Red Meat Allergy From Tick Bites (Alpha-gal)

Excerpts from Prevention Magazine Article by Alisa Hrustic May 21, 2019

While not technically classified as a disease, a bite from a lone star tick can cause an allergic reaction to red meat. How? These critters transfer a sugar called alpha-gal into your system, which is found in red meat—like beef, pork, and lamb—but not in humans. Because the sugar travels through your blood, your immune system goes haywire and releases antibodies. Once you try to eat red meat again, your body pumps out histamine in reaction to the sugar, spurring an allergic reaction.

Symptoms: If you have the alpha-gal allergy, you will experience symptoms similar to other severe food allergies, like itching, swelling of the throat, lips, and tongue, weakness, nausea, vomiting, headaches, skin rash, and even passing out due to anaphylaxis (difficulty breathing). Unlike typical allergic reactions to food, which tend to be immediate, symptoms may take hours to appear, according to the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology (AAAAI).

How common it is: It’s hard to tell, since meat allergies themselves aren’t very common. However, one preliminary study presented at the 2018 AAAAI and World Allergy Organization Joint Congress found that 40 percent of 222 anaphylaxis cases had a definitive trigger—and the most common was alpha-gal.

Conclusion on what to do for tick born symptoms is by Dr. Demetrios Kydonieus, Chiropractic Nutritionist.

Nutritional therapy for tick bite diseases and the red meat allergy are based on supporting a normal healthy response of the immune system. This type of treatment is not a cure or a direct assault on the condition like medicine but works very well. In the current scientific research literature there are many studies that show a stronger response to “natural therapies” than conventional medical or drug based ones. Alpha-gal is an allergy most likely related to a weak immune system from leaky gut issues that has been going on way before the tick bite. This is compounded by generations of people eating processed, high sugar, low fiber, high inflammatory fatty (Omega-6) foods. As people eat more of these inflammatory and autoimmune triggering foods their genetics become “weakened” and they pass this onto successive generations (their children). Now weak children eat the same poor diets and they pass on even more weakened genes to their kids and this continues until the poor diet is stopped. So this is one theory as to why we are seeing more diseases and reactions to the environment (allergies) that we have not seen before in such high numbers. These “weak” people are more reactive to environmental stresses like tick bites and pollutants than their grandparents.

The good news is that this can be overcome with targeted nutritional support and knowledge of what you are sensitive to in the environment. Nutrition Response Testing is just one nutritional technique that can accurately help the body become stronger and more healthy, many times overcoming autoimmune and allergy challenges. My definition of Health is, “A normal functioning body(and all systems) with no lasting reactions from environmental challenges expressing itself in a vibrant and active manor for a lifetime.”

So if you are suffering from any tick born disease, like Lyme’s, Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever, Alpha-gal, etc. Nutrition Response Testing may be able to help you feel better by making you stronger enabling your body to use your innate immune responses to overcome your condition. We do not cure or treat any specific disease or condition but work to strengthen and normalize biochemical reactions within your body by restoring normal nerve function and physiology. We teach you how to become “healthier”.

Rosy Red Gluten-Free, Dairy-Free Pancakes!

A great tasting pancake either crepe style or “fluffy”!

2 cups gluten-free All-Purpose flour – I prefer rice based flours.
1 cup flax milk
1 cup water
4 eggs
1 tsp beet powder – adds the rich red color and a little sugar
1 tsp baking powder to make them rise or “fluffy”. Leave out to make a denser more crepe like pancake.

Mix and cook on medium heat in a frying pan using butter or coconut oil to keep from sticking. Cook each side 1-2 min.

Add fresh fruit as they cook or you can add it directly to the batter.

Bon Appetit!

Arizona May Add Chiropractic to Curb Opioid Crises

Medicaid recipients in Arizona may soon be able to see the chiropractor when care is ordered by a primary medical care doctor.

Introduced by Senator Heather Carter (R-Cave Creek), the new bill would allow patients on the Arizona Health Care Cost Containment System to get a prescription from their primary care physician(PCP) for 20 chiropractic visits per year, and more as needed if the PCP authorizes it with the chiropractor.

