[Probiotic App/Tool] Filter Probiotic Strains by Histamine Safety/Specific Conditions

Hey everyone, I'll keep it brief, I know we are all spending enough time as it is searching for answers online. **History/Timeline:** Developed acne age 12. Went onto various antibiotics ages 14-17, constantly cycling them. They stopped working and my skin was even worse. Went onto hormonal birth control (Dianette and Yasmin) at ages 18-28. From the age of 14 onwards I experienced issues with digestion, acne, feelings of hopelessness, anxiety, depression and insomnia. Was labelled IBS, generalised depression by so many doctors. Advised to go onto accutane more birth control etc. Over the years the list of different foods I would eat at one time shortened and lengthened. One year age 18 I only ate 5 different foods. Very thin. Became very OCD, anxious around food. Connected it to acne, etc. Panic attacks were a thing, huge social anxiety. Hormonal mood fluctuations have been a constant thing, that from the ages of 14-28 I just thought there was something wrong with me mentally, I thought I was just a depressed anxious person innately. Did not connect it to my cycle until the last few years. Having the knowledge that it was actually a chemical/hormonal issue in my body was deeply reassuring for me. The feelings were just chemical from then on, I didn't need to attach meaning to them. I grew up in a vegetarian household, but we could eat what we wanted when outside of the house. My parents wanted us to be able to choose for ourselves whether we wanted to be vegetarian. I would eat different foods, animal products at my grandparents etc. I became vegan aged 15 by choice. I did not have any clue about nutrition though, and did not eat enough variety of macronutrients and calories. A lot of processed foods. So typical teen. As I said, food was a way for me to have a sense of control over my acne, and I would monitor and restrict to the point of not eating when I knew I had an event coming up or when I started having boyfriends. I would just not eat at all to not risk getting acne. So there was a lot of years where I was probably lacking a lot of nutrition and calories. I was always sick, immune system was shot. Very little body fat. (Looking back now, it seem obvious why my hormones were crazy) No doctor ever talked to me about gut health, the microbiome. I did a lot of protocols anti fungal, anti candida, low fodmaps, low everything, blast myself with killing microbials. When I did take probiotics they were all just random strains, no idea about histamines or what strains fed what bacteria at that point. At 22 I actually started eating meat again, because I was at a low point with my health and let the immediate voices of the people I was around at the time influence me into thinking I needed to do this for health. I dabbled with that until I was 27, never saw any health improvements, in fact I got food poisoning needing antibiotics! Then I found myself always inching back to vegetarianism then veganism, which is just what I felt in my heart was right for me. Have been vegan since then. I said I'd keep it brief and I've written an essay I'm sorry. About age 34, so from age 28 to 34, I really worked on just SOLID wholefood nutrition, calorie intake, and simultaneously working on my bodies ability to digest and absorb food and nutrients. I also started regularly exercising. These things have done wonders for my acne overall. Now, over the last 5 years (I'm 38 now, so 33 to now), my sleep has crept to the forefront of the thunder dome. It started with just certain points in my menstrual cycle, luteal at first. Few nights to a week before my period arrived I would struggle to stay asleep. Then then became struggle to fall asleep at all. And then that also progressed to the ovulatory phase. Then half of the month and so on. Just lying there all night, mind racing, heart pounding. My mood swings around different points of my cycle were also at their worst. Then about two years ago it reached absolute fever pitch, where it just became every night. I was crying and on edge all the time. I had to quit my job. I was doing some of the CBT for insomnia. Doctors just wanted to give me anti histamines. I said no, the pills were what has gotten me into this mess in the first place. No more prescription pills. I also had paradoxical reactions to all well known and touted remedies (glycine = nope, increased excitary glutamate anxiety for me), tried all the magnesium types = alertness/ anxiety (magnesium taurate only one that doesn't), quercetin, NAC, valerian, melatonin, ashwaghanda, chamomile, 5HTP, phosphatidlserine, lemon balm = all paradoxical anxiety which I think is linked to reactions to sulfur and anything that works on neurotransmitters (slow clearance issues). I got deep into researching the connection between gut health> hormones, endocrine/HP Axis, nervous system, MCAS/histamine intolerance, anxiety, depression, insomnia, Sulfur Sibo. I did a bunch of tests, all my minerals and baseline hormones were at good levels. The issue was my sensitivity to them and how well I processed them (slow processing/ clearance of everything = impaired gut). Did a Biomesight test. Super low probiotics. I was also having rashes come up, itching all over, itchy scalp. I had to stop running during the worst point, because it turned out that due to my already overactive system in relation to histamines that set it off big time (particularly during ovulation as higher oestrogen =higher histamine load). I've managed to claw things back over the last year, to the point where I won't sleep for maybe a few nights during ovulation and then before my period again, and during both those weeks when I do sleep I'll sleep lighter and for less time. The other nights outside of these weeks I'll average 4- 6 hours which I think is WORLDS apart from where I started from so I'm happy with this progress. My mood swings can still be bad, the exercise has obviously been a huge help overall for mood. The anxiety pre ovulation and the sadness/ deep pit of hopelessness it feels like during the end of it and then depression before my period during luteal is still something I haven't been able to kick. Which got me researching again. For the past year my supplement stack has been: Timehealth D3 and K2 4000 IU Timehealth Algae Omega 3 Terra Nova Multivitamin Time health Luteolin (super micro does morning) Magnesium Taurate twice a day Time health Molybdenum (super low dose early evening) Health Leads Ornithine (super low dose early evening) Time health Holy Basil (super low dose in the morning) Rehmannia (early evening super small dose) P5P (B6) (morning) Zinc carnosine (outside of meals afternoon) A blend of histamine safe probiotics at a very low dosage (Fursten Med) Camu camu (morning and afternoon) Choline Veggie Dao supplement (with meals) Time healthDigestive Enzymes (with meals) Time health Systemic Enzymes (outside of meals when I first wake) Now, I introduced about 4 months ago Saccharymides Boulardii. I took them for about 2 months, and stopped abruptly. Within a week (how long it takes for them to leave your system) I would get nauseous after each meal. This is did not stop until a few days into taking the boulardii again. What I've come to realise is it's the impairment of my gut, the health of the gut wall, amount of good probiotics, level of inflammation due to overgrowth (symptoms and test point to candida and sulfur sibo), is the root. All the other symptoms, hormones, acne, histamine intolerance and insomnia is a trickle down effect. The boulardii experience highlighted that it was fending off and keeping any inflammation present in my gut at bay whilst I was taking it, enough for me to feel a sense of normalcy. But as many people have found 'kill protocols' do not address sibo and a damaged gut. We need to increase our numbers in terms of good probiotics. That way any overgrowths can be managed by good bacteria, gut wall can be healed by good bacteria, food broken down and absorbed by good bacteria. The enteric nervous system, responsible for the vast majority of our serotonin (90%!) and dopamine (50%!) resides in the gut. So to describe the feeling of depression, anxiety, hopelessness and hormonal mood swings, as an empty hollowed out experience, well it is exactly that! If your gut is depleted, so is your life essence! Your joy! My histamine safe probiotics that I have taken for a year Fursten Med: [https://www.amazon.co.uk/F%C3%BCrstenMED%C2%AE-Bioflor-Lactobacillus-Bifidobacterium-Juice-Resistant/dp/B07J5QY5ZX](https://www.amazon.co.uk/F%C3%BCrstenMED%C2%AE-Bioflor-Lactobacillus-Bifidobacterium-Juice-Resistant/dp/B07J5QY5ZX) Provide per capsule only 7.8 billion CFU Which is very very small potatoes. And because of my past experience pounding down any probiotic strain I could get my hands on and not realising I was probably making things 10 times worse, teamed with the antimicrobial onslaught, I was hesitant to delve too deeply into probiotics again. So this 7.8 billion CFU amount seemed a safe bet. As I said, over the last year, with the above supplements, some focus on my nutrition, nervous system, exercise, I've been able to improve my symptoms. Sleep = as I said, overall vast improvement most months from where I started a year ago. Digestion = bloating and cycling constipation/diarrhea has been the main issues historically (labelled IBS what a crock). Over the last year this has improved I would say about 40%. Still bad periods of it. Acne = cyclical I will still get some during ovulation and pre period, but the size and severity has really decreased. Moods = from a year ago, yeah I'm not circling the drain as I was daily then. But as I said, during ovulation and late luteal it's still bad. I've realised I cannot progress any further now without attempting to incrementally increase the dosage of my probiotics. So I bought the Customer D lactate free probiotics: [https://yourhealthbasket.co.uk/product/d-lactate-free-probiotics-50g-custom-probiotics/](https://yourhealthbasket.co.uk/product/d-lactate-free-probiotics-50g-custom-probiotics/) Which, if you look at the Fursten brand, have all but two strains the same. The lactate free being about 25 times as potent! Yes pricey initially, but if you consider the amount of CFU per scoop, its vastly more economical. So cut to now, I've been incrementally working up from 7.8 billion CFU. As I've been taking that amount for a year, I got a bit cocky and over the last week, went fom 7.8 to 15.6 to 23.4 to 31.2. I haven't had any adverse reactions to note. No notable improvements yet. Today I've gone absolutely buck wild and taken two child scoops so 50 billion CFU! So we shall see. In the last 48 hours I have noticed acne around my forehead (which historically has been linked to my gut) creeping in. Currently in my late luteal phase so I'm not sleeping anyway. So yes I will report back if anyone is interested, who may be dealing with the same symptoms as me.