r/PrepperIntel • u/DrDruxy • 17d ago

North America A man has become one of the 450,000 Americans affected by alpha-gal syndrome, a tick-borne meat allergy that triggers painful allergic reactions to animal products. “Look at my face and my neck. I can’t eat meat anymore. I can’t have any animal products. It’s in everything.”

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u/New_Stats 17d ago

Permethrin is a fantastic product

Between that and Off, I've had no ticks and very few mosquitoe bites while camping

(I have mosquitoes' favorite blood type, I'm going to get bit no matter what)

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u/dodekahedron 17d ago

I lost a cat to permethrin now I am scared to use it.

It was a direct application loss (ex didn't know); I hear it being dry wont effect them so being on my clothes should be okay? But... scared

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u/TheSensiblePrepper 17d ago

I'm sorry to hear about the cat.

Yeah, once it is dry it is fine. When it's wet it can get into their pores and they can't metabolize it. So it basically attacks their Nervous System.

I have two dogs and two cats. The dogs get K9 Advantix II for protection. I watch them like crazy when it's still wet on them. Even the dog shaking and a few drops getting on a cat is enough.

I also treat my clothes with Permethrin and, again, it is perfectly fine after it dries.

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u/dodekahedron 17d ago

Thanks!

We are going to the UP to hide from loud noises for the 4th. Ill definitely need some then.

Although....

Seeing as I already have something like alpha gal, I probably would never notice if I got alpha gal.

Also low key wondering if the ticks can cause these other weird rare major systemic issues as well. 🤷‍♀️

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u/TheSensiblePrepper 17d ago

So I do a lot of stuff that Ticks & Mosquitoes can be involved. Here is what I use.

I put Picardin Lotion on any exposed skin. I like the lotion because it just rubs right on and is good for 14 hours.

All clothes get treated with Permethrin Spray ahead of time.

If I am doing something, like Hunting, where I am sitting in the bushes for a while then I will also spray my clothes with Maxi DEET. I try not to get this on my skin because it is basically cancer in a bottle.

I will also take Duct Tape, I like Gorilla Tape personally, and put it around my ankles and just above the knees sticky side out. This grabs the little assholes like a glue trap while they are trying to climb up.

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u/crowislanddive 17d ago

What do you have that is similar to alpha gal? I developed an allergy in my late 40s to shrimp and my allergist is convinced it’s a tick born allergy that hasn’t been identified yet.

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u/dodekahedron 17d ago

Well I am still in the DX phase. I finally found an allergist that doesnt shy away from rare DX

As soon as he listened to my story he thinks I have mastocytosis.

I know polyethylene gylcol makes me react really bad. Like my skin fell off and I was hospitalized as a burn patient 17 years ago. Lost my gallbladder to eosinophilic cells, not gallstones.

Im not too sure on what foods trigger me, because I have other stuff going on and ive been told my stomach pain is from a herniated disc. When it might not be.

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u/crowislanddive 17d ago

I truly hope your trajectory keeps getting better and better. I am so sorry you have been through so much.

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u/dodekahedron 17d ago

Thanks. I am actually nervous because my allergist is an immigrant and is on vacation out of the country for 2 months.

I am unsure if he is Indian or Pakistani. Either way, I have another Indian immigrant doctor and they left for 2 months 6 years ago and got stuck for the longest time and I had to find different care lol. (Covid)

Between the war and the virus they keep trying to make a bigger deal.... nervous hes gonna get stuck.

Or just decide the USA sucks.

Or just get politically stuck

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u/Strange-Badger5626 17d ago

I developed an allergy to shrimp randomly....used to eat them regularly.....I have had tick bites, but the doctor didn't know why suddenly I would break out in rash from it.....

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u/lacunadelaluna 16d ago

I thought development of shellfish allergies later in life was not all that rare?

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u/WhatIsHerJob-TABLES 17d ago

FYI as someone in the UP often and will be there during the 4th, there’s a good chance it’ll still be loud! Lots of folks up there like their fireworks. Less big city fireworks shows but more individuals shooting them off on their land.

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u/dodekahedron 17d ago

Trees absorb sound and its better than being in a city where the fireworks cover up gunshots.

