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Essential Oils for Seasonal Allergies

A serene spring day with a person in a white dress holding a wicker picnic basket amidst a field of wildflowers.

It’s allergy season.

If you are experiencing allergy symptoms, including coughing, sneezing, a runny nose, and watery eyes, your immune system is likely reacting to pollen and producing excessive amounts of histamine as a defense mechanism. Histamine attaches to cells in the body, causing irritation that can trigger an allergic reaction or seasonal allergy symptoms.

Histamine is a chemical compound released by your immune cells that helps your body eliminate allergens and respond to injury or inflammation. This histamine response causes smooth muscles to contract and blood vessels to dilate, allowing your white blood cells to quickly locate and attack the allergen, virus, or infection.

Histamine is part of the body’s natural immune response, and typically, enzymes like DAO (diamine oxidase) support histamine metabolism in the digestive system, helping to break down and balance histamine levels. Another enzyme, HNMT (Histamine N-methyltransferase), helps break down and mop up excessive histamine in spaces between cells.

When these enzymes are not present or when you are suffering from a metabolic issue that hinders histamine breakdown, it can accumulate and contribute to various health concerns.

READ THIS NEXT: Essential Oils for Allergies

 

Symptoms of Histamine Intolerance

While the release of histamine is a normal defense mechanism, excess histamine can accumulate in the body, a condition known as histamine intolerance. Since histamine travels throughout your bloodstream, excess levels of histamine can affect physiological function in your gut, neurotransmitter levels in your brain, immune responses in your sinuses, lungs, and skin, and your entire cardiovascular system, contributing to a wide range of symptoms, including:

  • Itchy skin, eyes, ears, and nose
  • Bloody Noses
  • Irritability
  • Difficulty falling asleep—Histamine from mast cells in the brain can promote wakefulness
  • Headaches or Migraines
  • Eczema or other types of dermatitis
  • Profuse sweating during exercise
  • Fast resting heartbeat, heart palpitations, or irregular heartbeat
  • Super-itchy mosquito bites
  • Trouble regulating body temperature
  • Facial swelling or other tissue swelling
  • Tightness in the throat
  • Vertigo or dizziness—allergies affect the Eustachian tubes in your ears, which help regulate balance
  • Abnormal menstrual cycle
  • Fatigue
  • Hives or Rashes
  • Breathing issues like asthma
  • Anxiety or panic attacks—Histamine acts as a neurotransmitter in the brain and can contribute to anxiety, depression, and other psychiatric conditions
  • Flushing or redness of the skin
  • Depression or mood changes
  • Nasal and sinus congestion
  • Swelling and redness of the eyes
  • Heartburn, reflux, indigestion, nausea, or diarrhea

 

Histamine Receptors

Histamine can bind to cell receptor sites. Excess histamine can cause irritation and chronic inflammation of histamine receptor cells in the following areas:

The immune system, where histamine functions as a vasodilator, dilates blood vessels. Histamine receptors are also found in immune-support organs, including the sinuses, bone marrow, white blood cells, colon, liver, lungs, small intestine, spleen, thymus, and tonsils. They can contribute to sneezing, runny nose, watery, red, itchy eyes, rashes, breathing troubles such as wheezing, severe coughs, asthma, or hiccups.

The stomach, where histamine supports the release of hydrochloric acid, plays a crucial role in digestion. Excess histamine in the gut can manifest as food allergies and sensitivities.

The brain where histamine acts as a neurotransmitter. Excess histamine in the brain presents as fatigue, anxiety, depression, headaches, and brain fog.

All of these symptoms are due to differing histamine receptor cells being overactive, which triggers numerous immune system reactions. This blog does a great job explaining more about Histamine production in the body.

 

What Causes Histamine Intolerance?

Histamine levels are designed to be kept in balance by two enzymes that break down excess histamine and prevent allergic reactions. “Histamine intolerance is not a sensitivity to histamine as you might imagine, but an indication that too much of it has built up in the body or that there is an inability to break it down properly,” according to Becky Campbell in the Histamine Reset Plan.

