39):
yay, we're making progress.
But when you look at the foodsthat you have to avoid, it's
like whoa, these are healthyfoods, like you were saying.
You know the fruits and thevegetables.
But it's interesting toobecause there's overlap If you
look at a lot of problems withpeople, not just with mast cell
activation, but it plays in oroverlaps with, like oxalates
(20:02):
intolerant people and then evenpeople who tend to have gout or
uric acid buildup and you getthese crystals because they
can't eat high purine foods andthey should be eating, you know,
no smoked or cured foods.
You know, yeah, wine and beer.
You know the fermented ordistilled.
well, I guess not distilledright, because tequila and vodka
(20:24):
are technically better, it'simportant to know but it is
interesting that what's healthyfor one person, you know, not
necessarily healthy for anotherperson, and some people do have
to form their diet around a morelow histamine diet, and that's
something that we try to beaware of with people.
(20:44):
How do you feel when you eatthis food?
Because a lot of times whenyou're in it and everything you
eat has a lot of histamines,maybe because you're a
vegetarian or vegan, becauseisn't dairy also a higher
histamine food and you know, isit?
is it the histamine or is it atrue food allergy?
And sometimes it takes workingwith somebody very experienced
(21:07):
to be able to differentiate out.
With somebody very experiencedto be able to differentiate out,
you know an allergic orintolerant reaction, sensitive
reaction, that maybe you're justlacking some enzymes, or maybe
you need a probiotic, or maybeyou have some histamine issues.
But I think another componentthat we have to discuss is
(21:30):
hydration, because trulyeverything works better in your
body when it's hydrated.
And especially if you're eatingan inflammatory diet and I
would consider or define aninflammatory diet as a diet that
includes a lot of processedfoods, or just one that's
(21:51):
deficient with healthy proteinsand healthy fats and healthy
sources of fiber like fruits andvegetables, that would be an
inflammatory diet.
Things with lots of labels,right, and of course added
sugars and chemicals would fallin there.
But if you're eating aninflammatory diet, your body's
(22:12):
defenses are going to stay inthis constant state of
inflammation, like the guard isalways up.
We are ready to fight, and thatcan really set you up for a
failing immune system or evenautoimmune symptoms.
And you know tests forautoimmunity that come back
positive or inconclusive ornon-specific, but it's important
(22:35):
to understand that.
Wow, yeah, your body is angryand inflamed and we can see it
too with some of our othertesting, like the thermography
testing.
It'll just show high levels ofhyperregulation, if you will,
but I think it's helpful to know.
Hey, you know, these are some ofthe higher histamine foods,
(22:59):
because, for all of youlisteners out there, if you're
going, oh, do I have hay fever,or is it the food?
Is it the histamine in the foodor is it the food?
Is it the histamine in the food?
Pay attention to how yourespond to these foods.
You know, go back, rewind,listen to these foods.
You can even look up, you know,do a Google search on high
(23:23):
histamine foods and then startpaying attention to how your
body reacts when you eat thosefoods.
Speaker 1 (23:28):
And you know we listed the foods, but I want to
just reiterate some of thesehealth foods that people can
overdo and not realize thatthat's what's keeping them from
losing weight.
I think the most commoncombination is a bone broth,
protein smoothie with spinach,bananas and avocado.
Speaker 2 (23:46):
It's one of my favorite.
Speaker 1 (23:48):
I know it's yummy, it's delicious, but I've had so
many people make smoothies withthat every morning and then,
when we discover that histaminesmight be a problem and I say,
hey, let's just try not doingthat for a week or two, it is
unbelievable how quickly theynotice results.
Or for the people whoseallergies just won't clear up in
allergy season.
You know allergies are common,but they aren't normal right.
(24:12):
So just to our listeners ifthat's your morning smoothie and
you think you might have ahistamine problem, you can try
removing that before you evencome see us.
Speaker 2 (24:20):
Yeah, and I think you and I like we've done the gene
tests and stuff and things thatI feel great on, you're like
uh-uh, I can't.
Speaker 1 (24:29):
Right?
Well, and you know the sameapplies to supplements, right?
There's a lot of differentsupplements and herbs that are
really effective in supportingthe body's immune response to
histamines and MCAS, but they'renot going to be the same thing
for everyone.
The best example is the mostpopular and potent natural
antihistamine, quercetin.
(24:49):
And it can be amazing, right,you do love it.
I do not, because I've learnedit's not amazing for everyone.
I had experienced thispersonally but I didn't
understand why, like why, did Ialways feel so awful on
quercetin?
Then I did my genetic test anddiscovered that my genetics
don't do well with high-dose,long-term use of quercetin as my
(25:10):
histamine or immune defense.
So I'm always very careful withquercetin until I know a
person's genetics, because Idon't want to do to anyone what
I've experienced and done tomyself.
So I you know a little tidbit.
One of the safest approachesthat I like to use is DAO
enzymes.
Those are typically safe foreveryone.
I always say consult yourpractitioner first, but those
(25:31):
are typically a safer thing forbreaking down histamines in the
food that you might be consuming.
And of course, there couldalways be a unicorn out there
listening who could react toeven those.
But to date, all of my clientshave done really well with this
and it's once again going to behelpful for what you're
consuming, more than thehistamines in the air.
But you've got to startsomewhere and DAO enzymes can be
(25:53):
very helpful for onset ofmigraines which, like I said
earlier, are usually triggeredby histamines.
Speaker 2 (26:00):
And it's so interesting because used to like
before I even heard of MCAS, Ihad learned in school that for
any migraine or headache, if youtake a thousand milligrams of
quercetin and a thousandmilligrams of CoQ10, which is an
extraordinary amount of- bothit'll kill almost every headache
and I have found that to betrue.
(26:21):
But there are a handful ofpeople through the years where
I've told that to and they'relike that did not help.
Speaker 1 (26:26):
I want to go back.
It could be the right remedyfor a migraine perhaps, but
maybe they're one of thosepeople who don't handle the
quercetin.
Yeah yeah, and you know acouple other little tidbits.
I just love to throw out therethat even menstrual cramps can
be triggered by histamines andexacerbated by histamines.
So the DAO enzymes can be veryhelpful for any of you ladies
(26:48):
out there who maybe experiencebad menstrual cramps around your
cycle, and progesterone canalso be very helpful with MCAS.
However, you do always want toconsult a healthcare provider
before you begin any sort ofhormone support like that,
because, once again, it's notgoing to be one size fits all.
Speaker 2 (27:06):
Right, and some people just don't respond as
well to herbals or nutritionalsupplements like they do to
pharmaceuticals, especially inthe histamine category.
For years we have told peoplelook, quercetin and nettles is a
great natural antihistamine,antihistamine.
(27:34):
But if you can't tell adifference we should probably
try a second generationantihistamine.
I don't, I try not to useBenadryl just because those
first generation antihistaminestend to make you really drowsy.
And if you have to, you knowfunction.
It's going to be difficult, butthere are.
You know, when I say secondgeneration histamine, I'm
personally a little partial tolevocetirazine, but even some of
(27:57):
the and that's like Zizol, butAllegra or Claritin or Zyrtec or
you know, some of those typesof medications do actually work
better for some histamineintolerant people or histamine
overloaded people or MCASpatients, and it's sometimes
it's trial and error.
(28:18):
Sometimes you just have to keeptrying until you find what
works best for you, because it'snot about a protocol, it's.
You know, ultimately you're aunique individual and how you
got to where you are is youryour own journey.
So we want to give you the thingthat works for you and not make
you try to fit into a mold thatwe've preformed because you're
(28:39):
not going to feel better and itjust won't give us the result
that we want.
But you know, ultimately withwith MCAS, we can remove the
triggers, which is smart.
We can remove the triggers,which is smart.
We can cure infections, we canmanage symptoms right With
enzymes, with the antihistamines, but sometimes those mast cells
(29:00):
still don't want to calm downand that is, I think that's
where we really see the becomechronic for people, don't you
agree?
Speaker 1 (29:11):
Yeah, that's, that's a big deal.
