Enough of my soapbox speech on why you should find a licensed acupuncturist first (If you haven’t read Part 1, read it HERE!). 

What if you have alpha-gal (AGS)? AGS is an increasingly common tick-borne allergy to the sugar molecule alpha-gal found in most mammals, which can cause a myriad of symptoms, including, but not limited to: delayed reactions (hours after eating) to red meat (beef, pork, lamb) and dairy, with symptoms from hives to breathing and digestive issues. Source: Mayo Clinic

The News Enterprise: Tick-borne red meat allergy sees increased presence

You might want a treatment that works, is quick, and you want it as cheap as possible. You may have to pick which one is more important to you. You may not have a choice due to where you live and how far you can travel—I get it! I’ve seen thousands of patients with alpha-gal. 

Here are some of my observations.

There is not much of a correlation between the severity of symptoms and your IgE levels with alpha-gal. There is a high degree of correlation between the severity of symptoms and your general health level. Many who come to me as new patients who rate their health as “good” are on 3-5 prescription medications for a chronic health condition. Why is that?

Let that sink in—we have been conditioned to think we are in good health when we have to take pills daily to keep a disease from progressing…

• If you have to take daily heartburn medication, is your digestion “good”?

• If you have to take daily blood pressure or cholesterol medication, is your cardiovascular health  “good”?

• If you have to take a daily anxiety medication, is your mental health “good”?

These are signs of a system out of balance!

We can do SAAT to help calm the allergies, but we may have to come back and fix the underlying issues requiring daily medication to really bring your body back into health, to keep the allergies away. 

For example, 

• If you have a chronic autoimmune condition, we probably will need to address that for SAAT to fully work.

• If you have had a concussion or whiplash injury ever in your life, we may need to address lingering damage from that to allow SAAT to fully work. There is a direct correlation between the health of the Autonomic Nervous System and allergies. 100% of my difficult allergy cases so far include a history of concussion as part of the picture!

No matter what treatment approach you decide to use, SAAT, NAET, electroacupuncture, whatever—be mindful that you may need to focus on improving your overall health to fully resolve your allergies, or be prepared for periodic re-treatment when your body falls out of balance (which is more likely when there are other health issues). If the damage to your body is substantial, you may not be able to get back to exactly where you can stay in balance without support, be that possibly periodic acupuncture, herbs, or prescription medications.

I will add that since 2021, the treatment of allergies has become more complex and less predictable. SAAT used to be a treatment we could do once, and with a high degree of confidence that we wouldn’t have to repeat it. In the post-COVID era, my degree of confidence is not as high. It seems now easier for allergies to be re-triggered. 

On social media, more patients report that SAAT isn’t working for them or they feel worse. I don’t know the providers involved in many cases, so it’s hard to know if SAAT isn’t working or if the provider is doing a variation of what Dr. Soliman teaches, or something else. From conversations with patients who have seen other certified providers without success, many times what they describe the other provider doing is not SAAT—so is it SAAT that isn’t working, or the providers adding their own twists or eliminating what they feel are “unnecessary” steps from what they were taught? It’s impossible to know. And for patients, it means that even looking for a certified provider doesn’t mean that they will be treated with SAAT. From my personal experience, the few patients who appeared to be worse after SAAT had other health issues complicating the picture, and when they complete a course of treatment to resolve those issues, SAAT will then work. 

So what should you do? Each person needs to make their own choice, but my advice is to research your prospective provider, ask questions, and find someone you feel comfortable with. 

They should be able to explain why they are doing what they are doing. 

Talk to other people who have been treated. 

And be prepared to wait—there is likely a reason a provider has a waitlist.  For those of you on my waitlist, I do hope you take advantage of our Pre-Treatment Screening to start on your own personalized recommendation of herbs, nutrition, and self-care with acupressure to start the healing process as soon as possible. My hope is that by implementing this process, patients will get relief sooner, those with mild conditions may resolve entirely even before acupuncture, and everyone who comes through our practice will be healthier and happier. That is our goal, that is why we are here.

Yours in Health, 

Jenny-Marie Greenough, LAc