Histamine

[Lydiasmum]

Hi everyone.

 

My brain is working overtime tonight. In my ongoing quest to fix my child, I have been reading about the recent Yale Study regarding the role of histamine in TS. The study itself concentrates on 9 family members all found with a gene mutation causing a lack of histamine in the brain. If my understanding is correct, histamine and dopamine need to be in perfect harmony together to keep the brain chemistry just right - a lack of histamine causes too much dopamine and vice versa. So is it very possible that either too high or too low histamine levels can cause tics? This really got me thinking as I myself have histamine induced pressure urticaria. I've had this for several years and have to be on prophylactic antihistamines to keep painful flares to a minimum. When I was very young I had many sore throat/tonsillitis illnesses, as I grew up I had hayfever and eczema. So could my DD (I suspect PANDAS but diagnosed TS) have some gene mutation (causing too much histamine) which causes TS flares? I believe she is PANDAS as strep causes the severe flares, but I have noticed she also gets more hyperactive and 'ticcy' each April when pollen is high. I wonder if this could be the problem with DD and me, although it presents differently in us.

Does this make sense? The only anti-histamine DD has ever tried is liquid cetirizine (Claritin?) but this made her more hyper! Is there anything worth trying (preferably not tablets as she can't swallow those)? What can block histamine without the side effects and is easy to give young children?

 

Thanks x

[pr40]

After reading your post, I googled histamine and genetic mutation. this was among the first hits

http://geneticgenie.org/blog/2013/01/31/mast-cell-activation-disorder-mcad-chronic-illness-and-its-role-in-methylation/

[Rachel]

Could your daughter do a nose spray like Flonase?

[Hopeny]

You may want to look into quercetin

[MomWithOCDSon]

Lydiasmum -- we've had great success with quercitin and Pepcid. Quercitin, as I understand it, prohibits the body's production of histamine at the T-cell level, so the body literally isn't dealing with as much histamine as it would be without it. Pepcid, meanwhile, blocks histamine receptors in the gut.

[Rachel]

I did not know this about Quercitin. This would be a much better option than taking over the counter histamins. I will ask our doctor about this.

[JuliaFaith]

My ds16 is taking Hydroxyine at night to help with sleep and it is an antihistamine. He says that it helps. We did lower dosage to 1/2 tab (very small to begin with) because he was feeling too sleepy the next day.

Edited April 18, 2014 by juliafaith

[ibcdbwc]

For those of you using Quercitin, did your child have paradoxical reactions to OTC antihistamines? Benadryl, claritin, zyrtec all make DS hyper. Wondering if Quercitin would act differently.

Edited April 19, 2014 by ibcdbwc

[MaryAW]

I went to the Q & A in Mass. a couple of weeks ago and asked the panel about histamines and our PANS/PANDAS children. I explained how my daughter had allergy testing prior to onset and was allergic only to dust mites. After 2 years of PANS she is now testing allergic to everything and had very bad flairs last pollen season. I asked if this was related to PANS/PANDAS. Dr. Swedo nodded her head as I asked. She explained that her immune system was in an inflammatory state because of the PANS. Her recommendation was to work at modulating the immune system. The entire panel was in agreement that immunotherapy was not the right thing. It is not that they are actually allergic, so much as their immune systems are in such a state of inflammation, that they react to the allergens. (I do not remember the exact wording, but this is the gist). They recommended antihistamines (I use Zyrtec for my DD). I have read that vitamin C is a natural antihistamine, so I have been giving that as well. Nordic Naturals Ultimate Omega Jr. is a great source of Omega 3's which is an anti-inflammatory. Also, getting your child's vitamin D level to 50 - 80 ng/ml will help. During bad flairs ibuprofen or aspirin can help too.

[MomWithOCDSon]

I honestly did not know that Vitamin C works as an antihistamine, but that's good news!

 

We're fans of SolaRay's "QBC Complex" which is a combination of quercitin, bromelaine and Vitamin C; both DS and I take it daily, and I can tell a difference in terms of my response to seasonal allergies (pollen) if I skip too many days. I always thought it was the quercitin doing its thing, but maybe the Vitamin C is playing a role, also.