Author

Jo

Browsing
My Long Covid Histamine SIBO Journey

What I eat on a combined low histamine and fodmap diet – week 1

By

This is my personal journey to heal myself from both SIBO and Histamine Intolerance that were part of my Long Covid diagnosis. In this blog post I share what I did next after recieiving a positive test for SIBO. Including what I could eat on a low fodmap histamine diet.

I was so relieved to finally have a concrete diagnosis after taking the SIBO test. After years of being told my results were ‘fine’ and ‘normal’, even though I didn’t feel fine or normal a positive results for Hydrogen SIBO felt like progress.

Of course I couldn’t know what was ahead of me – but I remember feeling positive and hopeful.

Histamine intolerance – really overload – (reactions) causes me various unpleasant and unexpected symptoms and SIBO explained a new uncomfortable swelling in my upper stomach – both conditions are linked to each other and Long Covid – you can read more HERE

The private test I paid for included not only the test results, but a 7-minute personal video and healing plan.

My results took about 2 weeks to come back and I made the most of this time.

I spent a lot of this time researching and making lists of foods that are low in both histamine and fodmaps (SIBO)

There is a LOT of information about foods, diet and recipes for low Histamine OR FODMAP but very little about what to eat when you need foods that are low in both!

My low fodmap histamine foodlist list was not very long.

Blueberries are about the only fruit. The only sweetener I could find was pure stevia drops (which I reacted to) or tiny amounts of Maple Syrup.

Nutbutter is essential for many of my recipes and the allowed list includes Pecan (quite bitter) Macadamia nuts (lovely!) and Hemp and Pumpkin seeds.** Check amounts and individual sensitivity. This is enough to enjoy milks, dressings, smoothies and treats!

Potatoes, parsnips, swedes, courgettes, broccoli, carrots, lettuce, kale and cucumber are the main vegetables. Onions are problematic, you can test just the green part of spring onions and leeks, and garlic olive oil.

Rice, oats and quinoa make up the grains. I struggle with rice.

Plain cook from scratch meat, fish and maybe eggs are OK – but if they have anything added they are not allowed. Also you have to freeze and defrost just before you cook. No left-overs hanging around. I had to avoid eggs and my weekly shop included (plain) roast turkey, chicken and salmon. With occassional red meat.

Olive oil and Ghee are both acceptable to cook with. I did get myself some garlic olive oil but had to only add drops to avoid any reaction. I read that full fat Mayonnaise is OK in small amounts ? – I found a brand that I tolerated (thank goodness) watered down to start with.

Vinegar and lemon juice are high in histamine and fodmap and after a lot of research I got myself Verjus** – sour unripe grape juice which in small amounts might be tolerated and tastes like a mellow vinegar.** Update I started to react

Many spices are high histamine and some herbs are high fodmaps so you have to proceed with caution.

Ginger is your best friend for flavour and to soothe your symptoms, to this you can add Turmeric, Cardamom and Lemon Grass.

Chamomile and Hibsicus and many other herbal teas are not allowed. But a pinch of dried herbs as seasoning I think is ok.

Is low histamine and fodmap Foodie Hell?

When I was researching how limited my food choices were – it did feel like foodie hell.

But I decided to focus on what I could eat and how I could adapt traditional recipes.

This was definitely a time to work on my mind-set because any hope of healing was on the other side of weeks/months of this diet.

They call it delayed gratification, go without now so you can enjoy later on.

This was not my forever food plan.

Aim for 90% Clean Eating

I aimed for 90% Clean. I included 2 weak cups of green tea, also a dash of almond milk twice a day in my rooibos tea. Once a week I had a Thai green curry and took an extra DAO capsule as I had already found that my body did not react to this. To start with I had watered down full-fat mayonnaise.

The problem is that I was reacting a LOT to things like body products, scents, chemicals, pollen and supplements.