Excess histamine can accumulate in your body if too much histamine is released or if your enzymes are unable to break it down. This can occur when the body is suffering from:

Metabolic Disturbances, such as leaky gut or a defect in enzyme-producing genes, make it difficult for the body to break down and properly metabolize histamine. DAO enzymes reside in the lining of our intestines and must be present to maintain balanced histamine levels in the gut. A damaged gut lining compromises the production and secretion of this enzyme, allowing histamine to build up and wreak havoc throughout the body.

Some foods, such as red wine, avocados, green and black tea, most citrus fruits, and meats, can be either high in histamine or histamine-liberating, meaning they release histamine from other proteins. They may also block the activity of DAO, the enzyme that is responsible for breaking down histamine in the gut.

Stress triggers the release of histamine and other inflammatory chemicals into the body.

More specifically, the stress hormone cortisol activates mast cells, a type of white blood cell, and an inflammatory cascade that triggers the release of histamine.

Research has shown that the Parasympathetic Nervous System regulates and modulates mast cell activity, noting “parasympathetic nerve-mast cell functional units in the skin, lung, and intestine have the potential to regulate a range of physiological processes.” Supporting the Parasympathetic Nervous System can help calm mast cell activation and balance the resulting histamine response. The Parasympathetic Nervous System interrupts the Fight/Flight/Freeze reaction that has been triggering your Mast Cells. Once heart rate, blood pressure, and breathing are slowed down or decreased, your brain stops flooding the body with stress hormones, and mast cells stop firing.

READ THIS NEXT:  Activate the Parasympathetic State with Essential Oils

Hormonal Imbalances, such as estrogen dominance, can contribute to histamine intolerance. High levels of estrogen, particularly in the form of estradiol, have also been found to activate mast cells, which release histamine.

Thyroid imbalances, Low levels of thyroid hormone (Hypothyroidism) can increase mast cell production, which in turn increases the amount of histamine in the body. High levels of thyroid hormone (Hyperthyroidism) can increase the number of histamine receptors, thereby enhancing the body’s response to histamine.

Genetic mutations and certain medications, such as antacids, antibiotics, and antihistamines, can inhibit DAO enzyme activity, which increases histamine production.

Balancing Histamine with Essential Oils

The goal is to balance, not block, the histamine response as histamine performs critical functions in the body, contributing to HCL production and neurotransmitter signals.

Certain herbs and plants are known for their ability to calm and balance histamine levels. These benefits are often attributed to the anti-inflammatory and anti-histamine constituents of these plants, commonly known as flavonoids. Research is finding that the concentrated essence of these herbs and plants in essential oils contains many of the same constituents and derives the same histamine-balancing benefits.

For example, research found that Geranium essential oil was found to inhibit mast cell degranulation. This histamine-balancing property is attributed to Citronellol, a major constituent of essential oils found in Geranium, Rose, Neroli, Chamomile, Basil, Lemongrass, and Lavender. “Geranium essential oil inhibited the degranulation of cultured mast cells. Citronellol is the major component of Geranium essential oil and inhibits cultured mast cells’ degranulation… These findings suggest that citronellol may represent a candidate compound for the effective treatment of allergic diseases.”

Similarly, the constituent Luteolin, found in peppermint essential oil, has been found to protect against histamine release from mast cells. The study found that the natural flavonoid luteolin has numerous beneficial actions, including antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, microglia-inhibiting, neuroprotective, and memory-enhancing effects.

Citrus peels, the part of the citrus fruit from which essential oils are derived, also contain flavonoids that inhibit the release of mast cells.

 

Histamine Balance Essential Oil Blend

The essential oils in the Histamine Balance™ blend are uniquely suited to modulate excess histamine excretion, balancing histamine levels and helping to reset the immune response and reduce allergic reactions. It is ideal to apply topically as oils can penetrate below the skin surface deep into the body to calm histamine reactions.

Histamine Balance™ is also ideal for inhalation, especially if you suffer from any digestive dysfunction or Salicylate Intolerance. Inhalation allows you to benefit from the health-supporting benefits of the plants and herbs without having to ingest them.

