You could be waking up at 3am with severe stomach pain, hives, or worse, and your doctor might have no idea why. In this episode of the Gut Check Project, Dr. Kenneth Brown and Eric Rieger break down one of the most under-diagnosed conditions in America: Alpha-Gal Syndrome (AGS), a red meat allergy triggered not by the meat itself, but by a single tick bite.
They're joined by Brian Allgaier, MD, a board-certified ER physician from East Texas who has AGS himself. He shares a firsthand account of how three tick bites quietly rewired his immune system and what happened the night his mother-in-law's beef stew sent him into the worst pain of his life.
If you spend any time outdoors east of the Rockies, this episode could change how you think about your gut symptoms forever.
Topics covered:
What alpha-gal syndrome actually is and why it's the only known sugar allergen. Why your blood type determines your risk (type B? You're probably safe). The Lone Star tick larvae you can't see that can still bite you. Why AGS is likely behind thousands of mystery GI cases going undiagnosed. Hidden sources of alpha-gal including porcine heart valves, Armour Thyroid, and pancreatic enzymes. Emerging treatments including acupuncture protocols and hyperbaric oxygen therapy. The shocking 12.8x increased risk of coronary artery disease linked to AGS.

Links:
https://nypost.com/2019/07/17/house-orders-pentagon-to-reveal-if-it-turned-ticks-into-biological-weapons/
https://open.spotify.com/episode/4f9iRFDkG3K0sWy3VFHkfS?si=S6MGpLixTL6_xfYOXa9V2Q&nd=1&dlsi=49dcec44be6842b9
https://academic.oup.com/ofid/article/12/8/ofaf430/8209804?login=false
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC8729907/
https://vetmed.illinois.edu/i-tick/wp-content/uploads/sites/69/2019/06/Steinke-et-al.-2015.pdf
https://www.ahajournals.org/doi/10.1161/ATVBAHA.121.316878