Which wiped me out and while the diet is hugely beneficial it does take effort which you might not have in the beginning

Which is why, despite not being a good cook at all, with questionable taste buds, I have decided to share my recipes.

My Low Histamine/Fodmap Weekly Meal Plan

So here is my simple weekly food plan that is BOTH low histamine and fodmap – suitable for those suffering Histamine overload allergies and intolerances, MCAS, SIBO, Bacterial overgrowth, Gut Issues, with Fatigue

**I’m not a cook – so no measurements or detailed instructions!!!

Oats with Blueberries

Low fodmap histamine blueberry macadamia nut oats

I make an overnight oats version that only soaks for a couple of hours or heat gently and serve

  • I soak the oats and blueberries in ginger tea
  • I add macadamia or Pecan nut butter
  • Swap oats for rice flakes or quinoa
  • Add Stevia or maple syrup to taste

**I can’t tolerate stevia, and find macadamia nut butter sweet enough – but will add a tiny drop of maple syrup with Pecans which I find bitter

Blueberry Smoothie

More or less the same as oat recipe but I replace the oats with allowed greens such as lettuce, cucumber, kale.

Simply blend with cold ginger or mint tea.

This is very useful if the bowel slows down.

Salad, Protein and Potato

Low fodmap histamine spanish egg frittata

This is low fodmap histamine Spanish frittata – eggs and potato with lots of herbs **If you can tolerate eggs

I have potato/protein most days with a large salad!

  • Potato can be oven chips, jacket spud, new potatoes
  • Protein can be allowed plain poultry, meat or fish, frozen then defrosted in portion sizes.
  • Eggs – if tolerated
  • Salad is lettuce, shredded cabbage, cucumber, grated carrot

Finding a low histamine/fodmap salad dressing is almost impossible! I found that I can tolerate watered down shop-bought mayonnaise. You can use extra virgin olive oil with salt and pepper (helps with constipation). All vinegars and citrus are high histamine – some people can tolerate apple cider vinegar or distilled white vinegar. And most fruits are high fodmaps.

** Fresh lemon juice will be one of the first foods I ‘test’ back into my diet

Vegetable & Protein

So the goal here is to eventually find a gravy or sauce that you can tolerate.

Protein is again from the allowed plain poultry meat or fish list – frozen and defrosted in portion sizes. Eggs if tolerated. My choices include chicken, salmon, turkey with occassional lamb or beef.

My vegetable choices, which I mix and match include:

  • Broccoli and Carrots
  • Parsnip mash
  • Swede and Carrot mash
  • Sauted Cabbage
  • *Kale – to be included
  • *Roasted Radishes – to try!

If tolerated you can add ghee or drizzle olive oil. I season the vegetable water and add herbs and then save some when I drain the veg to make the mash or as a ‘jus’. Or you can save your protein juices as a ‘gravy’. I have found that I can tolerate shop-bought stock and gravy – after first taking a break and then ‘testing’.

Low fodmap/histamine Pesto/dressing

I didn’t want to leave you without sharing this idea! Parmesan and lemon juice are not low histamine or fodmap, nor is yeast flakes.

A low fodmap/histamine Pesto made with:

  • Fresh Basil, Mint, Parsley or Coriander (Cilantro) leaves
  • Macadamia or Pecan nut(butter), or Hemp seed or Pumpkin Seed
  • Extra Virgin Olive Oil or garlic infused oil
  • Seasoning (Opt chopped green onion leaves or chives)

Blend everything except the oil, which you add slowly. This can be adjusted to use over salad or meat and veg. When I’ve experimented a bit more I will share better details!

Simple Selfcare Tip!

Cook in bulk and freeze in portion size. There will be days when you feel too poorly to cook. Or days that go wrong when you have no time. Trust me it’s worth bulk cooking on ‘good’ days.

I plan to add more recipes but hope this provides ideas to get you started.