Histamine Balance™ contains the following organic and/or wild-crafted essential oils:

Lavender:

Known for its anti-histamine properties, Lavender helps reduce inflammation, stress, and tension, calming the mind and enhancing the effectiveness of other oils in this blend. An animal study showed lavender inhibits histamine and inflammatory protein release from mast cells. These results indicate that lavender oil inhibits immediate-type allergic reactions by inhibition of mast cell degranulation in vivo and in vitro. Additional research found that the medicinal compounds in lavender oil help to inhibit the production of histamine and suppress inflammatory responses in the airways.

Manuka:

This remarkable oil from New Zealand is known to quickly and easily reduce histamine production, relax the nervous system, and support a reduction in systemic inflammation. Manuka honey is created by bees after pollinating the flowers of the Manuka plant. Manuka essential oil shares many of the properties of the honey.

Research has found that Manuka honey inhibits mast cell degranulation.

Blue Tansy:

Known for neutralizing histamine and helping to control allergic reactions. Key constituents such as sabinene and camphor contribute to blue tansy’s anti-inflammatory properties, including its ability to counteract allergic discomfort by reducing the levels of histamine in the body. This helps enhance the properties of other oils in the blend, promoting relaxation of both mind and body.

Ravensara:

Known to reduce allergic reactions and fight inflammation, Ravensara essential oil has been found to reduce allergic reactions and help the body build resistance and modulate responses to allergenic substances through inhalation. Ravensara is also an expectorant that helps strengthen the lungs and the respiratory system. Components of Ravensara, like limonene and methyl eugenol, help support the immune system by preventing bacterial and fungal infections. It inhibits the growth of fungus, including mold, and even kills their spores.

Rosemary:

Known for its histamine lowering/mast cell stabilizing properties, Rosemary naturally alleviates allergic responses, relieves stress and stimulates the immune system. A small study suggested that rosemary essential oil can inhibit muscle contractions of the trachea caused by histamine.

Peppermint:

Found to have a potent inhibitory effect on excessive histamine release from mast cells. The menthol constituent helps support throat infections, colds, and flu, along with asthma, bronchitis, and sinusitis. Research found that menthol is an effective treatment for chronic inflammatory conditions like allergic rhinitis and bronchial asthma.

The Journal of Ethnopharmacology found that peppermint oil has an anti-spasmodic effect on the windpipe muscles and exhibits “expectorant actions and is anti-congestive.”

Roman Chamomile:

A natural anti-histamine, noted for its soothing effects and anti-inflammatory properties. Research found it helps balance and inhibit excessive histamine responses.

The study highlighted the benefits of topically applying Chamomile essential oil, as its anti-inflammatory properties “penetrate below the skin surface into the deeper skin layers,” thereby calming inflammation and promoting healing.

Spruce:

Derived from the leaves of the spruce tree, Spruce essential oil is high in camphene, a monoterpene known for its powerful mucolytic properties, which are beneficial for inflammatory respiratory issues. It safeguards your respiratory tract from airborne viruses and pollution. Camphene is also a powerful antioxidant that adds to its therapeutic benefits. Spruce also contains high levels of the chemical components a-pinene and bornyl acetate, which give Spruce essential oil its anti-inflammatory, anti-histamine, and analgesic properties. Spruce essential oil has a high content of esters, which contributes to its balancing and antispasmodic properties, which is why it is often added to saunas, hot baths, and massages.

Vetiver:

To help modulate a histamine response, root oils like vetiver help ground the body, thus anchoring the immune system and helping to balance excessive immune responses. Vetiver has been found to reduce and relieve inflammation, especially in the circulatory and nervous systems.

A 2005 study published in the Journal of Agriculture and Food Chemistry showed that vetiver oil was high in antioxidants that possessed free radical scavenging benefits, which can help boost your immune system.

 

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About The Author

Jodi Cohen

Jodi Sternoff Cohen is the founder of Vibrant Blue Oils. An author, speaker, nutritional therapist, and a leading international authority on essential oils, Jodi has helped over 50,000 individuals support their health with essential oils.

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