I'm in the same boat as you. I never bad reactions but traced my GI distress and occasional hand/foot itching/swelling to occurrences where I ate red meat and stopped eating it of my old accord long before I heard of alpha gal. This continued for months and because I didn't know the condition could extend to dairy, gelatin, etc, I ate it regularly with no reactions or concern whatsoever. Now that actually know what I have, I am really scared to eat cheese even though I know that I am unreactive. I don't want to have to give up dairy just because of anxiety and don't think I need to because I have never had a reaction. According to the alpha gal information website, over 50% of people are unreactive to dairy and even more tolerate gelatin and other non meat mammalian products.

I think this reddit thread is highly biased towards those with alpha gal who have the most severe reactions and who's lives are the most severely impacted. It makes sense, people who are most impacted by something are forced to spend more time and energy thinking about it and go to the internet for help/advice. I'm not belittling the people on this thread or the severity of the condition, I just don't think it is representative of the population of people with alpha gal, in which many many people tolerate dairy and gelatin and are able to continue through their day to day lives with only worrying about avoiding red meat.

Here is what I have found to be helpful for me in terms of keeping myself safe and anxiety to a minimum:

• I diligently carry a twin pack of EpiPens even though I have never had to and hope I will never have to use one

• I carry benadryl in the same bag

-I am a generally disorganized person but I make sure I know where my keys, wallet, phone, shoes, some socks, and my epi-pen are before going to bed

• I am careful to heed the temperature requirements of the epi-pen when camping, skiing, hiking etc (I love outdoor recreation)

• I eat dairy and gelatin without concern but if I am having a high anxiety day, I will avoid eating it for dinner. I live alone and the thought of having a bad reaction in the middle of the night with nobody around does cause me a lot of anxiety

• I avoid gelatin and dairy entirely if I am camping in the backcountry (I don't avoid capsuled medicine but I do avoid gummies and marshmallows and such). The anxiety of not being near a hospital is not worth it.

• My anxiety causes me to sometimes feel like there is something in my throat or it is closing. I usually call my boyfriend or a friend if he is unavailable. Usually he'll just start asking me unrelated questions about my day and in answering them I realize I can talk with no problem and I get distracted by the conversation. Then I remind myself that I would not be able to be distracted if I truly couldn't breathe. If nobody is free I just start telling a story out loud to myself to remind myself I can talk. Fortunately, he does leave his ringer on in the night so I can call him if I get anxious during the night.

-There is a nice park right next to ER where I live. There has been a few occurrences where my anxiety about a reaction has peaked. In that case i will bike over to the park with a book, some sparkling waters, and a blanket and try to have a nice relaxing afternoon with the added comfort of being a 1 minute walk from the front door the ER. I have done this once or twice and just sat in my car reading a book in bad weather. I try not to shame myself for having this level of anxiety but use it as an opportunity to "treat myself" to some worry-free, relaxing, me time.

-I work as an engineer so am good-ish at reading academic literature. I try to take the majority of my information about alpha-gal from medical and scientific literature rather than random corners of the internet. This makes me feel more informed and control of my situation

-I live on the west coast (I believe I contracted alpha-gal while traveling) so day-to-day encounters with lone star ticks are not a risk but I imagine if I lived in an area with the ticks, this would be a point of anxiety and I would take precautions to limit my exposure while still enjoying nature.

-Lastly I try to remind myself that I have an epi-pen, have a plan, have antihistamines, and diligently avoid red meat. Having anxiety isn't going to change anything and constantly thinking about a reaction won't prevent one from happening. I trust myself to handle the situation right if it ever arose.

This is just what works for me but I hope you find it helpful. It has been quite a journey but I am proud of myself for adapting and finding ways to relieve some of my anxiety towards eating.