Another thing about histamine….

Think about the deep muscle fatigue you feel when you have a bad cold or flu.

Histamine disrupts energy production in your muscle cells. We have a few different pathways that we can breakdown sugar and turn it into a form of chemical energy (called ATP) that your muscles can use.

One pathway is slower, but produces a lot of ATP and very little byproducts.

The other is intended to provide a short burst of energy (BEAR! RUN!) but it is inefficient. It doesn’t produce as much energy and also produces more fatigue (waste) products in the muscle, like lactic acid.

High levels of histamine causes your muscles to lock into the low production pathway. You end up feeling deeply exhausted.

The OTHER problem is, because histamine can heighten sensory input (I’m sick, and this blanket is scratchy, and everything is too loud, and that light is too bright) it messes up your sleep.

Fatigue and poor sleep will also induce anxiety. ALL OF US are on edge after a few days of poor sleep.

Like I said, I went down this rabbit hole about 25 years ago looking at skeletal muscle energy pathways. Then I ended up with two family members with autoimmune issues. I used to spends hours each day looking up published research on these topics.

The heightened pain you talked about…. Histamine causes skin sensitivity (think hives) but you have to recognize that things inside us that “line” our internal parts are all still skin. The lining of your mouth and gut is skin, more or less. So is the lining of your bladder. And your sex organs.

High histamine levels have been seen in irritable bowel, irritable bladder, and vulvodynia.


RDMercer