In several of his articles, Ray Peat suggests or implies that anthistamines may have beneficial effects. A few examples follow.
If you have used antihistamines, it would be great to hear about your experiences -- positive and negative -- with them. Do they have undesirable side effects or ingredients? Are some better than others? Are there better ways than drugs to achieve the benefits of antihistamines? Under what circumstances, if any, do you think Peatarians should consider using them?
Thanks in advance for your thoughts.
(From "Serotonin, Depression, and Aggression: The Problem of Brain Energy.")Ray Peat said:The broadly protective effects of antihistamine drugs have been energetically exploited by the drug industry for fifty years.
(From "Not the 'Female Hormone,' But the Shock Hormone.")Ray Peat said:Histamine mimics estrogen's effects on the uterus, and antihistamines block estrogen's effects (Szego, 1965, Szego and Davis, 1967). Estrogen mimics the shock reaction. Stress, exercise, and toxins cause a rapid increase in estrogen. Males often have as much estrogen as females, especially when they are tired or sick. Estrogen increases the brain's susceptibility to epileptic seizures, and recent research shows that it (and cortisol) promote the effects of the "excitotoxins," which are increasingly implicated in degenerative brain diseases.
Just after Szego's work was published, I suggested that antihistamines might be used to resist some of estrogen's toxic effects, including cancer. A few people tried the idea, with some benefit, but the basic idea of a physiological counterforce is opposed by the ideology of "specific chemotherapy," in cancer, epilepsy, arthritis, infertility, osteoporosis, immunodeficiency, Alzheimer's disease, etc.
(From "Oils in Context.")Ray Peat said:Several aspects of the immune system are improved by short-chain saturated fats. Their anti-histamine action [39] is probably important, because of histamine's immunosuppressive effects.[40]
(From "Preventing and Treating Cancer With Progesterone.")Ray Peat said:Antihistamines and some of the antiserotonin drugs (including "dopaminergic" lisuride and bromocriptine) are sometimes useful in cancer treatment, but the safe way to lower serotonin is to reduce the consumption of tryptophan, and to avoid excessive cortisol production (which mobilizes tryptophan from the muscles)
(From "Autonomic Systems.")Ray Peat said:Although mast cells have been known to be a common component of tumors for many years, it is only recently that antihistamines and other antiinflammatory drugs have been recognized as valuable therapies in cancer.
If you have used antihistamines, it would be great to hear about your experiences -- positive and negative -- with them. Do they have undesirable side effects or ingredients? Are some better than others? Are there better ways than drugs to achieve the benefits of antihistamines? Under what circumstances, if any, do you think Peatarians should consider using them?
Thanks in advance for your thoughts.