Uploaded September 2026 | Updated September 2026, 1 week ago
The end goal with histamine intolerance isn’t to simply get better at avoiding histamine. That's a silly goal. A better goal is to rebuild tolerance to histamine.
Easier said than done but I'll tend to think about it in three broad phased of treatment.
The first step is to lower the load. If histamine is driving a big chunk of your symptoms, we want to bring that load down and get you feeling better. That might involve diet, supplements, herbs, medications or simply reducing some of the things that are adding to the overall histamine bucket. This step is important, and for someone who are highly reactive it can make an enormous difference. This step is also where many people treatment.
The second step is to find the source of the histamine. Why did you lose tolerance to histamine in the first place? This is where I’m looking closely at the history, presenting symptoms and, when necessary specialised testing. Did things change after antibiotics, a gut infection, mould exposure, major stress or illness? Are there digestive symptoms pointing us towards SIBO, fungal overgrowth or another gut issue? The testing should be there to help answer a specific question rather than simply testing everything because histamine is involved.
Then we get to the piece I think is massively undervalued. Rebuilding tolerance. Once we’ve lowered the load and worked through the underlying drivers, the goal is to gradually expand what you can tolerate again. More foods, less fear around eating and the end goal = more freedom and enjoyment of life.
If there's only one takeaway here it's - Don't STOP at step 1!
The end goal with histamine intolerance isn’t to simply get better at avoiding histamine. That's a silly goal. A better goal is to rebuild tolerance to histamine.
Easier said than done but I'll tend to think about it in three broad phased of treatment.
The first step is to lower the load. If histamine is driving a big chunk of your symptoms, we want to bring that load down and get you feeling better. That might involve diet, supplements, herbs, medications or simply reducing some of the things that are adding to the overall histamine bucket. This step is important, and for someone who are highly reactive it can make an enormous difference. This step is also where many people treatment.
The second step is to find the source of the histamine. Why did you lose tolerance to histamine in the first place? This is where I’m looking closely at the history, presenting symptoms and, when necessary specialised testing. Did things change after antibiotics, a gut infection, mould exposure, major stress or illness? Are there digestive symptoms pointing us towards SIBO, fungal overgrowth or another gut issue? The testing should be there to help answer a specific question rather than simply testing everything because histamine is involved.
Then we get to the piece I think is massively undervalued. Rebuilding tolerance. Once we’ve lowered the load and worked through the underlying drivers, the goal is to gradually expand what you can tolerate again. More foods, less fear around eating and the end goal = more freedom and enjoyment of life.
If there's only one takeaway here it's - Don't STOP at step 1!
