{"id":4046,"date":"2024-06-04T11:38:13","date_gmt":"2024-06-04T11:38:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/digitaltradecenter.com\/index.php\/2024\/06\/04\/woman-repeatedly-told-she-was-drunk-diagnosed-with-rare-condition\/"},"modified":"2024-06-04T11:38:13","modified_gmt":"2024-06-04T11:38:13","slug":"woman-repeatedly-told-she-was-drunk-diagnosed-with-rare-condition","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/digitaltradecenter.com\/index.php\/2024\/06\/04\/woman-repeatedly-told-she-was-drunk-diagnosed-with-rare-condition\/","title":{"rendered":"Woman repeatedly told she was drunk diagnosed with rare condition"},"content":{"rendered":"
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A woman who was told she was simply drunk on the multiple occasions she showed up at hospital with slurred speech and extreme tiredness has been diagnosed with auto-brewery syndrome.<\/p>\n

The 50-year-old visited hospital seven times, only to be discharged with a diagnosis of being drunk – despite saying she had not been drinking – before she was correctly diagnosed with the condition.<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

Auto-brewery syndrome is a condition which sees fungi in the gut create alcohol through fermentation.<\/p>\n

In April, a 40-year-old Belgian man was cleared of drink-driving<\/strong> after doctors diagnosed him with the extremely rare condition.<\/p>\n

Those with the condition can have symptoms identical to being drunk, including slurred speech, stumbling, loss of motor functions, dizziness and belching.<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

Sufferers are not born with the condition and its trigger can vary, from prolonged antibiotic use to diets high in carbohydrates, according to scientists.<\/p>\n

Researchers say awareness of this syndrome – which has social, legal, and medical consequences – is essential for proper diagnosis and management.<\/p>\n

Over two years, the female patient visited the emergency department complaining of extreme daytime sleepiness and slurred speech.<\/p>\n

She had been on several antibiotic courses for recurrent urinary tract infections alongside a proton pump inhibitor to reduce the amount of acid in her stomach.<\/p>\n

Despite not drinking alcohol, the woman also had elevated blood alcohol levels and alcohol on her breath.<\/p>\n

She would therefore be sent home with a diagnosis of alcohol intoxication every time she would report to hospital with her symptoms.<\/p>\n

The patient would have to take up to two weeks off work after each episode, during which she ate very little.<\/p>\n

While her symptoms would improve after one or two weeks, they would represent within one or two months.<\/p>\n

On the third visit, the mother was even certificated under the Mental Health Act, as the doctor had concerns for self-neglect when she discharged herself before psychiatric assessment.<\/p>\n

However, at her seventh visit the emergency doctor considered a diagnosis of auto-brewery syndrome, and after being prescribed some medication, she was referred to a specialist.<\/p>\n

A dietitian suggested a low-carbohydrate diet, and after completing a one-month course of an antifungal medication and the diet, the woman’s symptoms went away and remained absent for four months.<\/p>\n

The woman slowly started to eat carbohydrates again, but one month after doing this she had a recurrence of slurred speech and drowsiness, which led to a fall.<\/p>\n

She was advised to restart the low-carbohydrate diet again, and her symptoms resolved.<\/p>\n

Writing in the Canadian Medical Association Journal, Dr Rahel Zewude, from the University of Toronto, and her co-authors, said: “Auto-brewery syndrome carries substantial social, legal, and medical consequences for patients and their loved ones.<\/p>\n

“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.”<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

This post appeared first on sky.com<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A woman who was told she was simply drunk on the multiple occasions she showed up at hospital with slurred speech and extreme tiredness has been diagnosed with auto-brewery syndrome. The 50-year-old visited hospital seven times, only to be discharged with a diagnosis of being drunk – despite saying she had not been drinking – <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4047,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-4046","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-science"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/digitaltradecenter.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4046","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/digitaltradecenter.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/digitaltradecenter.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/digitaltradecenter.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/digitaltradecenter.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4046"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/digitaltradecenter.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4046\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/digitaltradecenter.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4047"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/digitaltradecenter.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4046"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/digitaltradecenter.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4046"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/digitaltradecenter.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4046"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}