Speaker 2 (29:14):
So for us, we find it very important, like we said
earlier, you know all of thesethings that can trigger it, be
it chemicals or foods orhormones or heavy metals, or you
know, medical implants of somesort.
We tend to go in there andstart peeling back Like let's
(29:34):
find out what toxins there are,let's look at infections, let's
look at your past traumas, andthat can be surgeries or it can
be divorces.
Right, it could be gettingfired from your job, it could be
losing a child or a spouse,anything emotional trauma,
whatever stress there is thatcould complicate your healing
process.
And it's not, I think, healingfrom MCAS.
(29:58):
What's tricky with it is thatit's not simple and it's not a
perfectly linear process,especially when there are
emotional triggers like memoriesand childhood traumas or
unresolved grief or other issues.
And you know, occasionally, youknow we try to do the emotional
work.
We try to address and resolveall of these other things, detox
(30:21):
whatever we need to do withrespect to what a person can
handle Because I think sometimeswe forget this is or patients
come in and they're like, oh, Ihave MCAS because so-and-so told
me, and then whatever it isthey tried to resolve it with
was exactly the thing youshouldn't do, because it just
(30:44):
triggers more histamine, rightand your body's already not
working down histamine, so youknow, and occasionally like
over-the-counter antihistamines.
but we try to be creative and wetry to do emotional clearings,
like emotion code and otherthings.
But one of my favorite thingsis neural therapy and
(31:08):
neuralotherapy is.
We've talked about this before.
We have an episode aboutneurotherapy, but it's really
from Germany.
All the good stuff is and it is,oh, it's the use of procaine,
which is in the same classeslike benzocaine, tetracaine,
novocaine.
You know the shots that you getto dead and like if you're
(31:28):
going to get stitches or havedental work done.
It's a local anesthesia.
But we use it in such a waysubcutaneously, intravenously,
intramuscular and then sometimesjust deeper injections trying
to get close to certain ganglionin the body, that we want to
modulate the function of theautonomic nervous system.
(31:51):
So sometimes it's just kind ofhelping to better balance your
sympathetic and yourparasympathetic nervous system
response, sympathetic being ohcrap, the bear is chasing me,
and parasympathetic is more likeI'm going on vacation and
laying in a hammock.
Being able to calm the nervoussystem down can be very helpful.
(32:16):
And the nice thing withprocaine is that it's not an
allergenic substance in general.
I mean, I guess anybody couldbe allergic to anything there's
always a unicorn, there's alwaysa unicorn, there's always a
unicorn.
We've never had anybody Knock onwood, but being able to just
give somebody relief and thething is okay, the anesthetic
(32:40):
part of it only persists in thesystem.
I think the half-life is 20minutes, but the ongoing
autonomic effect is just thatit's ongoing.
It's a longer term issue.
It helps to break up adhesionsin the fascia.
It helps break up scarring andall of these things, like even
(33:01):
where there's mesh and I've andI've worked on some, some mesh
issues and I've worked on some,some mesh issues it helps the
body calm down.
So where we can go into aspecific area, inject a little
procaine, not cause harm.
Number one love that.
But then number two, providepositive feedback to the nervous
(33:22):
system.
Everything is okay.
Then we get that neuroimmunecommunication or that
relationship, and thatconnection is more constructive
and more balanced, and I thinkthat's really important.
It's a tool.
Right, it's not the end all beall, but it is a tool, just like
(33:43):
the energy work that we do, thedesensitizations using
acupressure technique.
All of it's really important.
Speaker 1 (33:51):
Well, and there's not a lot that we get to use in the
holistic world.
That is an immediate fix.
You know, because so often whenyou're getting to the root
cause it takes a little time butthe neurotherapy is as close as
it gets to an immediate fix, isas close as it gets to an
immediate fix.
I absolutely love, love, loveusing that for our MCAS and
(34:12):
histamine clients, because youknow a lot of MCAS people can't
tolerate those supplements.
They don't handle a lot ofmedications and they certainly
can't handle detox protocols.
So we have to be even moregentle than gentle and we've had
great results doing our allergydesensitizations, our clearings
for histamines and all thingsassociated with MCAS.
(34:32):
So I love that tool as well.
And then when some supplementsare appropriate, you know we're
always going to customize thatto the individual.
I'm never going to give oneblanket recommendation for
everyone.
I love it when people likefriends or someone who hasn't
come in here yet, or asking fora friend, it's like what's the
one thing you know, especiallyfor allergies?
(34:52):
Well, there's not one thing.
Part of every protocol that I'mgoing to do is probably going
to have gut health repair work.
You know, right, everyone's gotsome gut problems and MCAS is a
big indication, but no twoclients will do the exact same
thing.
It just it's not going tohappen.
People are too unique for that.
But hey, one thing though Ithink you would agree with this,
sharon.
(35:13):
You know Rife has many helpfulbenefits across the board and it
really does compliment mostpeople as well, and that's our
frequency therapy, where we'reusing specific frequencies to
stimulate certain pathways inthe body, and there are
frequencies that help tostabilize the immune system or
that may help with some of theacute symptoms like the itching
(35:33):
or insomnia, things like that.
So I do love using that, youknow when it's appropriate.
But my favorite if anyone'slistened to any of our podcasts,
you know I'm going to do myshameless plug for our 3x4
genetic test, because I thinkit's one of the most important
things we offer for a long-term,successful plan.
Speaker 2 (35:54):
And.
Speaker 1 (35:54):
I'm at the point where I don't even want to start
working on histamines or MCASwith the client if they haven't
done this test, because thereare too many things that can
make it worse if you don't knowthe person's genetics.
Case in point once again, thequercetin example.
And the last thing I want to dois to make anything worse before
someone gets better, butespecially for someone who's
(36:14):
already dealing with anexistence that is triggered by
pretty much everything in lifeand that's just so hard to
navigate.
But when you're looking at thegenetics, it can give us so much
insight into the best remediesand protocols for your you know
healing path.
Speaker 2 (36:31):
Yeah, and it's.
You know, the genetics reallyhelp provide that, that idea of
okay.
Here are your possible toolsand solutions, and here are ones
that are not going to go wellfor you, because all anybody you
know a lot of, I don't want tosay anybody but a lot of people
come in going, oh, I have MTHFR,and for us we're like, yeah, so
does everybody, but dependingon which one you have, you know
(36:56):
which.
For those of you out there thatdon't know it, it's a genetic,
it's an aberration from normalgenetic function that causes
some of your folic acid to bewasted, function that causes
some of your folic acid to bewasted, and folic acid, or
folate, is important for yourcells to repair themselves, for
your DNA to repair.
It's a lot to do withneurological function and we
(37:19):
don't want to just guess on thatkind of thing and we do have
the benefit of these great testslike the 3x4.
But I think too, you know, tothe epigenetic part of it
knowing.
Okay, this is the geneticbackbone, but what about your
ongoing stress?
What about your lifestyle?
Or your environmental exposuresand other influences?
(37:45):
External influences are goingto play a role here, because all
of those things increase yourreactions, they can increase
your sensitivity throughrepeated exposures, because if
your body can't break downhistamines, and every time you
encounter something it continuesto produce more histamines it's
(38:07):
just fuel on a fire, and wedon't want to do that.
And so ultimately, your abilityto tolerate any kind of
perceived threat or triggerbecomes reduced and more reduced
.
I remember one of my peopleearly on.
She worked in a store that hada lot of scented products,
(38:28):
scented candles, and she alwayscomplained about headaches and
every time and this was way backwhen, like I didn't do a lot of
, I was just like doing mynaturopath thing.
It was pretty simple and youknow kind of just computerized
EAV testing.
I was like phenolics are so badfor you, and phenolics again
being smells and biochemicalderivatives and you know natural
(38:49):
or synthetic fragrances.
And then so I would doacupressure, desensitization.
The headache would go away,she'd go back to work and then
by the end of her shift it wouldbe back again.
And I finally told her I waslike you got to quit your job,
you've got to go to work in anunscented environment because we
realize, like it's thosecandles, she's fine when she
(39:13):
goes in, she's not fine when shecomes out, and over time,
because she didn't quit that job, she started to have more
symptoms in other areas and shebecame more intolerant, and I
think that that's a really goodexample about not.