Next find out what my first steps were after testing positive for SIBO in week 2 HERE

If nothing else I hope this gives you an idea of what to expect if you suspect Histamine SIBO is the cause of any of your symptoms. Check the start of my journey here.

Developing a self-care practice around my personal healing journey was not only a powerful tool but incredibly empowering. Why not let me help you create your own menu of self-care practices?

View Post
By
MindCraft

7 Questions to ask before starting a new self-care practice.

By

There are literally hundreds of self-care practices you could start tomorrow, but how do you decide which ones are worth spending your time doing?

 When you decide to invest precious time, energy and money on your well-being, especially when you are coping with ongoing health conditions, it is worth spending a couple of minutes answering a few questions before you decide if this new self-care is worth exploring.

In the last decade the internet has been buzzing with thousands of healthy choices, ideas and opinions that promise to transform your health. 

This has become a vast resource that is often freely available to everyone who is seeking answers and options.

 On the other hand too much choice can become overwhelming, especially when supporting your health has become an essential factor in your life.

My aim with this blog is to make selfcare simple and help you find the self care practice that gets you results.

To get started I have put together 7 questions to ask before starting a new self care practice.

I have used both my experiences as a natural health practitioner and personal health journey to help explain how to use each question.

Short on time?

If you just want to skip straight to the questions click to the summary at the end.

Benefit of a Clear Strategy

My own self-care practice has changed over the years, depending on what was happening in my life and health journey, and the results I achieved was down to always having a clear strategy behind each self care practice I included.

 In other words, I always know exactly what result I expect to experience from any self-care choices I made.

 In my Natural health clinic, I helped hundreds of clients over many years to create individualised self-care practices.

 In this article I want to help you get started, by sharing questions to ask before starting a new self-care practice.

What is the definition of Self-Care?

Who defines self-care as:

 “Self-care is the ability of individuals, families and communities to promote and maintain their own health, prevent disease, and to cope with illness – with or without the support of a health or care worker.”

 My aim with any self-care practice is to provide one of the following:

  • Improve my current health levels
  • Maintain good health levels
  • Prevent future health issues
  • Better cope and manage existing illness.

A self care practice goes a little deeper than a healthy lifestyle, it is specifically fine tuned to the needs of your individual body and health needs.

Lets dive into the 7 questions to ask before starting a new self-care practice.

1. What benefit can I expect to experience or see?

This is the important question. Will following this self-care practice benefit and improve your individual health levels?

It might sound obvious but in the clinic I had clients spending time and money on popular health practices and products that they did not need. And because their body did not need it, they never experienced the same results as other people.

 Which can leave you feeling frustrated and wondering ‘what is wrong with me?’ or ‘what am I doing wrong?’ or that it doesn’t work and was a waste of time.

 Seeing someone else getting results is a very powerful motivation especially when you are struggling.

 ‘It worked for me, so I’m sure it will help you too’.

 Is a well-meaning phrase, but often a bit of a red herring when it comes to self-care.

The reason why there are so many solutions and none of them work 100% for every person is because you are not an exact copy of everyone else – you and your body are unique and individual and so are your health needs.

Knowing what support your body most needs right now is an important guide to which self-care practices to consider. 

If you don’t know – that should be your first self care practice – to understand your health condition better. 

Start with simple basics and know that as you learn more about your health conditions your self care practice will become more individual and tailored to you..

  For instance, a mindfulness practice to help soothe anxiety would not be the most important part of my own self-care, as I am quite relaxed and calm naturally.  It’s possible I would not notice any positive changes to my health levels.

 But for someone who suffers with anxiety the benefits become much more valuable and they are likely to notice and experience incredible improvements.

 Check what benefits to expect with each self-care practice you consider. Then decide if you, your body and health situation need them.

2. How soon before I can expect to feel/notice the benefits?

Some self-care practices feel good as soon as you do them, but the benefits only last a short while. Others take longer to build up and change the body, so it may take longer to experience the results.

