Posts Tagged ‘pharmacogenomics’
The realization that Metformin blocks the diamine oxidase enzyme led me to research the medicines that cause histamine intolerance.
Diamine oxidase is the enzyme within the intestine which breaks down biogenic amines (including histamine). When the level of histamine consumption exceeds the capacity of diamine oxidase to break it down histamine intolerance occurs.
By blocking diamine oxidase Metformin can cause histamine intolerance. It did for me.
Let me make it clear from the outset I am not a medical doctor and you should not stop any medicines without talking to your doctor.
All medicines have risks and benefits.
I am providing this information so that you can partner with your doctor about those risks and benefits and make an informed choice. It may be that on balance it may be best to take the medicine and manage the histamine intolerance.
Also, there are many reasons that a medicine might be acting promiscuously.
In this blog post, I am simply addressing one aspect which is medicines that block the diamine oxidase enzyme and those that release histamines.
I have previously written about pharmacogenomics.
And finally, whilst there has been some research into medicines that block the diamine oxidase enzyme or release histamines, this is not a requirement prior to listing medicines with the regulatory authorities.
Simplistically, medicines when listed only are required to demonstrate what problem they solve not necessarily all the unintended problems if any they may create. This means that despite my best efforts this information may be incomplete.
With that said, drug allergies are a common cause of histamine intolerance type symptoms, at least in my client base, and the role that medicine plays in both optimizing health, and causing unwanted side effects is worth considering.
When you look in the dictionary under ”drug intolerances and genes” you will find my name.
I have written widely about the effects that adverse drug reactions have had on my health. Simplistically, I have drug allergies and I am a poor metabolizer of CYP2D6 which means medicines that utilize this gene are toxic for me.
But a new world of pharmacogenomics has changed all of that making essential medicines available to me.
Pharmacogenomics is the branch of medicine that predicts an individual’s response to medicines before they take them.
It takes the guesswork out of the right medicine in the right dose for the individual.
Whilst there are many factors to safe medicines, pharmacogenomics is often overlooked, and yet has a profound impact on medicine safety.
So this is why it matters.
