How to Find Out if Histamines Are Causing Your Period Pain & PMS | Ep. 144

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I'm Bridget Walton, a Women's Hormone Coach helping ambitious women ages 25-40 naturally restore hormone balance, fix irregular periods, feel confident in their fertility, and resolve gut health issues without restrictive dieting.

If you struggle with missing periods, PCOS symptoms, bloating, or unpredictable cycles, this women's health podcast will teach you how to support your hormones through strategic nutrition and lifestyle changes that actually fit your busy life.

On I'm Hormonal, you'll discover natural solutions for period problems, learn how gut health impacts your hormones, and get practical hormone balance tips from a functional nutrition perspective - no more guessing what your body needs.

Today you'll learn about how histamines can exacerbate period pain and PMS so you can identify if they're contributing to your discomfort. You'll understand where histamines lurk in food and have a clear starting point regarding dietary changes to try out in order to determine whether or not histamines are the key for understanding what's causing your period cramps and PMS.

👉 DM us on Instagram @im_hormonal - we want to hear your biggest takeaway

Chapters

• 0:00 Histamines And Period Pain
• 0:40 Show Intro And Mission
• 1:03 Tech Snafu And Topic Rationale
• 1:32 How Histamine Fuels Estrogen
• 3:10 Real-World Food Triggers
• 4:06 Prostaglandins And Cramps
• 4:48 Fast-Track Relief Plan
• 5:26 Two-Week Dairy Experiment
• 7:25 Cut Alcohol To Lower Histamine
• 7:52 Rethinking Leftovers
• 8:37 High-Histamine Foods List
• 9:41 Seasonal Allergies As A Clue
• 10:54 Antihistamines And Gut Considerations
• 11:45 Enzymes, Microbes, And Histamine Load
• 12:42 Testing And Personalized Plans
• 13:41 Philosophy, Tools, And Next Steps
• 14:30 Connect, Disclaimer, And Wrap

