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Medicine Beer Science

Man Kept Getting Drunk Without Drinking. Docs Found Brewer's Yeast In His Guts (arstechnica.com) 72

Posted by BeauHD from the beer-belly dept.
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Ars Technica: After years of inexplicably getting drunk without drinking alcohol, having mood swings and bouts of aggression, landing a DWI charge on the way to work one morning, and suffering a head injury in a drunken fall, an otherwise healthy 46-year-old North Carolina man finally got confirmation of having alcohol-fermenting yeasts overrunning his innards, getting him sloshed any time he ate carbohydrate-laden meals. Through the years, medical professionals and police officers refused to believe he hadn't been drinking. They assumed the man was lying to hide an alcohol problem. Meanwhile, he went to an untold number of psychiatrists, internists, neurologists, and gastroenterologists searching for answers.

Those answers only came after he sought help from a support group online and then contacted a group of researchers at Richmond University Medical Center in Staten Island, New York. By then, it was September of 2017 -- more than seven years after his saga began. The New York researchers finally confirmed that he had a rarely diagnosed condition called "auto-brewery syndrome." From there, the researchers started him on powerful anti-fungal medications to try to clear the boozy germs from his system. But he relapsed just weeks later after sneaking some forbidden pizza and soda. The researchers tried again, giving him an even stronger round of anti-fungal drugs, this time through a tube directly into his veins (central catheter). By February of 2018, tests indicated he was free of the fermenting fungi. He went back to eating his normal diet and passed his daily breathalyzer tests. He has stayed that way since, the researchers report.
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Man Kept Getting Drunk Without Drinking. Docs Found Brewer's Yeast In His Guts More

Man Kept Getting Drunk Without Drinking. Docs Found Brewer's Yeast In His Guts

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  • But... (Score:3)

    by houstonbofh ( 602064 ) on Friday October 25, 2019 @09:13PM (#59348866)
    He actually wanted to be cured?

    • Re: (Score:3, Interesting)

      by Presence Eternal ( 56763 )

      I had this happen to me once. Thought I'd go a little nuts for Halloween a few years ago. Prilosec + overeating pizza + sipping amazon clearance Pepsi all day. I thought I'd just have a little more weight to lose afterwards, but there's practical consequences to having no acid in a stomach that never empties of sugar water. Started noticing I'd belch and it'd taste like raw dough. Then feeling dizzy. Then thirty hours of ultra-hangover. I feel terrible for anyone who suffers from this for reasons beyond mak

  • That was a story in a Ripley's Believe it or Not magazine I had back in the 1970's. In it the guy had had a traffic accident that left his guts messed up and would do the same thing. He kept getting arrested for drunkenness too.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by mi ( 197448 )

      There was a series of "science" fiction stories about a weird family, who could turn blood sugar into alcohol by willpower — and thus get drunk whenever and wherever, including in police custody.

      They could also hypnotize possums into collecting firewood, starting a fire, and roasting themselves.

      It was hilarious, but I cannot recall neither the title, nor the author...

  • Nothing new here but the case. (Score:5, Interesting)

    by Ungrounded Lightning ( 62228 ) on Friday October 25, 2019 @09:35PM (#59348888) Journal

    This does come up from time to time.

    My mother (a special duty registered nurse) told me of one like that: A WW II draftee showed up drunk during basic training.

    They threw him in the brig to sober up. And put him on bread and water. Oops! Soon he was so schnockered he couldn't stand up. And he stayed that way, smelling like a brewery the whole time.

    They kept him there for a week or more, thinking that he was having booze snuck in to him. The guards were getting in trouble, too. Finally somebody watched him for several hours and found that he didn't sober up and nobody was nearby. So they got him to a doc (fortunately before the alcohol killed him).

    Sure enough: He had diverticulosis - pockets of intestinal inner lining pushed through the muscle and outer lining and hanging as sacks, common in older people but not unheard of in young adults - and one or more had become infected (diverticulitis!) with a yeast, which, when given sugar or starch, would brew up a bunch of alcohol.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Livius ( 318358 )

      I get that it's rare, but even I've heard of this before. Multiple medical professionals should have figured it out in less than seven years.

      • I get that it's rare, but even I've heard of this before. Multiple medical professionals should have figured it out in less than seven years.

        One guess is that they figured out what it was but had trouble on what to do about it.

        Because it is rare treatment might be experimental. I can imagine a lot of these professionals suggested seeing a different professional because this was something outside their expertise. Because the cause can vary so much the treatments might have to vary quite a bit as well. I can imagine that because the human body is pretty good about clearing out a great many infections on its own the treatments that showed succes

      • Re:Nothing new here but the case. (Score:5, Interesting)

        by Kjella ( 173770 ) on Saturday October 26, 2019 @12:23AM (#59349174) Homepage

        I get that it's rare, but even I've heard of this before. Multiple medical professionals should have figured it out in less than seven years.

