The Why?
You’re maybe thinking, I thought this page was for people with Alpha-Gal? What does avoiding gluten have to do with it? And to that I would say, exactly. How in the world does gluten have anything to do with Alpha-Gal? I truly don’t have any grand, scientific answers for you. I just know that after I started having reactions to meat and was diagnosed with Alpha-Gal I still felt like my body was dying.
The Symptoms
Every day I woke up and felt like a truck had hit me. Every muscle and joint in my body hurt. My legs, arms, neck, shoulders, ankles, elbows, shoulders all felt like they had been physically injured. No rhyme or reason why. I had a normal day before, normal nights sleep as a mom of two small children, nothing out of the ordinary from the previous years of my life. However, now every time I woke up I struggled to get out of bed. It hurt. Actually hurt to roll over and get out of bed. It hurt to pick up my children, to bend over to pick up toys, to do the laundry and hold my arms up folding clothes. It was life altering pain.
The Process
I went to doctors. My general physician gave me muscle relaxers and told me to get some rest. I tried this, no amount of rest made it better. She sent me to a physical therapist. Weeks later, no improvement and actually more pain from the constant movement and exertion. Then I was sent to a GI doctor who did a colonoscopy, this was based on my gut swelling after I would eat bread, etc. The colonoscopy was inconclusive but I was told my babies had done a number on my colon and it was all misshapen. Still no answer to my muscle and joint pain though. The GI doctor did do a Celiac test along with a few others that came back negative. No reason for concern regarding gluten. I felt alone and defeated.
Self-Assessment
Nobody could figure out what was going on. They kept throwing muscle relaxers at me and even considered sending me to a pain management facility. I didn’t want pain meds. I knew there was a root cause, there had to be. These were new symptoms, something was causing it. After a conversation with a friend who had a thyroid disorder similar to mine (Hashimoto’s) she said that she had gone through something similar and had come off gluten and it made all the difference. At this point, I was desperate to try anything. My quality of life was being affected. So I stopped all gluten.
The Detox
Stopping gluten wasn’t easy. Any of you who have tried know what I mean. It’s like mammal by-products, it’s in everything. It took a while for me to actually get it all out of my diet and reset my body. The results were definitely noticeable. Slowly as my body got rid of left over gluten I started feeling better. My joints stopped aching. Moving around, especially in the mornings, was easier. Just getting out of bed was drastically different.
And just like Alpha-Gal products, gluten-free products have come a long way in the past 10 years. There’s more on the shelves and readily available to purchase.
Your Questions/Thoughts
You’re probably thinking, I still don’t understand what this has to do with Alpha-Gal. My friend, I don’t either. And perhaps it doesn’t, maybe it’s more directly related to my Hashimoto’s? But, I do know that it wasn’t until I started reacting to mammal meat after the tick bite that I started feeling this way. Have I had thoughts of being tested for Lyme’s Disease as well? Yes. Have I thought about being tested for Rheumatoid Arthritis? Yes. It obviously is possible that these could come back as positive tests based on symptoms. However, I do know that I feel better off of gluten and that, for now, I am managing these symptoms.
Moving Forward…
I have just recently found a doctor that I know and trust who seems to be willing to deal with my many issues and takes the time to listen. So yes, I will be talking with her about all of these things and will follow up on this post if I find any answers. I do know that just recently I’ve had to really double down on taking supplements like B Complex Vitamins, Vitamin D3 and such because I’m not getting it from my food. Not enough anyways. I’ve posted some vitamin links on my linktr.ee on Instagram that I use and are Alpha-Gal friendly.
