Pork/Beef/Lamb, the lone star tick and Microscopic colitis?

[Beach]

I'm always playing with my diet, testing out different ideas to see if something helps with my microscopic colitis. The first success I had happened years ago when I began eating a paleo diet. From that diet I found considerable relief. It wasn't a cure but my symptoms became significantly less problematic. I suspect what happened is wheat, and other grains can be ruff on the colon, and by eliminating them I felt better. Along with less trips to the rest room, I gained energy, and put on weight, around 30lbs. (Weight lifting and a trainer standing over me saying "come on, you can do it, one more rep!" helped in this department. Oh, I probably could save good money if I bought a tape recorder with that phrase.)

Here of late, over the last few months off and on, I've been experimenting with avoiding different meats. At first, for a month, all I ate was fish. To my surprise I found my gut behaving even better. Many days I found myself well! I wasn't recovered but this is what I was looking for, other than not enjoying the taste of fish all that much. So wanting more variety in animal proteins, for the last month or two I've been playing with adding and now subtracting different meats. Through trial and error I possibly might have found I have a problem with pork. Hard to say for sure as these things take so much time, but it seems pork and pork gelatin cause me to have a sore throat, inflamed gums, and more importantly a grumpy upset stomach. I should add that time will tell for sure.

I mention all this because I ran across this video of a rare condition that can cause an allergy to meats. No mention about MC is made, but considering what I seem to be finding about myself thought this interesting. What happens is a bite from the lone star tick can cause a person for some reason to develop an allergy to some meats, beef, pork, and lamb. The reaction is not immediate, it happens around 3 hours after eating the meat. Doctors have found that once bitten by the tick, the symptoms seem to last for life.

The video explains best ~

"Lone Star tick causing meat allergies?"

http://video.foxnews.com/v/1703959741001/lone-star-tick-causing-meat-allergies-/

Thought to post the video incase anyone is looking for a personal experiment to conduct to see about possibly improving their IBD condition.

 

[David]

I read about that and was somewhat incredulous. They theorize it's from the tick but correlation doesn't necessarily make causation. "90% of the people have been bitten by the tick". Well, yeah, but 90% of people in those states have been bitten by the tick and haven't gotten the issue. Tick bites are EXTREMELY common there. Of course, it very well could be due to the tick bite as well and of course not everyone has Lyme Disease so my argument may be lacking It'll be interesting to see how it pans out. My bet is on something tainting the feed supply of the animals that changes the meat in a manner that creates an allergy.

I've found that I'm definitely unable to tolerate chicken. I can't do chicken eggs as well. I've theorized pork but I'm thinking it was more the marinade as some pork doesn't cause me issues but others does.

So frustrating.

 

[Beach]

Yeah, it really is frustrating trying to figure this out. I'm having some success, but getting a handle on why drives me nuts. It's just a slow testing process teasing this out.

I guess I should add also that I too am staying away from chicken and eggs. There are times where I've thought I've had issues with those also. Now I'm thinking, well I typically would dice up ham and add it to eggs. Maybe it was the ham causing the problem. Time will tell. Figure 3 months or longer avoiding pork should give an answer. It will be tough to do, but I need to get it done for me.

And after a few days of avoiding pork the gums are now less swollen, which is good, I have a dentist appointment on Tuesday. I'd never hear the end of it from the dental hygienist otherwise.

 

[Lisa1878]

Just wondering...can allergy testing determine what you're allergic to for certain? I was about to try a juicing fast and then gradually add back in various foods but my Doctor did offer to send me to an allergist when I told her I felt like everything I ate made me sick.
Sorry if this is a dumb question...I'm new here.
Lisa

 

[Beach]

I know what you mean about everything making you feel sick. As I like joke, when asked what I'm allergic to will often mention - food.

There is the skin scratch test. When I saw the allergist this is the test given to me. I've had that done twice. The first time showed I was allergic to peanuts. The second time came back negative for peanuts surprisingly, but slightly positive for wheat and corn, if I remember correctly. From what I've read, the accuracy of the scratch test isn't all that great. I recall asking one of the allergy doctors if there were other tests that could be more reliable. There are other tests he mentioned, but he didn't feel comfortable arranging them as he didn't feel they were proven for one reason or another.

 

[David]

It's not the complete answer, but I definitely think it can help. HOWEVER, I would suggest an allergy test that utilizes stool as the substrate.

 

[Beach]

I didn't recognize the companies name of Entrolabs, but remember Dr. Fine. I arranged for that test many years ago. That is one of the nice things about the test, being able to order it on your own I recall. That was the first time I had done that, arrange a test outside of a hospital.

From what I remember, the test results came back saying I was likely a celiac. That wasn't the case though as I had several other tests come back negative for celiac. I see on the Entro sight today is the mention of wheat sensitivity. That is what I am, sensitive to wheat. It took me awhile to come around to that conclusion, but avoiding wheat has helped the gut greatly.

I remember the other mention made in the finding report was that I have a leaky gut. I know what Dr. Fine meant by that mention, but jokingly recall thinking, thanks for the tip! :rof:

 

[David]

I was reading about this some more. I was probably wrong, it seems the data is pretty sound. Crazy stuff!

 

[Beach]

Interesting - I guess this places another twist into possibilities for the condition.

As for staying away from some meats, I'm doing well avoiding pork (along with some other suspect foods). A rash that pork seems to cause me is now nearly gone. Not the easiest avoidance to do since gelatin is often made from pork, but I'm now excited to see how the gut is going to be by the end of August on this latest diet experiment.