That time I hadn't even heardof MCAS, right, but I knew that,
the repeated exposure.
You know I was.
I was just hauling buckets ofwater out of a sinking boat and
(39:35):
it was damage control.
We weren't getting on top ofanything.
So I think it's important toreduce those environmental
exposures where we can.
And that makes you know,lifestyle practices very, very
important, so different thingsthat people can do in in your
life.
If you're one of these people's, just be mindful of variety.
(39:58):
Um, we, we assume like, oh, I'ma creature of habit, I eat the
same thing every day, I do thesame workout every day, I do the
same everything every day andthat's fine till it's not fine,
that's great, but it's not truefor everybody.
And if you are a person who hasallergies, who has histamine
(40:19):
reactions, I would justchallenge you to start, you know
, implementing a little bit ofvariety in your life and have
some balance, because evenpeople who eat, like you said,
elena, all the healthy thingsthe bone broth, the sourdough
bread, the kombucha, thesauerkraut.
They can be very susceptible toa histamine imbalance and foods
(40:43):
can make it worse and foods canmake it better, but it's not
the same food, right?
So foods that can help, justfor people who want to take
notes on this you know gingercan help calm histamine
reactions, but it doesn't workfor everybody.
Thyme, the herb or the seasoningthat's really high in vitamin C
(41:06):
and it's an anti-inflammatoryand we use it as an
antimicrobial.
Um, it's really good forrespiratory infections, but and
it can really help lowerhistamines, but not for
everybody.
Um, watercress, which I don'tknow how many people eat
watercress, but that's anantihistamine as well.
And then capers I love capers,especially on fish, but they
(41:30):
have quercetin in them.
So if you're a person who can'tdo quercetin, you probably
shouldn't be eating a whole lotof capers.
But capers with the quercetin,again, that's a great
antioxidant and it can helpstabilize your mast cells,
unless you have the geneticsthat doesn't like that.
And then turmeric Turmeric isgood for so many things it's an
(41:52):
anti-inflammatory and it canprevent histamine release from
mast cells.
So that's important to know.
But if you're anemic, you don'twant to take turmeric because
it'll also bind to iron andlower your iron.
So this is why working withprofessionals can be very
important, but ultimately, Ithink things that we can all
(42:14):
employ are eating fresh,non-processed or minimally
processed foods, avoiding junkfood.
Highly processed foods and ifyou go what's a highly processed
food Because I get tickled likewith the news and like ultra
processed foods are, go on theirway out it's like, well, what
is that?
I mean, basically, if it has alabel and you can't pronounce
(42:37):
something in the label, you needto put that back.
You should not be eating it,whether you have histamine
reactions or not.
We all should be eating food inits natural state.
We all should be eating food inits natural state.
We all should be eating foodthat looks like it looked when
it was harvested, whether it wasoff the hook, off the hoof or
out of the ground or off thetree right, and then cooking
(43:01):
fresh whenever we can, or frozen, but trying to avoid canned.
You know that's not ideal forsure.
Speaker 1 (43:09):
Yeah, you know food is a huge part of it.
But then there's certain thingsin your environment.
You know a lot of the chemicalswe talked about.
There are things you can do tohelp protect yourself, like a
HEPA filter.
Those can remove dust andpollen.
That's just very, very helpfulfor removing that environmental
trigger.
That's absolutely everywhereyou go.
But then humidity you know wementioned before changes in
(43:35):
humidity can impact histaminesand MCAS.
So keeping humidity below 50%,that can prevent mold and dust
mite growth, which can alsocontribute to histamine release.
And regularly cleaning yourhome.
Everyone's got different levelsof cleanliness.
I get that.
I mean I am known as a cleanfreak in my family.
I've always been, so I'm notgoing to judge anyone who's not
where I'm at.
We all have different levels,but any kind of cleaning
(43:57):
regularly is You're totallyjudging.
Speaker 2 (43:59):
I feel judged right now.
Speaker 1 (44:01):
I'm not, I'm not going to come to anyone's house,
I'm just saying do somecleaning at some point,
especially those nooks andcrannies that we can just forget
about and the dark spots likebasements and garages.
That's where, you know, allkinds of things tend to collect.
So just do the best you can.
Just, you know, vacuumingoccasionally or sweeping,
mopping as you can handle.
(44:22):
But pets if you have pets,brush and bathe them regularly,
because that's a big one forallergies, and I know people
just love their cats, their dogs, their birds, but you want to
make sure that you're doingeverything you can for your
immune system.
At the same time, you can optfor hypoallergenic varieties.
Or I know for cats there arecertain foods you can feed them.
(44:45):
I don't know if that applies toother animals, I don't know.
My sister's a vet.
She told me about this one catfood that can help with that,
but that doesn't replace thebrushing and the bathing.
So just do yourself a favor andhelp out with the allergens.
Speaker 2 (44:59):
Have you ever?
Speaker 1 (45:00):
bathed a cat, no, but I just wouldn't bring them
inside.
Once again, not judging anyoneyou do you, but doing what you
can to clean the inside of yourhouse, to help your body's
response to some of thoseallergens, because it can
trigger it and if you just wantto live with it, that's fine.
But I've worked with people whoare desperately trying to
improve their histamineintolerances and they have
(45:24):
animals all over the place thatcan be triggering that stuff and
bringing things in from theoutside and stress of any kind
can trigger histamines.
For some people that'sstressful.
But just managing stress ingeneral.
That's going to be veryimportant for down-regulating
that immune system and immunesystem response.
Speaker 2 (45:44):
Right, and I think you know, when you look at you
know everything that we'retalking about.
It can be overwhelming right.
So for our listeners out there,you know if there's one thing
that you can do, if you're like,oh my gosh, I think I have MCAS
or I definitely have histamineoverload or histamine related
(46:07):
reactions, what do I do?
Oh no, where do I even start?
You know, start with your diet,and I think we say this for a
lot of things, because one habitall humans have is eating.
We all have that in common too.
Imagine that Perfect not doing,not eating, you die.
I don't know what theconnection is, but we do all eat
(46:28):
.
And so if you just start withyour food and maybe start trying
to remove histamines from yourdiet, maybe you go, oh wow, I
eat nothing but histamines.
Okay, maybe you should trydoing something different.
But know that you're not goingto feel a difference necessarily
right away.
You know it takes yourdigestive system a couple of
(46:49):
weeks sometimes to adjust.
I just did a little like pulsediet of carnivore just to remind
myself why I hate it so muchand it is.
It does take your digestivesystem time to adjust If you
remove huge components, if youmake a hard right turn in your
diet, it will take your bowelspossibly a little time to catch
(47:13):
up.
It could cause you to feel alittle foggy.
So I would just take it onepiece at a time and in fixing
your diet or going low histaminein your diet is a great
starting point.
I think it's important tounderstand that.
It's just that it's a startingpoint, because what if you're
not a food person?
What if it's not the histaminesin your food?
(47:33):
What if it's something in yourenvironment?
You're never going to get allof the resolution that you need
unless you look at everything.
But this is where working witha professional is so important
and we just encourage you.
You know, get tested and seewhat other toxins and exposures
might you have that could becontributing.
(47:55):
And you know, whether we dotoxin tests or blood work or
genetic tests or thermography,we could get valuable
information that helps direct,prioritize and guide a
customized path to feelingbetter and living better,
because everyone wants to livebetter and feel better.
(48:18):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (48:18):
So y'all, that's a wrap for today's episode.
We hope this conversation hashelped shed light on the
connection between histamines,mass cell activation and
allergies and, more importantly,how you can take a holistic
approach to managing them.
If you found this episodehelpful, be sure to subscribe on
our YouTube, share it with afriend and leave us a review.
It helps us reach more peoplewho are looking for real answers
(48:41):
to their health concerns.
And don't forget to follow uson social media for even more
tips, insights and updates.
You can find us on Instagram,facebook, youtube and Rumble.