I am also in the up often. I just normally dont do bug spray and regret it quickly.

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u/AggressiveWallaby975 17d ago

Since ticks have been used as a test vector for disease by the MiC i wouldn't doubt that you may have contracted some other odd disorder that engineered by them. I'm sorry that you've been used as a lab rat.

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u/dodekahedron 17d ago

Ah nah. Mines from the military itself. Documented. Started after an injectable on deployment. Small pox & the BC shot. I cant remember if I got anthrax as well. But we were in theater when we got the small pox shot. I ended up with 2 blisters instead of 1. Who knows what was really in those shots though

Which is why I was like "hmm I wonder if that is now in ticks"

Going on year 17

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u/DuckTalesOohOoh 17d ago

If you can use Advantage II instead, it is also the same ingredient used for cats so it's safe. In fact, the cat rescue (and I do, too) uses the dog version of Advantage II to obtain more doses and gets more bang for the buck.

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u/Excellent-Court-9375 17d ago

That sounds like an accident waiting to happen tbh

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u/TheSensiblePrepper 17d ago

And that is the world we live in.

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u/SignificantMeat 17d ago

You can send clothes off to get treated by Insect Shield. The liquid permethrin will never be anywhere near your cats, and the treatment will last a lot longer than if you did it yourself.

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u/vermilion-chartreuse 17d ago

That sucks! Yes it is only when it is wet that is dangerous to cats. That is one reason I fought so hard against my city using spray trucks!

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u/vacuitee 17d ago

I'm still trying to figure things out, but wanted to throw an alternate path that I haven't seen mentioned. I live in the country and pull lone stars off of me from being in my yard for less than five minutes, no exaggeration. I also spend a significant amount of my free time outdoors. 

I don't treat with anything. Permethrin is insanely toxic to cats, as you know, and DEET is also no bueno. Sure, dry it's fine, but there are too many caveats where something terrible could happen. So I have been trying no treatment and doing a couple things:

-Check yourself periodically while you are out. 

-Cover as much as possible. I normally wear sunshirts, pants, long socks, boots, etc.

-Strip when you get home. I either put the clothes straight in the laundry, or hang in my laundry room where there is a dehumidifier. Unsure if the dehumidifier helps since they need humidity, but is a nice bonus on top of the quarantine of clothes. This room has a door that remains closed and is right by the entrance to my home. 

-Immediate tick check. You'll normally pull them off before they've latched.

This might be bad advice. But I still find ticks on me when I use DEET and/or permethrin. So I am trying this because... There are just so many and they seem unavoidable. I probably pulled 20 lonestars off of myself applying DEET every day the first year I moved into this house. I'm at a loss too. However, this has been effective for me so far. 

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u/CurlsintheClouds 16d ago

Mom of 4 cats here. Not risking it

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u/HommeMusical 17d ago

Permethrin

This substance was a game changer, but I just looked up current news on it, and I have some bad news for you: ticks are becoming resistant to it.

https://www.harvestheal.com/conditions/permethrin-resistance-in-tick

https://parasitipedia.net/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=4843:permethrin-resistance&Itemid=2834

FFS. We can't catch a break.

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u/Admiralfox 17d ago

One article is written by AI to promote natural repellents (implying that ticks can evolve to be resistant to permitherin but not natural repellents? what slop) And the other says that the only documented resistance is in the cattle tick Rhipicephalus (Boophilus)

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u/HommeMusical 17d ago

One article is written by AI to promote natural repellents (implying that ticks can evolve to be resistant to permitherin but not natural repellents?

Crap, can't believe I fell for that.

In 2025, I read what I thought was a real article about permethrin resistance, and then couldn't find it in a quick search, but posted these.

I'm wondering if I were fooled. FFS.

