The Texas man had a rare disease called “auto-brewery syndrome” that made him frequently drunk without ingesting alcohol.
A case study details why an unnamed 61-year-old Texas man was often drunk throughout the day, even on days when he insisted that he had not had a drink. He was eventually diagnosed with “auto-brewery syndrome,” a rare disease that has only a few confirmed cases in the last 30 years.
People with the syndrome have too much yeast in their intestinal tract. When they eat carbohydrates, the yeast turns the carbohydrates into ethanol and they become intoxicated from the inside out
“The physicians were not aware of any way that a person could be intoxicated without ingesting alcohol and therefore believed he must be a ‘closet drinker.'” Dr. Barbara Cordell and Dr. Justin McCarthy, study authors
Doctors — and even the man’s wife, who is a nurse — didn’t believe him for a long time when he said he wasn’t drinking. His wife regularly made him take a Breathalyzer test and he would consistently register a blood alcohol level (BAL) of 0.33% to 0.4%, or 5 times the legal driving limit.
In 2010 the man was placed under strict observation for 24 hours, after which he still had a high BAL. Doctors determined his condition was likely due to medication he had because of a 2004 surgery that destroyed helpful bacteria in his gut. As a result, yeast built up.
The man was placed on a low-carb diet, given antifungal medication and recovered. The study suggest that physicians consider the possibility of the rare condition if confronted with a case of someone claiming they become drunk without drinking.
Source: cir.ca.news