Yesterday, we had a woman come to us saying her doctor told her that her hives were a menopause symptom.
Last week we spoke to a woman that was having trouble with her asthma.
But, now two years after menopause, she is covered in hives that the doctor’s want to treat with steroid cream.
It’s amazing the list of symptoms that peri-menopause/menopause gets blamed for.
When we start having histamine issues, we so easily blame it on peri-menopause or menopause.
Histamines are a lot more than just an allergic reaction, a reaction to food, or a skin reaction. High histamines are responsible for many of the health concerns our patients have during peri/post menopause.
Now, step back for a second and think about when you have an allergic reaction.
Or you have an allergic reaction to a certain food.
Or your immune system is down and you’re in a lot of pain.
Your body is fighting something and you need immediate help.
What does the doctor give you to temporary support you?
Cortisone, right?
Which is a steroid.
Few women realise how big of an impact cortisol has on down regulating histamines.
And how histamines play such a big part in peri/post menopause, let alone a driver behind many symptoms.
During pre/peri-menopause, progesterone goes down which activates your HPA Axis. (The A in HPA Axis stands for adrenal gland.)
Your adrenal gland is responsible for secreting cortisol.
A key steroid hormone.
The HPA Axis is often highly activated between 40 and 49.
So the amount of cortisol circulating is often affected around the time oestrogen starts dropping between 50 and 60. At a time when women are more susceptible to inflammation (which triggers mast cells which release histamines).
High Histamine systems include:
- Skin: hives, flushing, itching, eczema
- Respiratory: rhinitis (constant runny nose), sinusitis, wheeze, shortness of breath, chronic cough
- Gut: acid reflux, nausea, constipation, diarrhoea, bloating, wind
- Vascular: dizziness, fainting, migraine, oedema (fluid retention), palpitations
- Neurological: irritability, anxiety, brain fog, insomnia, fatigue, tinnitus
- Other: joint pains, breast pain, painful and/or heavy periods, bladder pain syndrome
Now, if you were to do a side by side comparison of peri-menopause, menopause, post-menopause symptoms, and, high histamine symptoms, one could say they are very similar, if not the same! (Very similar to thyroid symptoms too, which often get overlooked because of this hormonal season.)
Why is it that histamines get released during peri-menopause, and continue to release AFTER menopause?
Inflammation increases mast cells.
Mast cells release histamines.
Histamines block oestrogen clearance.
Oestrogen increases histamines.
Low levels of cortisol enable higher histamine responses.
Between 35 and 49, oestrogen goes up and down, often higher than any other time in a woman’s lifetime.
Between 50 and 60, oestrogen goes down, increasing inflammation in the body.
Histamine activation starts in Stage 1 and Stage 2 of the Body ReCalibration, and the natural lowering of oestrogen after 50 makes women more susceptible to health challenges and symptoms because the cycle of inflammation continues.
To me, this makes total and complete sense as to why my mum suffered so greatly from sinus issues, headaches, and migraines in her late 40s and early 50s, then went on to have (and still suffers from) intense arthritis.
What can be done to stop the down spiral of histamines augmenting inflammation?
Your vulnerability during this peri-menopause/menopause/post-menopause time is largely determined by your genetic predisposition and/or early life setbacks to your immune system.
A lot of women begin to worry about things that happened to their parents and they can start to see the precursors during peri-menopause and in menopause. This is a common concern in every conversation, “I look at my mum, dad, auntie, and I can see the early signs creeping in and I don’t want that to happen to me“
This is why you have to look deeper at genetics and/or the state of your immune system.
Genetically speaking
Methylation is a key precursor women need to pay attention to and understand to get a clearer picture to what is happening to their body at this time.
Immune system wise
It’s important to think back to when you were a child or teen.
Were you an asthmatic?
Did you have your sinus problems?
Did you struggle with your tonsils or adenoids?
Did you have pneumonia or bad viral challenges as a child?
When you were a teen, how was your first 12 to 18 months with your periods?
Did you have period problems?
Your genetics help you understand what your vulnerabilities are.
The good news is that you can down regulate your histamines AND inflammation levels, even if your past or genes are starting to activate these challenges.
You can control your environment at a biochemical level, which dictates the symptoms and impact on your long term health.
Start with Testing.
This is where we start with each patient.
Two key things we want to know based when we see patient suffering with high histamine or inflammatory symptoms, is
- what’s going on with her annual pathology, and,
- what is going on with her homocysteine levels
You can test Homocysteine, which is one of our best markers for understanding the current state of your methylation.
We also like to see what’s happening with the body from a genetic perspective to see WHAT this change in your reproductive hormones is activating in your body.
High and low homocysteine are often connected to a genetic mutation called MTHFR.
High homocysteine often presents with two or more of the following symptoms [in women]:
- difficulty to lost weight
- high blood pressure
- increased insulin resistance
- high cholesterol
- anxiety
- heart palpitations
Low homocysteine often indicate where the histamine levels are.
Low homocysteine often presents with:
- high histamines
- joint pain
- gut pain
- high yeast levels causing bacteria vaginosis, thrush, or UTIs
- acid reflux, gastritis, and/or heart burn
- migraines, vertigo, headaches
- itchy skin
- rosacea, dermatitis, eczema, psoriasis, or dandruff
Low homocysteine levels over a prolonged period of time are also connected to kidney stones and renal stones
But how your body navigates through the changes in hormones, and symptoms you experience is often dictated by your genetic blueprint.
This is why Tiaan and I did a webcast on Genetics, Methylation and Peri/Post Menopause. (You can watch the full webcast here: https://naturalhormonebalance.co/free-training-genetics-peri-post-menopause/)
In my opinion, this is one of the most explosive revelations in the Peri/Post Menopause research to date.
Most of the genetic and methylation conversation to date has sadly been centralised around men.
We’ve focused the last eighteen months going through our patients symptoms and pathology. We’ve unpacked the genetic symptom and diagnostic implications of peri/post menopause patients because of their genetics.
This is why we’re sharing so much education on it now.
For us, we really want the conversation to stop just labelling everything as menopause and aging.
Because IF we start looking at the symptoms for what they are…
…and it’s a metabolic problem, like Thyropause, there’s a lot you can do about it before you struggle with things like Alzheimer’s, Pre-Diabetes, Arthritis, or a Thyroid Problem.
…and IF it’s a histamine problem, there’s a lot we WANT to do about it before it creates a poor quality of life that effects things like your sleep, immune system, skin appearance, or your gastrointestinal function. …
There’s a good chance that your genetic and immune system vulnerabilities are coming to light because of your Body ReCalibration.
Even if you are on the other side of menopause, there’s a good chance you’re still in the Recalibration (because that lasts longer than menopause).
If you haven’t learnt about your genetics and want to know more, I highly recommend you watch our new webcast here: https://naturalhormonebalance.co/free-training-genetics-peri-post-menopause/
If you would like us to look at your blood work, genes or connect privately to help resolve your health challenges, we offer a Free Introductory Consultation. You can schedule a time here: https://calendly.com/nz-naturopathy/intro-consult