Just search for K6 WellnessCenter and join our growing
community.
For more information onholistic allergy support,
functional medicine andpersonalized wellness strategies
(49:02):
, visit us at k6wellnesscom and,as always, if you're ready to
take the next step in yourhealth journey, our team at K6
Wellness is here to help.
Thanks for listening and we'llsee you next time on the K6
Wellness Revolution podcast.
Welcome to the K6 Wellness Revolution podcast.
I'm Elena, one of thepractitioners here at K6
Wellness Center in Dallas, Texas, where we blend trusted
expertise, compassionate careand a passion for helping you
achieve optimal health, becausewellness isn't just a goal, it's
a revolution.
Today, we're diving into atopic that affects so many
people, especially duringallergy season histamines and
(00:23):
mast cell activation syndrome,or MCAS for short.
If you've ever struggled withunexplained allergy-like
symptoms, food sensitivities,skin issues or chronic
inflammation, there's a goodchance that histamines and
overactive mast cells areplaying a role.
But what if there was a way tobalance your body naturally and
get to the root cause of theseissues?
(00:44):
To help us break it all down,I'm, of course, joined by Sharon
, our fearless leader of K6Wellness.
Sharon and I have worked withcountless clients dealing with
histamine intolerance and mastcell activation, and today we're
going to share our expertiseand knowledge on how a holistic,
naturopathic approach can helpstabilize histamine levels,
(01:06):
support immune function andreduce unwanted symptoms of
getting to the root cause.
So, whether you're dealing withseasonal allergies, chronic
inflammation or unexplainedsensitivities, this episode is
for you.
Let's get started.
So, Sharon, why don't you kickus off with?
Well, what the heck arehistamines?
That's a good question.
Speaker 2 (01:27):
I think everybody hears histamines.
I'm like, oh yeah, it's ahistamine reaction.
But histamines are basicallychemical compounds that our body
creates and they play a crucialrole in immune system function
role in immune system functionWith regard to allergies.
(01:48):
They promote inflammation andthat happens by, like, dilating
the blood vessels.
You have increased blood flow,but you have it for a reason
because that histamine reaction,by dilating blood vessels, it
allows white blood cells, whichare our immune system in action,
to reach an infection or a siteof injury and then start
(02:09):
repairing that site or theinjury or whatever.
So histamines also do otherthings.
We need histamines because itstimulates stomach acid
production, which helps usdigest our food, and if you
don't digest your food, youcan't absorb the nutrition from
your food.
But histamines also act asneurotransmitters in the central
(02:33):
nervous system, brain andspinal cord and they help
regulate sleep and appetite anda lot of other functions.
And so I think in the contextof this conversation, we're
going to be looking athistamines not as the public
enemy number one, because it'simportant to realize that
(02:54):
anything our body makes is notall bad.
It's not always all good, butpeople who become intolerant to
histamines are actuallyexperiencing their bodies not
being able to break down thosehistamines.
It's not that, oh, you makehistamines, oh no, Everybody
(03:19):
makes histamines.
That can lead to allergicreaction type symptoms like
watery eyes, a runny nose orGERD or reflux is one of them,
Also urticaria or hives, itchyskin, things like that.
So allergies in and ofthemselves it's a reaction to
(03:44):
just something benign.
I mean, it could be like apollen or a food and it can
result in you know thosesymptoms that we just talked
about.
But if you think about it,especially here in Texas, like
ragweed, mountain cedar, thoseare things that we hear about a
lot, right, and everybodycomplains about congestion and a
(04:04):
runny nose and hay fever cedarfever as it's called in Central
Texas and it's from histamines.
But it's not because cedar ispoisonous.
Cedar actually makes a greatcloset.
Right, we put cedar in ourclosets to keep bugs out, Helps,
(04:25):
keep the moths away.
But allergies are definitelyjust an over-response.
Usually it's ahistamine-mediated reaction and
histamines are a neededsubstance in our body.
But it can get out of hand andthat's where we're going to go
with a conversation today, andthat's histamines, right?
Speaker 1 (04:48):
There's such a confusion over exact histamines
or mast cell reaction.
So I think it's important tounderstand how mast cells
function and what theirsignificance is in allergic
reactions, Because a mast cellis a type of white blood cell
that your immune system makes,and it's found in mucosal and
epithelial tissues throughoutyour body and all the areas that
(05:09):
create a barrier between youand the outside environment,
which are your skin, nasalpassages, your GI brain, et
cetera.
They help protect you fromparasites, bacteria and even
toxins.
You find them anywhere there isinteraction between you and the
environment.
Toxins you find them anywherethere is interaction between you
and the environment.
So, when a threat isencountered, mass cells release
substances that create aninflammatory response in order
(05:31):
to neutralize the threat.
You know they act like a shieldin the best of circumstances
and they burn down their ownhouse in the worst of
circumstances.
I always picture a personlighting their shirt on fire in
order to kill a mosquito thatlanded on their shirt.
Speaker 2 (05:47):
That is MCAS, and so MCAS is the acronym for mass
cell activation syndrome, likeyou just mentioned.
And when somebody's sufferingfrom MCAS, I mean basically
they're in a state of immunesystem dysregulation and they're
burning the house down.
I always think of those.
(06:07):
I think we see all thishyperbolic or these crazy
analogies, like people lightingthemselves on fire to get rid of
a bug or something like that.
It's kind of crazy, but typicalallergic reactions or an
allergic response by the body,they go away on their own right.
Like people say well, I hadallergies yesterday but I'm
(06:29):
better today.
Or I had this itchy spot butit's gone.
And your immune system or yourhistamine response is supposed
to kind of act like the policeright or a security guard.
It's like they show up whenthere's a problem and then they
go away.
They fix the problem and theygo away.
(06:51):
If you have dysfunctional mastcells or a dysfunctional mast
cell system, there's really noback off mode, right, it just
keeps attacking and your mastcells release mediators that we
consider them to be toxins, andthey're the soldiers like keep
(07:15):
fighting, keep fighting, don'tstop, don't stop.
Well, mast cell activationsyndrome in and of itself keeps
you in this inflamed state whereyou just continue to react to
everything, you eventually beginto feel like you're allergic to
everything in life, right, andI think you know especially like
20 years ago we called itmultiple chemical sensitivities
(07:40):
Just it was a very broad termlike environmental illness.
But I wonder how much of thatis really just like mast cell
activation syndrome in peoplewho are very sensitive.
Because, two, this affectsmultiple systems.
It affects your gut immune axis.
It gets noticed via the releaseof histamines which can affect,
(08:02):
you know, ear, nose and throat,skin, gut, and I think that
it's important to know.
Okay, yes, there is this thingJust because you have a
histamine reaction doesn't meanyou have mast cell activation
syndrome, but also the reverseof that is true.
You don't actually have to haveallergic symptoms to have MCAS.
(08:27):
Some MCAS patients don't eventest positive for allergies and
we see that a lot People who getblood tests and that would be
like an IgE test there's noimmunoglobulin E and it's like
technically then there's noallergy and it's like
(09:05):
technically then there's noallergy.
But MCAS is when it gets going.
It's kind of like you turn thestereo up and you broke the knob
and now you can't turn thevolume down on your stereo and
you really want it to be quietand it won't be quiet.
And that's kind of what happenswith our immune system.
It's like you can't figure outone thing to fix the whole
situation.
It just keeps going and goingand going and the volume just is
loud, loud, loud, with immunesystem overreaction.
Speaker 1 (09:17):
Well, and that's where understanding some of the
common symptoms associated withMCAS can be helpful, because in
the world that we're in right,we're dealing with a lot of
people who have been to everyoneelse first and they come to us
and we want to look outside ofthe box.
So considering MCAS is animportant thing that I always
like to do.
(09:37):
I know you too, Sharon, and alot of the common symptoms
associated with MCAS.
They're symptoms that are justeasy to think that something
else is wrong.
But some of the most commonsymptoms are basically allergy
symptoms of hives and rash, buteczema, reddening of the skin,
maybe dizziness and migraines,just to name a few.
