For 3 weeks, I was experiencing some crazy food allergies - chronic hives and 2 incidences of anaphylaxis. After incident #2, I made an appointment at the Duke Allergy Clinic - but could not get a new patient appointment for a month. While waiting to see an allergist, I kept a food diary, trying to eliminate anything that I thought might be a trigger.
Environmental Incident: After washing my dog, I found a very small tick attached to the back of my ear while taking a shower. Never saw the tick, just felt it and pulled it - and down the drain it went.
Allergy Incident #1 - went out to dinner - Steak, Potato and Salad Bar. Finished the meal around 7pm. Woke up at 1am with hives all over my body, swelling lips and face, swollen throat. Took Benedryl and soon after, I gave myself an EpiPen shot. My initial thought was it was something on the salad bar. I called the restaurant to get more information about a potential veggie wash. Nothing obvious other than what I thought was marinated mushrooms actually was smoked oysters. As I am completely miserable with the itchiness and swelling, I went to the computer and Google'd images for "hives". Scrolling through pretty awful "selfies", I found a picture of a man whose hives looked just like mine. I read his story about being bitten by a tick that caused him to have a life long, severe allergy to all red meat and dairy. My thought - there is NO WAY I have this .... this sounds crazy and extremely rare!
Allergy Incident #2 - Had a lettuce wrap sub ... Italian meats and dressings. Time of meal: 2pm. At 7pm, I had the hives again. Took some Benedryl and drifted off to sleep. The next morning - still had hives but didn't have to use my EpiPen. Now I am thinking it must be processed meats, possibly preservatives? Sulfites? Really hoping it is not sulfites .... which would eliminate wine!
Allergy Incident #3 - Had a Bratwurst in a bun with spicy mustard and cheddar cheese. Time of meal: 8pm. At 2am - woke up with hives. These hives were crazy. I woke up feeling itchy. The moment I scratched, it was like "game on". I had hives the size of salad plates. My hives had hives. I took some Benedryl and got it reasonably under control. Now I am thinking .... for sure, it must be processed meats and preservatives.
Allergy Incident #4 (a real scare) - Had a steak dinner prepared at home with a twice baked potato. Time of meal 8pm, then woke up at 1am with my finger just killing me. My hands had swollen up - and could barely get my ring off. My ears were so swollen and red they felt like they were about to pop off my head. Face and lips were swollen and my throat was closing up. Wheezing to catch my breath. Of course, I used my Epi Pen and took a large dose of Benedryl.
The next morning - I start thinking about Allergy Incident #1. I thought about the crazy story about the man who was bitten by a tick. Oh crap, could this be it?
Days 1-3: Reading Alpha Gal websites, wandering around in the grocery store reading labels .... realizing that I am now on a "Vegan Plus" diet ... Vegan plus chicken, turkey, eggs and fish. I am scared to eat anything and arming myself with a new 2-pack of EpiPens. I cried a lot - feeling completely overwhelmed, and realized that I could not wait until the following month to be tested.
There is a consumer driven, testing franchise that I found called Any Lab Test Now. Here's the website: https://www.anylabtestnow.com/
There were 2 locations near me. I called them to see if they would run the test - and yes, they could (even though it was not on their standard list of lab tests). The cost was $129. You have to wait 7 days from your last use of Antihistamine (Benedryl or other). The name of the test is Galactose-Alpha-1,3-Galactose (Alpha Gal) IgE 95241. I believe that the number 95241 is the Quest Diagnostics number. The test blood had to be sent off to Quest Diagnostics in Georgia and will take several day to get the results emailed back.
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