Medical professionals in Canada have recently reported a case of Auto-brewery syndrome, which is a rare fungal condition that makes people drunk without a sip of alcohol.
The marvels of medicine are clear, yet there are still so many things we are still learning about the human body. Thankfully, the modern era has created easy access to information, with doctors and experts now offering tips on social media. Just recently, a doctor put forward a cure for motion sickness that will have you looking like a Minion from Despicable Me.
What is Auto-brewery syndrome?
While most drinkers Googlepotential hangover cures and cocktail recipes, some people are more interested in why they are intoxicated at all, considering they haven’t drunk alcohol.
For an unnamed 50-year-old woman in Toronto, Canada, getting lit was a very different experience than what most of us experience. While we would choose to head to the bar on a date to get drunk, she found herself stinking of booze and dizzy without reason.
“She visited her family doctor again and again and went to the emergency room seven times over two years,” said Dr. Rahel Zewude, an infectious disease specialist at the University of Toronto.
At the hospital, doctors found that her alcohol levels were always between 30 millimoles per liter and 62 millimoles per liter, with 62 millimoles per liter considered high and potentially life-threatening. Despite the alarming level of alcohol in her system, expert Barbara Cordell said those with Auto-brewery syndrome can be “walking around and talking” without anyone realizing they are drunk.
Naturally, the woman was interrogated about her drinking habits and was even subjected to analysis from three different hospital psychiatrists. On hospital visit number 7, things started to turn around.
Speaking to CNN, gastroenterologist Dr. Fahad Malik, who was not involved in the study, said most patients with Auto-brewery syndrome are discharged as closet drinkers.
They finally diagnosed her
“Auto-brewery syndrome carries substantial social, legal, and medical consequences for patients and their loved ones,” said Dr. Rahel Zewude, University of Toronto, in a recently published paper in the Canadian Medical Association Journal. “Our patient had several [emergency department] visits, was assessed by internists and psychiatrists, and was certified under the Mental Health Act before receiving a diagnosis of auto-brewery syndrome, reinforcing how awareness of this syndrome is essential for clinical diagnosis and management.”
To treat the condition, doctors usually prescribe a specific fungicide depending on what bacteria the biopsy or colonoscopy identifies in the gut. Though each treatment plan is different, Zewude said that the fungicide is usually followed by a low-carb diet.
