My Story
I was bit by a Lone Star tick June of 2014. I was pregnant with my 3rd baby. The tick bite concerned me because of how itchy it was. I monitored it, but I never had a fever or a rash. My OB at the time advised me to continue to watch for those symptoms, but didn't seem concerned.
My son was born in October 2014, and I returned to work February 2015. It was quite the transition starting a new job, even though it was part time, with three kids. I had stomach pain almost daily. I figured it was from stress, hormones, nursing a baby, being up at night - really any excuse I could think of. I finally went to my family Dr. that Spring and he ran all sorts GI tests and bloodwork. He found nothing wrong with me. It had to be stress and I was diagnosed with IBS.
Life kept moving on. I had constant stomach pain, but that was really it. No other major symptoms. I lost a lot of weight, but I blamed that on nursing a chubby baby and being in constant motion with my kids. Flash forward a year - I became pregnant with our 4th child April 2016. It was a healthy pregnancy. I had lots of pains, but what do I expect with my 5th pregnancy in my mid 30s? I had our son in January 2017. Healthy and all good. I nursed him and again, was losing weight quite quickly. My stomach pain at this time was much worse than it had been a year ago.
By May, I began keeping a food journal to see what was causing me my issues. In the past, I had issues with dairy but a Lactaid Pill always helped. I quickly saw that dairy was an issue, even with a pill. I began watching the amount of dairy I was consuming, and it helped. That August my father died unexpectedly and my pain was just horrible. Again, stress, right? I went to my family Dr. in Nov. and she ran food allergy tests and recommend I do a Low FODMAP diet. I got a call a few days later that I was moderately allergic to dairy, beef and pork. She advised to avoid those foods. No mention of Alpha-Gal. My husband told me then I had Alpha-Gal. No way! I wasn't having anaphylactic reactions.
I joined a Low FODMAP support group on Facebook and wasn't seeing great results. Goat cheese was making me sick. I still hurt. Finally, in April, a member of the group said she had the same issues and had Alpha-Gal. I scheduled the Alpha Gal test with my family Dr, and sure enough, I had my diagnosis.
