The Story
It happened about three years ago, at lunchtime after a visit to a Chinese restaurant: suddenly my heart was racing and beating irregularly. I felt nauseous and a strong feeling of dizziness took hold of me - I felt really bad. Totally unsettled, I visited my family doctor the same day and described my symptoms to him. But he only prescribed me a pain killer. I was looking for answers as to where all these troubling complaints were suddenly coming from. My sister suspected a histamine intolerance and advised me to visit the Biogena Check Up Lounge to have a closer look at my intestines, where my symptoms might be originating.
The Journey
No sooner said than done - I made an appointment at the Biogena Check Up Lounge where I gave a stool sample for analysis of my intestinal flora and was tested for potential leaky gut syndrome and histamine intolerance. My sister was right; both the leaky gut syndrome and the histamine intolerance were confirmed. Subsequently, I received supp-lements for a targeted build-up of my intestinal mucosa as well as the enzyme diamine oxidase to counteract my food intolerance to histamine. For two months I took Mucosa Formula® to strengthen the intestinal mucosa, three capsules a day of AH & Glutamine, and made sure to eat a low-histamine diet, another very important factor.
The Success
Taking the various supplements and avoiding foods with a high histamine content soon had an effect - I felt well again. I was free of all the symptoms such as bowel sounds, stomach and heart pains, brain fog, lack of concentration, headaches, fatigue, malaise, abdominal cramps, diarrhoea and feelings of weakness. To this day, AH & Glutamine® is my constant companion. I swear by it, especially when eating out, when I might order something high in histamines without realising. I still avoid histamine-rich foods, such as soy sauce, parmesan cheese and sauerkraut, but I continue to enjoy a glass of wine from time to time - with a AH & Glutamine® capsule, this is no problem.
Lifestyle Changes
A low-histamine diet reduces histamine exposure. Foods that contain or release particularly high levels of histamine, and should therefore be avoided, are red wine, beer, coffee, black and green tea, cocoa, fish and meat (especially if it is no longer very fresh), cheese (the riper, the more histamine), sauerkraut, tomatoes, avocado, spinach, mushrooms, vinegar and soy sauce. In addition, the supply of cofactors of diamine oxidase (DAO) such as vitamin B6, vitamin C, magnesium, zinc and copper can increase enzyme activity again and thus promote the breakdown of histamine.
