Candida and Auto-Brewery Syndrome
After I wrote my 'Candida and Alcoholism: Many Symptoms in Common' blog post the other day and shared the link on the EiR Facebook page a researcher and friend from Education and Services for People with Autism (ESPA) Research pointed out a newspaper article and a medical case study that both discuss 'auto-brewery syndrome'.
This is referring to the fermentation of carbohydrates by an overgrowth of yeast/Candida in the upper gut which leads to the production of significant amounts of alcohol, so much so that people can test over the drink drive limit without having had a drink.
I live with auto-brewery syndrome myself and must maintain a diet of meat, fish, eggs and low carbohydrate vegetables, nuts and seeds to avoid symptoms of alcohol intoxication and hangover.
Here are the links:
http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/health-honestly-officer-ive-got-autobrewery-syndrome-1148050.html
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16720504
Has anyone else been diagnosed as having auto-brewery syndrome? Or do you experience symptoms you feel are consistent with it?
My friend's mum was poorly for years but only had episodes every 3 months like you mentioned. She stuck with a good kinesiologist who eventually found that she had a particular parasite living in her instestine which laid eggs that hatched every 3 months (or something to that effect) - she was put on a strong parasite cleanse and within 6 months it was all cleared up and has not had any complaints since. Just thought I'd share in case you haven't gone down the parasite route yet.
Hope your husband finds his health soon
Anya x
I can really empathise with your husband and know first hand how awful it is. You feel totally helpless being poisoned by your own body. I have been living with auto-brewery syndrome for 15 years, since I was 18/19 years old. I have been able to manage its severity somewhat by sticking to a very low carb diet over the years but no treatment has so far succeeded in resolving the problem.
I have come across and worked with many specialists who recognise and work with patients with this problem. These specialists tend to be naturopathic doctors (NDs) or medical doctors who have opened their eyes and now practice integrative/functional/nutritional medicine. I know in Canada there are a couple of ND medical schools so I would suggest contacting them for a list of licensed NDs practicing near you. An ND will run functional tests like a comprehensive digestive stool analysis (CDSA) and intestinal permeability testing (for leaky gut) to find out exactly what is going on in your husbands gut. Chances of treatment being successful are always much higher if you know what is truly going on rather than just taking a best guess!
If your husband is only having epsiodic issues every 3 months I would think antifungal and antibacterial drugs or nutritional/herbal remedies (along with quality probiotics) may be very beneficial. Probiotics alone are unlikely to cut it however. I highly recommend reading The Yeast Syndrome and The Yeast Connection as Tracy and I mentioned below if you haven't already.
If this "conventional" route doesn't work you might be interested a blog post about the success of fecal transplants which you can read here - http://www.ei-resource.org/myblog/bacteriotherapy-achieves-70-success-rate-in-cfs-patients.html
You can also visit the Home Fecal Transplants group where there is a huge amount of information about this method of resolving gut dysbiosis - which auto-brewery syndrome really is.
I hope this helps you and your husband out a little. Best wishes to you both.
My husband lives with debilitating Auto brewery syndrome. Despite living a very clean lifestyle and taking probiotics, he seems to have an episode every 3 months. Thank you for your info. Have you come across any specialists working with this illness?
In any case William Crook may well have related the same story or a similar one in The Yeast Connection, I would not be surprised. Auto-brewery syndrome is likely much more common than anyone acknowledges. Unfortunately in my case I go straight to the hangover without experiencing the more pleasing effects of ethanol!
I'd recommend both books to everyone. You can pick them up for pennies on Amazon and both are in the EiR bookstore/reviews section at: http://www.ei-resource.org/jreviews/book-store-and-reviews/Environmental+Illness+Books/candida-a-gut-dysbiosis_c61_m606/