(09:58):
But migraines, they're actuallyalmost always a result of
histamine intolerance or MCAS.
But some of the more serioussymptoms that you can experience
are tachycardia, low bloodpressure, shortness of breath,
heart palpitations, feelingwinded, constipation or diarrhea
Imagine that.
But some of the more overlookedsymptoms are edema, that's,
(10:21):
swelling of your arms and legsor just the whole body, but
swelling of the tissue, but alsofatigue, anxiety, depression,
sleep apnea, insomnia, heat orcold intolerance, chemical
sensitivity, irregular, heavypainful periods for women, and
then also like digestivebloating.
So to the untrained eye it cantake time to isolate these
(10:43):
issues down to mast cellactivation, because that covers
a lot of different systems.
A good indication, though, isif these problems all become
chronic and if the symptomsbegin to build on each other,
and my favorite rule of thumb isthat if two or more systems in
the body are having symptoms,you probably have MCATs.
And you know, is everyone atrisk for it?
(11:04):
No, not everyone's at risk forhistamine intolerance either,
but some people have apredisposition, and you know,
MCAS can express itself with agenetic predisposition, but also
from exposures.
Toxins are a big one, and youknow, when the mast cells become
dysfunctional to a point wherethey don't turn off, that's when
(11:25):
you start getting thesesymptoms stacked on top of each
other.
And hey, it's important toremember, though, that even past
emotional traumas and upsetscan act as a trigger or added
assault to the immune system.
Speaker 2 (11:37):
That's true.
I mean, the emotional assaultsare just as real as an infection
or a physical reaction to afood, if you will.
And those allergic symptomsthat we get are the outward
manifestation of elevatedhistamines.
Right, whether it's itchy skinor sneezing or watery eyes or
(11:58):
GERD.
If your histamine production'sincreased, of course, those
outward allergy symptoms,whatever your flavor is, is
going to likely increase as well.
So you know, it could be theitching, it could be hives, it
could be a flushing right whenyou're, just like I have hot
(12:18):
flashes or I turn red and Ican't control it Headaches, like
you said, and migraines andthen just general congestion.
I think it's very easy forpeople to just excuse round.
It's more likely to be food andnot environmental or pollen
(12:47):
related, but boy, has the faceof of health changed.
I think the whole paradigm isvery different and that's
because of the increased numberof toxins that we have in our
environment.
But you know, we have to look alittle more closely.
If you're presenting, I think,for our listeners out there, if
you're presenting with rapidheart rate or tachycardia, if
(13:11):
you've got ongoing GERD nomatter how you change your diet,
or the hives and the flushing,the headaches and nothing makes
it go away you've got to reallyconsider is this more than just
histamine?
Or is maybe my immune system alittle more involved than I
realized?
Speaker 1 (13:30):
Well, and it isn't easy to test for a specific
histamine or MCAS number, whichcan make it a little difficult
because histamines themselvesdon't last in circulation very
long before the body clears themout.
So when you're testing bloodlevels it's not going to be very
helpful or accurate, becausetypically a histamine sensitive
or MCAS person is going toexperience a flare up that then
(13:52):
subsides to a more manageablestate until the next exposure.
You can always look at theinflammatory markers in labs,
but even then I don't thinkthat's always helpful or
accurate.
I find the symptoms themselvesto be a lot more telling than
anything.
And when you have apractitioner who's familiar with
MCAS which I like to think thatyou and I are we know how to
(14:12):
spot the sooner than later.
Therefore, we are able to beginsupporting it right away, or at
least sooner than later.
Speaker 2 (14:19):
Right.
And because we are infunctional medicine, because
we're a holistic health coach,we're a traditional naturopath.
Yes, I'm a family nursepractitioner, but nobody lands
here at K6 Wellness Center onyour first go right.
You're here because somebodyelse at least one somebody else
(14:40):
wasn't able to solve yourproblem, am I right?
Speaker 1 (14:42):
Right.
Speaker 2 (14:44):
It's the chronic, chronic unresolved health issues
that we see.
So when we hear somebody talkabout what we've just discussed,
like Elena's saying you know,um, the ongoing problems with
test results that don'tnecessarily correlate with the
physical symptomology, I meanour spidey senses are all over
(15:07):
it because it's like, ooh, thismight be the immune system,
right, it could be MCAS.
But yeah, and you have toconsider if you're a person, if
you're listening to this andyou're like, wow, I wonder if I
have this.
I mean, again, there's no MCAStest, right, but you've got to
consider how do you respond topollen in the air?
(15:28):
But even things like chemicals,especially the scented products
and I always ask people if I amsuspecting phenolics and
phenolics are biochemicalderivatives of a lot of chemical
compounds that are found innature, but it's also synthetic
fragrances.
But even like the smell of cutgrass is a phenolic, right.
(15:50):
But chemicals and scentedproducts, especially the
synthetic ones, foods,pesticides, herbicides, vocs,
things like that those candefinitely trigger a mast cell
response.
Heavy metals and mold toxinscan too.
(16:10):
Weather changes, where thebarometric pressure is changing
or we have higher or lowerhumidity, that can be a problem.
But even things like breastimplants for women, it's a
foreign object right that can bea toxin to a very aggravated
immune system.
(16:31):
And dental materials, somedental implants, surgical meshes
we see a lot of men who havehernia repairs with the surgical
mesh and they come back yearslater and they're like I have
all this pain and they don'tfeel like it was.
It was fine for a while andthen it wasn't fine and I think
more advances are being made inthis arena.
(16:53):
But it's hard, with meshesspecifically, just to go down a
little rabbit trail because onceyou've implanted something in
the body it's kind of hard tojust go take it out, especially
if you're covering up, you know,a hernia or a tear in a wall,
that mesh you can't just pull itout.
(17:13):
So person who say may have justbeen susceptible to histamine
reactions could, with any ofthese exposures, now become a
very sensitive person to notjust one or two things but
seemingly everything in theirenvironment, everything they eat
(17:35):
, everything they smell,everything they touch.
Speaker 1 (17:38):
Well, and the food is a big one.
There's a lot of high histaminefoods that a healthy person can
handle, no problem.
But if you have asusceptibility and or you have
been exposed to a toxin or anexperience that is going to
trigger this, some of thesehealthy foods that we eat and
(17:58):
promote in the health world havehigh levels of histamines, and
some of these all right.
So alcohol, that one's not toosurprising.
Alcohol is shocking right, butbeer, wine and champagne are
going to be the worst.
And processed meats thosearen't really healthy for anyone
, but it could also be smoked orcured meats.
And then cheeses that's a bigone.
(18:18):
Aged cheese is very highhistamine.
And then how about this one?
Avocados?
They're a healthy food, right?
Well, good fiber If you canhandle the histamines.
They are naturally high inhistamines.
And then some vegetables like,well, tomatoes kind of
technically a fruit, but we'llcall it vegetables tomatoes,
(18:38):
eggplant and spinach.
And then other very healthythings, some tropical fruits
like pineapples and bananas andpapaya, or citrus fruits and
strawberries.
You know these are commonhealth foods.
Then, hey, they get even betterFish.
Not everyone loves fish, butthat can be high histamine.
The really surprising ones arebone broth, kombucha, sourdough
(19:00):
bread and all fermented foodslike sauerkraut and kimchi.
These things have naturallyhigh levels of histamine and if
you have a hard time breakingthem down or your threshold has
been lowered, these health foodscould actually exacerbate all
of your symptoms.
Speaker 2 (19:17):
Yeah, it's interesting too to me, you know,
when we consider the highhistamine foods and I actually
just finished with a clientearlier talking about histamines
and you know we're seeing allthis finally like on this low
histamine lifestyle and all ofthese GI problems are now
resolving and endoscopies arelooking better and it's like oh
(19:39):
yay, we're making progress.
But when you look at the foodsthat you have to avoid, it's
like whoa, these are healthyfoods, like you were saying.
You know the fruits and thevegetables.
But it's interesting toobecause there's overlap If you
look at a lot of problems withpeople, not just with mast cell
activation, but it plays in oroverlaps with, like oxalates
(20:02):
intolerant people and then evenpeople who tend to have gout or
uric acid buildup and you getthese crystals because they
can't eat high purine foods andthey should be eating, you know,
no smoked or cured foods.
