THE TICK BITE THAT CHANGED THE MENU
“How do you like your burger? Cheese or No cheese? Hold the pickles? How bout, hold the meat?
You’ve heard of so many food allergies. Peanuts, shellfish, wheat, milk, eggs, coconut, soy, beef. Yes that’s right, BEEF!!!
Being terribly allergic to beef, pork, and other forms of hoofed/mammal meat is actually a real thing. And it has changed our food life completely.
A few summers back (2013) we were at a Fourth of July party at our friends house here in Kansas. The fireworks were poppin the grill was going. Hamburgers, hot dogs, everything you’d expect from a good Fourth of July party. Later that night, after the party, Jared was jolted awake by a sudden feeling of heat around his chest, neck and head. He was beet red (Almost purple!). It didn’t take long for him to start having trouble breathing. He was having a full on anaphylactic reaction! We rushed him to the ER. The doctors had no idea what was going on except he must of had an allergic reaction to something. A few weeks later the exact same thing happened in the middle of the night. Following a grill out gathering with friends. Again, we rushed him to the ER. Still no idea what caused it. The doctors all said, if it was a food allergy the reaction would normally start quite rapidly after eating the food. These reactions were starting around 4 hours after eating. Crazy!
We talked about doing allergy testing next to see what might be causing it, but first we had to check with our good friend Dr Google. After doing a full Google investigation, Jared came out with a solid lead. He found that people in Virginia were developing a similar allergy out of nowhere. These people were infected through a tick bite. Jared had a tick bite that didn’t heal up quickly from a fishing trip early in the summer. That particular bite had left a red mark on his leg for weeks. Reading more into it, the people in Virginia were bitten by a certain tick. This tick was called the Lone Star Tick. Getting its name from a single white spot on its back. After doing the detective work to put the puzzle pieces together we were fairly certain this was what Jared had. It was weird at first because there really weren’t very many if any documented cases in Kansas at the time. And we never talked to anyone who had this happen to them or someone they knew. There have been a few scares over the years that needed a little Epipen help, but for the most part we have learned what he should stay away from.
Now there is a growing number of people who have been affected by the Lone Star Tick. We have even heard of people who are friends, or acquaintances who are dealing with it.
Remember to check for ticks and wear that bug spray this summer!
Check out these articles to learn more about this crazy thing that rocked our culinary world:
http://www.kansascity.com/living/health-fitness/article158840524.html
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=51XPQGGEQTk