IS THIS THE CRAZIEST CONDITION TO HAVE?

TORONTO. — A 50-year-old woman, who has never touched alcohol in her life, has somehow been battling all the signs associated with an alcoholic — her breath reeking of alcohol, feeling dizzy, disoriented and weak.

She is battling what is called auto-brewery syndrome in which her internal organs produce alcohol.

“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.

Doctors found the woman’s alcohol levels could range between 30 millimoles per litre and 62 millimoles per litre — below 2 millimoles per litre is normal, Zewude said.

Diabetes and liver disease can play a role as can gastrointestinal diseases such as inflammatory bowel disease and short gut syndrome, in which the small intestine is damaged or shortened. There may even be a genetic predisposition connected to how well a person metabolises alcohol.

“But all of these things have to collide at the perfect time. It requires multiple risk factors interacting and creating a metabolic storm for this syndrome to emerge in an individual.”

She told doctors her religion does not allow drinking, and her husband verified she did not drink.

“But it wasn’t until the seventh visit that an emergency room doctor finally said, ‘I think this sounds like auto-brewery syndrome,’ and sent her to a specialist,” Zewude said.

Auto-brewery syndrome, also known as gut fermentation syndrome, is an extremely rare condition in which bacteria and fungus in the gastrointestinal tract turn the carbohydrates in everyday food into ethanol.

The first known case occurred in 1946 in Africa, when a five-year-old boy’s stomach ruptured for no known reason.

An autopsy found his abdomen filled with a “frothy” fluid smelling of alcohol.

There are risk factors for auto-brewery syndrome.  Diabetes and liver disease can play a role as can gastrointestinal diseases such as inflammatory bowel disease and short gut syndrome, in which the small intestine is damaged or shortened.

There may even be a genetic predisposition connected to how well a person metabolises alcohol.

“But all of these things have to collide at the perfect time,” she said. “It requires multiple risk factors interacting and creating a metabolic storm for this syndrome to emerge in an individual.” — CNN.