Alpha Gal Syndrome Info

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Tick Season is Here with Diseases Including Dangerous Meat Allergy

With the weather turning warmer humans are ready to venture outside… and so are ticks.

Tick season in Tennessee begins in Mid-March, so the irritating and potentially dangerous creatures are already out and about.

We have several types of ticks here in the Volunteer State. The deer tick or black legged tick is know for spreading Lyme disease. The deer tick is gradually increasing in population and cases of Lyme disease are increasing.

Lyme disease can cause a wide range of symptoms including  fever, rash, facial paralysis, and arthritis. 

Particularly characteristic of Lyme disease is a spreading skin condition known as a bullseye rash. The bullseye can grow as large as 12 inches across or more. Not every person affected will have a bullseye rash. Other symptoms including fever, chills, headache, fatigue, muscle and joint aches, and swollen lymph nodes may occur in the absence of rash.

Lyme disease can be serious and requires medical care. 

A different type of tick known as the Lone Star Tick is also spreading throughout Tennessee. 

The Lone Star tick is called this because it has a single white star-like marking on its back.

The most serious disease spread by the Lone Star tick is called alpha gal syndrome or AGS. Readers may have heard of AGS being called the meat allergy.

People bitten by a Lone Star Tick and affected by alpha gal syndrome often develop a severe allergic reaction to meat from mammals. 

The reaction can be quite severe, but can be difficult to diagnose in some cases. The reaction can vary within individuals. They may react very obviously to a meal containing mammalian meat or dairy products, and show no reaction at other  times.

Alpha-gal syndrome or AGS, also known as red meat allergy or alpha-gal allergy, is a reaction to galactose-alpha-1,3-galactose or alpha-gal.

Typically, patients with AGS are advised to avoid eating meat from mammals that contains the alpha gal ingredient. Notice that non-mammals such as fish do not contain the molecule and are safe to eat.

Recently someone with AGS called our office to ask if we treat the condition. This is because we provide Medical Acupuncture and the caller had read about a specific type of Medical Acupuncture being used successfully for AGS.

It may be surprising to many readers that acupuncture can be used successfully for this challenging condition.

Even more interesting to some is that the specific acupuncture treatment was developed by a Medical Anesthesiologist. Dr. Nader Soliman, MD is a practicing anesthesiologist also certified in Medical Acupuncture. 

Like our practice, Dr. Soliman treats a variety of chronic painful conditions. He focuses primarily on alternative medical approaches including Medical Acupuncture.

Recent published medical research has found that the Soliman technique using auricular acupuncture is 80-90 % effective for AGS, more effective than any typical medical treatment.

The technique used by Dr. Soliman is known as SAAT or Soliman’s Auricular Allergy Technique. It is a very specific technique that uses acupuncture points on the ear exclusively. That is why it is called auricular technique, stimulating only the outer part of the ear, known as the auricle.

Dr Soliman is not alone in using this approach. He studied acupuncture from Dr. Joseph Helms, MD, former president of the American Academy of Medical Acupuncture. Dr. Helms has trained an estimated 5,000 medical acupuncturists.

Auricular Acupuncture was developed primarily by Dr. Ralph Nogier, a French Medical Physician.

Part of the reason that acupuncture focused on points on the ear can be so effective for a wide variety of conditions has to do with the fact that the outer ear, the fleshy part attached to the side of the head, is innervated by three different nerves from inside the head and two nerves from the spinal cord in the neck.

That wide variety of nerves connected to such a rather simple part of the body is very unusual. The result is that stimulating points on the ear can have an effect on a wide range of the body’s functions.

Stimulating the ear points has also been shown on MRI studies to have an immediate effect on brain function in certain very specific areas.

Acupuncture has long been know to be successful in treating allergy problems such as seasonal allergies. In our office we have been treating seasonal allergies for at least two decades with painless Medical Acupuncture.

Acupuncture has been used to treat a wide range of ailments involving the neurological functioning of the body.

I explain to patients that perhaps the best way to understand how Medical Acupuncture can be so beneficial for such a wide range of conditions is to think of the body’s neurological system acting like a computer. Just as computer software can begin to act illogically and result in improper responses, our nervous system can begin to function improperly.

Acupuncture often acts within the body in way that could be described as resetting the software. It can be remarkable to witness patients as their body begins to function more normally after treatment.

Although it is promising to see that there is a treatment such as SAAT that can help with alpha gal syndrome, it is much wiser and safer to avoid tick bites altogether.

When outside, take tick and mosquito bites seriously and avoid them. Use insect repellant where necessary.

If you have had symptoms that suggest you may have been infected by tick bites, see your physician for testing. Ignoring these diseases will allow them to become worse.