When you Wake up at Night and Cannot Breathe - Non-fiction
That’s weird. Everything was fine when you went to bed. But now the air just doesn’t want to come, your throat is scratchy, and you jerk up out of bed.
Once you are fully awake, you are able to calm down. This has happened before. You can breathe, just not as well as usual. Your throat is constricted, that’s all. Well… not all, because your entire body is starting to itch. And now you need to get to the restroom in a friggin hurry because that big juicy steak you ate for dinner is coming out right NOW!
So after spending extended time on the toilet, just trying to get your breathing in, you finally are able to get to the medicine chest and find the Benadryl. Two of these will clear things up. With the added benefit that they will also get you back to sleep. It’s 2am and you have to get up in 4 hours, but that really can’t be helped.
So you are finally able to breathe and sleep. The next day sucks, but that’s the way it goes when you are allergic to alpha-gal.
That’s me in the excerpt above, three nights ago. Yup… That’s my life. Fortunately it’s only rare, but it does happen.
So many of you may ask what exactly is alpha-gal? Well, it is a molecule found in meat.
What meat? Mammal Meat.
Mammal meat? Like… Cows? Yup. Cow, pig, deer, goat, basically if it has hair, I’m allergic to it.
So what meats can you eat? To avoid a reaction, I can eat chicken, turkey, any bird meat, and fish and seafood. And of course all the fruits and veggies my heart could desire (which isn’t much).
Well if you know all this, why did you have a reaction? Put simply… I don’t pay attention to the rules.
Mine is a very slight allergy, in the year I have shown symptoms of the allergy I have had exactly three reactions. And this one, this was the tamest by far!
I became allergic to mammal meat a year ago. I am 43 years old, blissfully unaware that such an allergy exists, until I go in for an allergy test after my second reaction experience. That’s when I get the news. You have to stop eating meat.
Bullshit!
No, really. You are allergic to all mammal meats. You been bitten by a tick recently?
Well yeah, when we adopted our dog in May he was covered in ticks we had to get off of him, so I am sure I picked a few off myself during that time.
That’s how this allergy comes about. There is a certain kind of tick, the Lone Star Tick, that spreads the alpha-gal allergy. It’s still pretty rare, so we don’t really know why it happens, but it is happening more and more frequently as this particular tick species spreads.
Lovely.
So I go the two weeks without meat. It’s tough. There are only so many ways to cook a chicken. And I am not a fan of fish. I tried turkey burgers, but they are not appealing at all. But I make it the two weeks, go back in to be tested, and wait. And wait. AND wait.
Finally I call the doctor’s office and am politely told that the nurse had my results on her desk but forgot to call me. Thanks! I still show the allergy, so now they want me to stay off meat for another six weeks. By this time it has been five meatless weeks and you want six more? I’ll do my best.
And for six weeks, I did do my best. Did I have a burger now and then, or maybe tacos. Yup, I did. But no reactions to them, so we’re probably okay. I can manage this for six weeks.
At the end of the six weeks I feel good about my chances of having gotten whatever it is out of my system so I can go back to being a normal meat and potatoes guy, because that’s what I am at heart.
Still Positive. We’ll check again in six months.
I’m sorry. What? Six months? No thank you!
So I went back to my meat and potatoes way. And you know what happened? Nothing. And then more nothing. And yet even more nothing. Until three nights ago.
I’m one of the lucky ones. Some of the people who have been bitten by this tick have ended up needing to carry around an Epi-pen in case they so much as sniff meat. This can literally put a person into anaphylactic shock. I just need to keep some Benadryl on hand. Especially if I want one of those big juicy steaks.
The odd thing about it for me, is it seems to be a build up thing. Now that I have had a reaction, I can probably eat just about anything I want for another couple of months before I react again. Oddly, I seem to react more poorly to pork than to cow. It’s just one of those weird things about life.
I should probably take this whole thing as a sign that I need to get healthier with my eating habits. But I don’t. I’m too stubborn and set in my ways for that. So I deal with the reactions when they come, and otherwise go on about my merry way. I just thought I would share the story of my allergy with you all, and hopefully make some people smarter than they were before the start.
Thanks for reading! I’m glad to have you here! If you are so inclined, please visit my other blog posts, I have a lot of different stuff I write about, so hopefully something for everyone.
Have a great day!!
http://homeopathiccases.blogspot.com/2013/12/constricted-throat.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galactose-alpha-1,3-galactose
https://www.britannica.com/animal/cow
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amblyomma_americanum
http://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/2010/03/sous-vide-steaks-recipe.html
I want to support you! I sent you some sbd! I hope I helped you!
Well @andyx, I appreciate the gesture. But really this wasn't a plea for help of any kind. Just trying to inform people about the tick born illness that is spreading.
I'm going to use the funds you send me to send a upvote or resteem bot at one of your posts.
I do appreciate you coming by!
Now I'm really afraid of ticks.
Well @cosimo. I think it is more pertinent to be aware of ticks. Especially the one pictured above. There are tons of tick species out there who don't carry this molecule. But they do carry loads of other diseases and illnesses.
There are some good bug repellents out there that can help you avoid tick bites if you know you will be out in the forest, or wooded areas where ticks are common. Be tick aware. haha
I am really sorry to hear that happened @mikepm74 , and I am just wondering are there any remedies to help you reduce your allergy?
This is usually caused from auto-immune system, is it not?
There was a time I was totally allergic to seafood and wine (out of no apparent reason) and the doctor found out my blood was toxic and poisonous (towards flaring up as allergy).
My family doctor did mention that I must be able to get used to at least a month's detox and let the blood clear from my system and it helped, but occasionally it still flares up.
I did a liver detox (just a year back or maybe in 2015) during my health recovery journey and that helped tremendously well. I promised @heart-to-heart I will dig out my photos and the natural remedy and share with you all later.
upvoted and resteemed
It is something about the tick bite that makes your immune system attack alpha-gal, which is present in meat. Especially meat fat. So the more fatty the meat, the more you are likely to react.
The odd thing about it, and why it takes so long to determine the allergy, is that with most food allergies, the reaction is almost immediate. With this, the reaction can be 4-8 hours after consuming the meat. Fat takes longer for your system to process, so again, the more fatty the food, the longer before your body reacts.
Which explains the middle of the night issues. haha.
Hm. That actually sounds interesting.
I recently had a serious series of bed bugs (and I do not know what other bugs) bite from the really old mattress I had (from the previous tenant) and only after throwing that away and acquired a new one the bed bugs surfaced! (which I delightfully destroyed)
So far I do not have allergy signs but I think I might have some bad rashes coming on and off.
Got to keep the meat aside and detox to see if that helps.
And I am really sorry that you have that problem. I hope your allergy will subside soon. I am banking on that one bite of a tick should not / and will not damn you from enjoying mammal meat forever.