Woman’s Seven ER Trips for ‘Alcohol Addiction’—But She Never Drinks!

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A surprising medical case has come to light involving a woman in her 50s who, despite never consuming alcohol, repeatedly visited the emergency room for what appeared to be symptoms of alcohol addiction. Over two years, she was admitted to the ER seven times, often after fainting while preparing meals for her children. Strangely, she emitted an alcohol odor from her mouth and showed other strange symptoms that led her to seek medical assistance. Doctors said, “Every time she came in for treatment for this condition, both she and her husband insisted they don’t drink alcohol. She is very strict about not drinking due to her religious beliefs.”

The woman did, however, routinely have high blood alcohol concentration when tested, and she had multiple treatments for this issue. However, she could never pinpoint exactly what was wrong. The doctors recently discovered she had a unique illness called auto-brewery syndrome(ABS), where the body can make alcohol on its own. 

Auto-brewery syndrome is a condition in which the body produces alcohol. Yeast exists in the patient’s digestive organs, converting carbohydrates or glucose entering the body into alcohol.

This condition commonly occurs in patients with diabetes, liver disease, intestinal disease, or inflammation of the digestive organs. The woman has since recovered from this rare disease by taking antifungal medication and reducing her food intake. However, certain types of food that trigger symptoms can vary from patient to patient, so it’s crucial to seek medical attention if symptoms appear. ABS was first discovered in a hospital in Uganda around 1940 when a five-year-old child died from a ruptured stomach. During surgery, the doctor explained, “There was a strong smell of alcohol from the child’s digestive organs.”