Well controlled (A1C under 6) type 2 since 1998. Just diagnosed with Alpha gal. Test results were in the highest class 6 range. It’s from a tick bite and results in an allergic reaction meat and any product (like cheese, gelatin, lotions with lanolin and on and on) from four legged animals. Had spaghetti sauce with beef and ended up in the ER with anaphylactic shock.
My head is reeling at the total revamp of my diet to drop all animal products and dairy. Since the ER visit my blood sugar levels are running high and I need more insulin (OmniPod with Humalog u109) to control.
Any one with diabetic + alpha gal experience to share?
I don’t have that but I am on a plant based diet. Low fat hight carb and it’s surprisingly satisfying. I eat more carbs but use less insulin. Mastering Diabetes is the most common version of it.
I avoid all oil and of course all animal fat and protein.
The theory is that fat causes decreased insulin sensetivity.
I’ve been on it for almost 3 years.
It took me a long time to give up yogurt. I eat a lot of lentils lentil flower and chick peas. You aren’t supposed to eat processed food like flour but sometimes I do it anyway.
I also use some premade protein powder when I feel like I’m not getting enough.
Soy sparingly.
And I’m not a vegan the way most people are. I do it just because it’s healthier and my sugar is better controlled. I eat chicken once in a great while, but it’s been 3-4 months.
I stick to the diet about 95%
I don’t have Alpha Gal (AG) but I’ve heard discussion about it in some of the keto/carnivore online communities. I’ve heard many times that the symptoms are not always permanent and that meat can be re-introduced slowly after a months long (or 1-2 years, see below) abstinence. I’ve read that it’s paradoxical as a meat-only diet is often used as the ultimate elimination diet to figure out other food allergies.
I’d like to learn more from this discussion and would hope that @Sarah_K1 reconsiders making her prospective comments public. I view a diet that’s primarily animal based as one that is comprehensive nutritionally, time tested in the long run, and makes managing blood glucose an easier job.
I realize that my perspective is not shared by all and hope that tolerance prevails!
I learned that the crucial enzyme replacement medicine that I use to treat my exocrine pancreatic insufficiency (EPI) can cause AG allergic reactions. Yikes!
The Mayo Clinic posted this info about AG duration:
Symptoms of alpha-gal syndrome may lessen or even disappear over time. This is especially true if you don’t get any more bites from ticks that carry alpha-gal. Some people with this condition can eat mammal food products again after 1 to 2 years if they don’t get any more tick bites.
Hi, Terry4. I don’t follow any keto blogs and I find it interesting that Alpha Gal Syndrome (AGS) is a discussion there. You aren’t going to get it from just eating meat. AGS is found on every continent but Anartica and is transmitted by several species of ticks. In the US the Lonestar tick is the culprit and it carries the alpha gal sugar (galactose-α-1,3-galactose) in its saliva so it’s transmitted as soon as you’re bitten. That sugar is only found in mammals (except primates). The antibodies created as a reaction the alpha gal cause an allergic reaction from mild to life threatening when mammal meat and all products derived from them are consumed or used.
Dr. Scott Commins, UNC Raleigh, is a leading researcher on AGS. His podcasts are very good.
The blood test for AGS measures specific IgE antibodies. In my case I’ve been eating beef and pork for 72 years. Almost no beef the last few years due to a gout attack. Pork a few times a week. Got bitten by a Lonestar tick last March in Maryland. Discussed with my GP since I had a rash and itch at the bite site. She suspected AGS but can’t test for for 6 months after the bite. Started having IBS GI symptoms, joint aches, severe fatigue a few months ago. In the ER Nov 1 with anaphylactic shock after eating spaghetti sauce with ground beef in it. Ate dinner about 6, calling the ER at midnight since I couldn’t breathe and was flushed, itching and dizzy. Oxygen down to 88% by the time the EMTs arrived. Never had an episode like that before.
