I’m really sorry you’re having to go through all this.
Have you tried different dried/cured/smoked poultry products? (I’ve mostly seen duck) Just to change things up a little for you - I find cured and smoked duck has a more “meaty” flavor and mouth-feel, which may help with any cravings and/or monotony . . . . . I wish I had sources for you . . . .
On a total “non-personal” level - the immune system is a wild and fascinating system. While I understand auto-immune and alpha gal are devastating - they are also completely fascinating to read about. What is the body thinking? It’s crazy how our bodies can “go wrong”.
Have tried smoked duck and turkey way ay long time ago before I invested in a MaK 1 smoker which I love but mostly for pork butts, ribs, brisket ( only by request as it is great but not my favorite and when I do, I have to go to Costco to buy the biggest brisket ) , smoked fresh bluefish ( best when it is freshly caught ).
I do buy a lot of D’artagnan’s duck breast, duck confit and now, convinced my local supergiant to stock duck and wild boar saucisson
I plan to smoke my duck breast when I am ready to smoke either the butts or a few ribs as I tend to smoke when we have guest but son often ask me like this past Friday that his friends are coming for 3 days and there is not enough time for me to defrost, process etc. Also we had snow . I want to try and make duck pastrami. I have the recipe somewhere.
I you saw my latest HO article, I found a site for quail. and have bought duck breast etc from maple leaf farm which I like . They were delivered and I did try their duck breast stir fry and ground duck to make shrimp and lobster sauce.
I have never followed any cookbook in my measurements and in my cooking. However, in the early 70’s, 73-'74 to be precise, when my husband ws diagnosed with non tropical sprue ( gluten enteropathy), there were really very few ready made gluten free products. It was very nice of NIH to accept him as a patient, saved his life so, I often bring food to NIH as well as accepts call from any of their patients for cooking ideas. NIH suggested that I publish a gluten free cookbook, encouraged me to do so but I was really very busy with my full time practice, a son who was born with congenital hip dislocation and had to be reduced, hip social and abductor splint for 18 months. Life was tough for me, esp when my husband enjoyed eating . I was told then that celiac patient usually have nasty temperament bec they are not able to eat many kinds of food. My husband had enjoyed a life that is devoid of any wants ( except fried chicken as I hate to fry in my kitchen even with a fryer that I bought with some kind of charcoal filter, it usually makes the house smelly). I baked bread, learned h ow to cook with 7 kinds of flour to make him the best butter pound cake one can have, sticky rice flour dessert etc etc.
I do not regret my decision but nowadays, there are loads of gluten free cookbooks as well as gluten free products. I stopped baking bread when we found Whole Food’s Prairie Bread that were absolutely delicious .
I think I can find recipe for my ensemadas which I used to bake, still have the small pan brought home from the Philippines that friends crave for. I would make 48 at a time . It takes a few. hours but it is really worth it if one can stand the cholesterol. A colleague, whose husband was the chef for the Sequoia during Kennedy 's time shared that recipe with me. I can dig it up if anyone is interested.
The allergist does not want to agree to a food challenge even if I park myself at his office after ingest pork ( my favorite) as my numbers are the highest he has ever seen. He claims he has seen patients with lower numbers, ended up in intensive care and ventilator. In addition, there are people with positive alpha gal that reverses after 3 years IF they do not eat any red meat from 4 legged animals as well as not get bitten again, so my gardening days are now questionable. Aside from positive alpha gal for those red meat, I also have autoimmune disease and am positive for a lot of food and environmental issues , with positive reaction to beef, pork and lamb ( which is acc to allergist a different issue altogether) so I think I have to lay low. Just found out the other day that the greek yogurt I consumed gave me hives I looked at the fine prints , it had carrot juice , raw carrot I am allergic to! Well, that is life. I am glad I am not allergic to my babies though I am really allergic to cats !!! Early on, we have a visitor ( her husband is one of our contractor and she comes to visit with him sometimes) who wears the most intense perfume and every time she is here, I have asthmatic attacks. My husband was very careful not to offend her and asked that she not cause problem for me by using perfume when she comes ( she sells Mary Kay products ) Hah! Hah!
thank you nan for posting this.
I had always had problem with allergy, as a child, I suffered from Asthma, later, on arrival to US, severe hay fever. Food wise, I cannot eat raw carrots, and a lot of fresh fruits without my lips, tongue and V Cord becoming swollen.
