It started with pizza.
Jeff Hulsey, who grew up in Chandler and now lives in Choctaw, said he would eat pizza and then a few hours later, he would get severely sick. Then, he was sick for two weeks straight between Thanksgiving and Christmas. He had previously been diagnosed with GERD, but the medication wasn’t working.
His GI doctor put him through 40 different tests. It was then Hulsey got a call that flipped his life upside down.
“They called me and told me, ‘We have good news and bad news. Good news is, we know what you have. Bad news is, it’s alpha-gal syndrome.’ And I said, ‘I don’t know what that is.’ And then, that’s when they said, ‘Well you’re not able to eat mammals anymore,’” he said.
Alpha-gal syndrome is a relatively new food allergy to red meat and other food products derived from mammals, according to the Mayo Clinic. Symptoms range from mild to intense and reactions can be delayed for hours. It’s caused by a bite from the lone star tick.
The tick thrives in humid environments, and, according to researchers from Oklahoma State University in a recent report, has been spreading across the state with eastern red cedars. This includes Lincoln County.
“The eastern red cedar is a plague for many, many reasons, and that just adds to the list,” said Cody Linker with the Lincoln County OSU Extension Office.
He added that not only do the trees take up good grazing ground and usable land in the county, but wreak havoc on people with cedar pollen allergies. He encourages more people to cut down or burn red cedars.
“Because they harbor insects, they overshade the ground where forages don’t grow. I don’t know if there is a redeeming quality other than some folks going out there and cutting them down for Christmas trees,” he said.
Jacob Harriet, who is the game warden for Lincoln County and part of the Cross Timbers Prescribed Burn Association, said while cedars are definitely part of the problem, a lot of it is too many trees in general.
“This area, historically, the plains, we didn’t really have a lot of ticks. So ticks thrive in cool, moist environments, which is going to be like your leaf litter under your trees, cedar trees, or even oak trees,” he said. “And now we have so much timber land… we have a lot of habitat for ticks now, and it’s the perfect habitat.”
Both Linker and Harriet said that one of the best ways to manage cedars is to do prescribed burns. Harriet recommends doing them every two to four years. Not only does this cut down on wildfire risks, but it also decreases the tick population for a time. Cross Timbers works in all of Lincoln County, helping landowners safely carry out prescribed burns on their property. Dr. Theresa McKinzie, vet and owner of Lincoln County Animal Hospital, said she has yet to see alpha gal syndrome in a pet, though she has several clients diagnosed with it. She added that tick prevention is important in animals. “They transmit all kinds of diseases, and our pets (can) get the same diseases that people get,” she said. Her clinic screens every pet that comes through their doors for various tick-borne illnesses, and she said the best way to keep pets safe is regular tick coverage, whether it’s through oral chews or the new yearly shot. As for Hulsey, he highly recommends that everyone put on bug spray before going out into fields or woods, and take whatever precaution necessary to avoid tick bites. He’s been living with alpha-gal syndrome for two years and has been on a strict diet. No more beef, pork, lamb, or deer. Hulsey also learned that mammal protein is snuck into just about everything. Even white sugar -- it’s processed using bone char from mammal bones.
“So, I could drink a glass of sweet tea from a restaurant and then get sick afterwards,” he said.
Not to mention, over 90 percent of medications have some kind of mammal product in them, according to Hulsey’s pharmacist. Specifically, the antidote to snake venom has mammal products as well.
However, he credits his wife for helping him navigate his new life and finding food that he could eat. And there is a light at the end of the tunnel. Hulsey said the level of alpha-gal in the blood can go down to a more normal level after several years, which would allow a person to be around more mammal products. Some might even be able to eat red meat again.
Regardless, the diagnosis is still hard. He said many people with alpha gal battle depression, because all of a sudden, their favorite foods they’ve been eating their entire life have been taken away. This is why he hopes to continue raising awareness.
“I feel like if I’m going to have this, I’m going to try to do as much as I can to make sure that no one else gets it, or if they do, how to thrive with it,” he said.
“Just getting it out there and making sure people know what it is, know the symptoms so that they can go get tested, and also how to prevent it, which can be as easy as putting on bug spray.”