What HIT me? Living with Histamine Intolerance: A guide to diagnosis and management of HIT - A patient's point of view

by Genny Masterman

HIT – Histamine Intolerance – is a condition that affects many people but remains largely undiagnosed. The symptoms of histamine intolerance (HIT) are caused by the inability of the body to break down histamine sufficiently. These symptoms can appear very like an allergy and can cause stomach and intestinal complaints, migraine, tiredness and skin problems, to name but a few. This is in most cases because of the reduced activity or low presence of an enzyme called diamine oxidase (DAO), which is mainly responsible for breaking down histamine and other biogenic amines ingested through food. Foods that are known culprits red wine, ready meals, cured meats, mature cheeses, tomatoes and aubergines. It can make people’s lives a total misery. But it CAN be brought under control with the RIGHT DIAGNOSIS and the RIGHT DIET. This book is a guide to how to achieve both. It helps both health professionals and patients gain insight. After the great success of the first edition, this second edition contains a new section on the different points of view about diagnosis as well as a second food list - a tolerance index which resulted from a survey of 800 participants who judged 109 foods according to their individual threshold - side by side with the scientifically based food list. CONTENTS

Genres: Health

208 pages, Paperback

First published June 13, 2013

Reviews

[Annie Kostyk]

Enjoyed this book being about a patient's actual experience and what she went through to get diagnosed. Histamine Intolerance is acknowledge throughout Europe and Australia, but not in the US. What does this mean for you? You're either missed diagnosed or your symptoms are brushed aside as mine have been throughout the past 20 years. The problem with alcohol, the "allergy" to so many antibiotics, the problem with fermented foods, the reaction to contrast dyes, the temperature drops, tachycardia, fatigue and weight gain after certain foods, and the ulcerative colitis.

What this book is lacking to make it complete... a better, more organized food list.

Another problem, in general, is this book, another book I have and websites out there contradict each other on food lists and what the histamine levels are in foods. Since this is a scientific measurement, I find this hard to believe.

[Kristin]

Finished it quickly, because I wanted to find out what was wrong with me! I'm one week into my elimination diet and could relate to 90% of the book. So glad I found it, very informative

[Melanie Joy]

2 stars because: this book contains some useful information but there are typos and some confusing inconsistencies, such as: the author says that cured meats and cheese are very high in histamine, and one of the recipes literally has ham and cheese (and not soft white mozzarella or ricotta which aren't mature, I'm talking cheddar!). The inconsistencies between lists of high histamine foods and then having them used as ingredients in the recipes made me feel skeptical regarding the rest of the book.

[Kathie]

I was recently diagnosed with a mild histamine intolerance. This book gave me tons of information but is VERY SLOW reading.

[Ari]

Detailed assessment of HIT

Very detailed and well researched view of HIT, along with practical tips on minimizing the impacts of the condition. Highly recommended reading for suffers and consumers who.wish to be better informed.

[Justin]

A thorough overview of histamine intolerance. That being said, there isn't much here that can't be gotten online. It might be worth buying for its ease/organization if you are new to histamine intolerance, but probably not worth it for people who follow the low histamine chef or have otherwise researched the condition.

[Tori Starling]

I suspected that my son who has multiple food allergies, was also intolerant to foods that are high in histamine. This book was very insightful and I learned a lot about the condition and how to best manage it. A very well researched, thorough book on histamine intolerance.

[Kristin Boldon]

A good overview of histamine intolerance with sensible cautions and good references. The writing was more casual than I liked and I didn't find the recipes helpful; they were full of things I avoid.