Main Topics
- Antihistamines
- PMS (premenstrual syndrom)
- Estrogen
Approximate Transcript
Taking antihistamines for PMS?
Have you heard of this?
So one of these Tik Tok Docs came across my facebook reels the other day, ‘cause I don’t get on TikTok, sorry… and planted a little thought seed about this. The guy mentions that there is some ingredient in Midol that is an allergy medicine or something like that and it helps with hormones. Whatever and I scrolled on by.
One day, as I was about to lose my mind, at my own kids and it isn’t even 8am, I realize this may have something to do with PMS. Although I think it is more just MS because premenstrual syndrome sounds like it comes before the menstruation, and for many it does, but for others it happens while you’re menstruating. So, I found some expired Midol and took it. I haven’t taken Midol since high school? Ibuprofen for cramps and move on with life has been my take. Acupuncture has helped a lot with the hormone fluctuations quite a bit in the last few years and it typically isn’t this bad. But again, diet, exercise, being sick, all of this plays a role with each other and hormones are included.
Why so many vicious cycles in life! Is nothing a stand alone thing?!?!
So, sure enough.. There is an antihistamine in Midol Complete. Active ingredients are listed as Acetaminophen (which is tylenol) for pain relief, Caffeine as a diuretic, and Pyrilamine maleate (pai·ri·luh·meen may·lee·ayt) as an antihistamine. The diuretic, caffeine, is to help with bloating and water retention. I’m sure it also helps with the exhaustion which I feel like comes from the blood loss and iron deficiency? That’s just a hunch with most of this because if you google there isn’t a lot of trustworthy sources out there on this whole topic. Most things related to women, pregnancy, and reproductive health in general doesn’t have a lot of studies on. That’s something to change for the future… get on that.
So this Pyrilamine maleate (pai·ri·luh·meen may·lee·ayt) stuff. The National Institutes of health website says “An antihistamine. A histamine H1 antagonist. It has mild hypnotic properties and some local anesthetic action and is used for allergies (including skin eruptions) both parenterally (par·en·ter·al)and locally. It is a common ingredient of cold remedies.”
Pause. What?! That seems like a wide range of things going on. So let’s dig deeper.
Before getting into the histamine stuff, lets talk about the other things in there. Skin eruptions? These could be bumps, blisters, and other things that pop up on your skin. Parenteral means things absorbed into your body but not through your intestines. So allergies caused by things you did or didn’t eat.
Antihistamines are meds that fight against histamines. Hence the anit- histinmines. Histamines are chemicals your body produces to make your body freak out and get rid of whatever it was that made it unhappy. Say you inhale some pollen. Certain cells will be triggered to release histamines. The first thing your body does is boost blood flow. Flush it out. So you’re going to notice some swelling or inflammation. The histamines are also going to trigger increased mucus because mucus is designed to trap the unwanted stuff and prevent more from getting in. If your body can cover it in slime, it can’t hurt you! At least that’s the thought. So the increased mucus is the snot coming out of your nose and running down your throat. This causes a cough. Can cause sneezing. If you can block the signal for your body to panic and do all of this, you block the issues.
So the Pyrilamine maleate (pai·ri·luh·meen may·lee·ayt) stuff is used to block your body’s panic mode. More specifically it is an H1 antagonist. There are H1 and H2 antagonists. Typically the H2’s will treat gastrointestinal or digestive symptoms. H1 does the other stuff like hives and itchy runny nose. But, Pyrilamine maleate (pai·ri·luh·meen may·lee·ayt) can also cause you to be drowsy. Anyone with a food allergy can tell you that not all allergic reactions, which are caused by the histamines creating internal panic, are just a runny nose and swollen face. Other symptoms can occur too like headache, diarrhea, bloating, stomach cramps, heartburn, insomnia, anxiety and lots of other fun things have also been linked to histamines.