        I think you underestimate the amount of bullshit people dealing with addicts and mental health issues hear. About thirty seconds into his story they'd do a mental eye roll and send you to the psych ward. And at the psych ward they'd do another mental eye roll and like come back when you can admit you have a drinking problem, you're not even ready for the first step of the AA program. The only thing that would give you legitimate proof you're not nuts is a series of blood alcohol checks under supervision, but I don't really see how you'd manage to convince a hospital that's a sane use of resources. Otherwise you'd just be looping in circles with doctors thinking you're covertly drinking and in denial, because that's what everyone would think after a short consultation.

        • Seriously ... how can you be such a prejudiced asshole?
          When people come to you cause they trust you, take them seriously, period. If it is real in their world, it is a problem in their world, and it needs solving, with a non-prejudiced mind. No matter what.

          • Re: (Score:1)

            by Megol ( 3135005 )

            Seriously you are the asshole here.

            • Re: (Score:3)

              by Baki ( 72515 )

              Why? People jump to conclusions all the time, and that is bad. Prejudice is horrible, and it ruins many peoples lives. Just for your convenience, not wanting to use your brain and think and observe, you neglect other people and don't take them seriously.

              Those who behave that way, making up their minds without considering things, are assholes indeed.

          • If you took OP seriously... you'd see your issue, like the rest of us do ya silly hypocrite.

            • Re: (Score:2)

              by Euler ( 31942 )

              Which issue exactly? yeah, of course every suspect claims innocence and they are usually lying. Of course that is exhausting for law enforcement officers and rehab counselors. So let's just dispense with the pretense of "innocent until proven guilty' if we just plan on dealing with suspects statistically based on the fact that they 'are usually guilty and lying about their innocence.' Justice requires some measure of open mindedness to a defendant's claims.

              Maybe he also had a terrible lawyer. You'd thi

      • I get that it's rare, but even I've heard of this before. Multiple medical professionals should have figured it out in less than seven years.

        With no other symptoms the "lying alcoholic" is the far more common and thus far more sensible diagnosis. Medical professionals generally have better things to do than chasing ghosts, which leads to the odd unfortunate case like this.

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by Euler ( 31942 )

          And this is the problem I see all too often with people troubleshooting anything, not just medical conditions.
          People jump to 'the most likely case' and start working a solution rather than eliminating possibilities. That works quickly for the easy cases that do fit the expectation.
          But when that solution doesn't work, they repeat... over and over. They get more confused, pass the problem to someone else who repeat the same unproductive approach again and again.
          You can learn a lot by objectively ob

        • With no other symptoms the "lying alcoholic" is the far more common and thus far more sensible diagnosis

          As one of the many aphorisms on the subject puts it, "when I hear hooves, I expect horses, not zebras".

          Which does not disprove the existence of zebras, but even working in Africa I never saw a zebra, but did see a number of horses.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by gweihir ( 88907 )

        These "professionals" were obviously not good at their job. Pretty much the first one should have recognized the possibility and checked for it. Basically every well-read person has heard bout this condition.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by Euler ( 31942 )

        Came here for this comment... Same here: I'm not a medical professional, and I know this already. And in the age of the internet isn't this just common knowledge? What other things are cops and doctors supposed to know but yet would miss so persistently?
        I get it that a cop would take him in for DUI the first time (and probably should get him off the street at that moment, BAC is affecting his driving regardless), but what is it about our system that a reasonable plea to law enforcement AND medical profes

  • Asking for a Supreme Court justice.

  • Comment removed based on user account deletion

    • To keep up with the times, the remake is called Condo.

    • The thing with House... at least for me... was that it was never about the plot. It was about the character. I could tune in to any episode at any point in the plot and start enjoying it instantly. And if I had to leave before the end, I could do so with no regret at all. Because the plot never mattered. What mattered was Hugh Laurie being such a badass by totally nailing such an awesome character. So I can watch most of the re-runs, formulaic though they are, and still enjoy the hell out of the show.

  • Bender? Is that you?

    This is the most interesting thing on /. in ages. To me, anyway.

    I can't imagine how tough it has been on him, what with the not being believed.

  • sorry ya'll, I had to.

