Chronic Urticaria (Hives) How I Live Hive-Free on a Vegan Low Histamine

I developed chronic idiopathic urticaria which essentially means that I have crazy itchy hives all over my body for no reason anyone can figure out. I have been to allergists, dermatologists, and finally a functional medicine doctor. I want to share my story in the hopes that it can help some other people suffering from CIU.

I have not yet cured it, but I am able to live symptom free with a modified vegan low histamine diet. I believe I am treating the root cause which is vitamin deficiencies, H Pylori (note: I tested negative for H Pylori twice before testing positive), and gut bacteria imbalances. I will update this blog to share with you guys how the treatment is going and if I’m able to truly do away with this Urticaria. Chronic Urticaria Vegan Low Histamine

My Story

At first I thought they were bug bites, then I thought maybe I had developed a skin irritation from sleeping with my hair wet, and then it got so bad and was so consistent for 6 weeks I knew I needed to see someone.

The itchiness, heat and rash started on my scalp and ears. Then it came to my abdomen and extremities.

I contacted a dermatologist. He was horrible and said they were an allergy to dust mites. From my little bit of research online I knew that wasn’t true. So I went to an allergist to get more information.

Allergist

My allergist is a western medicine doctor. In western medicine the doctors are taught to move so quickly you only treat the symptom of each person, and you cover it up quickly with a drug.

I was scared because I was having this severe reaction, so I wasn’t as informed as I wish I’d been. Instead I just let the doctor do whatever he wanted. He gave me the diagnosis Chronic Idiopathic Urticaria. He gave me a steroid shot that he said should make the hives go away for two weeks, and he put me on an H1 and H2 histamine blocker.

An H1 histamine blocker is over the counter allergy medicine such as Benadryl, Allegra, Claritin, etc. An H2 histamine blocker is another antihistamine medicine but usually blocks stomach acid. I was advised to take Pepcid.

The steroid took me down to only one or two hives each day which was a huge improvement. I could sleep through the night and didn’t feel like I looked crazy at the gym.

After two days on this H1 and H2 histamine blocker cocktail, I began breaking out again badly. I called the allergist and he said the steroid shot should have lasted for two weeks. He said I should up my H1 and H2 histamine blocker dosage, but I should realize I may never know what is causing it and start to learn to cope with this disorder.

I did up my histamine blocker dosage but really started advocating for my own health. This diagnosis didn’t make any sense to me. I’m vegan, I eat vegan junk food but I’m mostly whole food plant based. I hike on weekends, hit the gym most week days, and teach indoor cycle. I’m a healthy ass woman. I didn’t just develop a systemic issue over night for no reason.

Upping my histamine dosage helped the first night and then the hives came back with a fierceness. I also learned through my research about DAO.

DAO is diamine oxide. It is naturally created by your body to break down histamines. Histamines are in all sorts of foods and having a histamine overload is what makes people have different types of allergies. When you take H1 and H2 histamine blockers they decrease your body’s ability to create DAO, which makes you need… you guessed it! More H1 and H2 histamine blockers. Medicine that makes you need to buy more medicine. Grrr.

I went off all Anti-Histamines as they were not doing any good for my hives and actually make it harder for my body to cure itself.

So I decided to not go back to the allergist who was nice, but was misinformed and basically just going to put bad Band-Aids on my issue.

H Pylori and Urticaria

There are many articles about H Pylori and Chronic Urticaria. Here is one from NIH. After finding this link I went to my local cash pay testing service and did a H Pylori stool test. (Blood is the least accurate test, Stool test is more accurate than blood but less than breath, and Breath test is the most accurate but double the cost of a stool test).

My test came back negative.

Later in this story I will tell you that I started working with a Functional Medicine Doctor who had me run a GI Map. My GI Map came back that I had some H Pylori but it was low enough number to not raise alarms. My doctor then called the GI Map organization to discuss my results and they told her that my H pylori numbers actually were higher than healthy. So now we know we need to start working on that H Pylori. This is very interesting because many of my friends in the Urticaria support groups were tested for H Pylori, came up negative, and stopped going down that path. Pretty interesting, right? I wonder if they need a more sensitive test, too?

Low Histamine Diet

I then integrated a vegan low histamine diet. You can see a really good explanation of histamine sensitivity and how to eat to take care of that histamine sensitivity here and another list of foods for an omnivore-low-histamine-diet outlined here. I just modified it to be vegan which works well for me to manage my Chronic Urticaria as a healthy Vegan.

