Could Cannabis Be Causing My Allergies Or Can It Help? – Our Ultimate Guide

If you’ve been getting familiar allergy symptoms while smoking or taking CBD, you might be wondering whether or not they are cannabis-related allergies due to histamines.

Cannabis itself is not high in histamines, as a matter of fact, cannabis could potentially help with histamine inflammation from other allergies. However, there is a chance you could be allergic to cannabis too.

To help you get to the bottom of whether or not you are allergic to cannabis, how cannabis could keep histamine balanced and some tips for choosing the right medical CBD, we’ve put it all in an information guide for you to check out below.

Can You Be Allergic To Cannabis? 

The reports of cannabis allergies are on the rise around the world, although cannabis can help with inflammatory agents if you are allergic to this pollen-rich plant, you could be experiencing allergies such as itchy eyes and a runny nose. 

This release of histamine in the model is mostly due to the Cannabis Sativa and can be triggered by inhaling the pollen or being around the plant in areas where it’s grown.

Common Symptoms Of Histamine To CBD

If your body has a high level of histamine released in reaction to cannabis, you might be experiencing some of these common allergy symptoms below. 

• Skin irritation such as hives. 
• Allergic asthma. 
• Itchy and watery eyes. 
• Allergic rhinitis. 
• Difficulty breathing.

Can Cannabis Help With Histamines? 

On the contrary, cannabis could potentially help to regulate histamine release and histamine responses in the body if you have untreated allergies. 

In your body you have mast cells that are within your connective tissue, this helps your immune system and reaction to foreign bodies or chemicals by holding high levels of histamine.

When a mast cell trigger activates mast cell activity it releases histamines to help your body fight against the pathogen, people with histamine intolerance (or allergy sufferers) release too many histamines causing seasonal allergies or a histamine response to pathogens which are not a threat. 

Taking cannabis for allergies can help to inhibit the overreaction of histamines in your body reducing your symptoms from the mast cell activation.

How Can Cannabis Help Your Allergies 

To see if cannabis for allergies could be a potential treatment for you, we’ve listed the different ways CBD helps to reduce severe allergy symptoms in the body below. 

• It could reduce histamines – Cannabis cannot reduce histamines in your body, but it can help to reduce antibodies that trigger the production of histamines. For example, medical cannabis can help with the reduction of T-Cells in your body which triggers histamine. Studies on cannabis also show that terpenes can reduce allergy symptoms such as itchy eyes. 
• Reduces inflammation – It has been proven that cannabis can help reduce the inflammatory pathway response in your body, there is still no exact studies on how this calming response happens but it could help to control all the inflammatory responses associated with allergies such as hives or an itchy nose.
• Helps with skin reactions – Cytokines is a chemical within your body with triggers skin allergies such as hives or eczema, for example, taking CBD can reduce the production of this chemical.
• Could ease your airways – THC and CBD in cannabis can help to open up inflamed airways in people who suffer from breathing allergies, you can even get CBD in inhalers for an asthma treatment plan.

Other Health Benefits Of Cannabis

Cannabis can not only help allergies in people but has several other health benefits when ingested, we will list a few other advantages to ingesting cannabis for histamine intolerances below. 

• Helps with stress – It is proven that cannabis can help to relax and alleviate stress in people by reducing cortisol.
• Can promote recovery – Cannabis does help to take you out of the fight or flight state and relax the nervous system, this allows your body to focus on healing rather than stay in a state of stress.
• Good for mental health – Although studies are still limited, it has been proven that cannabis can help to reduce the number of symptoms associated with mental health disorders.
• Controls weight – It has been proven that CBD can control your weight by revving up the metabolism in your body, allowing you to eat more yet maintain your weight.
• Stops pain – For people who suffer from chronic pain, CBD can help to make the pain more bearable by inhibiting pain receptors and being inflammatory. 
• Muscle relaxant – THC is known to be a muscle relaxant and can release any built-up tension within the body.

Which Type Of CBD Should You Use For Histamines?

Although CBD and THC could indeed help ease symptoms of allergies, we would suggest only ingesting CBD in certain ways if you want to get maximum benefit. 

For example, most people that have reactivity with allergies get symptoms such as restricted airways, trouble breathing, coughing and wheezing, therefore smoking vaping weed would not be the ideal way to ingest the plant for helping allergy symptoms could make them worse by irritating your airways.

In the cases of allergies taking CBD orally such as through edibles or cannabis, tincture could be more beneficial for you.

Tips For Choosing High-Quality CBD For Allergies 

If you do want to try taking CBD this allergy season to try and calm down your mast cell activation, you need to make sure you choose the best cannabis for allergies to see results. 

We’ve listed our tips below for choosing your medical CBD. 

• The type – One of the first things to consider in your cannabis is the type, broad-spectrum has no THC in it will full-spectrum CBD has partial THC levels.
• COA – A COA certificate on your cannabis shows that the plant has been tested against mould and pesticides.
• Reputation – Have research for the FDA reputation of the product online, this will show any warnings.
• Ingredients – Always double check the ingredients to the CBD to make sure you are not allergic to anything else inside.

Frequently Asked Questions About Cannabis & Histamines 

What is terpene in cannabis? 

Terpenes are a natural product of the cannabis plant and smell like pine trees, certain terpenes in CBD are said to have allergy reducing effects.

Can you be allergic to hemp seeds?

Yes, you can indeed be allergic to hemp seeds, you will likely be allergic to cannabis too in this case and any other hemp-based products.

Could cannabis make histamine intolerance worse? 

If you are allergic or sensitive to cannabis it could trigger a more severe allergic response within your body.

Can you mix cannabis with other antihistamines? 

We would not recommend mixing CBD with any other antihistamine drugs as it could increase side effects such as drowsiness, it’s best to check with your doctor beforehand.

Can cannabis help frequent asthma sufferers?

CBD can help to relax and open up airways when taken inside of an inhaler, we would not suggest smoking or vaping the plant if you already suffer from asthma.

Last Words 

Overall, cannabis does not contain any high levels of histamines and is proven to help allergy symptoms in people by inhibiting the cells which trigger the overproduction of histamines in the body. Cannabis can however also cause allergies in some people, so it’s a good idea to get tested if you are concerned. 

If you do want to try taking CBD to ease up your histamine intolerance then we would suggest avoiding smoking or vaping the plant, instead ingest it orally through a tincture or edible, even a cream might be more suitable if you suffering from skin allergies.