 Admittedly this question has many variables, mainly because each person is unique. You may not be able to answer this question exactly until after a bit of trial and error.

 The reason why I like to have a rough idea of how soon to expect results is so I can monitor which practices are working well and which ones I need to swap out.

 My goal is always to get the best health benefits, in the shortest, easiest and most enjoyable ways possible.

Life is far too short to be spending 15 minutes every single day on a self-care practice that makes very little difference to my well-being. Or spending £10 a week on a product that does nothing to reduce a symptom.

In one year that would mean 5475 minutes or 91 hours or £520 of wasted time and money!

 As a rule of thumb if I don’t notice a difference after 1 month, I consider stopping that practice.

I can say this confidently because I know which Self-Care Blueprint I have.

Discover your body's response style
discover your selfcare blueprint

To answer this question you also need to be realistic.

No selfcare practice will give results unless you are consistent.

Do not expect a complete recovery in 1 week or month, the aim is to notice small improvements and changes.

 It is super helpful and motivating to know exactly what benefits I receive from each self-care practice I follow.

For instance, after completing just one 10–15-minute Qi Gong practice, I know that I will feel immediate improvements to my stiff and painful neck, a general ease of movement and serenity in my mood.

Consistent practice not only improves my body, mobility and mood, but I also experience the electromagnetic fields and vibrational frequencies of Qi Gong.

And I also know (from experience!) that after 3 days of missing that daily practice my neck will slowly seize up. More than a week of missed practice results in increased aches and pains all over my body. Ouch!

 On the other hand, the green supplement powder I use has a more subtle benefit. Over the years I have stopped it and found that at about 6 weeks I noticed a definite dip in my energy levels that I can only regain through my green powder.

Many self-care practices build up slowly over regular use.

 I hope my personal examples show how helpful it is to understand the timing factors for each self-care practice you follow.

how-much-time-make-selfcare-simple

3. How much time will this take to do each day/week?

Currently I work full-time, blog on the side and follow a daily self-care practice morning and evening. I also have a daughter, dog, home & garden, and family member commitments…I am busy!

 Time is extremely valuable to me.

If there are two practices that offer the same benefits, but one can be done in 5 minutes while the other one requires 50 minutes, I take the 5 minutes every time.

 No matter how great the longer practice is, it won’t help me if I never have time to do the practice!

 Knowing how much time a practice requires, is one easy way I decide which practices to include and which to leave.

 Another question I often ask is ‘can I get enough benefits in less time?’

Of course sometimes that 50-minute practice really is the best option, and acknowledging this first will help you make the time.How important is time for you?

how-much-planning-involved-make-selfcare-simple

4.  How much preparation or planning is involved?

Following certain diets and recipes that support my health often require hours of prep and planning.

I class healthy eating as self-care. For me it is a priority, so I factor in the extra time it takes to prepare my meals in my selfcare planner.

 Because I have (currently undiagnosed) MCAS symptoms and can experience extreme reactions to foods, I often don’t have a choice, so I research and explore all the prep and planning hacks and adapt them to suit my needs.

Honestly this has taken me hours and hours.

As a general rule my goal is always to get the best health benefits, in the shortest, easiest and most enjoyable ways possible.

But for my personal health issue, weekly hours spent on meal prep is essential, even if I don’t always enjoy it.

 You might come across a self-care practice with lots of benefits that requires a fair amount of prep or planning.

 Do the benefits justify any additional preparation and planning of a self-care practice?

 Another example would be a gym membership. There is no doubt that there are many benefits to a regular gym work-out, but many people struggle with fitting in the extra time requirements involved in travelling to and from the gym in their busy lives.

If the thought of all that additional time spent on prep and planning gives you that sinking feeling that could be a sign that for now you need self care that is simple and easy.

5. What additional costs are involved?

Most self-care practices require some kind of cost. Especially when you first start and are getting set up.

 I am quite frugal by nature and circumstance so it’s important to me that I am getting good value for any costs.

