Symptoms on the skin

In case of histamine intolerance, an excess of histamine can lead to various types of skin rashes. Eczematous skin rashes can occur, but also hives (urticaria). A sudden red coloration of the skin (flush) is also possible.

The different types of rash can last only for a few minutes but also for several hours. The various rashes that can occur in the context of a histamine intolerance are often accompanied by more or less pronounced itching. Less frequently, itching occurs without a previous skin change having occurred.

Additional information under: Itchy skinA flush is a sudden red coloration of the skin. This redness occurs mainly in the area of the face, neck and décolleté. The cause of flush is a sudden dilation of blood vessels. Such a flush can occur in the context of a histamine intolerance. The symptoms usually last only seconds to minutes.

Other symptoms

In addition to the numerous physical symptoms that can cause histamine intolerance, a breakdown of histamine can also lead to psychological disorders. These include increased restlessness and nervousness, sleep disorders and depressive moods. Histamine intolerance can have many different faces.

It can also be accompanied by symptoms that are as impressive as an allergy. These can include watery, itchy and reddened eyes. It should be noted, however, that such symptoms of the eyes occur much more frequently in the context of actual allergies such as hay fever, animal hair allergies or a house dust allergy.

Histamine intolerance remains a controversial and rare clinical picture, which is probably too often diagnosed as an embarrassing diagnosis. Histamine intolerance often causes complaints in the gastrointestinal tract. Diffuse abdominal pain and diarrhea are common.

Especially after consumption of histamine-rich food. The frequency of diarrhoea varies greatly.Flatulence can also occur in the context of an excess of histamine when the body’s histamine breakdown is insufficient or delayed. They can be accompanied by abdominal pain and diarrhoea.

Nausea and vomiting can also occur in the context of a histamine intolerance. Both in patients with known migraine and in patients who do not otherwise suffer from headaches, a histamine intolerance can lead to headaches. These occur when there is an excess of histamine, for example after ingesting histamine-containing food.

The lack of breakdown of histamine then triggers the headache. In many migraine patients, a reduced activity of the enzyme responsible for histamine degradation has been demonstrated. Therefore, many migraine patients report a triggering of migraine symptoms after eating histamine-rich foods such as cheese or red wine.

This topic might also be of interest to you: Migraine attackHeartburn is a possible symptom of histamine intolerance. Shortly after ingestion of an increased amount of histamine with food, the heartbeat may accelerate and even tachycardia may occur. Heart rhythm disturbances such as extrasystoles (heart stumbling) can also occur.

Further causes of tachycardia can be found here: Causes of tachycardiaThe increase in weight is also a symptom that people who believe they are affected by histamine intolerance occasionally report. In most cases, however, there seems to be no direct connection between an actual histamine intolerance and weight gain. It is discussed that a histamine intolerance can also be a trigger for depression.

However, it should not remain unmentioned that the clinical picture of histamine intolerance is generally not entirely undisputed among experts. One of the reasons for this is that the diagnosis is difficult to make. There is also hardly any reliable scientific data on histamine intolerance.

So far, there is no reliable data on depressive disorders caused by histamine intolerance. Occasionally, it is read that a histamine intolerance can also lead to hair loss. However, it is a rather unusual symptom that in most cases has other causes.

Acne is not a typical symptom of histamine intolerance. While the symptoms of a histamine intolerance usually develop within a very short time and disappear within minutes to hours, acne is a skin disease that has a longer-term course. Acne usually develops on the basis of excessive sebum production.

Muscle pain is not a typical symptom of histamine intolerance. Since the clinical picture of histamine intolerance is difficult to diagnose and there is little reliable scientific data available to date, many people probably wrongly believe that they suffer from histamine intolerance. As a result, many symptoms are associated with the disease, but in fact have completely different causes.

Muscle pain is one such example. This topic might also be of interest to you: Muscle pain – what is behind it? Even muscle twitching is not a typical symptom of histamine intolerance. Muscle twitching can be triggered by a magnesium deficiency or psychological stress, for example. There are numerous other possible causes.