Episode 17 - Hot Flash or Histamine Flush? The Perimenopause Puzzle

The mysterious connection between perimenopause and histamine intolerance finally explained! If you've wondered why your perimenopause symptoms feel more intense than what friends describe, this episode reveals the hidden mechanism making your experience uniquely challenging.

Perimenopause isn't the steady hormone decline many expect—it's a rollercoaster where estrogen spikes trigger mast cells to release histamine while simultaneously reducing your body's ability to break it down. Meanwhile, progesterone—your body's natural "calm down" signal for mast cells—steadily declines, creating the perfect storm for histamine overload. This explains why symptoms like hot flashes, migraines, anxiety, and digestive issues can feel overwhelming during this transition.

What makes diagnosis particularly frustrating is how perimenopause and histamine symptoms mirror each other. Doctors often dismiss everything as "just hormones" when histamine is actually amplifying your experience. Even birth control, frequently prescribed during perimenopause, comes with complexities—synthetic hormones can still trigger histamine reactions in sensitive individuals, explaining why some women feel worse on hormonal contraceptives.

The most powerful takeaway? You're not imagining things or overreacting. Your body is navigating the double impact of shifting hormones and histamine reactivity. Simple strategies like stabilizing blood sugar, managing stress, and proper hydration can make a significant difference in how you feel. When you understand this connection, you can stop blaming yourself and start finding practical ways to feel more like yourself again during this transformative life stage.

Have you noticed your histamine symptoms changing during different phases of your cycle? Share your experience or reach out directly at Teresa@histaminehealthcoach.com—I'd love to hear your story.

Chapters

• 0:00 Introduction to Histamine Health Coach
• 0:35 Perimenopause and Histamine Connection
• 1:30 Progesterone's Role in Histamine Balance
• 2:40 Birth Control's Impact on Histamine
• 5:06 Empowering Takeaways and Closing

Transcript

Teresa: 0:00

Hi, welcome to Histamine Health Coach, the podcast for women navigating histamine intolerance and looking for real answers. I'm Teresa Christensen and I know firsthand how overwhelming it can be to deal with food triggers, environmental sensitivities and unpredictable symptoms. But you don't have to figure it out alone. Each week, I'll share my personal journey and practical strategies to help you break free from fear and take control of your health. So let's get started. Hi welcome to Histamine Health Coach, where we navigate life with histamine and dollars and find ways to feel our best. I'm Teresa, your Histamine Health Coach, and today we're taking a closer look at the role perimenopause plays in shifting histamine into overdrive and why this season of life can make symptoms feel louder, more unpredictable and harder to manage. This episode is part of our continuing discussion about hormones and histamine and a reminder that women are twice as likely to deal with histamine issues as men because of the way our hormones interact with mast cells issues as men because of the way our hormones interact with mast cells. Before we dive in, just a quick note. I'm a functional medicine certified health coach. I'm not a physician, and this podcast isn't meant as medical advice. I'm sharing what I've learned through research, my own experience and from working with women navigating histamine issues. Always check with your healthcare provider about what's right for you.

Teresa: 1:27

Perimenopause isn't a straight, steady decline into menopause. Instead, it's a roller coaster. Hormones don't just fade away neatly. They swing up and down. Estrogen in particular can spike suddenly, and each time it does, mast cells are triggered to release histamine. At the same time, estrogen can also reduce the activity of DAO. Dao is the main enzyme that helps break histamine down. So not only are you releasing more histamine, but your ability to clear it out of your system is lower too. That's why many women notice migraines, itching, digestive issues or even anxiety will feel worse at certain times during perimenopause. Let's talk about progesterone. It's the hormone that usually balances estrogen and helps keep mast cells calm, but during perimenopause progesterone steadily declines. You can think of progesterone as the calm down signal for your immune system. When it's slow, mast cells don't get the message to just chill and relax. That means histamine has nothing holding it back. So now you've got two forces working against you estrogen pushing your histamine up and progesterone no longer able to bring it down. So here's where it gets tricky.

Teresa: 2:46

Many of the signature symptoms of perimenopause overlap with histamine intolerance. Hot flashes can feel very similar to histamine. Flushes, migraines, palpitations, anxiety and insomnia are common to both, and digestive shifts like bloating or loose stoolsools even can also be common among either situation. This overlap is why so many women feel like their bodies are portraying them. Doctors may say it's just hormones, but in reality histamine is often amplifying what's really happening. If you listened to the last episode, episode 16, you'll remember that histamine also acts as a neurotransmitter. When there's too much histamine at night, you can wake up at 2 or 3 am with that wide awake, restless feeling that makes it nearly impossible to fall back to sleep. Add in hormone swings and sleep disruption becomes even more common. Sleep disruption becomes even more common, and during the day histamine can drive irritability, that on-edge feeling or that kind of wired but tired state that many women describe in perimenopause.

Teresa: 3:54

This is also the stage where birth control often comes into the conversation. Many doctors will prescribe the pill, patch or ring to regulate cycles, and on the surface these can make your periods appear more predictable. But here's the thing Synthetic estrogen can still activate mast cells and trigger histamine release. Synthetic progesterone, called progestins, doesn't always calm mast cells the way natural progesterone does. That's why some women feel relief on birth control, while others notice their histamine-related symptoms migraines, anxiety or skin reactions actually get worse. And while birth control can make cycles look regular, it doesn't stop the transition happening underneath your ovaries are still moving towards menopause. That's why some women find that when they come off birth control in their 40s, perimenopause symptoms and histamine flares seem to show up suddenly, all at once.

Teresa: 4:55

If you're in perimenopause and your symptoms feel louder, bigger or harder than what your friends describe, histamine may be part of the picture, and knowing that gives you power. It means you're not weak. You're not imagining it. Your body is navigating the double impact of shifting hormones and histamine reactively. So here's the takeaway Perimenopause doesn't have to feel like chaos. Once you understand how histamine and hormones interact, you can start spotting patterns and make changes that calm both. Simple steps like studying your blood sugar, staying hydrated, managing stress and pacing your movement can make a real difference, because when you see the full picture, you stop blaming yourself and you start finding ways to feel clearer, calmer and more like yourself again. As always, thanks for listening, and if this episode resonated with you, I'd love to hear your story. You can email me directly at Teresa at histaminehealthcoachcom. Until next time. Stay curious, stay kind to yourself and keep listening to your body. Have a great day, bye.