You know, yeah, wine and beer.
You know the fermented ordistilled.
well, I guess not distilledright, because tequila and vodka
(20:24):
are technically better, it'simportant to know but it is
interesting that what's healthyfor one person, you know, not
necessarily healthy for anotherperson, and some people do have
to form their diet around a morelow histamine diet, and that's
something that we try to beaware of with people.
(20:44):
How do you feel when you eatthis food?
Because a lot of times whenyou're in it and everything you
eat has a lot of histamines,maybe because you're a
vegetarian or vegan, becauseisn't dairy also a higher
histamine food and you know, isit?
is it the histamine or is it atrue food allergy?
And sometimes it takes workingwith somebody very experienced
(21:07):
to be able to differentiate out.
With somebody very experiencedto be able to differentiate out,
you know an allergic orintolerant reaction, sensitive
reaction, that maybe you're justlacking some enzymes, or maybe
you need a probiotic, or maybeyou have some histamine issues.
But I think another componentthat we have to discuss is
(21:30):
hydration, because trulyeverything works better in your
body when it's hydrated.
And especially if you're eatingan inflammatory diet and I
would consider or define aninflammatory diet as a diet that
includes a lot of processedfoods, or just one that's
(21:51):
deficient with healthy proteinsand healthy fats and healthy
sources of fiber like fruits andvegetables, that would be an
inflammatory diet.
Things with lots of labels,right, and of course added
sugars and chemicals would fallin there.
But if you're eating aninflammatory diet, your body's
(22:12):
defenses are going to stay inthis constant state of
inflammation, like the guard isalways up.
We are ready to fight, and thatcan really set you up for a
failing immune system or evenautoimmune symptoms.
And you know tests forautoimmunity that come back
positive or inconclusive ornon-specific, but it's important
(22:35):
to understand that.
Wow, yeah, your body is angryand inflamed and we can see it
too with some of our othertesting, like the thermography
testing.
It'll just show high levels ofhyperregulation, if you will,
but I think it's helpful to know.
Hey, you know, these are some ofthe higher histamine foods,
(22:59):
because, for all of youlisteners out there, if you're
going, oh, do I have hay fever,or is it the food?
Is it the histamine in the foodor is it the food?
Is it the histamine in the food?
Pay attention to how yourespond to these foods.
You know, go back, rewind,listen to these foods.
You can even look up, you know,do a Google search on high
(23:23):
histamine foods and then startpaying attention to how your
body reacts when you eat thosefoods.
Speaker 1 (23:28):
And you know we listed the foods, but I want to
just reiterate some of thesehealth foods that people can
overdo and not realize thatthat's what's keeping them from
losing weight.
I think the most commoncombination is a bone broth,
protein smoothie with spinach,bananas and avocado.
Speaker 2 (23:46):
It's one of my favorite.
Speaker 1 (23:48):
I know it's yummy, it's delicious, but I've had so
many people make smoothies withthat every morning and then,
when we discover that histaminesmight be a problem and I say,
hey, let's just try not doingthat for a week or two, it is
unbelievable how quickly theynotice results.
Or for the people whoseallergies just won't clear up in
allergy season.
You know allergies are common,but they aren't normal right.
(24:12):
So just to our listeners ifthat's your morning smoothie and
you think you might have ahistamine problem, you can try
removing that before you evencome see us.
Speaker 2 (24:20):
Yeah, and I think you and I like we've done the gene
tests and stuff and things thatI feel great on, you're like
uh-uh, I can't.
Speaker 1 (24:29):
Right?
Well, and you know the sameapplies to supplements, right?
There's a lot of differentsupplements and herbs that are
really effective in supportingthe body's immune response to
histamines and MCAS, but they'renot going to be the same thing
for everyone.
The best example is the mostpopular and potent natural
antihistamine, quercetin.
(24:49):
And it can be amazing, right,you do love it.
I do not, because I've learnedit's not amazing for everyone.
I had experienced thispersonally but I didn't
understand why, like why, did Ialways feel so awful on
quercetin?
Then I did my genetic test anddiscovered that my genetics
don't do well with high-dose,long-term use of quercetin as my
(25:10):
histamine or immune defense.
So I'm always very careful withquercetin until I know a
person's genetics, because Idon't want to do to anyone what
I've experienced and done tomyself.
So I you know a little tidbit.
One of the safest approachesthat I like to use is DAO
enzymes.
Those are typically safe foreveryone.
I always say consult yourpractitioner first, but those
(25:31):
are typically a safer thing forbreaking down histamines in the
food that you might be consuming.
And of course, there couldalways be a unicorn out there
listening who could react toeven those.
But to date, all of my clientshave done really well with this
and it's once again going to behelpful for what you're
consuming, more than thehistamines in the air.
But you've got to startsomewhere and DAO enzymes can be
(25:53):
very helpful for onset ofmigraines which, like I said
earlier, are usually triggeredby histamines.
Speaker 2 (26:00):
And it's so interesting because used to like
before I even heard of MCAS, Ihad learned in school that for
any migraine or headache, if youtake a thousand milligrams of
quercetin and a thousandmilligrams of CoQ10, which is an
extraordinary amount of- bothit'll kill almost every headache
and I have found that to betrue.
(26:21):
But there are a handful ofpeople through the years where
I've told that to and they'relike that did not help.
Speaker 1 (26:26):
I want to go back.
It could be the right remedyfor a migraine perhaps, but
maybe they're one of thosepeople who don't handle the
quercetin.
Yeah yeah, and you know acouple other little tidbits.
I just love to throw out therethat even menstrual cramps can
be triggered by histamines andexacerbated by histamines.
So the DAO enzymes can be veryhelpful for any of you ladies
(26:48):
out there who maybe experiencebad menstrual cramps around your
cycle, and progesterone canalso be very helpful with MCAS.
However, you do always want toconsult a healthcare provider
before you begin any sort ofhormone support like that,
because, once again, it's notgoing to be one size fits all.
Speaker 2 (27:06):
Right, and some people just don't respond as
well to herbals or nutritionalsupplements like they do to
pharmaceuticals, especially inthe histamine category.
For years we have told peoplelook, quercetin and nettles is a
great natural antihistamine,antihistamine.
(27:34):
But if you can't tell adifference we should probably
try a second generationantihistamine.
I don't, I try not to useBenadryl just because those
first generation antihistaminestend to make you really drowsy.
And if you have to, you knowfunction.
It's going to be difficult, butthere are.
You know, when I say secondgeneration histamine, I'm
personally a little partial tolevocetirazine, but even some of
(27:57):
the and that's like Zizol, butAllegra or Claritin or Zyrtec or
you know, some of those typesof medications do actually work
better for some histamineintolerant people or histamine
overloaded people or MCASpatients, and it's sometimes
it's trial and error.
(28:18):
Sometimes you just have to keeptrying until you find what
works best for you, because it'snot about a protocol, it's.
You know, ultimately you're aunique individual and how you
got to where you are is youryour own journey.
So we want to give you the thingthat works for you and not make
you try to fit into a mold thatwe've preformed because you're
(28:39):
not going to feel better and itjust won't give us the result
that we want.
But you know, ultimately withwith MCAS, we can remove the
triggers, which is smart.
We can remove the triggers,which is smart.
We can cure infections, we canmanage symptoms right With
enzymes, with the antihistamines, but sometimes those mast cells
(29:00):
still don't want to calm downand that is, I think that's
where we really see the becomechronic for people, don't you
agree?
Speaker 1 (29:11):
Yeah, that's, that's a big deal.
Speaker 2 (29:14):
So for us, we find it very important, like we said
earlier, you know all of thesethings that can trigger it, be
it chemicals or foods orhormones or heavy metals, or you
know, medical implants of somesort.
We tend to go in there andstart peeling back Like let's
(29:34):
find out what toxins there are,let's look at infections, let's
look at your past traumas, andthat can be surgeries or it can
be divorces.
