Profile: Author John Grisham’s Allergy Mystery
He’s known for his bestselling novels and the hit films they inspired: The Firm, A Time to Kill, The Pelican Brief, The Client, to name a few. His dashing protagonists unlock secrets, ferret out corruption, and bring culprits to justice. But 10 years ago author John Grisham found himself caught in his own personal thriller, this one a frightening medical mystery.
Something was causing him to experience unnerving allergic reactions, sometimes in the middle of the night. His skin felt “on fire” with welts that would swell and itch – but what was behind the outbreaks? And how to stop them?
After consulting a physician and keeping a log of every morsel he ate for months, Grisham uncovered the bizarre cause of his misery: red meat (beef, pork and other mammals’ meat). What he didn’t know at the time was that the allergy is linked to tick bites. And Virginia, where Grisham’s family lives on a farm, is tick central.
In fact, University of Virginia researchers were among the first to document the tick-meat allergy connection, in part because renowned UVA allergist Dr. Thomas Platts-Mills himself developed meat allergy after being bitten by ticks.
What makes the allergy particularly confounding to track is that it causes delayed reactions, often over four hours after eating meat.
Despite his busy schedule of writing, speaking, and supporting good causes, Grisham manages to keep his allergy in check both at home (in Virginia and Mississippi) and on the road.
He has three new books being released in 2012, including a baseball novel, Calico Joe, and the third installment in his young adult series, featuring “kid lawyer” Theodore Boone (who happens to have asthma), but the author still found time to sit down in his Charlottesville, Virginia office with Allergic Living contributor Mary Esselman.
With good humor and frequent reference to his meticulous log notes, Grisham discussed his bedeviling allergy.
On the beginning of his odd allergy.
“The first [reaction] was in June of 2002. I noticed some rashes on my ankles. I remember thinking, ‘This is weird, both ankles.’” [He didn’t think it was a big deal.]
“Then in July 2002, I went with my wife to an annual garden club dinner, and she had prepared these huge beef tenderloins that I had grilled. And while I was cooking, I was shaving some off to sample. By the time we got to the garden club party, my ears were really, really itching. I got my wife and said, ‘Renee, something’s going on.’
There was a doctor there, and he gave me an antihistamine. My skin was on fire.
So we got in the car, and I was so desperate I stripped down, took off all my clothes but my boxer shorts, and I had all the air [conditioning vents] blowing on me, and you could just see the welts. The skin was just welting up. It almost made me nauseated just watching my skin.”
[He wrote down in the food log his doctor advised him to keep that it was beef. The penny began to drop.] “It was always beef.”
Next Page: ‘I woke up and thought I was going to die’
kristyreal
It’s unfortunate that the most unusual feature of Mr. Grisham’s red meat allergy went unmentioned. He is actually having a delayed allergic reaction to the SUGAR MOLECULES in red meat. This is the first widely documented allergy that is not triggered by a protein. This fact is very important to corn allergy sufferers simply because our allergists still want to insist that we can’t possibly be reacting to cornstarch or other derivatives that are thought to contain no corn protein. Even now that this tick bite induced sugar molecule allergy is well-known, most allergists still refuse to treat corn allergy sufferers based on our reaction experiences and instead cling to the old notion that without a protein, there can be no reaction. This antiquated notion has permeated the food manufacturing industry so well that companies often hide behind the “no corn protein present” party line when questioned about corn derivatives. This bit of misinformation is also the driving force that prevents many people from getting a correct diagnosis when corn allergy is involved. What is a person to do when the allergist designs a food challenge in which both the placebo and the challenge capsules contain corn derivatives? Obviously, his only recourse is to label the reactions as psychosomatic because his patient reacted to both…..
Gwen Smith
Kristy, Thanks for the comment. FYI, the link to Allergic Living’s full article on red meat allergy is provided.
It includes the para, “But Platts-Mills suspects that tiny fat globules coated in the offending sugar travel from the small intestine into the bloodstream though the lymphatic duct hours after the patient eats that juicy steak. In the bloodstream, they meet up with the antibody that triggers the reaction.”
The tick bite is involved in the antibody production and is essential to the red meat response. So I’m not quite sure how you’re relating this to corn as an allergen…
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Dana
This is an excellent article with unusual information about tick bites triggering the later in life onset of a red meat allergy. Mr. Grisham’s experiences show us that at any age, we are vulnerable to (severe) allergic reactions due to newly identified variables. I am relieved to know that his allergy and trigger were identified (vs. being dismissed), and moreso, that Mr. Grisham’s wife recognized the importance of keeping an EpiPen on-hand. Great article, thanks!
Anna
I have Sulfites allgery, i realized when i woke uo in the middle or the night inchy ears in side mouth, hot, I realied that everytime i ate beef this happen, I EAT ORGANIC still have to watch out for organic foods to, cornstarch and soy is out, no processed food at all.