Bitten and Changed: My Journey with Alpha-gal Syndrome

My story is a story that took years to realize. I live on a farm and I’m always outside doing chores, riding my horses, taking care of my garden. First I was diagnosed with A-Fib way back in 2013, I had had problem with my heart before then but it wasn’t very noticeable and it sure didn’t affect my life like it does now.

My story with Alpha-Gal begun in 2017 with a tick bite. I had a tick bite that I had to go to the doctor with because I just couldn’t get it to heal. She gave me some medicine to put on the bite and it finally healed. Well about 3 months later I started having trouble eating ground meat, I noticed when I ate hamburger I’d have to take Benadryl a few hours later. I didn’t think anything about it. as time went on I had trouble eating others meats as well. I guess I was living in a bubble because after a year of this I still never put things together. I would just take Benadryl when I had trouble breathing and think I got around a chemical.

I have been allergic to synthetic chemicals and was diagnosed way back in 2002 when I had a severe allergic reaction that sent me to the hospital in anaphylactic shock. I am also sensitive to GMO based fruits and vegetables. After that diagnosis I started eating everything organic as much as I could if I couldn’t find an organic source I would just not eat that produce. I was so busy with life on the farm I had a huge garden and sold at several farmers markets certified organic and non GMO produce. I was so proud of what I was doing. I thought life was amazing I had all the organic food I could eat that was the best quality out there.

I was doing great as long as I stayed away from synthetic chemicals. If I got around things like the plug in air fresheners I would have an allergic reaction and have to take Benadryl to stop the reaction if it continued I would have to do an epi-pen. I never dreamed that that tick bite in 2017 would change my life the way it did.

From 2017-2024 I had no idea I was living with Alpha-Gal! It never registered with me there was something else wrong. I was having more heart problems than I could deal with my A-Fib when from one attack every six weeks to constant a-Fib last year. My doctors would change my medicine to try and keep me out of A-Fib but nothing worked.

I was in A-Fib six days out of every week. I was struggling with a rapid heart rate about 130 beats a minute for days at a time my heart rate would go from normal one minute to 130 or more beats a minute then back to normal. At this point my heart doctors were looking at doing an Ablation to try and find relief for me.

With that type of heart rate it’s like you are running all the time without a break. I was exhausted! I couldn’t walk around my house anymore without having to sit to catch my breath every few feet! I was so tired, and I so wanted to go outside and work in my garden and see my horses even if it was just to brush them. I felt like life was passing me by and there was nothing I could do about it. My life at this point was very depressing for me. I was really struggling!

I never mentioned it to my Intergrative health doctor until November of 2023 I told her I was having so many allergic reactions to something but I wasn’t around synthetic chemicals. I finally told her every time I ate meat I was having an allergic reaction and I would start wheezing and at that point I’d take benadryl then I’d be ok or so I thought. I told her every bit of food I was eating I was positive it was from organic sources. I never saw that I was also going into a-Fib because of eating mammal meats. I was eating meats everyday. I was also having reactions everyday too I just didn’t see it sometimes.

My husband is cajun and loves his meats, so I cooked meat for every meal, beef, pork, bison, rabbit, deer fixed every way you could imagine. we didn’t eat much chicken at this point.

I see an Intergrative health doctor so I do blood work regularly for my vitamin levels to keep them where they should be. Last year I was telling her all about my struggles with a-Fib and they were wanting to do an ablation on me to give me some relief. She then said I am going to test you for some things and for me to wait and see what she finds. That is when she found out I have had alpha-gal! I Was relieved and scared at the same time. What did this mean?

The first thing I did was change my diet. I stopped eating meats all together. Within a few weeks I started to feel better but I was still having allergic reactions. I was seeing my doctor every month and we were working on my diet. She told me I was going to have to stop eating anything from mammals. That meant cheese, dairy, carrageenan, lard and collagen were off limits for me. We also changed all my medicine to a vegan formula. Then once we did this change I really started to feeling better. I was getting my strength back I wasn’t having allergic reactions everyday, and I was not in a-fib all the time.

My heart took a while to respond to the diet changes. It had been in such a state of stress for years. I had inflammation in my entire body including my heart. Once my heart started responding to the diet changes I really started feeling better. I wasn’t tired all the time and the a-fib wasn’t everyday. I still have bouts of a-fib but it’s not bad I can manage it now. The a-fib now is brought on by stress and not something I had eaten.

It’s now July 2025, I have been through a lot since 2017. My body was under so much stress for so long with alpha-gal. I am so thankful I am alive to tell my story! I had other very serious health conditions during all this, and I have made it and you can too! One thing you must do is not give up! I was so ready to give up and call it a day, but the Lord saw me through and he will see you through as well.

Lord I pray for each person that reads this article, give them the strength to keep going and find the solutions they need. Help them to find the right doctors to help them over come alpha-gal. Lord strengthen their bodies so they can begin healing. Amen!