How 10 years of Antihistamines Affected my Health —When Everything Came Crashing Down (Part 2)

By the time I reached my mid to late twenties, I was no stranger to chronic urticaria. I had spent years relying on antihistamines, dealing with cycles of flare-ups, and managing symptoms without really understanding what was happening inside my body. But nothing could have prepared me for what came next. My body wasn’t just shutting down physically—I was also dealing with intense anxiety and a deep sense of emotional exhaustion. The weight of everything I had been pushing through, started manifesting in ways I couldn’t ignore.

A Flare-Up Like No Other

For a second time, my body rejected antihistamines. My skin was on fire—burning, itching, raw. It was so intense that I couldn’t sleep, couldn’t work, couldn’t focus on anything except the sheer discomfort. The only thing that provided even a sliver of relief was immersing myself in a bath of cold water, to temporarily soothe my inflamed skin. It felt like my body was completely out of control.

The Emotional & Stress Triggers

What made it all the more confusing was that just three weeks before, I had competed in a sporting event and felt completely fine. But in the weeks that followed, a difficult breakup and unresolved emotional stress from my family life created an undercurrent of strain that I had been ignoring. On top of that, I was still grieving the loss of my father, who had passed away eight months earlier. The emotional toll of everything compounded, and my body reached a breaking point.

The Doctor’s Visit That Changed Everything

At first, the GP followed the same script—more steroids, more antihistamines, and I was sent on my way. But something was deeply wrong. I wasn’t just dealing with my skin; I was experiencing full-body symptoms that left me exhausted, weak, and completely disconnected from myself.

I had lost so much weight, and it wasn’t intentional. I had always been active, fit, and strong, but suddenly my body felt like it was wasting away. Climbing a flight of stairs became a struggle. My legs felt shaky, my heart raced, and I was out of breath—something that felt terrifying for someone who had always prided themselves on their fitness. I remember trying to do a press-up, something that had always been second nature to me, and I could barely hold myself up. I had no strength. No resilience. My body was failing me in ways I had never experienced before.

On my next visit, I saw a different doctor who finally looked beyond my skin. They took my blood pressure, ran some tests, and called me back with results that would change the course of my health journey forever.

My thyroid was out of balance, my liver markers were off, and my body was in a state of chaos. The diagnosis? Graves’ disease. Graves' disease is an autoimmune condition where the immune system mistakenly attacks the thyroid, causing it to become overactive and flood the body with excess hormones—leading to symptoms like rapid weight loss, anxiety, heart palpitations, and extreme fatigue.

For years, I had been treating my symptoms on the surface—suppressing histamine, calming my skin—but I had never truly addressed what was happening inside my body.

What I Wish I Knew About Antihistamines Before Relying on Them for 10 Years

Looking back, I now understand that my body was giving me warning signs all along. Long-term antihistamine use had not only masked the symptoms but also contributed to deeper imbalances:

• Gut Health Disruption: Chronic use can alter gut microbiota, reduce digestive enzyme production, and contribute to leaky gut (Foster, Rinaman & Cryan, 2017).

• Liver Detoxification Overload: The liver plays a key role in breaking down histamine. Suppressing it long-term can strain detox pathways (Maintz & Novak, 2007).

• Immune System Dysregulation: The body can develop resistance, leading to more severe flare-ups and immune dysfunction (Schwenger, Teo & Gao, 2018).

• HPA Axis Dysfunction: Chronic stress and histamine intolerance are linked to nervous system imbalances (Chrousos, 2009).

• Nutrient Depletion: Antihistamines can impact zinc, B6, magnesium, and B12 levels, all essential for histamine regulation (Kelesidis, 2013).

Looking Back: The Warning Signs I Missed

With hindsight, the signs had been there all along. The stress, the relentless drive to push through, the gut issues that I ignored, the dependency on medications to get through the day. Every flare-up was my body trying to tell me something, but I didn’t know how to listen.

This diagnosis forced me to stop, to reassess and to start the process of true healing—not just treating symptoms, but understanding my body’s needs on a deep level.

The Missing Links – Stress, Suppression, and the Body’s Cry for Help

As I started peeling back the layers of my health struggles, I realised that my body had been sending me signals for years—long before the hives, before the gut issues, before the fatigue. I had spent a decade silencing those signals with antihistamines, but now, they weren’t working, and my symptoms were escalating.

The Role of Stress: More Than Just Emotional Weight

It became impossible to ignore the connection between my symptoms and stress. The family stress I had carried through my teenage years, the pressure I put on myself to perform, and the emotional weight I was holding—it was all fuelling the fire beneath my health issues. Stress is a major trigger for histamine release, gut imbalance, and immune dysfunction, and yet, I had never considered how deeply it was impacting my body.

Looking back, I can see how my nervous system had been stuck in survival mode for years. My body was constantly in a state of alert, pouring out stress hormones that were keeping inflammation high, weakening my digestion, and making me more reactive to foods, allergens, and even my environment.

Uncovering the Triggers: Heat and Food

While stress played a huge role, I also started noticing clear physical triggers. Heat was a big one—any rise in temperature, whether from exercise, hot weather, or even a warm shower, would cause my skin to flush and the itching to worsen. But the biggest trigger? Food.

Dairy, in particular, seemed to be a major culprit. I realised that every time I ate cheese, milk, or anything containing dairy, my symptoms would flare up. And yet, in my early 20s, instead of cutting it out, I simply popped another antihistamine and carried on eating it. I didn’t yet understand the deeper connection between food sensitivities, gut health, and my immune system.

When Suppression Turns into Sensitivity

The deeper I looked, the more I saw how much my body had been compensating. Taking antihistamines every day had allowed me to push through, to keep living as if nothing was wrong. But over time, that suppression led to increased sensitivity. My body was no longer responding to the medication, and my histamine levels were out of control.

But it wasn’t just about allergies anymore—it was about my entire system struggling to keep up. My liver, overwhelmed from years of medication use, was sluggish in clearing histamine and toxins. My gut, which should have been breaking down and processing histamine naturally, was inflamed and imbalanced. And my nervous system, which should have been regulating stress and inflammation, was burnt out from years of being on high alert.

The Wake-Up Call

The moment I was put on steroids to control my worsening symptoms was a turning point, but I didn’t fully realise what was coming next. What I thought was a simple case of needing “stronger medication” was actually my body screaming out for a different approach—one that didn’t just silence symptoms but actually healed the root cause.

In Part Three, I’ll take you through the biggest changes I made to rebuild my health—how I supported my gut, restored balance to my nervous system, and finally gave my body what it had been needing all along.