Transcript

SPEAKER_00: 0:00

A lot of the time our period problems are exacerbated, are caused by low progesterone, high estrogen, or inflammation, maybe some combination of those. But if you are somebody who, when you take antihistamines, you realize that your PMS is alleviated or your period pain is much less. Well, it might not be rooted in progesterone or estrogen. It could be a histamine problem. And that is what I'm gonna walk you through today. Because if you are somebody who has period pain, you have PMS that you just cannot figure out, this episode is gonna be for you. We are diving into histamines. Welcome to the I'm Hormonal Podcast. I'm Bridget Walton, a women's hormone coach helping busy, ambitious women through personalized coaching and science-backed solutions. Whether you're listening to me here or you're working with me one-on-one, my goal is the same, which is to help you to stop guessing about your hormone health and start seeing real progress. Now, I am so sorry, guys. These episodes normally come out for you all on Tuesdays and Thursdays. I had a little bit of a technical, I don't know, is Mercury in retrograde kind of thing happening because let me tell you, yesterday I recorded at least, no, I recorded two full podcasts before realizing that my mic wasn't plugged in. So I'm well versed. We're back for round two, and I really wanted to talk about histamines in this episode because this is kind of sneaky, right? Most women don't realize that histamines, totally normal, natural chemicals in your body, could be contributing to period pain and PMS. So we are going to break down what is actually happening, what in your diet might be making this worse and give you a quick actionable plan for what to do if this is your missing piece. So, first, what are histamines? We usually think of histamines as part of an allergy response, immune reactions that result in things like swelling or hives or rashes. But histamines can also be released in situations like totally unrelated to allergies. So let's walk through the histamine hormone connection because here's why histamines relate to your period at all. Now, high histamine levels in your body will drive up estrogen. And high estrogen levels also drive up histamine. It's this, you know, vicious cycle where they make each other increasingly elevated, which can contribute to PMS or period pain. If you've been listening for a while, you know that that is the case, that it's normally elevated estrogen relative to progesterone that can cause that PMS, heavy bleeding, or period pain. So when histamine levels are elevated, we just covered you've got that elevated estrogen. And let's talk about this in a real world example because you're thinking, okay, Bridget, got it. It's related to allergies, but what else? So are you somebody who after you eat leftovers, right? You maybe it's leftovers from a restaurant, maybe it's something that you made for dinner two days ago, and then you're feeling itchy, you have a runny nose or watery eyes after you're consuming it. Also, think about if after you consume alcohol, after you consume dairy or chocolate, do you have some of those same experiences? That could be because those are histamine-containing foods or histamine-releasing foods. Some foods like leftovers contain histamines that you're directly consuming. Um, others like alcohol or dairy, specifically that A1 dairy, which is the kind of protein in the dairy, that can trigger your body to release histamines. Either way, it's the same result. Now, here is the second thing that happens when histamine levels increase. Higher levels of histamines translate to higher levels of prostaglandins. You might remember prostaglandins, they are released at the start of your period to stimulate muscle contraction in your endometrium. That's what is actually starting the shedding of the lining, which is voila, your period. So if histamine levels are elevated, you also have higher prostaglandin levels, and more prostaglandins equals more period pain and stronger muscle contractions. Now, the good news though is that there are a couple things you can start doing now to address this. And usually, right, if it is a histamine problem that's causing your PMS and period pain, you can get some relief relatively quickly. So let's run through what I want you to consider. And real quick, take a deep breath with me. These might not be the simplest, these might not be at the top of your list of things that you want to cut out, but it could be the missing piece. So it will be a helpful piece of data either way that can put you further along in this path towards balance and feeling your best and not having to think about what the F is going on with your periods. So, first of all, first recommendation is to consider eliminating dairy for two weeks. Dairy is one of those histamine-inducing foods. If you are having period pain, you can't figure it out, or maybe you've had your hormone levels tested and they looked fine. Try avoiding dairy to see how you feel and see what changes occur. You can keep butter and non-A1 dairy, like goat cheese or sheep cheese or camel cheese if you have access to camel cheese. You can keep those in your diet because those are low in some of those more inflammatory components that we won't go super deep into. But keep an eye out as well for, you know, like whey. Whey W-H-E-Y. That's a protein from dairy as well as casein. So you might not see on a label that you're looking at that it says milk or cheese or whatever. It might not be so clear. Take a look, do a Google search, have a little conversation with your favorite AI tool to understand what are those secret, kind of hidden ways that dairy could be represented on the label of something that you are consuming. So take this for a whirl for maybe two weeks, track your symptoms. Um, if it helps, keep going. If it doesn't help so much, then move on to this next next recommendation. And actually, one more thought is that if you have to pick, you know, a time to start implementing this, it might make the most sense for you to do so around the middle of your cycle so that for your alluteal phase or for the second half of your menstrual cycle, you're avoiding dairy. You're avoiding increasing those histamines when you would naturally be or potentially be experiencing PMS during that part of your cycle. So step number two is