 I have found that many of the very best self-care results cost next to nothing!

 Sometimes an additional cost is worth it.

 A higher cost should save you:

  • Time,
  •  Provide better user quality,
  •  Results you can’t receive from other options.

The good news is that if you are prepared to allocate more time and effort a great deal of self care is affordable. Check out my self care challenges for ideas!

6. How much effort is required?

 For those of us suffering with low energy and fatigue asking how much effort is required can feel like a daily mantra!

This is when it helps to get honest about your energy levels, brain fog and motivation.

Every self care practice will involve some level of effort, simply because any change to your routine requires effort in the beginning.

 If the effort required leaves you feeling drained, that is a potential red flag.

 If you find yourself ‘avoiding’ or ‘forgetting’ it can be helpful to do some further self-enquiry as to what is really happening.

 Often the first week of a practice feels easy because we are motivated, but by the next week it can start to feel like hard work!

 Having to turn out and drive to an evening yoga class may feel like too much effort for one person while another will make time to experience the amazing instructor and group energy.

 Once you accept that any new self care practice is going to take a certain amount of effort, you just need to ask…

Is the effort worth the value you would receive?

7. Do I enjoy the practice?

I’ve saved this question until last even though I know it is possibly the first one you might ask!

 When you find a self-care practice that you enjoy, and which provides the lasting benefits your body needs you have found healing heaven.

 Sometimes when something starts to feel easier it becomes more enjoyable. Take yoga or meditation. Typically, these are not easy or enjoyable at the beginning. But after regular practice you become a raving fan!

 There is also a place for self-care that provides enjoyment as the main benefit – good to know right? I always try to include these in my day!

 Then there are ways you can make a self-care practice more enjoyable.

 Perhaps you can turn down the intensity, shorter the duration.

 The benefits may take longer but if you enjoy the practice more you will keep going.

Final Summary

So that completes my 7 Questions to ask before starting a new self-care practice. You can use these to help you choose your next self care challenge.

It is my hope that these questions will help reduce any confusion and overwhelm when faced with so many different options.

In summary:

7 Questions to ask before starting a new self care practice.

  1. What is the benefit I can expect to experience or see?
  2. How soon before I can expect to feel/notice the benefits?
  3. How much time will this take to do each day/week?
  4. How much preparation or planning is involved?
  5. What additional costs are involved?
  6. How much effort is required?
  7. Do I enjoy the practice?

Hope you can join me as I have a LOT more support to offer around self-care!

View Post
By
My Long Covid Histamine SIBO Journey

My Journey Back to Health

By

In the early Spring of 2019 I ‘caught’ Covid-19 and by 2022 my symptoms put me in the ‘Long Covid – unexplained’ box at my local health centre . Since then I have been on a long journey back to health.

My experience of ‘Long Covid’ became the catalyst for creating the Make Selfcare Simple blog because simple self-care gave me the strength to get through each day.

This is my ‘Long covid’ story, it’s messy, I make mistakes, wrong choices, but also have breakthroughs, gain insights and slowly find answers for myself.

My story includes Long-covid, Chronic fatigue, SIBO/IBS, MCAS/Histamine/Allergy, Asthma, Skin issues and lots of ‘perfect test’ results that don’t help at all.

Honestly I am not sure how helpful sharing my story is, maybe reading my story will let you know you are not alone on your journey?

START your Challenge!

This is longer than I expected!

Why did I get Long-Covid?

I qualified (Master Herbalist & Natural Healer) way back in my early 30’s and went on to improve my well-being (I’d been poorly all of my 20’s) consistently for over 25 years until my mid-fifties.

So how come I was left with Long-Covid?

The answer is simple – Stress. I went though a difficult divorce and then my teenage daughter became very poorly (umpteen hospital appointments)for the next 5 years, I lost my dad suddenly, a new business venture had the plug-pulled and we moved home 7 times in 5 years.