Became an avid weekend gardener when I got married, but when I retired, spent 8-10 hours weather permitting outdoor gardening. I had always been allergic to wasp, bees etc, having severe reactions, need epi- pen or trips to ER. Also allergic to cat ( this has been proven to people with alpha gal-cross reaction allergy) 3 years ago against County code that I cannot cut down any shrub or trees bec I live in a critical designated area in Maryland, I had a beautiful 30 foot persimmon tree cut down bec the fallen fruits re invitation for yellow jacket . A neighbor 2 doors away had been attacked by yellow jackets and had to be rushed to ER. I called the 3 adjoining neighbors on each side and told them my intention and if any of them report me, I would be fined $10,000. None of them did . Yes, the tree is beautiful but I dare not go near there and they do fl to the neighbor’s property as well. The county has no empathy. They had forbidden someone that lives in a cliff to kill some rare insects whose nest were eroding their property and based on how fast the cliff was eroding, their house would fall into the bay, but their plea had fallen on cruel officials.
October 2018 , got diagnosed with alpha gal, but Commins cannot see me till March, which would be difficult driving to NC , not knowing if my son would be home on that particular day, and what happens to my babies? I was not aware that NIH had an earlier seminar with Platts -Mills and Commins before I was diagnosed, or I would have gone. NIH is just a stone throw from my practice. It is there that my husband was diagnosed with gluten enteropathy in 1972 when it was unheard of.
Aside from alpha gal, another test that became available to laboratories in 2017, a test for Chronic Urticaria that I seemed to suffer since childhood. A diagnosis of Autoimmune disease is made when the numbers are high, meaning that the non allergic urticaria is not just from being exposed to certain allergen. In persons with autoimmune hives, the IgG autoantibody that binds to the Fc-receptor tricks the mast cell into believing that the IgE on its surface has encountered an allergen. When this happens, hives or tissue swelling can result. I have been diagnosed as having autoimmune disease, which is allergy to red meat also. . My doc tells me that is separate from alpha gal.
Only Dr. Commins can possibly tell me whether my allergy red meat is from autoimmune disease , from alpha gal or from both. At the moment, I am trying to not eat any meat or product that comes from these 4 legged animals. I can use milk in my coffee and can eat cheese and occasionally eat ice cream but I would like to have my test redone after April, hoping my numbers are down and maybe I may be one of those lucky ones whereby my alpha gal syndrome is temporary? I would not mind having hives from eating pork ( my favorite) every once I a while as long as it is just urticaria without anaphylaxis.
To sum it all, docs and everyone has to be made aware of this. I am having eye surgery in two weeks. I am supposed to take omega rich fish oil as prophylaxis for dry eyes. I went to Costco, they have 5 different kinds of fish oil. All of them are in jel form. I was told by the pharmacist there are no such thing as fish oil in tablet form. Googled, and found out that I can find fish oil high in omega acid in 2 kinds of fruit forms from Vitami supplement store I chose lime juice which I am not allergic to.
I guess I cannot have heparin for major surgeries and colon cancer or heart valve transplant if the valves are from pigs.
This is quite lengthy but. you can move it to another section.
It is surprising. how some people are turned off with this subject. I know there is a support group in Calvert County for people who suffer from alpha gal. My neighbor came and rung my doorbell a week ago to tell me that another neighbor has passed away. I told her I have not been in the garden bec of alpha. Well, she told me her son in law was diagnosed with alpha gal. I asked if I could contact him and perhaps he is with the support group? She would not divulge any info to me.
I am scheduled for Cataract Ext IOL and stent insertion for glaucoma next week
Suggestion is that I start taking high omega acid fish oil as well as preservative free artificial tears to avoid dry eyes.
Well. there are many kinds of fish oil ( 5 to be exact) that comes in gelcap at Costco alone, but there is no such thing as fish oil in tablet form
I found this at a Vitamin shop in Gaithersburg , Md
So, for all th one who have alpha gal and cannot make gelcap, this can foot the bill
I think you’re right, I don’t think a tablet would even be possible. But there are quite a few brands of good fish oil available “straight up” in a bottle without using gel caps. Check the levels of EPA and DHA they contain; some are more concentrated than others, or have them in different proportions. For some purposes, the EPA matters more, for others the DHA.
If one brand doesn’t specify those amounts, probably get a different brand.