Right, it could be gettingfired from your job, it could be
losing a child or a spouse,anything emotional trauma,
whatever stress there is thatcould complicate your healing
process.
And it's not, I think, healingfrom MCAS.
(29:58):
What's tricky with it is thatit's not simple and it's not a
perfectly linear process,especially when there are
emotional triggers like memoriesand childhood traumas or
unresolved grief or other issues.
And you know, occasionally, youknow we try to do the emotional
work.
We try to address and resolveall of these other things, detox
(30:21):
whatever we need to do withrespect to what a person can
handle Because I think sometimeswe forget this is or patients
come in and they're like, oh, Ihave MCAS because so-and-so told
me, and then whatever it isthey tried to resolve it with
was exactly the thing youshouldn't do, because it just
(30:44):
triggers more histamine, rightand your body's already not
working down histamine, so youknow, and occasionally like
over-the-counter antihistamines.
but we try to be creative and wetry to do emotional clearings,
like emotion code and otherthings.
But one of my favorite thingsis neural therapy and
(31:08):
neuralotherapy is.
We've talked about this before.
We have an episode aboutneurotherapy, but it's really
from Germany.
All the good stuff is and it is,oh, it's the use of procaine,
which is in the same classeslike benzocaine, tetracaine,
novocaine.
You know the shots that you getto dead and like if you're
(31:28):
going to get stitches or havedental work done.
It's a local anesthesia.
But we use it in such a waysubcutaneously, intravenously,
intramuscular and then sometimesjust deeper injections trying
to get close to certain ganglionin the body, that we want to
modulate the function of theautonomic nervous system.
(31:51):
So sometimes it's just kind ofhelping to better balance your
sympathetic and yourparasympathetic nervous system
response, sympathetic being ohcrap, the bear is chasing me,
and parasympathetic is more likeI'm going on vacation and
laying in a hammock.
Being able to calm the nervoussystem down can be very helpful.
(32:16):
And the nice thing withprocaine is that it's not an
allergenic substance in general.
I mean, I guess anybody couldbe allergic to anything there's
always a unicorn, there's alwaysa unicorn, there's always a
unicorn.
We've never had anybody Knock onwood, but being able to just
give somebody relief and thething is okay, the anesthetic
(32:40):
part of it only persists in thesystem.
I think the half-life is 20minutes, but the ongoing
autonomic effect is just thatit's ongoing.
It's a longer term issue.
It helps to break up adhesionsin the fascia.
It helps break up scarring andall of these things, like even
(33:01):
where there's mesh and I've andI've worked on some, some mesh
issues and I've worked on some,some mesh issues it helps the
body calm down.
So where we can go into aspecific area, inject a little
procaine, not cause harm.
Number one love that.
But then number two, providepositive feedback to the nervous
(33:22):
system.
Everything is okay.
Then we get that neuroimmunecommunication or that
relationship, and thatconnection is more constructive
and more balanced, and I thinkthat's really important.
It's a tool.
Right, it's not the end all beall, but it is a tool, just like
(33:43):
the energy work that we do, thedesensitizations using
acupressure technique.
All of it's really important.
Speaker 1 (33:51):
Well, and there's not a lot that we get to use in the
holistic world.
That is an immediate fix.
You know, because so often whenyou're getting to the root
cause it takes a little time butthe neurotherapy is as close as
it gets to an immediate fix, isas close as it gets to an
immediate fix.
I absolutely love, love, loveusing that for our MCAS and
(34:12):
histamine clients, because youknow a lot of MCAS people can't
tolerate those supplements.
They don't handle a lot ofmedications and they certainly
can't handle detox protocols.
So we have to be even moregentle than gentle and we've had
great results doing our allergydesensitizations, our clearings
for histamines and all thingsassociated with MCAS.
(34:32):
So I love that tool as well.
And then when some supplementsare appropriate, you know we're
always going to customize thatto the individual.
I'm never going to give oneblanket recommendation for
everyone.
I love it when people likefriends or someone who hasn't
come in here yet, or asking fora friend, it's like what's the
one thing you know, especiallyfor allergies?
(34:52):
Well, there's not one thing.
Part of every protocol that I'mgoing to do is probably going
to have gut health repair work.
You know, right, everyone's gotsome gut problems and MCAS is a
big indication, but no twoclients will do the exact same
thing.
It just it's not going tohappen.
People are too unique for that.
But hey, one thing though Ithink you would agree with this,
sharon.
(35:13):
You know Rife has many helpfulbenefits across the board and it
really does compliment mostpeople as well, and that's our
frequency therapy, where we'reusing specific frequencies to
stimulate certain pathways inthe body, and there are
frequencies that help tostabilize the immune system or
that may help with some of theacute symptoms like the itching
(35:33):
or insomnia, things like that.
So I do love using that, youknow when it's appropriate.
But my favorite if anyone'slistened to any of our podcasts,
you know I'm going to do myshameless plug for our 3x4
genetic test, because I thinkit's one of the most important
things we offer for a long-term,successful plan.
Speaker 2 (35:54):
And.
Speaker 1 (35:54):
I'm at the point where I don't even want to start
working on histamines or MCASwith the client if they haven't
done this test, because thereare too many things that can
make it worse if you don't knowthe person's genetics.
Case in point once again, thequercetin example.
And the last thing I want to dois to make anything worse before
someone gets better, butespecially for someone who's
(36:14):
already dealing with anexistence that is triggered by
pretty much everything in lifeand that's just so hard to
navigate.
But when you're looking at thegenetics, it can give us so much
insight into the best remediesand protocols for your you know
healing path.
Speaker 2 (36:31):
Yeah, and it's.
You know, the genetics reallyhelp provide that, that idea of
okay.
Here are your possible toolsand solutions, and here are ones
that are not going to go wellfor you, because all anybody you
know a lot of, I don't want tosay anybody but a lot of people
come in going, oh, I have MTHFR,and for us we're like, yeah, so
does everybody, but dependingon which one you have, you know
(36:56):
which.
For those of you out there thatdon't know it, it's a genetic,
it's an aberration from normalgenetic function that causes
some of your folic acid to bewasted, function that causes
some of your folic acid to bewasted, and folic acid, or
folate, is important for yourcells to repair themselves, for
your DNA to repair.
It's a lot to do withneurological function and we
(37:19):
don't want to just guess on thatkind of thing and we do have
the benefit of these great testslike the 3x4.
But I think too, you know, tothe epigenetic part of it
knowing.
Okay, this is the geneticbackbone, but what about your
ongoing stress?
What about your lifestyle?
Or your environmental exposuresand other influences?
(37:45):
External influences are goingto play a role here, because all
of those things increase yourreactions, they can increase
your sensitivity throughrepeated exposures, because if
your body can't break downhistamines, and every time you
encounter something it continuesto produce more histamines it's
(38:07):
just fuel on a fire, and wedon't want to do that.
And so ultimately, your abilityto tolerate any kind of
perceived threat or triggerbecomes reduced and more reduced
.
I remember one of my peopleearly on.
She worked in a store that hada lot of scented products,
(38:28):
scented candles, and she alwayscomplained about headaches and
every time and this was way backwhen, like I didn't do a lot of
, I was just like doing mynaturopath thing.
It was pretty simple and youknow kind of just computerized
EAV testing.
I was like phenolics are so badfor you, and phenolics again
being smells and biochemicalderivatives and you know natural
(38:49):
or synthetic fragrances.
And then so I would doacupressure, desensitization.
The headache would go away,she'd go back to work and then
by the end of her shift it wouldbe back again.
And I finally told her I waslike you got to quit your job,
you've got to go to work in anunscented environment because we
realize, like it's thosecandles, she's fine when she
(39:13):
goes in, she's not fine when shecomes out, and over time,
because she didn't quit that job, she started to have more
symptoms in other areas and shebecame more intolerant, and I
think that that's a really goodexample about not.
That time I hadn't even heardof MCAS, right, but I knew that,
the repeated exposure.
You know I was.
I was just hauling buckets ofwater out of a sinking boat and
(39:35):
it was damage control.