I remember feeling this crushing responsibility.

Long-term Stress switches off your repair and maintenance systems.

My Long-covid Symptoms

I was quite poorly with long-covid, typical flu, breathing issues, and gastric flu symptoms all at once. But it passed and was over within a week.

But from that week my health has never been ‘right’.

Including 15 months of recurrent episodes of debilitating gastric flu and chest infections.

Gradually I started to have increasing random symptoms:

  • IBS – various and changing
  • Itchy ears – ezema inside my ear
  • Increasing Sinus infections
  • Asthma that started and finished very quickly
  • Weird skin rashes, from painful acne to rashes on my skin and inside my mouth and throat
  • Increasing joint pain, weakness and swelling
  • Hair loss one side of my head
  • Sinus swelling behind my right eye (extremely painful)
  • Feeling dizzy light headed in the head but my legs felt like lead
  • Low Blood Pressure
  • Fuzzy head and poor memory
  • Extreme Fatigue

Unfortunately this was during Covid. I still had to work and look after my daughter (single mum) and my local heath centre were unable to help.

The tests came back ‘good’ or as my GP told me, my tests were actually perfect for my ‘age’.

But I didn’t feel perfect.

Eventually my GP diagnosed me as having Long Covid because my health before and after Covid was so different.

Diagnosing Myself

The remedies I had used successfully for 25 years couldn’t help me this time

For a while I used my usual herbal remedies, essential oils, homeopathic pills, supplements and dietary changes. Remedies that had worked perfectly for the last 25 years based on supporting my inherited constitution.

And I seemed to get worse.

My local surgery offered me steroid inhaler for my asthma, steroids for my sinus, anti-histamines, Pronton Pump Inhibitors (PPI) and even HRT to ‘see’ if they ‘helped’.

I used a nasal steroid for my swollen sinus face once – but the next day the swollen face was gone and replaced with my right eye looking like something from a horror film. The ‘sinus reaction’ had escaped to the sinus area behind my eye.

I already had a long history of ‘reacting badly’ to normal medications and wasn’t convinced ‘testing’ by medication was the right path for me.

By this time I was worried and frustrated.

Without a concrete ‘diagnosis’ I was stuck in the dark.

I knew from my practitioner training that I needed to find a ‘root cause’ – but Long-Covid is cloaked in mystery.

The one ‘strange’ but consistent symptom pattern was waking up in the early morning with a ‘reaction’ usually sinus/skin rash/itchy ears which then developed into feeling faint, dizzy light-headed, followed by IBS symptoms and then joint pain/swelling and extreme fatigue.

This was a consistent pattern (70% of the time) – whatever I did during the day, my reaction seemed to happen between 3 – 5am the next morning. Weird right?

(Apart from quick onset asthma to chemical fumes/scents which were frightening)

I got tested for autoimmune which came back as negative.

Eventually I came across Mast Cell Activation Syndrome (MCAS) which finally seemed to describe me!

Mast Cell Activation Syndrome (MCAS)

According to the WebMD MCAS is “Mast cell activation syndrome, also called MCAS or mast cell activation disorder, is a condition that causes mast cells to release high amounts of chemicals into your body. This chemical release causes you to have many symptoms.

I spent almost a year researching MCAS. There is a lot of information online. But here in the UK after waiting months for an appointment an Allergy consultant told me ‘ we don’t recognise it here in the UK’. And shoved me out the door in under 10 minutes.

Yes I still feel bitter about that.

The harsh truth is that it is difficult to test for MCAS or histamine intolerance – unless and maybe even if you go private.

By this time I had no social life (apart from work) and had to leave at least two jobs because I reacted to something in the work place. By this time I was having sudden scary reactions to chemicals, perfumes and scents including essential oils – so I went into recluse mode.

Through trial and error (and many reactions) I confirmed foods high in histamine or histamine liberators were an issue for me.

Even healthy foods, herbs, essential oils and supplements can be high histamine.

