If your hay fever has worsened or you’ve developed new allergies since entering perimenopause, you’re not alone. The combination of changing hormones and seasonal allergens creates a perfect storm that affects many women during menopause.
This isn’t coincidence, it’s a documented phenomenon that requires targeted strategies addressing both hormonal changes and increased allergy symptoms.
Estrogen and histamine work closely together in your body. Estrogen triggers cells to release more histamine while reducing your body’s ability to break it down. Research shows that estrogen receptors on immune cells push your body toward stronger allergic reactions (Bonds & Midoro-Horiuti, 2013).
During perimenopause, dramatic estrogen swings create:
Quercetin, found in onions, apples, and berries, blocks histamine release and reduces inflammatory chemicals. Research shows it works better than some prescription allergy medications at stopping inflammatory reactions (Mlcek et al., 2016).
One study found that taking quercetin four weeks before allergy season significantly reduced itchy, watery eyes and other hay fever symptoms (Jafarinia et al., 2020).
People with allergies often have low vitamin C levels. This powerful antioxidant calms the cells that produce histamine and reduces inflammation without weakening your immune system (Ghalibaf et al., 2023).
A major study showed that vitamin C treatment significantly reduced both allergy symptoms and related problems like fatigue and sleep issues (Vollbracht et al., 2018).
Smart nutrition choices include:
Environmental strategies:
Many histamine intolerance symptoms—itchy skin, headaches, fatigue, and digestive issues—overlap with menopause symptoms (Jafarinia et al., 2020). Key strategies include:
Bonds, R. S., & Midoro-Horiuti, T. (2013). Estrogen effects in allergy and asthma. Current Opinion in Allergy and Clinical Immunology, 13(1), 92-99.
Ghalibaf, M. H. E., Kianbakht, S., Binti Che Mood, N. A., & Ghaemi, A. (2023). The effects of vitamin C on respiratory, allergic and immunological diseases: an experimental and clinical-based review. Frontiers in Immunology, 14, 1113198.
Jafarinia, M., Hosseini, M. S., Kasiri, N., Fazel, N., Fathi, F., Ganjalikhani Hakemi, M., & Eskandari, N. (2020). Quercetin with the potential effect on allergic diseases. Allergy, Asthma & Clinical Immunology, 16, 36.
Mlcek, J., Jurikova, T., Skrovankova, S., & Sochor, J. (2016). Quercetin and its anti-allergic immune response. Molecules, 21(5), 623.
Vollbracht, C., Raithel, M., Krick, B., Kraft, K., & Hagel, A. F. (2018). Intravenous vitamin C in the treatment of allergies: An interim subgroup analysis of a long-term observational study. Journal of International Medical Research, 46(9), 3640-3655.