Last week I received an official diagnosis: I am allergic to red meat. Specifically, I am allergic to alpha gal, a sugar found in non-primate red meat. Its full name is galactose-alpha-1,3-galactose, for those of you who're interested in that sort of thing. The allergy is a consequence of being bitten by ticks.
I credit my relatively quick diagnosis to the show Radiolab, a podcast I listened to regularly. Last August, while I was in Idaho's Sawtooth Wilderness, I listened to the "Alpha Gal" episode, which told the story of Amy Pearl, a woman who became allergic to meat. The episode was incredibly entertaining and informative. I'd never heard of alpha gal before, so I made a mental note to be aware should I get bitten by ticks in the future. I wasn't too worried, though. At the time, I'd only picked up maybe three ticks in my life, and expected that trend to continue.
I was wrong on that count.
I was wrong a second time.
During that day long hike, I picked up a LOT of chiggers and a LOT of tiny seed ticks. Over the next several days, I was finding those poppy seed sized critters everywhere! There had to have been at least 80, and likely well over a hundred. I was with my parents in Nashville at the time, and I remember joking about getting Lyme disease or a red meat allergy. I wasn't really concerned. The painful, itchy blisters from the chigger bites were much more worrisome.
One afternoon, a few weeks later, I had an upset stomach that I usually associate with dates (the food, not the social engagement. Those only give me a few butterflies, not the burning nausea the fruit does). I was puzzled at the cause, but it didn't last too long. Then that night, about 3 hours after dinner, I had an upset stomach again. Thinking through what I'd eaten, I realized the first incident was about 3 hours after I'd eaten bacon, and the second was after some bratwurst. I don't eat read meat very often, and it had been over a week since I'd had any...
Convinced I was being an overreacting hypochondriac - there were other possible explanations for the nausea - I decided to prove red meat wasn't a problem. So, I very intentionally stayed away from it for the next week, then treated myself to some rather nice breakfast sausage while in Nebraska. I didn't have any burning nausea, so I figured I was in the clear.
Yet again, I was wrong.
The next time I ate red meat was on November 17th. The day of the seizure. There was a nice, spicy Italian sausage in my omelette.
This is when the red meat question became more pressing and more confusing. Seizures aren't a typical allergic reaction. Also, my symptoms seemed inconsistent. The meat I ate in Nebraska didn't bother me, but the pork my sister smoked right before Thanksgiving definitely caused that all-too-familiar burning sensation.
(In retrospect, the Nebraska test was not a reliable one. Right after I finished breakfast, I learned about the death of my friend, Scott. The news left me feeling queasy and numb. There's no telling what was actually going on with my body that day).
If not for the seizure, I would have experimented more. But as things were, I wanted a doctor to draw blood.
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| Even outside current circumstances, I would recommend this episode. |
It took a while to get tested (bureaucracy, bureaucracy, blah, blah, blah), but once I saw my allergist, they were quick to agree.
The results were quick and definitive. Yay! I wasn't over reacting. Woohoo! I am now a certified, injector-carrying member of the EpiPen club. High 5!
Alpha gal is a difficult allergy to diagnose, mainly because the symptoms are delayed for 2-6 hours after eating. I am very fortunate to figure this out before I got any sicker.
So for the time being, I will be turning down all offers of beef, pork, venison, and elephant steak. I am, however, free to eat poultry, fish, and the children of Irish paupers. This hasn't been too challenging a change. I believe I will mostly mourn the loss of green beans and other pot-luck side dishes cooked with ham or bacon.
Before I go, I want to emphasize that this allergy was NOT a direct cause of my seizure. The prevailing hypothesis is that my body was pretty depleted at the time. Introducing the allergen was likely just one stress too many.
Moral: Wear bug repent! Lemon eucalyptus has never failed me. Unless I leave it inside the bottle...
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