It is a restrictive diet and doesn’t work for a long term solution. But it is great for short term relief and to give you a starting point. When I would go on the los histamine diet and adhere strictly for a week, I could have a cheat day and only get a couple hives.

Being on a vegan low histamine diet means relying heavily on allowed fruits and vegetables, coconut cream or milk, quinoa, and sweet potatoes.

I also do intermittent fasting because my stomach does not do well with food in the morning. I generally stop eating dinner around 8 pm and don’t have lunch until I’m hungry for it around 1 pm.

Before my meal I have Apple Cider Vinegar water which my doctor recommends for me to balance my stomach acid, plus it is known to help balance hormones.

Some of my low-histamine, vegan recipes:

Low Histamine Vegan Coconut Soup

Easy Low Histamine Roasted Vegetables

Easy Low Histamine Vegan Oatmeal

Low Histamine Vegan Hearty Quinoa Salad

Easy Vegan Low Histamine Blueberry Dessert

(Chronic Urticaria Vegan Low Histamine Recipes)

Functional Medicine Doctor

I then connected with a long time family friend who is an MD and a Functional Medicine Doctor, Beth Haynes. Beth took a full history on my medical and health background. She instructed me to get a blood panel and then we started adding in supplements.

I found that I was low in protein, low in cholesterol, low in iron storage low in vitamin D, low in calcium, and low in vitamin A.

I added in these supplements that were selected specifically for my needs:

Thorne Prenatal 

EZ Melts Vitamin A

Magnesium

Vegan D3 + K2

NuTru Vegan Omega 3 DHA

Digestive Enzymes with every meal

A Healthy Origin Probiotic  (This has yeast and may cause a hive outbreak – I’m starting slowly with this to see if it causes a problem for me)

GI Revive (this makes my stomach feel better, too)

ProBIOMED 100 (Probiotic)

FMF Soil Based Probiotic

I also added some general boosts for my immune system and allergy system:

Buffered Vitamin C

Activated Charcoal

Quercetin

These supplements might not be what your body needs but they were specifically what I was needing. I also has slightly elevated liver profile. I don’t really drink alcohol (other than a sip here or a sip there) so this was really strange to see. I also think I was exposed to new bacteria during our Vegan Voyage Around the World.

Notes on supplements: Take vitamin B and D in the morning.

After getting the results of my GI Map we noticed that although my H Pylori was technically under the limit of being “bad for me” doctors like to see an undetectable limit. Now we are aiming to supplement my body and support it getting rid of H Pylori as well.

We added a Digestive Enzyme Supplement, and a medicinal mushroom complex (mushrooms can be hit or miss for causing hives so I recommend starting slow).

Notes on eggs: My doctor recommended that if I ethically was alright with it, adding eggs to my diet would be a great boost for my body. She outlined the reasons why, specifically for my body’s needs and the vitamins I’m low in.

For other people with urticaria reading this who aren’t vegan or are vegan-ish, I do think that eggs are the least ethically concerning food when it comes to animal products. Backyard, organic, pasture raised eggs are the best, ethically. If you are considering getting eggs and concerned about the ethical side of it I encourage you to look into the farm you’re getting them from and asking not only what happens to the egg-laying chickens but also what happens to the male chicks as they are often gruesomely discarded.

Notes on the Pancreas:

My pancreas does not seem to be functioning properly (as evidenced by low elastase). This is a problem that showed up for other friends of mine in Urticaria support groups, so there may be a theme here as well. I was able to find this vegan pancreas digestive enzyme support: Source Naturals Pancreatin 8X 

Update:

At this time I have to stick to my diet for 6 weeks with these supplements and I’ll let you guys know what happens at the end of that all!

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List of all Supplements and Med I’m currently on for Chronic Urticaria (in combination with my low histamine vegan diet)

1.  Source Naturals Pancreatin 8X 
2. Digestive Enzyme Supplement
3. Medicinal mushroom complex (mushrooms can be hit or miss for causing hives so I recommend starting slow)
4. Thorne Prenatal 
5. EZ Melts Vitamin A
6. Magnesium
7. Vegan D3 + K2
8. NuTru Vegan Omega 3 DHA
9. A Healthy Origin Probiotic  (This has yeast and may cause a hive outbreak – I’m starting slowly with this to see if it causes a problem for me)
10. GI Revive (this makes my stomach feel better, too)
11. ProBIOMED 100 (Probiotic)
12. FMF Soil Based Probiotic
13. Buffered Vitamin C
14. Activated Charcoal
15. Quercetin

Chronic Urticaria Vegan Low Histamine

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