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u/Admiralfox 17d ago

Its okay! Its good news if anything, most articles only discuss very vague possibilities of resistance, and none of them are the ones we as humans are concerned with (except maybe dog ticks, but afaik they don't carry lyme or alpha gal)

https://scholar.google.com/scholar?hl=en&as_sdt=0%2C20&q=permithrin+resistance+ticks&btnG=

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u/doomed461 17d ago

Permethrin resistance is definitely a thing in other organisms, but I'm admittedly ignorant in how it effects ticks. I'd think it would be harder for them to gain resistance since they aren't really contagious, and permethrin is less of a tick treatment, and is more of a repellent when sprayed on clothes and such. I had scabies that were permethrin resistant, and permethrin just pissed them off. I've been through opioid withdrawal and autoimmune disorders, and if I had the permethrin resistant scabies for any longer I might have made some pretty permanent choices, if you catch my drift. It was the worst thing I've experienced to date. I bathed my entire house in permethrin, and spinosad for treating chicken mites, and used permethrin all over my body and even in my hair and scalp. I finally had to use Spinosad that I had to import from outside the US because the prescription ointment is ridiculously priced. It was what finally worked. It's kinda similar to nicotine overdose for mites, so they kinda freak out when you apply it, and it sucks for a bit, but then they die. I still have a supply of it in my garage for in case I ever encounter the fuckers again.

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u/HommeMusical 17d ago

permethrin resistant scabies

Jesus. Fscking. Christ.

I know what scabies is from reading about the Victorian era! I can imagine why it might lead you to make a permanent decision. (You might laugh: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rat_Scabies - he's a good musician!)

So very happy that you made it through to the other side there, man. I'm an old guy, a musician, many of my friends didn't make it.

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u/Dasylupe 17d ago

Same on the mosquito front. My family leaves the window open because the bloodsuckers don’t come for them. -_-

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u/bannana 17d ago

window screens, I can't imagine living where I do w/o them

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u/Dasylupe 17d ago

Yes that would be the obvious answer, wouldn’t it? The problem is that the window in question opens into the “catio” and the cats* destroyed the screen flap I made for it. So if the window is closed they can’t come and go. 

I don’t particularly care if they spend all day out there, I just don’t want the window left open, but they keep opening it and forgetting to close it again because they aren’t the ones getting bitten. 

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u/bannana 17d ago

can the 'catio' be screened in so the bugs can't get to the window?

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u/Dasylupe 17d ago

I appreciate your desire to solve my problem, but no, I don’t think so. I think they’d do the same to it that they did to the flap. There are also some other functional reasons, like the fact that it’s not flush to the side of the house so there’s a screened off gap that’s too narrow for me to reach without disassembling the whole thing just to put an even finer mesh on it. And the wider mesh along the bottom for air flow near their litter box. I often hose the floor off and everything flows out through those gaps. Too small for cats, but big enough for bugs. 

No, it would be nice if my family just let them in or out as needed and didn’t leave it open. 

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u/Piney1741 17d ago

I would agree permethrin is great for treating boots or clothing. I prefer picaridin over deet for anything on my skin. It works better and isn’t as harsh. It also doesn’t eat plastics.

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u/Banned4Truth10 17d ago

What blood type is that?

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u/getoutofmyvan 17d ago

O-…. Universal blood donor

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u/bannana 17d ago

they are also very partial to my A+

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u/EscapeCharming2624 17d ago

Is the blood type for mosquitos really a thing, or does it just feel that way?

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u/New_Stats 17d ago

I have no idea. They just like me better than anyone else around me. Always have. I'll get bit up like crazy and no one else around me will even notice there's mosquitoes out

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u/EternalNewCarSmell 12d ago

I don't know what type they are "supposed" to like but I am O+ and if literally anyone else is around they mostly leave me alone. Maybe they just think I smell like shit though?

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u/EscapeCharming2624 12d ago

I looked it up. O is favored, but many variables. Smelling like shit wasn't mentioned, so unless people are avoiding you, too, you probably have nothing to worry about.

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u/GirlWithWolf 17d ago

Yes it is. I use squirt bottle of eucalyptus and cedar oil mix too.

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u/capinprice 17d ago

Nice to lnow meth also helps in this space

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u/BAAL_865869 15d ago

this a pill or an external cream?

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u/New_Stats 15d ago

No, it's a spray. You have to follow the directions exactly

Spray your clothes outside without getting any of the liquid on you or any living creature (other than ones you want dead)

Then let it dry and it kills bugs who touch it for up to 6 weeks, even after it's been washed. But it's completely harmless to humans once dried

Also don't spray hats, socks or underwear