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[Sue1972]

During the very hot weeks in June my hayfever went through the roof. The doctor prescribed some Fexofenadine tablets. These did not only help my hayfever but they also helped with some of my meno symptoms. I slept so much better and my stress was hugely reduced. I have watch that records my body battery and stress and on the mornings where I had taken my tablet the night before my body battery was always over 80 and I had very low levels of stress recorded. On days where I didn't take the tablet my body battery was often below 60 and my stress recorded through the night was high.

I stopped taking them when the pollen count reduced but I am now having 1 every night because I realised the impact they were having on my symptoms.

Has anyone actually been prescribed an antihistamine to help with meno symptoms?

[Emma74]

Antihistamines can be prescribed for anxiety. I take them throughout the whole year (not prescribed for that reason) as I seem to have allergies against everything.

I do believe they help anxiety by reducing external symptoms that can trigger anxiety in the first place. I suppose they can reduce inflammation in the body that will also increase anxiety. I will reach for an antihistamine if I'm anxious but can't put my finger on why. This could be completely placebo affect but if it helps then I'm all for it. I get very anxious to the point I won't take medication orally but Antihistamines are an exception.

I have something called bbpv which causes vertigo and dizziness and Antihistamines calm this too.

[Wrensong]

Hi Sue1972, it's great to know you've found significant improvements from Fexofenadine & I'm sure other women will be interested to know it too, so thank you for posting.

My hay fever became unmanageable during perimenopause, making already terrible sleep, partly due to intense night sweats, even worse.  I saw an Immunologist about it at the start of peri but it was 15 or so years ago & at that time the link between menopause & histamine problems wasn't so widely acknowledged to be a thing.  He suggested Fexofenadine but in discussion with another doctor involved in my care at that time it was decided not to pursue that avenue, so I never found out how helpful it may have been & luckily post-menopause my hay fever is now much better.   That said, I am taking care with diet to limit/reduce histamine as I need to do this for management of interstitial cystitis & also suspect my flushing & night sweats are made worse by a histamine reaction.  There is now loads on the web about histamine in relation to menopause for anyone who's interested & Dr Tina Peers is often mentioned as an expert in the field.  This link to one of Newson Health's leaflets deals with it too.

I'm interested in trying Fexofenadine but had put it off, unsure of the safety long term, but I'm encouraged by your experience.  Had a google & I see that the NHS website seems to consider it fairly safe for long term use.

https://balance-menopause.com/uploads/2021/09/Histamine-Intolerance-1.pdf

https://www.nhs.uk/medicines/fexofenadine/

I hope you continue to feel much better for your discovery.
Wx

[Sue1972]

Thanks Emma74 and Wrensong,

Having recognised the link I am now going to look at how I can regulate histamine through diet as I do not really like the idea of being on tablets long term. I was only prescribed them for my hayfever and not meno symptoms so I will look up Dr Tina Peters to see what I can do naturally.

I will continue to take them in the short term because they are helping with the anxiety and that is having a massive impact on my life right now, but hopefully I can get to the stage where I do not need them.

[Wrensong]

Yes Sue1972, I know how you feel about being on them long term  & as my symptoms are of very long duration I'd also hoped to find a way of resolving them that didn't involve drug treatment.  I'd experimented with Cetirizine & Loratadine to see whether they reduced my night sweats & flushing but to no benefit, so that made me more ambivalent about Fexofenadine & I was was deferring it until I felt I had no further options.  Can I ask have you tried any antihistamines other than Fexofenadine & if so, did they have any beneficial effect on your menopause symptoms?

If you are considering a histamine reducing diet, depending on which source you look at the lists of foods to exclude can be dauntingly restrictive, impractical even, but if you can cut out those foods most likely to be problematic that might give you enough relief without compromising too much.

To save you a potentially wasted google - it's Dr Tina Peers with the expertise in histamine intolerance, not Peters.  I was going to include a link to her website in my earlier post but didn't feel I could do so because of forum rules on commercial sites.  I haven't seen her myself but I remember some other members have.

I recall a member called RebJT is pretty knowledgeable on histamine issues if you'd like to look for some of her posts.
Wx

[SamjW]

Hi wrensong

I’ve been taking fexofenadine for about 10 years for my hay fever and never had any problems with it. The NHS can be funny about prescribing it but that just because of the cost. So if you can get your GP to prescribe it, definitely get on it. It really helps taking it at night before bed.

[Wrensong]

Hi SamjW, that's so helpful to know, thank you  .  Can I ask have you found it helpful for menopause symptoms as well as hay fever & if so, does that mean that you take it year round or only during hay fever season? 

I bought a pack yesterday but have recently had a change in medication (with another agreed for the near future) & need to see how that pans out before muddying the picture with another variable.

[SamjW]

Hi Wrensong honestly I can’t say I have noticed that it helps my menopause symptoms and have only used it from Feb to Oct for my hay fever symptoms. I’m very new to HRT though so am interested myself with the use of fexofenadine for menopause symptoms.

[Wrensong]

OK Sam, thank you.  Hope everyone gets on well with the histamine issues & would be good to know how you all are at some point.
Wx

[CLKD]

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