We weren't getting on top ofanything.
So I think it's important toreduce those environmental
exposures where we can.
And that makes you know,lifestyle practices very, very
important, so different thingsthat people can do in in your
life.
If you're one of these people's, just be mindful of variety.
(39:58):
Um, we, we assume like, oh, I'ma creature of habit, I eat the
same thing every day, I do thesame workout every day, I do the
same everything every day andthat's fine till it's not fine,
that's great, but it's not truefor everybody.
And if you are a person who hasallergies, who has histamine
(40:19):
reactions, I would justchallenge you to start, you know
, implementing a little bit ofvariety in your life and have
some balance, because evenpeople who eat, like you said,
elena, all the healthy thingsthe bone broth, the sourdough
bread, the kombucha, thesauerkraut.
They can be very susceptible toa histamine imbalance and foods
(40:43):
can make it worse and foods canmake it better, but it's not
the same food, right?
So foods that can help, justfor people who want to take
notes on this you know gingercan help calm histamine
reactions, but it doesn't workfor everybody.
Thyme, the herb or the seasoningthat's really high in vitamin C
(41:06):
and it's an anti-inflammatoryand we use it as an
antimicrobial.
Um, it's really good forrespiratory infections, but and
it can really help lowerhistamines, but not for
everybody.
Um, watercress, which I don'tknow how many people eat
watercress, but that's anantihistamine as well.
And then capers I love capers,especially on fish, but they
(41:30):
have quercetin in them.
So if you're a person who can'tdo quercetin, you probably
shouldn't be eating a whole lotof capers.
But capers with the quercetin,again, that's a great
antioxidant and it can helpstabilize your mast cells,
unless you have the geneticsthat doesn't like that.
And then turmeric Turmeric isgood for so many things it's an
(41:52):
anti-inflammatory and it canprevent histamine release from
mast cells.
So that's important to know.
But if you're anemic, you don'twant to take turmeric because
it'll also bind to iron andlower your iron.
So this is why working withprofessionals can be very
important, but ultimately, Ithink things that we can all
(42:14):
employ are eating fresh,non-processed or minimally
processed foods, avoiding junkfood.
Highly processed foods and ifyou go what's a highly processed
food Because I get tickled likewith the news and like ultra
processed foods are, go on theirway out it's like, well, what
is that?
I mean, basically, if it has alabel and you can't pronounce
(42:37):
something in the label, you needto put that back.
You should not be eating it,whether you have histamine
reactions or not.
We all should be eating food inits natural state.
We all should be eating food inits natural state.
We all should be eating foodthat looks like it looked when
it was harvested, whether it wasoff the hook, off the hoof or
out of the ground or off thetree right, and then cooking
(43:01):
fresh whenever we can, or frozen, but trying to avoid canned.
You know that's not ideal forsure.
Speaker 1 (43:09):
Yeah, you know food is a huge part of it.
But then there's certain thingsin your environment.
You know a lot of the chemicalswe talked about.
There are things you can do tohelp protect yourself, like a
HEPA filter.
Those can remove dust andpollen.
That's just very, very helpfulfor removing that environmental
trigger.
That's absolutely everywhereyou go.
But then humidity you know wementioned before changes in
(43:35):
humidity can impact histaminesand MCAS.
So keeping humidity below 50%,that can prevent mold and dust
mite growth, which can alsocontribute to histamine release.
And regularly cleaning yourhome.
Everyone's got different levelsof cleanliness.
I get that.
I mean I am known as a cleanfreak in my family.
I've always been, so I'm notgoing to judge anyone who's not
where I'm at.
We all have different levels,but any kind of cleaning
(43:57):
regularly is You're totallyjudging.
Speaker 2 (43:59):
I feel judged right now.
Speaker 1 (44:01):
I'm not, I'm not going to come to anyone's house,
I'm just saying do somecleaning at some point,
especially those nooks andcrannies that we can just forget
about and the dark spots likebasements and garages.
That's where, you know, allkinds of things tend to collect.
So just do the best you can.
Just, you know, vacuumingoccasionally or sweeping,
mopping as you can handle.
(44:22):
But pets if you have pets,brush and bathe them regularly,
because that's a big one forallergies, and I know people
just love their cats, their dogs, their birds, but you want to
make sure that you're doingeverything you can for your
immune system.
At the same time, you can optfor hypoallergenic varieties.
Or I know for cats there arecertain foods you can feed them.
(44:45):
I don't know if that applies toother animals, I don't know.
My sister's a vet.
She told me about this one catfood that can help with that,
but that doesn't replace thebrushing and the bathing.
So just do yourself a favor andhelp out with the allergens.
Speaker 2 (44:59):
Have you ever?
Speaker 1 (45:00):
bathed a cat, no, but I just wouldn't bring them
inside.
Once again, not judging anyoneyou do you, but doing what you
can to clean the inside of yourhouse, to help your body's
response to some of thoseallergens, because it can
trigger it and if you just wantto live with it, that's fine.
But I've worked with people whoare desperately trying to
improve their histamineintolerances and they have
(45:24):
animals all over the place thatcan be triggering that stuff and
bringing things in from theoutside and stress of any kind
can trigger histamines.
For some people that'sstressful.
But just managing stress ingeneral.
That's going to be veryimportant for down-regulating
that immune system and immunesystem response.
Speaker 2 (45:44):
Right, and I think you know, when you look at you
know everything that we'retalking about.
It can be overwhelming right.
So for our listeners out there,you know if there's one thing
that you can do, if you're like,oh my gosh, I think I have MCAS
or I definitely have histamineoverload or histamine related
(46:07):
reactions, what do I do?
Oh no, where do I even start?
You know, start with your diet,and I think we say this for a
lot of things, because one habitall humans have is eating.
We all have that in common too.
Imagine that Perfect not doing,not eating, you die.
I don't know what theconnection is, but we do all eat
(46:28):
.
And so if you just start withyour food and maybe start trying
to remove histamines from yourdiet, maybe you go, oh wow, I
eat nothing but histamines.
Okay, maybe you should trydoing something different.
But know that you're not goingto feel a difference necessarily
right away.
You know it takes yourdigestive system a couple of
(46:49):
weeks sometimes to adjust.
I just did a little like pulsediet of carnivore just to remind
myself why I hate it so muchand it is.
It does take your digestivesystem time to adjust If you
remove huge components, if youmake a hard right turn in your
diet, it will take your bowelspossibly a little time to catch
(47:13):
up.
It could cause you to feel alittle foggy.
So I would just take it onepiece at a time and in fixing
your diet or going low histaminein your diet is a great
starting point.
I think it's important tounderstand that.
It's just that it's a startingpoint, because what if you're
not a food person?
What if it's not the histaminesin your food?
(47:33):
What if it's something in yourenvironment?
You're never going to get allof the resolution that you need
unless you look at everything.
But this is where working witha professional is so important
and we just encourage you.
You know, get tested and seewhat other toxins and exposures
might you have that could becontributing.
(47:55):
And you know, whether we dotoxin tests or blood work or
genetic tests or thermography,we could get valuable
information that helps direct,prioritize and guide a
customized path to feelingbetter and living better,
because everyone wants to livebetter and feel better.
(48:18):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (48:18):
So y'all, that's a wrap for today's episode.
We hope this conversation hashelped shed light on the
connection between histamines,mass cell activation and
allergies and, more importantly,how you can take a holistic
approach to managing them.
If you found this episodehelpful, be sure to subscribe on
our YouTube, share it with afriend and leave us a review.
It helps us reach more peoplewho are looking for real answers
(48:41):
to their health concerns.
And don't forget to follow uson social media for even more
tips, insights and updates.
You can find us on Instagram,facebook, youtube and Rumble.
Just search for K6 WellnessCenter and join our growing
community.
For more information onholistic allergy support,
functional medicine andpersonalized wellness strategies
(49:02):
, visit us at k6wellnesscom and,as always, if you're ready to
take the next step in yourhealth journey, our team at K6
Wellness is here to help.
Thanks for listening and we'llsee you next time on the K6
Wellness Revolution podcast.
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