I have a friend that described their disease as Alpha Gal and it was caused by a tick. Is this a form of Lyme disease? I know that my friend is not being treated at all for his condition. His symptons are throat swelling and lung problems. No medication at all. Nothing. Is this normal?
Posted by Keebler (Member # 12673) on :
- Possibly they are talking about this?
Meat Allergy due to actual allergy / shock reaction from tick saliva that changes big time the way their immune system responds to certain meats.
Not lyme disease, though, lyme certainly could also be on board and not diagnosed, as well as other infections that are often along with tick bites.
The allergy / immune part of this in such cases, though much rarer than lyme, still requires the best medical care by those who know what they are doing.
This can be life-threatening. "Throat swelling" and lung problems can be an emergency sign and they might need to seek emergency help to avoid worsening problems.
Best to search for more recent medical detail. Older threads here:
Meat allergy from ticks: don't know what my kid is going to eat - no chicken, beef or turkey. -
Posted by carolann2013 (Member # 39964) on :
Thanks Keebler.
I will pass this info along to my friend. I had Lyme several years ago. I remember posting and I remember you and others answered.
Caught it within months. Mine affected my joints.
Found me a lyme literate doctor and in a year I was back to normal. I was one of the lucky ones that caught it very early.
Since then there have been a couple of friends that have gotten ill and by their symptoms I felt like it was Lyme.
They took my advice and found out it was. Now this friend has these symptoms and it stumped me a bit.
Thank you. You and this website helped me then and now. We are so fortunate to have this information available. Thank you a million times.
Posted by Lymetoo (Member # 743) on :
Lyme could definitely be involved!!
tell them to also look into possible MCAS
There are Facebooks groups dedicated to Alpha Gal allergy.