At Histamine Haven we prioritize your well-being and strive to make your supplement journey seamless and enjoyable. Supplements can be a great addition to your wellness routine to help reduce histamine, stabilize mast cells, and to help clear excess histamine from your body.
In this blog post, we'll share valuable tips to enhance your supplement experience and promote optimal health.
Plus, we've partnered with Fullscript in Canada to bring you our favourite supplements with an exclusive 15% off. Visit Fullscript here to place your order and embark on your wellness journey. Click on Catalogue and go to Favourites to see our top picks.
Choosing the Right Supplements
At Histamine Haven, we understand the importance of sourcing high-quality supplements. While we love using Fullscript for its convenience and reliability, we also encourage exploring local options like health food stores, compounding pharmacies, or specialty supplement stores.
Avoid purchasing from online sources where supplements may be stored at improper temperatures, as it may compromise the effectiveness of your supplements. There are also scam versions of supplements online, so if purchasing online, use caution.
Supplementation for histamine and mast cell issues requires some care when selecting. For example, we love vitamin C for its antihistaminic and mast cell stabilizing properties, but you need to get a low histamine vitamin C. Work with a practitioner if you are struggling to choose the right supplements that work for your body.
Crafting Your Supplement Plan
Once you've obtained your supplements, it's time to create a personalized supplement plan. Follow these guidelines to maximize their benefits:
1. Introduce Slowly:
You may wish to titrate a new supplement by starting with a very small dose and gradually increasing to the full amount.
Doing so can be particularly helpful for those with MCAS who may have had a reaction to a supplement in the past.
For capsules, open the capsule and sprinkle a small amount over food.
For liquids, measure out a minute dose to start with.
Starting with very small doses ensures that your mast cells get used to the supplement without mounting a response and degranulating (read = releasing more histamine into your system). By slowly building up the dose, your mast cells are more likely to accept the new supplement.
It’s also important to start introducing new supplements apart from one another. You want to make sure you tolerate one supplement before starting with another one.
Our recommendation: try one new supplement every week or two. This will give your body time to gradually adjust and for you to monitor your response to it.
2. Enzymes and Probiotics Timing:
Take enzymes at the beginning of meals and probiotics at the end to optimize digestion. If DAO is one of the enzymes you take, make sure to take it 15-30 minutes before meals.
Probiotics should consist of histamine degrading species. Working with a trusted practitioner can help you figure out which probiotic may be beneficial for you.
3. Timing Matters:
Take other supplements towards the end of a meal to prevent potential stomach upset.
4. B Vitamins and Zinc:
Avoid taking B vitamins in the evening to prevent sleep disruption. Instead, take Bs with breakfast. For some, they can be quite energizing. Let's put that energizing to good use!
Take zinc later in the day to minimize nausea, with lunch or dinner.
5. Divide Doses:
If instructed to take more than one capsule, split the dose between meals.
6. Bedtime Magnesium:
Use magnesium at bedtime to help with constipation, muscle relaxation, or just to help improve sleep.
Monitoring Your Body's Response
If you experience any adverse effects from your supplements, cease consumption immediately. Schedule an appointment with your practitioner to discuss alternatives and ensure your supplement regimen aligns with your individual needs.
Organizing Your Supplement Routine
Efficiency is key when managing multiple supplements. Our favourite hack to bring in to make this a bit more stream-lined and help you be consistent with your supplement regimen? Invest in a pill organizer that suits your preferences:
1. A Pill Box: These small simple containers available at drug stores or online are great to take when eating out, or to pack in a lunch you take with you to work or school.
2. Small Pill Organizers: Available at drug stores or online. These will only hold a few pills so are a good choice if you only take a few supplements. They are often labelled for each day of the week. You can also get these in trays where each day is further divided—a great choice if you are taking supplement throughout the day.
3. Larger Compartments: Consider tackle/hardware organizers from hardware stores. These can also be purchased online. If you are taking a lot of supplements, standard pill organizers won’t be large enough, so thinking outside the box and using a tackle box or hardware organizer is a good choice.
4. Soy Sauce / Condiment Dishes: Alternatively, soy sauce dishes from Asian grocers or condiment-sized dishes purchased online can serve as unique and functional organizers. These can be a good choice if you don’t want to use plastic. Tracey uses them for her family, laying out supplements each morning at the breakfast table.
You’ve Got This
Taking control of your supplement routine is a crucial step towards achieving optimal health. Having an organizational strategy makes it easier to stay consistent and to make taking supplements a regular habit.
Finding it tricky to be consistent with your supplements? Consider adding an alarm or a reminder to your smart phone or tablet. It's one less thing to think about!
At Histamine Haven, we're here to guide you every step of the way. If you are in Canada, visit Fullscript here and check out our "Favourites" in the Catalogue to explore our recommended supplements. Enjoy an exclusive 15% off. Every step on your wellness journey matters!
This is the kind of content we'll be covering in our Histamine Haven Online Community. At the time of this article's publishing date, we are about 3 months out from our big launch.
When it's ready, we'll be talking about it on our Resources page. While you wait for that, make sure to sign up for our newsletter so that you get first notice of when it goes live!