A low histamine diet really helped. So did taking Diamine Oxidase enzymes and Saccharomyces Boulardii.

Some people follow a histamine bucket approach where they can strategically include a few higher histamine foods if they keep their overall lifestyle low histamine.

Other people take various anti-histamines but there is conflicting information about the long-term impact of switching off the bodies alert signal from the immune system. *With conditions like MCAS you may need to take both H1 & H2 blocking antihistamines and at much bigger dose.

Call me stubborn, but I still wanted to find the root cause and heal myself.

Insights from Living with MCAS / Long Covid

I firmly believe that the most healing diet is when you can eat a full varied diet. The low-histamine diet on top of my existing dairy and gluten-free requirements was incredibly limited.

Turns out that I could eat chips and plain crisps with no reaction – and boy did I make the most of this!

I spent hours researching ‘alternative’ recipes which was my inspiration for creating the ‘Nourish‘ Challenges. My beautiful kind daughter was very tolerant of my experiments and meal time choices

And if I ‘cheated’ or accidently ate a food that was high in histamine or an histamine liberator I was ‘punished’ with painful and weird symptoms.

I would wake early morning in agony with one red swollen eye and an unhealthy ‘pressure pain’ behind my eye. I would boil a kettle and grab a bowl and towel and steam my face. My eye would stream thick clear gunk and there was revolting post nasal drip. After this I could open my eye and see, but the whites of my eye were blood red. Nice. I would repeat steaming and use a heated eye-pack and my eye and the pain would slowly return to normal within 2-3 hours.

Then would follow various strange symptoms, sometimes I had a tight chest and lost my voice, I often felt dizzy and light headed and ‘wobbly’, and worse for me was that my head felt fuzzy and muddled. There would be pain in my neck, hips, and knees and sometimes my hands and feet would become swollen and painful. And for ‘days’ I would feel wiped out. Just in time for the next reaction.

I share this because so many people said they also suffer with ‘hay-fever’. This was not the same as hay-fever although hayfever may be linked to histamine overload.

I had a lot of problems with supplements and ‘natural’ remedies that also caused reactions. DAO (Diamine Oxidase) which is a miracle support for me, but when my supplier ran out (!) I reacted to each alternative I tried.

Let’s talk about my hair!

I quickly found that hair products including shampoo caused really big reactions. The more often I was reactive the more I noticed hair loss and just on one side of my head!

Honestly I spent a fortune on trying different ‘natural’ shampoos. If I didn’t react to the shampoo then it didn’t suit my hair. Call me vain but hair like straw is not a good look. Yes even the no-poo curly hair shampoo caused reactions. So did organic ones made with essential oils.

In fact it is very expensive having a reactive body! In the end I found an inexpensive unscented shampoo bar. It was the same story with all my body and cleaning products. Many essential oils trigger a reaction.

Reacting to Nature!

I also reacted to nature! As a former natural therapist & herbalist the irony is not lost on me. Grass and tree pollen were problematic and so was any time spent in my garden or walking my dog (RIP my beloved Sox).

Symptoms-body-wisdom-make-selfcare-simple
Replacing lawns with beefriendly plants

My home and street is surrounded by grass – that needs regular cutting. I did remove almost all of my lawns and just prayed that the replacement plants were kind to me. I also gave up my dream of walking holidays and permculture forest gardening.

Most ordinary people would by now have taken all the anti-histamines!

I will try to explain.

Call it intuition, pig-headedness or dilusional thinking but I 100% believe that if I can find the root cause then I can find a healthy way to support my body to recover and repair.

And that was the problem with a MCAS or Histamine reactions or Long Covid Diagnosis – none of them gave me a root cause I could work with.

Whole Body Healing

Diet and supplements are never the whole picture when it comes to healing.

I include (where possible) many self-care practices in my daily routine.

