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Alpha-Gal Syndrome

mayoclinic.org

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Re: Alpha-Gal Syndrome

#21

Post by bowmessage »

Diederich wrote: post #16

My wife had this from late 2007 until mid 2009 and nearly died from it. She was one of the early, benchmark cases. We went to Mayo clinic in Rochester in the summer of 2008 and they had no luck identifying her symptoms. An exceptional allergy doctor near our home in Arkansas did endless research and mostly figured out what was going on. After my wife came off of beef in mid 2009 her symptoms completely disappeared. P…

How often was she eating beef before mid 2009? Thanks and sorry that you all went through this.

Re: Alpha-Gal Syndrome

#22

Post by AnthonBerg »

bryant wrote: post #4
alexfromapex wrote: post #3

I swear I had this like 2 years ago after getting several tick bites. I got hives and nausea from eating flame broiled burgers at a certain restaurant and generally felt bad after eating most meat after never having issues my whole life. Seems to have gone away after a course of antibiotics strangely so guessing it’s bacteria related.

The article explores this a bit, specifically with ticks. > Ticks that cause alpha-gal syndrome are believed to carry alpha-gal molecules from the blood of the animals they commonly bite, such as cows and sheep. When a carrier tick bites a human, the tick injects alpha-gal into the person's body. > For unknown reasons, some people have such a strong immune response to these molecules that they can no longer eat red m…

For what it’s worth, antibiotics can be immunomodulating: https://dx.doi.org/10.4103%2F0019-5154.190105

https://europepmc.org/article/med/12054075 – review and citation context of book, book found here: https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/b137084

Re: Alpha-Gal Syndrome

#23

Post by goldenkey »

bryant wrote: post #4
alexfromapex wrote: post #3

I swear I had this like 2 years ago after getting several tick bites. I got hives and nausea from eating flame broiled burgers at a certain restaurant and generally felt bad after eating most meat after never having issues my whole life. Seems to have gone away after a course of antibiotics strangely so guessing it’s bacteria related.

The article explores this a bit, specifically with ticks. > Ticks that cause alpha-gal syndrome are believed to carry alpha-gal molecules from the blood of the animals they commonly bite, such as cows and sheep. When a carrier tick bites a human, the tick injects alpha-gal into the person's body. > For unknown reasons, some people have such a strong immune response to these molecules that they can no longer eat red m…

Antibiotics are complex molecules. Some of them are even anti-depressants. Intended use does not equate to totality of effects.

Re: Alpha-Gal Syndrome

#24

Post by seaorg »

japanuspus wrote: post #12
eganist wrote: post #2

This and Lyme are my main(ly irrational) reasons for never hiking outside of, like, Hawaii. And I'm sure a more seasoned HNer can scare me away from that, too. Any news on whether exposure treatments like those for peanut allergies have any effect on alpha-gal allergies too?

You can come hike in Denmark. Over the last decade it has apparently become more efficient to keeps the dairy cows inside and harvest the grass for them. Feels completely wrong, and I never figured out what changes in rules or technology triggered this. Then you just need a TBE-vaccine and a daily tick-check to make sure you don't get lyme -- and you are good to go exploring our great nation which includes e.g. the o…

Wow. Denmark reportedly has the lowest amount of corruption in the world if I am not mistaken. What a special country. Does your culture have a “directness” to it like the Dutch? What is your opinion on the immigration backlash of late?

Re: Alpha-Gal Syndrome

#25

Post by EvilEy3 »

IntrepidWorm wrote: post #15
ajkjk wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I feel like it is necessary to be scared of it an amount proportional to how bad it is times the expected chance you get it. And as bad as these are, they're just not likely, and even less likely if you're careful at all.

Agreed- the psychological and physical health benefits attributed by several studies to regular exposure to wooded and rural outdoor spaces is almost certainly worth the risk.

Worth the risk of being food impaired for life? Don't know about that.

Re: Alpha-Gal Syndrome

#26

Post by EvilEy3 »

grp000 wrote: post #5

As an unpopular HN opinion, I love red meat, so this would be very inconvenient for me. Although, synthetic beef products are out there so I guess there's that option. Just wish they had more weightiness and texture.

That's not an unpopular opinion.

Re: Alpha-Gal Syndrome

#27

Post by DoreenMichele »

refurb wrote: post #20
eganist wrote: post #2

This and Lyme are my main(ly irrational) reasons for never hiking outside of, like, Hawaii. And I'm sure a more seasoned HNer can scare me away from that, too. Any news on whether exposure treatments like those for peanut allergies have any effect on alpha-gal allergies too?

I agree. I’m never leaving my mom’s basement. Too scary out there.

Just wait. Sooner or later you will learn why the basement is horror central.

Black mold comes to mind...

Re: Alpha-Gal Syndrome

#28

Post by mgarfias »

alecst wrote: post #7

For my entire childhood my mom’s email name was alphagal. You know, because she’s a gal from Alpharetta. Or at least that’s what I thought.

I thought it was going to be something written about women like my wife (stereotypical redhead)

Re: Alpha-Gal Syndrome

#29

Post by hirenj »

Guess what? It's glycotime again!

Gal(ɑ1,3)Gal (Galili epitope) is a common epitope in most animals, but in primates we lost the activity of the gene (GGTA1) to synthesise it. Since we don't produce it any more, it's recognised as foreign by our body and not only causes rejection in xenotransplantation, but also this Alpha-Gal allergy.

I'm not going to comment on the actual immune mechanisms that take place with developing an allergy to a carbohydrate epitope, beyond saying that I don't understand enough of it. Somehow we lose the tolerance to this antigen that we develop from about 6 months of life.

I'm more interested in what makes this epitope: Is this carbohydrate synthesised by the actual ticks, or is it actually something to do with a tick-associated parasite or the microbiome? Here's a review (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31214181/) that covers this that I quickly found, suggesting that (a member of) the microbiome can in fact alter levels of ɑ-Gal from ticks.

edit: Obviously, the solution to this problem would be to just eat primate meat instead, which is one hell of a risky bet given our problematic pandemic primed populations.

Re: Alpha-Gal Syndrome

#30

Post by jjeaff »

EvilEy3 wrote: post #25
IntrepidWorm wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Agreed- the psychological and physical health benefits attributed by several studies to regular exposure to wooded and rural outdoor spaces is almost certainly worth the risk.

Worth the risk of being food impaired for life? Don't know about that.

There's a much greater chance you could die in a car accident, do you also avoid the highways?
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