Hormones and Allergies

Hormones and the body’s immune system are interconnected so it is no surprise that when women go through hormonal transitions at different stages of their lives, allergies can become worse or appear seemingly out of nowhere.

To understand how hormones affect allergies, you first need a basic understanding of what allergies are. Allergies occur when a person’s immune system over reacts to a harmless substance and considers it to be a threat to the body. The immune system then produces an antibody called an IgE antibody, which signals the body to release histamine. The effects of histamine are usually itching, sneezing, runny nose, and rashes.

Estrogen dominance (excess estrogen and low progesterone) has been linked to allergies along with autoimmune disorders, breast cancer, uterine cancer, infertility, ovarian cysts, and increased blood clotting, and is also associated with acceleration of the aging process.

Because estrogen causes an increase in histamine production, while the hormone progesterone breaks down histamine, in many cases the body will actually produce more histamine than normal and cause more severe allergic reactions.

Many women use antihistamines to manage their allergy symptoms. However, this is only masking the symptoms and is not addressing the underlying cause.

Best bet would be to achieve optimal balance between the estrogen and progesterone and naturally reduce the amount of histamine in the body which will in turn reduce allergy symptoms. In the majority of cases, a prescription of bioidentical progesterone can balance the hormones and allergies improve or go away.