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When Hope Returns After Alpha-gal
Alpha-gal can take away far more than food. Through one family's eight-year search for answers and my experiences caring for others with this condition, this story explores fear, belonging, innovation, and what can happen when hope returns.
Story Overview
I am a naturopathic doctor and acupuncturist caring for patients with alpha-gal syndrome and other complex conditions. My work has shown me that this tick-associated illness affects far more than diet: patients describe fear, hypervigilance, isolation, and lives increasingly organized around avoiding reactions. One family's story captures this hidden burden—and the hope they experienced after pursuing Soliman Auricular Allergy Treatment (SAAT). Their experience, alongside themes I hear from other patients, has strengthened my belief that lived experience deserves attention and that promising clinical observations should inspire both hope and rigorous research.
Target Audience
I want to reach people living with alpha-gal syndrome and the families who may feel they have run out of options, while also reaching clinicians and researchers positioned to move the field forward. I want patients to hear hope—and the scientific community to hear a question worth investigating.
Priority
My priority is expanding meaningful options for people living with alpha-gal syndrome and other tick-associated conditions through greater awareness, patient-centered innovation, and rigorous research. Patients are often told to avoid triggers and hope the condition improves, yet avoidance itself can profoundly affect childhood, family life, travel, social connection, medications, nutrition, and emotional well-being.
When patients report meaningful improvement with emerging approaches such as SAAT, those experiences should neither be dismissed nor accepted uncritically. They should generate questions. By listening to patients and systematically studying promising clinical observations, we may discover better ways to reduce both the physical and human burden.
I too had Alpha-Gal for 8 years, and the freedom I'm experiencing from Dr. Sarah's SAAT treatment is nothing short of a miracle. I'm able to eat anything I want now, but my mind is still adjusting. Truly worth doing!
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Seven years of Alpha Gal before my wife found an article about SAAT and I found Dr. Sarah. Have to admit I was a skeptic (old man thing?). Agree - Dr. Sarah's SAAT treatment is miraculous. One round, ended 8/12/26, and I've migrated from 2 slices of well-done steak, through 4 slices medium-rare, to enjoying a McDonald's 1/4-er pounder with cheese in just 3 weeks.
Truly amazing!
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I am a Lyme, Bartonella, Babesia, plus patient...as well as Alpha Gal. AGS didn't effect me until after I had Covid for the first time. I've had 3 rounds of SAAT Acupuncture, which have helped tremendously.
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We definitely need more research into treatments for alpha-gal, especially SAAT which I've also heard stories of success from. Would be great if it were more common knowledge among the medical community. Thank you for sharing, Sarah.
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Respectable work and successful treatment of this case. Alpha-gal has been a debilitating condition for many of the reasons you've laid out, beyond the physiological allergic responses. I love how you framed this case as one that generates questions and offers a unique modality for practitioners and researchers to study further, while also providing hope for individuals with this condition. Great work Dr. Sarah Giardenelli!
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“It wasn’t about steak.”
That was the line for me.
It was about a kid getting to feel normal for a minute. Sitting down, eating with her family, not having food be another source of fear, restriction, or pain.
And I like that you didn’t overstate the SAAT piece. You told the story for what it is: something changed, it mattered, and it deserves a closer look.
That’s where patient stories are so valuable, not because one story gives us the answer, but because sometimes one story gives us the right question.
Really loved this one.
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Sarah, You’re so right- that fear, constant vigilance, and isolation can become part of daily life, yet those burdens are so often invisible to others.
Thank you for listening closely enough to your patients to bring the hidden parts of these illnesses forward. Your work with complex cases gives you a clear view of why change and better research are so urgent, thank you so much for your dedication to healing & your advocacy in this space. 💚
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Thank you for bringing this to forefront of the discussion. I am also a Naturopathic Doctor navigating the complexities of tick borne illness and we desperately need more research on not only Lyme Disease, but also the co-conditions and co-infections! Your story is important and so is your ambition to take this on and help these patients. I support you and I know the other NDs all do too!
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Thank you for ALL of your work and advocacy in the arena of Alpha-gal! The complexity of this disease is growing exponentially as we learn more, and the impacts so much greater than just food avoidance. It is so great to see practitioners advocating so strongly for patients. Thank YOU.
Though my family has not been impacted by Alpha-gal...we can relate to the "fear, hypervigilance, isolation, and lives increasingly organized around food avoidance" as we navigated restrictive diets to avoid pain, nausea, vomiting, inflammation, and mast cell activation, caused by foods as we were healing from Lyme and other tick-borne diseases. These restrictions impacted every aspect of our lives with travel, family gatherings, and social interactions, especially for our school aged children at the time. I can not imagine adding the fear of anaphylaxis to an unforeseen contamination of food. Thank you for elevating these issues through your work and advocacy.
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Thank you for sharing KJ's story. Your point that alpha-gal takes away belonging and spontaneity, not just food, was moving, and I agree that careful research is needed to understand what helps.
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