  • This doesn't surprise me (Score:5, Interesting)

    by jmd ( 14060 ) on Friday October 25, 2019 @10:04PM (#59348926)

    This person may be one in a million. I think I am too. Whenever I eat rice and products made from rice my pulse rate goes up along with my blood pressure. I can have 110 beats per minute and 200/95 or so blood pressure. 8 hours later I'm back to normal. This happens only with rice. No reaction to potatoes. I do have celiac problems so I think all of this is based in the digestive process. I have asked doctor after doctor what is wrong. From gastro to cardiologists and GPs. I have gone to ER with my heart skipping beats, fast pulse and high blood pressure and they say..EKG says your heart is fine. I say this is diet related. That is when they laugh. One doctor literally laughed when I said this. So I eliminated rice based foods and guess what? No problems for 2 years.

    But yea... unless you fit inside the medical community's box you are going to have to figure this stuff out on your own.

    • Re: (Score:3)

      by Cylix ( 55374 )

      By chance do you have a very low caloric diet? This happens to me with any substantial carbs if my diet is lean for several days. I can cook a steak with the heat my body exhausts.

    • Perhaps you have sensitivity to the higher-than-background levels of arsenic in rice?

    • go see an allergist. your symptoms sound similar to some my wife had at what seemed random times. struggled for two years, doctor after doctor to figure out what was causing it. Finally, her mom, a nurse, said to go to an allergist. Turns out she was allergic to lettuce, mushrooms, pineapple, and squash. Kept away from those foods and she's been fine.

    • I have a problem that is very uncommon, allergy to cold. If I drink a glass of water with ice in it I get flu symptoms in a couple of hours.
      And just like a real flu, it will take a good week for them to go away.
      I was given antibiotics for this problem as it was diagnosed as a recurring throat infection.
      All doctors did the same, until a grad student doing her practice at a hospital discovered the real problem. Haven't taken any antibiotics since then.
      Yes, if your problem is uncommon, you are on your own.

    • Re:This doesn't surprise me (Score:4, Interesting)

      by blind biker ( 1066130 ) on Saturday October 26, 2019 @07:58AM (#59349750) Journal

      Your problem is the lectins present in rice, not yeast - and you confirmed it yourself by saying that it doesn't happen with potatoes. Yeast doesn't care whether the starch is in rice or potatoes.

      With celiac disease, your gut lining is thinner than with normal people, so you are far more sensitive to gluten and other lectins. Basically, lectins "leak" into your bloodstream through your gut. This happens with healthy people, too, just that they have less prominent symptoms as their lining is thicker and gluten will "only" thin it but not entirely compromise it.

      Look up leaky gut syndrome. After some research you may find that you ought to avoid most plant-based food, like I do.

  • I dated a German girl with a yeast infection once. Say, you think...?

    Nah, probably not.

  • Think about it; getting drunk without needing to drink!

  • Never try Vegemite.

  • Fermentation takes time. "Turbo yeast takes 3 days to ferment out a volume of sweet liquid into a wine. That's best case scenario, optimum conditions.

    Fermentation gives off a LOT of CO2. CRAZY lot. Like 20 x the volume fermented. The article doesn't say anything about literal incessant burping or farting.

    Digestion takes 6 to 8 hours.

    I find it not possible to believe there is an amazing otherwise undiscovered yeast that is 10 times faster than the best distillers yeast and doesn't seem to give off CO2,

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Megol ( 3135005 )

      This have been documented in many cases now, your denial doesn't make it go away.

    • ... doesn't say anything about literal incessant burping or farting.

      The human body has an effective system to get rid of CO2: blood circulation and lungs. Intestinal gas is mostly hydrogen and nitrogen.

      ...3 days to ferment out a volume of sweet liquid into a wine.

      That is: ferment it to 12% of alcohol at room temperature, use up 100% of the available sugars at pH 3.5(, and start from a tiny amount of dried yeast. In the intestine of these patients, it's warmer, less acidic, there's already a large yeast population, only a few percent of the sugar needs to be converted, and there is no self-inhibiting effect as the alcohol concentratio

    • You're simply off about how much alcohol needs to be produced to get someone drunk.
      Multiply that volume by, you say 20 (I'd take anything you say with a grain of salt), and you're not farting and burping more than you would expect after eating pizza and drinking soda.
      Yay American diet.

  • Is years and years old.......

  • My high school physics teach (a few decades ago) described having had the same problem. He said it was painful and was happy to get rid of the problem. Of course he made all the usual High School type of comments when he told us about it.

  • ...solvable by the carnivore diet. I never thought of this particular microbiota issue, but am glad I don't have to worry about it.

    This diet cured my arthritis, and for that alone it was worth it. The lover glucose and insulin levels have advantages, too.

    • Re: (Score:1)

      by Anonymous Coward

      "The lover glucose and insulin levels have advantages, too."

      Aren't doing much for your spelling though...

  • Don't ... EAT ... and drive?!

    I'd like to know how such a fungus gets into a person in the first place.

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