Nigel Ellis first knew something was wrong when he started occasionally breaking out in hives.
"I started having reactions in terms of getting hives typically in the groin or my armpits," he said.
"This would happen after I'd gone to bed or a few hours later, and I couldn't work out what the hell was going on."
As the years went by, they got worse and worse, until eventually, his symptoms became far more severe.
It took a long time for him to realise there was a connection between his mystery illness and the tick bites he had received over the years while gardening at his home in Narooma on the New South Wales South Coast.
'Why is she stabbing me so many times?'
Mr Ellis had never been a vegetarian, and it took some time for him and his wife, Sally, to recognise it was mammalian meat, including beef and pork, that was triggering his allergic reactions.
"These hives started developing into just feeling not very well — dizzy, disoriented," he said.
"Then one day it just got really bad — diarrhoea, faint, disoriented.
"That's when we saw the doctor, and he explained what was happening and then after that, I stopped eating red meat."
For some people, after a tick bite, the bite transfers a sugar molecule called alpha-gal into the body which triggers an immune response.
That response can vary in severity from mild stomach discomfort to potentially life-threatening anaphylaxis.
Despite his caution, Mr Ellis accidentally ingested meat a few times after his diagnosis.
On one occasion, he re-heated the wrong leftovers and failed to realise he was consuming beef instead of chicken in a curry.
"I vaguely remember thinking, 'oh, this is a different-tasting curry', and then, wham, I really got hit this time," he said.
He collapsed in the bathroom and was found by his wife.
"Sally had hit me with the EpiPen," he said.
"I can vaguely remember thinking, 'why is she stabbing me so many times with this pen?'
"She was saying she was trying to make sure every drop of the EpiPen got in."
He was taken to hospital and treated with more adrenaline and with antihistamines before a gradual recovery.
"The doctor said … if you have another reaction, it could potentially be life-threatening."
Take care while in the bush
Recent wet weather has seen an increase in ticks, and authorities have been issuing warnings to the public to take care.
Pet owners are also being urged to protect their animals from tick venom.
Animals can be paralysed or even killed by toxins from the common paralysis tick.
Ticks can be found in various parts of Australia and enjoy living in humid, bushy areas.
According to immunologist Kevin Broady, Lismore is the "tick capital" of NSW, but they also flourish in other parts of the state including the South Coast and Sydney's northern beaches.
Mr Ellis has since moved from Narooma to Cairns in Queensland, where he does not come into contact with ticks and can garden without having to worry about being bitten — although ticks are known in the area, and elsewhere throughout the state.
It's a relief, given the fact that further bites will only worsen his allergic reaction.
Dr Broady said summer was the time when ticks were at their most active and when people should therefore be at their most vigilant.
"People in these places need to be well aware," he said.
"If you're a gardener, and you're near the bush, and you have lots of bandicoots or bush rats coming into your area, you're going to be exposed to ticks.
"If you're a person who works in the bush, say like a council worker or a ranger or something like that, you're going to be really exposed to ticks, so you need to learn how to avoid them."
Dr Broady has been researching ticks on and off since the 1980s and says there is still not enough awareness within the community about the risk they pose.
"We're still trying to get that message out there, and you can't really treat these people other than tell them to avoid red meat and all the sorts of different derivations or components of red meat," he said.
"Avoidance is the big issue — avoid being bitten to try and not exacerbate the problem."
He said it was crucial that if someone was bitten that they avoid using tweezers to remove it, as that risked squeezing the tick and releasing the toxins into the bloodstream.
Instead, he advised using a product that can be bought at pharmacies to freeze the tick and wait for it to fall off.
As a precaution, he said people should wear plenty of clothing to cover their bodies while outside in bushy areas and, after they come inside, thoroughly check themselves to make sure a tick had not made it through.
"'Freeze them, don't squeeze them' has been the mantra that we're trying to get around to people," he said.
Dr Broady said many people — including some doctors — did not believe the allergy existed because of the delay in the reaction after exposure.
"If you're allergic to prawns, for example, you eat a prawn and your lips swell up … it happens almost immediately," he said.
"But this is a gut reaction, so what happens is you eat, and then six or so hours later, which is usually in the middle of the night, you start to feel unwell and queasy and you break out in hives, and you go off to the hospital … but they don't link it back to what you ate because it was six or eight hours earlier."
His advice is simple: don't get bitten by a tick, but if you do, don't squeeze it.
'No one can help me'
Even now, Mr Ellis must be extra careful with what he consumes and has realised that red meat can be found in some surprising places.
On one trip to Malaysia, he diligently avoided eating any mammalian meat while they were travelling around but, on the flight home, came down with a severe reaction he recognised straight away.
"I know the reaction now — you get a tingling sensation in your fingers and your extremities," he said.
"We were certain I hadn't ingested any meat. Fortunately, we had the EpiPen and I took some antihistamines.
"Then eventually Sally was checking everything and she realised we had a tube of Mentos, and she looked at that and 'lo and behold, it's got beef gelatine in it.
"That's scary because there's a lot of food that you wouldn't even think would have gelatine in it."
Mid-flight, he wondered what was in store for him as his body reacted.
"I remember lying on the floor next to where the stewardesses prepare the food and feeling not too smart," he said.
"You're 3,000 feet in the air with eight hours to go and you're sort of thinking, 'well, no one can help me.'"
Mr Ellis said he hoped by sharing his story, he would help others avoid his fate.
His advice is the same as Dr Broady's — take care, and cover up while out in the bush.
"I don't think a lot of people understand what could happen," he said.
