Reflections on the last three months

It’s been about three months since I went to bed one night fine and woke up the next morning with histamine intolerance. I always figured I’d be done with it in about three months. I don’t know why. Maybe that’s how long I thought it would take for my hormones to settle down and stop torturing me. Or maybe I just can’t bare the idea that this is a permanent situation.

I’m not quite over it yet, but I am substantially better than I was when it first started. I’ve been able to eat a few things I couldn’t only a few weeks ago. I have almost completely itch free days, and I sleep better with almost no hot flashes. That’s going from about six a night to none! That alone is worth reporting.

I credit my improvement with the supplements I take, the olive oil I apply to my skin, the low histamine diet I maintain and the best friend who carpools with me and has to endure the entire journey listening to me rabbit on about itching and olive oil.

Many things have changed for me. I can’t take showers anymore and I now use an electric razor on my legs to avoid the hives brought on by razor burn. I take an almost ritual bath at night and pamper myself like I never had before. I cannot use any kind of lotions, but have discovered the healing powers of olive oil.

I have an extreme distaste for packaged foods now. The Clif Mojo bars I used to love are tasteless and the Amy’s frozen vegan pizza made me nauseous. I’ve been eating almost exclusively whole foods, so when I decided to see if the Clif bar would make me itch now that I’ve healed so much, I barely choked it down. It was dry and tasteless. And the pizza was just gross.

I can talk about many of the varieties of apples because I practically live off of them and have tried them all, and I adore butternut squash, something I never cooked before in my life.

I’ve discovered that if you’re patient and listen to your body, and if you’re tenacious, you can transcend what life hands you, and even find the positives. If someone came along and asked me tonight if I’d rather be able to eat anything I want without having histamine intolerance or have mood swings and hot flashes, I’d pick the histamine intolerance. I’ve suffered from hormonal migraines and mood swings my entire adult life, and it’s a blessing to be even-keeled  almost all the time now. It’s like sometimes my body feels quiet. I guess this is what calm feels like!

I am still researching the link between olive oil and what I think is my body healing and want to keep reporting what I find. Olive oil on my skin and in my body, along with my supplement regimen has made this issue bearable. I am convinced the olive oil has been the key to my body healing. I can eat things now, without reaction, that I couldn’t two weeks ago. (I had a vodka and tonic a couple of weeks ago and both arms itched immediately. Last night, not even a twinge.) The only difference between then and now, the addition of olive oil on my skin.

I’ve learned a lot and tried to share a lot in the hope that there are some women out there looking for answers like I was. I’ll keep posting. So stop back by and maybe I’ll be able to tell you my bout with histamine intolerance is over. That would offer the best hope of all.

‹ Is it a healing crisis or a cold?

Give up the razor ›

Tagged with: histamine intolerance, hormones, hot flashes, Menopause, Olive oil, pruritus
Posted in Women's health