I have a rare disease/allergy that wasnt even listed anywhere here. It's called alpha-gal allergy. I was bit by a tick and it made me allergic to all mammal meat and byproducts. It's a fatal food allergy but it goes beyond food. I have to be careful of every product I use on my skin, cross contamination, medications and even fumes of meat cooking. Mammal is in everything and has forced me to change my way of life. Dairy also comes from a mammal so I have to avoid that too. I live in Illinois where this disease isnt very well known. I am all of my several doctors very first patient and they have no idea what my disease is, how to treat it, and the severity of it. From all the times they've accidentally given me mammal after my diagnosis I should be dead. By a miracle my body is very resilient, but it doesn't mean they haven't made me very sick. I was bitten in Arkansas and went undiagnosed for 5 years until I was in the er every week and my internal organs were all inflamed and causing chaos. I also have type one diabetes and may be one of the very first few people to have tyle 1 diabetes and alpha-gal. I am the first patient at my hospital and was in the top 5 first to go to mayo hospital. Many doctors and medical staff dont believe in fume reactions. But inhaling the fumes can very well send me into aniphilaxis and kill me. There is not enough awareness about this disease and I'm on a mission to spread as much awareness as possible. I've submitted a story in hope's of helping people to understand how this affects every aspect of someone's life. And I'm hoping that alpha-gal allergy can be added to the list of diseases on here. #alphagal #alphagalallergy #redmeatallergy #rarefoodallergy #tickssuck #thisisnotlyme #makeitknown #spreadawareness #alphagalwarrior