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by tharkun__ 1593 days ago
Another anecdata point:

I used be lethargic, couldn't get myself to do anything but be on the sofa. I would get horrible migraine headaches if drinking alcohol or even alcohol free beer or eat certain foods. I self-diagnosed histamine intolerance through trial and error.

I tried multiple pro-biotic combinations. An easy one I tried in the beginning was simply some Danone Actimel the family had in the fridge anyway. I can attest to the fact that it contains live bacteria (a strain that makes lots of histamines) that do make it to the gut because it gave me the horrible migraine headache as would Sauerkraut actually. Researched what strains don't create lots of histamine. I landed on Garden of Life - Primal Defense Ultra. What I think made the difference is that it contains Bacillus subtilis. I say that because I tried two or three others that had largely the same makeup of strains but none had that particular bacterium. It's a soil based bacterium which you might get from eating your own cabbage you grew in the garden as well. Almost everything else just has various different strains of lactobacilli.

Taking 3 capsules a day I felt like crap for 2 weeks (no headaches, just feeling sick, like a bad cold) and then things got better. I am able to drink alcohol again (I'll get a hangover headache like anyone would if I drink too much but it's not longer a day long migraine from just sipping 10ml) and eat anything I want to in any quantity. I still take one in the morning and one in the evening and I put one into the Sauerkraut I make.

YMMV as always, not a doctor, try at your own risk, not affiliated etc :)

2 comments

Really interesting indeed! I just found this paper on B. subtilis from November: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34630666/

Reducing intestinal permeability is a highly desirable effect.

It's the same bacteria found in Natto
Thanks for sharing this, most of your experience sounds similar to those of a friend of mine (Yokult gives them migraines) although they haven't yet tried Bacillus subtillis.