Another fun fact is that histamines can be found in food! So some foods could trigger your body to produce histamines, but there are some foods that come with extra histamines themselves. Wine and some other fermented foods are commonly high in extra histamines.
One website I found says there is a link between estrogen and histamines. Estrogen is the hormone that everyone produces, even males, but those who were born as females are going to produce more of it overall. Estrogen levels increase during puberty triggering girls to develop traditional girl features. It also triggers your body to prepare for pregnancy! It is the reason the uterine lining thickens and why ovulation or an egg being released occurs. When your older and your estrogen levels drop, you start to enter menopause where you’re essentially no longer prepping for pregnancy. In males, estrogen helps with their sex drive and ability to have sex. But if they get too much they can also begin developing more traditional girl like features. Boobs. Yes, I’m meaning boobs.
Estrogen also does other things like help with your bone structure, ability to focus, blood sugar levels, blood flow, and more.
What is the connection between estrogen and histamines? Histamine can trigger your body to make extra estrogen and Estrogen can trigger your body to make extra histamines! Fun times, right?! So this can trigger some common menstrual symptoms like ovulation pain, breast pain, poor libido, fluid retention, cycle related allergies (didn’t know that was a thing), anxiety, insomnia (cause that always helps the anxiety), irritability (especially when estrogen is at its highest right before your body gives up on getting pregnant and starts your period), menstrual pain with headaches or migraines, and of course nausea and vomiting to accompany all that pain.
So, it turns out, if you can knock down some of your histamine levels, you could knock down some of your period symptoms! That’s why they put antihistamines in Midol!
For me personally, that would explain why recently I wanted to strangle everyone and everything. I’ve been eating food I know my body doesn’t like and causes inflammation. Probably caused by my body producing extra histamine, just not to the level of a noticeable allergic reaction. The extra histamine would increase my estrogen levels. The extra estrogen would increase the histamine. All of that going on would make me horrible to be around, causing more irritability. And, on top of all that, I’ve been sick and not sleeping well so that increases irritability and makes me want to eat quick and easy food which has the stuff I shouldn’t be eating in it. Ugh! And tying in a prior episode… the gluten is also probably triggering extra histamines… This really is a vicious cycle!
Just to remind you, I’m not a doctor and although I do try to check multiple sources on this stuff, go do research for yourself. The best thing I have done over my time on this planet is listen to my body and figure out what my body likes best. But, if any of this has turned on a lightbulb in your head about something affecting you, go talk to your doctor! Do some research. Don’t just trust any ol’ website either, go look for studies and reliable sources which back up their information with data from studies. Like I said at the beginning, there is a HUGE lack of women and women’s health research out there so you may get frustrated that there aren’t really any answers. I will a thousand times over support women in STEM because women bringing this forward and women pushing for the research is the only way to get more information discovered.
So, don’t take my word for it, but take my thought seed and go let it grow! I’ll post the links to some of the sites I used for research on my website if you’d like to start with those.
Additional Resources
- https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/parenteral#:~:text=of%202%20adjective-,par%C2%B7%E2%80%8Ben%C2%B7%E2%80%8Bter%C2%B7%E2%80%8Bal%20p%C9%99%2D,by%20way%20of%20the%20intestines
- https://www.webmd.com/allergies/what-are-histamines
- https://www.webmd.com/allergies/difference-between-first-generation-antihistamines-second-generation-antihistamines
- https://www.webmd.com/drugs/2/drug-76223/acetaminophen-pyrilamine-maleate-oral/details
- https://www.drugs.com/ingredient/pyrilamine.html
- https://drugs.ncats.io/drug/R35D29L3ZA
- https://www.simonejeffriesnaturopath.com.au/post/sydney-naturopath-blog-the-surprising-connection-between-estrogen-and-histamine
- https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/body/22353-estrogen
- https://mfm.au/blog/unlocking-the-secrets-of-high-oestrogen-histaminosis-for-pms-pmdd-relief
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