The concern so far is that people with chronic pain that are opiod recipents will need a lot of chiropractic adjusting to get them off the pain-killers and stable. Most new chiropractic patients start care out at two to three visits per week for a month or two and that would use up the initial 20 visits. Acute care can last a couple of months, tapering off steadily before a person can get into “wellness” or “maintenance” care at 1-2 x per month. This means many Medicaid recipients will need more than 20 annual visits to really get off the opioids and well, biomechanically speaking.

The bill is currently being reviewed by the House, and Representative Randy Friese (D-Tucson) told Arizona Central that the limitations are meant to safeguard the state’s first attempt at covering a new practice. If recipients are consistently meeting the imposed caps, they will consider removing the limits. Legislatures are considering both budget implications and how to best address the opioid crisis.

Many states currently offer chiropractic care, with about 30 states offering some form of coverage through their state Medicaid program, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. This bill adds options for both physicians and patients who experience chronic pain and want to improve their quality of life and not take addictive pain medication for life.

Nothing here in Virginia as far as getting Medicaid to pay for chiropractic yet. So let your state legislatures know call and email them, tell them what Arizona is doing and maybe we can get some movement here in the east with chiropractic for Medicaid recipients.

Dr. Demetrios Kydonieus, DC

Information from an article written by
Katherine Rushlau, CPT, is the editor of IntegrativePractitioner.com.

How to Avoid Catching the Flu

3 Things YOU Can Do to Avoid Catching the Flu

First you have to understand the Flu Vaccine has more risks and damage it will do to you than it does “prevention”. Don’t let the media campaigns wear you down into getting “stuck”. Don’t be pressured by your job or coworkers, tell them you “opt out”. I know plenty of pharmacists that NEVER take the vaccine for them or their family although they give it to hundreds as part of their “job”. (What a conflict, glad I don’t have that philosophical issue!). I have never had a Flu or Shingles vaccine and never will. My children were not vaccinated when they were born or in school back in the 90’s and are very healthy adults now. Not to mention they hardly missed any school due to illness. They were always healthy while all their vaccinated friends were out regularly in the cold and flu season!

So what can you do to strengthen your immune system and body to stay healthy?

Hydration is crucial. Bottled or filtered water, 48 to 64 oz per day depending on your size and activity level. Coffee, teas, even herbal tea are not hydration. Water, water, water…and nothing but water. Regular water is my favorite not enhanced vitamin water or alkaline water and definitely not reversed osmosis water. RO water and distilled waters have less of the organic minerals that you need. Alkaline water an mess up your digestion so don’t drink it with meal if you drink it, drink in 1 to 2 hours away from consuming any food. You need water to run all the chemical reactions in your body including your immune system.
Reduce stress, chill out take some needed “me time”. Warm baths with essential oils for relaxation and immune stimulation work well. I like Lavender, Peppermint, Oregano, Roman Chamomile, Orange, and Lemon oils. (Sounds like a soup base!) Myrrh and Frankincense work well too but can be expensive. Epsom salt and baking soda work when you have muscle or joint pain , 24 oz of Epsom salt and 8 oz of baking soda to regular sized bath tube of hot water. The baking soda is to help with water hardness, making the magnesium salts more absorbable.
Regular nervous system check-ups. Chiropractic and Nutrition Response Testing are the two best, most proven therapies to check for, find and fix nervous system irritation and organ weaknesses/nutritional deficiencies. Your nervous system controls everything! Every cell, every molecule gets its orders from through your nervous system. Chiropractors are specifically trained to find and remove physical nerve irritations called subluxations. Nutritional testing using the Nutrition Response Testing method based on kinesiological reflexes helps me find and support any tissue weakness returning it back to normal or health status. If your immune system is getting the messages through a nervous system that is subluxation-free and the nerves and organs are strong because you have the proper support and a good diet for you then you will most likely avoid the flu this and every season that you continue these healthy habits.

So see your chiropractor and Nutrition Response Doctor today. I of course use both these approaches in my office to help all my patients, young and old stay healthy and avoid the flu and all other adverse conditions as much as possible. Since I combined both health therapies, nutrition and chiropractic our results with wellness and people not having illnesses has dramatically improved. Call us for more information now. 434-481-2012.