I know that we don't have menieres but this article on histamine is interesting, especially as so many of us have tinnitus and eye problems, could not bold one bit but it has a b beside it, the article is too long so doing it in two bits
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Histamine and Antihistamines: What It Is, How It Works And How It Relates To Meniere’s Disease Symptoms
Please respect and use the following caution.
This information is not to be used for diagnosing Meniere's disease or treating yourself or anyone else. It is meant only as an educational article to make you aware of how and what histamine is. If you run into a problem or suspect one, please don’t even hesitate to call 911 (if available in your area) or get emergency help.
How to use the medical terminology in this article: in order to make this article flow and have you actively “participate” in its concept, I am first going to give you several very relevant histamine definitions. Then you can refer to them as we go along. (You might even want to print them out.)
HISTAMINE: what it is
“Histamine”...why does it sound familiar? Could it be that it is part of a group of drugs we hear so often about? “Antihistamine”: “anti”: something to work against histamine. Let’s explore what it is, how it works and how it relates to Meniere’s Disease symptoms: balance & hearing.
Histamine is a chemical found in each and every cell of your body. It is released in response to a need in one or more cells to keep you from harm. That is one of your body’s responsibilities. Mosby says “it is released in an allergic inflammatory reaction”, meaning your body is trying to protect you from “something”.
It is part of your body’s protective mechanism. It responds to a situation automatically. You don’t have any choice when it is activated. It is not a body part but it is crucial to your body’s existence. Chemicals create or drive certain actions in the body.
Histamine‘s responsibility is to keep you from harm by alerting you to certain intruders or removing them. That would be anything that is not of itself or friendly to your body, which may include Meniere's disease. It reacts or is activated when it senses an intruder in some form. Sometimes the reaction is localized and sometimes it is overall, “systemic”. I conclude with part of an article which you can download in its entirety written by Dr. Laurent Bannock. It is a real “eye opener”.
Histamine: How It Works
In an overly sensitive body, histamine may overreact. The amount of overreaction seems to depend on the intruder and I suspect the health of the (invaded) person. A healthy body is able to withstand many more challenges than a compromised or sick one. Does this sound like our Observations: things people have told us over the years that have caused their Meniere's disease symptoms??
These are considered by your body to be intruders: to be eliminated or rendered harmless as quickly as possible. For most people it is the intensity or degree of the resulting symptoms that cause their problems.
If you are healthy, you would let nature (your healthy body) look after you. You will know it takes a little while, but eventually you are fine again. However some people do not like even mild results of the histamine (protective) responses it creates (the swelling, the redness, the itchiness: signs of inflammation). They choose to block off this healing process of histamine. They are in fact not fighting the bee sting but they are blocking the natural action of your body’s healing response, the histamine.
So you can see that two of your natural body functions are to detect and protect you. What happens when your immune system is weak? Its protective mechanism would be less protective. How does it get weakened? By being overworked or being run down (just like you and me.).
Let’s look at the action of histamine a little closer. Histamine reacts to any intruder. That’s a good and desirable response. Histamine in small doses is fine. It seems to be kept in check by another chemical called “adrenalin”, also naturally produced by your body.
Histamine in larger “response” may bring on a more disturbing effect: a real major unhealthy response. This is demonstrated by shortness of breath, difficulty breathing, talking, or swallowing. You would exhibit a rapid pulse, swelling of your throat and tongue, rapid pulse, overall weakness, wheezing or coughing, itchy hives, nausea, vomiting, dizziness, sweating, etc. we call the ANAPHYLAXIS. This is a real emergency and you need to call your local emergency response number which in many communities is 911!
What has happened here? The inflammation (fluid to wash out intruder/toxin) which is so desirable in small doses is now causing unwanted symptoms in places where they work against you…such as fluid in your lungs and you know that is a dangerous thing. So you quickly need to stop the inflammation from getting worse and to reduce it as well.
The histamine, in order to overcome the intruder, seems to have gotten so high and the underlying adrenalin which can usually keep it in check is not present in your body in sufficient quantities. The reason you call 911 is because the emergency response team has adrenalin in quantities required. This is why people with severe allergies are counseled to carry “EpiPen” (adrenalin in a special syringe for quick administration). This emer recall hearing about an action of your body called “adrenalin rush”. This happens when your body faces an emergency and shuts down all the unnecessary functions to preserve energy and strength to fight the situation. Then when all is finished, it allows the body to resume its normal activities. However, having depleted much of the stored adrenalin, you are now exhausted. This can only go on for so long. Adrenalin “neutralizes“ histamine.
If you don’t have another bee sting, everything is fine. However if you do not realize that bee stings are unwanted by your unhealthy body, this series of actions can be repeated many times. THIS IS WHY YOU REALLY NEED TO SEARCH FOR ANY UNDERLYING CAUSE of your predicament. Most bee or wasp stings are relatively easy to notice as the “causative agent”, but it’s very difficult to detect food “intruders” or drug ingredients, including its excipients.
Histamine: How It Relates To Meniere’s Disease Symptoms
To understand how histamine affects a person with Meniere’s Disease symptoms, you first have to be open to the idea that Meniere’s is NOT a disease. Rather the symptoms related to balance and hearing have an underlying cause(s). You also need to realize that a healthy body can usually withstand this kind of reaction. So it means that if you have some sort of symptoms (balance and hearing), you need to recognize that your body isn’t as healthy as it needs to be or that the intruder is very powerful and your body’s immune system isn’t strong enough to overcome it.
Then comes the hard part: starting your search for an underlying cause of your Meniere's disease symptoms and triggers. If you haven’t yet received a copy of our “observations about Meniere's disease”, email me and I will see that you get a copy. In it, you will find all sorts of interesting underlying causes that others have told us to have caused their symptoms. They cared enough for others to share their discoveries.
[B]How does histamine show up as a balance and hearing problem (dizziness, vertigo, tinnitus, inner ear pressure or ear pain, and hearing loss or fluctuations?)? Recall that if required it sets off inflammation (a good thing). Inflammation creates fluids (not a good thing in a confined space of the inner ear). Fluids create pressure in a confined space (not a good thing). Why? Because the fluid has no room to spread out in, so it now presses down on any “compressible” object. What is in this area? Nerves (plus other “compressible soft tissue): the balance (vestibular) and hearing (acoustic) nerves
Realize that you may be aware of balance and hearing symptoms, especially if you have Meniere's disease, but also know that your entire body has some sort of response to this systemic automatic body reaction. I believe it’s why we hear so much about optical involvement. The optic nerve is relatively close.
poodlebell
