Insomnia- histamine?

Body: 

I have never been a good sleeper but with perimenopasual years upon me it is getting harder for me to remain asleep at night. As soon as my youngest night weaned I started having the hardest time with my sleep, even more so than ever before. This has been affecting me for years.

I already do so much in the way of herbals, lifestyle, diet, and such to protect my sleep- but I’m struggling so badly before my cycle especially. I do have a lot of stress in my life. I’m sure that plays in. I have taken to using a very small portion of an antihistamine pill to help me sleep out of desperation. It does help but I don’t want to take this forever. I have been using Christine’s yoga workouts and they help me and are relaxing.

I’m considering going on a low histamine diet and taking DAO supplement to help my body process histamines- just as a stab in the dark based on the fact that I do have allergies and sleep better with an antihistamine .

Does anyone have some wisdom to share about insomnia or even histamine levels?

Histamine was a little off my radar, but I researched a bit on what some of my trusted functional practitioners had to say. I think that if you already know antihistamines help you sleep, then you are on the right track to take a dietary/supplement approach to that very issue. I don't have that experience to share but that is my personal opinion.

One thing I have done to cultivate good sleep, for over 3 years now, is to block blue light after it gets dark outside. Not only from computer and device screens, but also fluorescent lighting. Our bodies cannot make melatonin correctly if they think it's always daytime. Yellow lenses work for me if I have to drive out grocery-shopping after dark; darker amber colored when I'm relaxing with a movie or surfing the net. When you are ready to close your eyes, make sure the room is as dark as you can get it.

You can try supplementing melatonin. If you supplement magnesium and/or D3, take those at night. Lavender is great for inducing sleep. Christine makes a great combo from lavender and hops (I think it's on Vulva-Vaginal Health video) that you take a few whiffs of at bedtime. I sometimes shower in the evening with lavender soap. I also have some little inhalers that are just essential oils in various combo's selected for various situations like stress, mood, insomnia, and lucid dreaming. I don't know if they help or not, but they don't hurt.

Don't eat within 2-3 hours of bedtime. Your digestive tract gets a rest, which will help you sleep. - Surviving

This is very helpful. I do make sure my phone screen is yellow but I need to get some special glasses because others in my home use lots of light at night that’s blue.

I use a diffuser in my room at night. I’ll try the lavender.

I take cod liver oil daily but will take it at night for the D3 at night.

I am going to go ahead and apply diet and supplement advise to the histamine issue. Like you, when I did some reading it looks worth trying but I just wondered if I was imagining things.

Thank you this is very helpful.

And no, I do not do well with late night eating. Or even too much snacking. My body likes breaks between meals.