20/07/2021
Do you experience cyclical health issues?
➰hormonal / cyclical headaches or migraines
➰Period pain
➰Cyclical asthma
➰Allergy flares
➰Itchy skin
⛔️If you haven’t done so yet, watch my “histamine” highlight and then come back!
🔥Both estrogen and progesterone play a role in regulating mast cell activity. Mast cells release histamine.
🔥When estrogen latches on to mast cells, it causes histamine release.
The distribution of mast cells don’t vary throughout the menstrual cycle, but their activation seems to. They are activated just before menstruation, which means this is when you’d have the highest histamine levels.
This is during the premenstrual phase, as progesterone and estradiol take a dip and this is when women experience “premenstrual syndrome (PMS)”.
Technically the more mast cells you have and the more histamine sensitive you are, the more likely you’ll have cyclical issues just before and during your periods.
↔️Just as estrogen can influence histamine levels, histamine can also influence estrogen levels. It’s a two way street.
⬆️Histamine can independently stimulate estrogen production via the ovarian cells, increasing overall estrogen levels.
🚫On the other hand, progesterone INHIBITS histamine release.
➡️So in the case of estrogen dominance (high unopposed estrogen), low progesterone and high estrogen will most likely cause a high histamine symptom picture. Think ➡️PMS, headaches, migraines, period pain, sore breasts, eczema flares, hives.
⚠️Estrogen also has an effect on histamine by suppressing the activity of DAO, the enzyme that inactivates histamine, causing MORE histamine activity. This is one of the ways how estrogen dominance or high unopposed estrogen can cause menstrual pain.
‼️If you present with a high estrogen symptom picture with cyclical symptoms, it’s time to dig deeper and address potential histamine issues.