Pssst my regular newsletter is where I share more details about my current self-care practice.HERE

Close family and friends are my life-line and are incredibly important to my whole body healing. I am still at the time of writing this, pretty much living like a recluse.

The enforced isolation that you can experience on the healing journey is one reason I would like to create an online self-care community.

I recently lost my beloved dog Sox, and know first hand how healing our pets can be and how real the grief of losing them is.

My beloved companion Sox – big part of my healing journey

Something else that I believe is that the body mind and soul are all connected.

Specifically I think that past experiences especially trauma links the mind to physical illness. So I was aware that my set of symptoms directly linked to fear – the world literally felt unsafe for me.

I am not a worrier by nature. But in iridology I have the golden eye which is linked to kidneys and fear. I deal with my fear (of histamine reactions) by controlling my situation and avoidance.

Which in one way is prefectly normal and practical.

So another part of my healing journey is to look at fear. I scheduled therapy sessions which were really helpful and have noticed that recognising my fear pattern is helpful in reducing my symptoms.

This is where Journal work has also been helpful.

Dealing with trauma or past experiences that impact your current health, is a work-in-progress for me.

However I am also cautious about getting stuck in your past – while its helpful to identify previous causes and patterns – please know that the focus should be on creating a better future.

I also try to avoid blame in all its forms. Tricky because it is so satisfying to give the blame to someone else.

Instead I try to ask:

How am I now going to respond to this situation?

What new and better choices and decisions will actually improve my future and bring me inner-peace?

Light at the end of the tunnel?

magical summer sunrise

Whew well done if you’ve made it this far!

I had a bit of a ‘red herring‘ in that both my daughter and father had genetic Haemochromatosis (Iron overload) which interestingly can display many similar symptoms to what I experienced.

It took months to wait for tests and results – and I was hopeful that I’d found my root cause.

But no surprise my liver came back as ‘fine’ and blood tests confirmed I am just a carrier.

I am sure many of you have been in this strange situation where you almost want a test result to show something!

If my story does nothing else, it highlights the frustration of test results!

New Symptom – Upper Stomach Swelling

Anyway earlier this year 2025 I noticed a swelling in my upper stomach.

I thought it might be a flare-up of diastasis recti (caused by having C-section complications 20 odd years ago) and started following the exercises. NB I do think I have DR

However my stomach swelling quickly got larger and more painful despite me eating less food. It was a strange ‘stretched feeling’.

More tests and examinations followed all showing as fine!

Grrrrr

My GP was really pushing for Omeprazole – which conflicts with DAO – so I had a dilemma.

But for once my attention was on my IBS not my histamine reactions.

Honestly my IBS symptoms were much easier to deal with except now I had a painful swelling I couldn’t ignore.

Handy reminder to myself that ALL symptoms no matter how small are important

Long story short I started to consider SIBO Small Intestinal Bacterial Overgrowth.

SIBO can cause painful upper stomach swelling reduces DAO from being made in the body – ding dong! And there is a direct link between SIBO and Histamine intolerance (MCAS). AND Omeprazole can increase the risk of SIBO.

I couldn’t get tested for SIBO on the NHS so I went private.

My test result was positive for Hydrogen SIBO!!

Taking a rest!

Which brings me to the end of this mammoth post.

And the start of a brand new post.

This was my personal story about stubbornly holding out to find a root cause, probably a bit extreme to most people.

If you only take medicines to reduce/hide symptoms – without addressing the root cause – the body will keep giving you new symptoms

I quickly discovered that being tested positive for SIBO was just the first step and that there is very little free support/guidance for when you have both Histamine/MCAS and SIBO together.

So that is what I will share next – my journey to address my root cause!

Self-Care

What I haven’t talked about is my regular daily self-care practice – which has been a crucial part of my whole journey.

I do not think I would have survived this last few years without a self-care practice supporting my poor body each step of the way.

Join my newsletter to read my current experiences and adventures with self-care as I follow along with you!

View Post
By