Dr. Betty MurrayHelping Women Navigate Menopause | Speaker, Author, and Advocate for Women's Health Over 40

Could Histamine Be Making Menopause Symptoms Worse?

17 Oct 2026 · 1 min

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1:19

In this segment Dr. Betty Murray explains how hormonal fluctuations during perimenopause and menopause can amplify histamine‑related symptoms. She describes that estrogen binds to estrogen‑receptor‑alpha on mast cells, prompting the release of histamine and inflammatory cytokines, which can manifest as hives, eczema, and other skin issues. A surge of estrogen relative to progesterone creates a self‑reinforcing loop because histamine itself stimulates the ovaries to produce more estrogen. Dr. Murray also links this histamine‑driven inflammation to osteoporosis, noting that inflammatory cytokines affect bone health. Finally, she highlights progesterone’s role in up‑regulating the enzyme diamine oxidase (DAO), which clears extracellular histamine; as progesterone declines in menopause, DAO activity falls, leading to chaotic histamine levels and worsening symptoms.

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Let's talk a little bit about kind of, I wanna talk a little more about the hormone side and then the genetic side. I think it's, you know, again, cuz it tends to show up at hormonal time periods, particularly menopause and perimenopause, you know, cuz estrogen binds to the estrogen receptor alpha on mast cells, right? So mast cells are the cells that have histamine and cytokines. And so when we get a huge amount, like a very big spike of estrogen relative to progesterone in perimenopause, we can get this sort of dumping of the inflammatory response. And that's why you might all of a sudden be like, wow, I'm getting hives or I'm getting eczema. But then what's interesting is like histamine then stimulates the ovaries to release more estrogen. So it's this kind of self-reinforcing sort of loop. I remember years ago I looked at this because I was looking at the relationship between histamine and osteo— osteoporosis, right? There's a huge relationship, not just because of how we treat histamine diseases, but actually because of the inflammatory cytokine response. But progesterone also upregulates the DAO enzyme, diamine oxidase, which is responsible for clearing the extracellular histamine. So the stuff that's outside. So when it starts to drop, we get this sort of, sort of this hormonal picture that just makes it massively chaotic.