Why Our Hormones & Immune System Cannot Be Separated

When you think of symptoms around our menstrual cycles the first thought is often there must be something going on with my hormones. While this may be the case, it is important to remember that our hormones are impacted by every system in our body. With that in mind, the cause of your menstrual related symptoms may not actually be your hormones themselves but the way that other systems are interacting with your hormones.

Mast Cells, Histamine & Our Hormones

One of the major causes of menstrual and cycle-related symptoms is the interaction between our immune system and our hormones. Specifically, there is a unique interaction between our immune cells known as mast cells, and our hormones.

Mast cells are a type of immune cell that produce inflammatory chemicals, including a molecule called histamine. You might recognize histamine as the trigger to an allergic reaction. Histamine causes allergy-like symptoms including itchiness, swelling, redness, or hives.

Histamine also has many other actions in the body. It’s used to regulate stomach acid, increases libido, and even helps to regulate ovulation. Additionally, histamine is a stimulatory neurotransmitter keeping us alert, but also contributing to anxiety and insomnia when produced excessively. The production of histamine, while linked to our allergic reactions, is also naturally linked to our production of reproductive hormones.

Estrogen

You might be surprised to learn that estrogen actually causes our mast cells to release more histamine. When estrogen is the highest (at ovulation and right before our periods), this is when it naturally causes our body to produce histamine. In the right amount, histamine is a good thing. It has many important functions as we mentioned above. However, there are times when estrogen can cause too much histamine release resulting in extreme menstrual and cycle-related symptoms.

Symptoms of high histamine include headaches, anxiety, insomnia, brain fog, hives, nasal congestion, PMS and PMDD symptoms, and period pain.

progesterone

Normally our hormones work together to keep our histamine and our immune system in check. While estrogen stimulates histamine, progesterone stabilizes our mast cells and upregulates the enzymes that breakdown histamine ultimately reducing histamine in the body.

Why We Get Excess Histamine

There can be many different reasons why we end up with excess histamine or mast cell activation.

Excess estrogen or deficient progesterone- if our estrogen and progesterone levels are out of balance then we can end up with more histamine being produced than is being broken down. This can lead to intense PMS/PMDD symptoms as well as significant period pain.
Chronic inflammation - any inflammatory response will stimulate our mast cells to produce histamine. The luteal phase of our cycles is already inherently an inflammatory state where our immune system produces more inflammatory markers including histamine. This can lead to histamine excess and an increase in PMS symptoms. There are many causes of chronic inflammation including food sensitivities, imbalanced gut bacteria, or a pre-existing inflammatory condition.
Excess histamine in our system from external sources- this refers to ingestion of histamine, rather than producing it endogenously. This can include things like histamine containing foods or probiotics that stimulate histamine production.
Trouble breaking down histamine - hormonal imbalance, deficiency in vitamins that are needed to break down histamine such as vitamin B6, and certain genetic variants can all make it more challenging to break down histamine effectively, leading to excess histamine.

Is It My Hormones or Is It Histamine?

There are a couple of ways to tell if your menstrual symptoms are from histamine or hormonal causes.

One of the very first things you can do is to try an over-the-counter antihistamine. Often this will give some relief to your PMS and period pain if the symptoms are histamine driven. Always check in with your MD or ND before trying this option!

If you do find that an antihistamine helps, then we can start to provide naturopathic interventions to help support healthy histamine release and clearance.

How Naturopathic Medicine Can Support Excess Histamine & Healthier Hormones

There are several ways in which Naturopathic Medicine can help to address and support excess histamine, and therefore PMS, PMDD, and period pain.

treat your immune system

The goal is to stabilize your immune system and your mast cells so that they stop producing histamine in excess. Vitamins such as vitamin C, vitamin D, and zinc can help to regulate immune function and decrease inflammation.

decrease histamine in your system

There are several ways to do this:

Decrease histamine containing foods in your diet - this includes anything fermented. You can find a complete list here.
Identify any allergies or food sensitivities - these will inherently cause inflammation in your digestive tract and lead to mast cell activation and histamine release each time they are consumed.
Optimize digestive function to decrease any bacterial imbalances that may be triggering more histamine release.
Promote the clearance of histamine with supplements and nutrients that help break down histamine including vitamin B6 or quercetin.

bring hormones back into balance

Work with a Naturopathic Doctor to help balance estrogen and progesterone levels, as this can greatly help with more optimal histamine synthesis and breakdown. We highly recommend checking in with your naturopathic doctor before you start treating your hormones to make sure you are treating the RIGHT imbalance. Remember estrogen excess and progesterone deficiency can look almost identical from the outside but require different treatment.

A Final Word

If you think that your PMS, PMDD, or period pain symptoms are related to your immune system there is so much we can do to support you. The first step is understanding the root cause of these symptoms, and that very well may be your immune function and histamine levels! If you would like to learn more about how naturopathic medicine can help support you, you can book a complimentary consult with me here.