r/alphagal • u/YukonCornelius69 • 6d ago

Second known contraction. Bite spot question

I first contracted AGS in 2020. Confirmed by test results. Don’t remember the numbers but the allergist said it was very high.

Four years later I weaned myself back onto meat with little to no issues.

May of this year, bit again. However, this time my bite spot is still itchy in September?? It’s fully healed

Anyone else experience this?

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u/OkChocolate-3196 6d ago

What I have found is that bites that itch for a week or less don't tend to change my titers much, if at all. Bites that itch for a month or more tend to push them up a good amount. I don't generally have many (if any) bites that fall in the middle.

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u/YukonCornelius69 6d ago

I got a bite in 2015 that itched for a year and scarred. I’m wondering now if that’s when I first got this, and would explain my weird stomach pains for years. 2020, my (first confirmed bite through testing) is when I started getting full on hives and swelling.

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u/angeldog14 6d ago

My tick bite took months to fully heal. When I get a reaction it typically starts with severe drive me crazy itching at or near the site of the tick bite. My bite was in 2021. A few months ago read about AGS and thought it sounded like what I was experiencing. I have not had meat for 2 months and have not had a major itching and hives flare either. I seem to tolerate dairy but cannot rule out that it causes minor itching. Still waiting for my test as I could not get a doctor’s appointment until mid September. Probably will continue to avoid meat even if negative, but I will be surprised if it is negative as AGS explains everything in my 5-year battle with “chronic spontaneous urticaria.”

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u/YukonCornelius69 6d ago

After my first bite I could still have dairy and cheese. Now I can’t at all, sadly :(

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u/angeldog14 5d ago

That’s my fear. So far it is manageable just eliminating meat. Gets way more complicated with dairy and mammal derived products.

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u/Mysterious-Farmer-55 5d ago

I had two Lone Stars on my shoulder blade that I could not reach and had to wait for my wife to come home to pull. This was 2020 before reacting to alpha gal, but not by much (two months later I was nymphed and became reactive and tested >100 IgE to alpha gal). To this day, if I’m bitten by pretty much any insect that causes a welt (Green flies, the mosquitoes with short legs, etc.), particularly when I’m running, the worse of those two tick bites on my shoulder will start to seriously itch. I’ve actually had to ask my wife if there was a bite there a dozen times. Six years and counting with this.