Tested for AGS a few days later. The results are ranked in 6 classes. My overall IgE is 524 over the lab test reference interval of 6-495. The test included IgE for beef, pork, and lamb and they are all class 5 very high. What’s so strange about that is that the last time I ate lamb was about 15 years ago one dinner on a cruise. Also ate lamb the year I lived in England about 50 yrs ago. Never any lamb in between. But I have recently used skin lotions containing lanolin. AGS is not just eating mammal meats but also using anything with mammal by products in it. I see an allergist in 6 weeks and hope they can explain that lamb IgE reading. Hope they can help me with dairy. Some people with AGS can tolerate dairy. Some can’t. Too early for me to tell since there is hidden dairy in so many processed every day foods. Some people react severely to gelatin. And carrageen can trigger a reaction even though is seaweed not meat. That’s hidden in a bunch of products.
Dr. Scott Commins, UNC Raleigh, is a leading researcher on AGS and how to manage it. He has some excellent pod casts.
So it’s chicken, turkey, or fish. And gator if I still lived FL. Sadly giving up cheese and yogurt. I’m going to look into Mastering Diabetes again. Terry above and I know several other contributors here following it with great success. One AGS article I read said avoid canned tuna because it sometimes has dolphin or whale meat mixed in. The main change in my diabetes symptoms since the ER visit is running too high especially overnight. I was used to waking up to 90-100. Now it’s 150-180 in the AM. The ER doc did prescribe Prednisone for 3 days. Maybe the night highs are a lingering effect from that?
There is no cure for AGS at this time. And like diabetes, it’s another “mine isn’t yours” condition. Hugely variable. AGS is on the rise as the Lonestar tick increases its range. Researchers suspect that are many undiagnosed cases since many people aren’t tested and get labeled with IBS or similar. There isn’t much common knowledge about even in the medical community. The CDC is tracking it. Avoiding future tick bites helps lessen future reactions but don’t believe “avoiding meat for a month” is going to do it for me.
My sister has AGS. She was diagnosed about 2 years ago with it. She has to read every food label. She rarely will eat out at a restaurant and she brings her own food if she eats at a friends house. She even brings her own pots and pans to cook in when on vacation to limit the chance of contamination with a meat product. It has been life changing and stressful. She’s had multiple trips to the ER for anaphalactic symtoms. What she finds most difficult is that the reaction symptoms begin several hours after eating and not within minutes such as with a bee sting or nut allergy. She had a reaction when driving once. She was able to pull over and treat it but it comes on so quickly. She jokes with me that she can eat peanut M&M’s and Oreo cookies. She does not have diabetes. I have type 1 LADA-diagnosed 5 years ago. Misdiagnosed as Type 2 14 years ago.
Dettes, Thanks for sharing! Researchers are studying that delayed reaction as it doesn’t fit with the food allergy model. That’s very scary that she had a reaction while driving. I’m still be bopping out of the house w/o my epipen. Have to work harder on remembering…
This is a fascinating post to me. I had never heard of this difficulty. Thank you so very much for the informative post. I grew up in Minnesota, with many vacations in the far North of the state, including Lake of the Woods area on the border with Canada. Also many tick bites over the years. I remember standing patiently while my mother checked me over and removed them oh so carefully. As I recall she kept a little bottle of alcohol handy in which to place them and kill them. Oh my. They say Daily Learning is a good thing for our aging brains, but this one promises at least one or two nightmares—LOL…Again, thanks, and I very much wish you well…Blessings of the Universe to you and yours.
I hadn’t heard of this before either. Only knew about Lyme disease. I grew up in north NEW Jersey, prime tick area. However we would use baby oil if we got a tick as a kid this was supposed to drown them and then we would just pull them off, however I generally didn’t have patience and would just yank them off. Hardly matters because if the tick is infected, you are infected no matter how you remove them. But yanking them like that can cause it to be infected, because the straw part of the tick will stay in your skin and bacteria can take hold. Still , I never had an issue
Sadly giving up cheese and yogurt. I’m going to look into Mastering Diabetes again. Terry above and I know several other contributors here following it with great success. One AGS article I read said avoid canned tuna because it sometimes has dolphin or whale meat mixed in. 
The main change in my diabetes symptoms since the ER visit is running too high especially overnight. I was used to waking up to 90-100. Now it’s 150-180 in the AM. The ER doc did prescribe Prednisone for 3 days. Maybe the night highs are a lingering effect from that?