going to be eliminating alcohol. There's should be no surprise here. Alcohol is not a health food. It also inhibits your body's ability to break down histamine properly. So try cutting it out, see how you feel. Um, there are a lot of great non-alcoholic options out there, and just explore what is a good fit for you. Now, step three that I want you to consider would be coming back to this conversation of leftovers. Anything that has been prepared that is sitting in the refrigerator for a few days allows those histamines to build up. So this is one that will take a little bit more effort, right? If you're somebody who you meal prep and you consume that meal prep for the next four days, um, you might, you're gonna need to tweak what you're normally doing naturally. So that's why I have this one as step three, but this could be one that's really effective for you. It's worth mentioning too, there are definitely other foods that are higher in histamines. And let me just rattle off some of those for you real quick. All right, here we go. Some of the foods or ingredients that are higher in histamines include, like we mentioned, alcohol, but also processed meats, cheeses, sauerkraut. There are some vegetables like tomatoes, eggplant, or spinach. Think about tropical fruit like pineapple, bananas, papaya, or citrus. We're also thinking about some fish, strawberries, nuts, and peanuts, licorice, chocolate. Final few here are pork, egg white, and then additives like colorants or preservatives. So it's not an all or nothing game. You don't need to get rid of every single one of those things, but it's about being aware of how they could impact you and reflect on that so you can make the best decision for you and how you want to feel. Right. I have a couple more thoughts for you here. I want to talk about seasonal allergies for just a second, because if you have seasonal allergies, you might notice that you have worse period cramps or worse PMS during the springtime when pollen is abundant, right? We can't get away from it. So this could be an easy test. If you are, maybe you're in the southern hemisphere listening to this right now, and that's what's going on in the springtime. Try it out. If you take an antihistamine, if you're comfortable with that, um, does that improve what's going on with you? Now, we can't just well, ideally, you wouldn't be taking an antihistamine every single day because that can have some other impacts on your gut health. You know, I'm all about gut health here, so I'm suggesting that you try that out just to see if histamine is a part of the equation for you. But from there, maybe it is a focus on gut health or repairing your gut lining. You're gonna have a lot greater reaction to food, great in the bad way, unfortunately, in this case, but you're gonna have a more significant reaction to foods if you have leaky gut, if there is that elevated immune response. So use it as a piece of data about how to move forward. But I just want to be clear that I'm not necessarily recommending that you start taking in an antihistamine every single day. Since I mentioned gut health a second ago, I want to come back to that as well because this is where the connection lies. And again, if you've listened to I'm hormonal before, you've heard me talk about gut health. But here's what's actually happening because histamine is broken down by an enzyme in your gut. So if you are deficient in that enzyme, histamine has the opportunity to build up. And remember, more histamine equals more estrogen equals more pressed glandins and more period pain and PMS. Also, if you do have an overgrowth of certain bacteria in your gut, some bacteria do release histamines themselves. So this is something that I look at with all of my one-on-one clients when we do gut testing. We see is there an overgrowth? What type of bacteria or fungus, etc., are overgrown so that we can support your digestion overall, support your intestinal lining, and really connect the dots about all of the components that are contributing to your experience of PMS or period pain or anything else that might be present for you, and make a really crystal clear clan, crystal clear plan on how you can move forward and um not have to worry about that anymore. So that is most of what I've got for you today. But, you know, sometimes I elaborate on this more at the beginning. For those of you who are listening for the first time today, and a special welcome to you. Um, what I do here, what we do here on I'm hormonal, is focus on women's hormone health. Of course, if you are dealing with period pain or PMS, maybe you have missing periods altogether or just totally unpredictable periods. And as a part of that, we have to talk about gut health. It is so important. Health is complex, it is not one size fits all. But my intention here is to give you some clues, give you some information that you can take to say and think critically. Does this apply to me? How does this apply to me? How can I get more information about what my body is trying to tell me and what direction I need to go from there? So if you come back, if you keep listening to the podcast, you will hear me share a lot of insights with you through this lens of holistic nutrition, talking about the functional lab testing that I use with my one-on-one clients, like gut tests, like hormone panels, like food sensitivity tests. Because when we can get so clear on the specific changes that you can make in the short term to really catalyze your transformation, move beyond these unsavory period experiences, right? That's what we're here to do. So go ahead and try this out. Let me know how it worked for you by sending me a message on Instagram at I'm underscore hormonal. I want to hear how it went for you, what you learned about your body, and what worked. Quick reminder: everything that I share on this podcast is for educational purposes only, certainly not a replacement for medical advice or diagnosis. But if what we covered today resonated with you, I would love for you to rate and review the podcast. It is the most free way that you can support I'm hormonal, and thank you in advance for taking 20 seconds to do that. Now, the next episode is going to be a mini where we'll dive a little bit more into period pain and histamines. But that is it for today, my friend. I'm Bridget Walton, and I will see you on the next one.