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The unnamed 46-year-old man in the BMJ case study, published in August,was otherwise healthy and had no other major medical condition beforeJanuary 2011,when he began experiencing memory loss, mental changesand episodes of depression.
The changes occurred after he began taking antibiotics for a traumatic thumb injury, and after he completed the 3-week antibiotic course, he reported an uncharacteristic depression, "brain fog"and aggression.
Years later, he was arrested one morning on suspicion ofdriving while intoxicated. The man was hospitalized, and had a blood alcohol level of 0.2g/dL, well above the legal limit of 0.08.Despite police and hospital staff not believing him, the man maintained he never had a drink that day, the case study says.
"He was unable to function and (symptoms appeared)mainly after meals,"Dr. Fahad Malik, study author,
Saccharomyces cerevisiae, or "brewer’s yeast,"andS. boulardii.
Doctorsdiagnosedhim with ABS by giving him a carbohydrate meal then measuring his blood alcohol levels, which reached .05g/dL within eight hours.
He was prescribed an anti-fungal treatment for a few weeks and was told to steer clear of carbs in his diet. But soon, the symptoms returned, and more doctors were stumped.
The problem got so bad that he fell and suffered a brain bleedthat required he be admitted to the hospital. There, his blood alcohol levels ranged from .05 to .4g/dL,and again, medical staff didn't believe he wasn't drinking.
The man then sought out the doctors who wrote the case study. The doctorsfound other yeasts in his system, includingCandida albicansandC. parapsilosis, and prescribed further anti-fungal treatment, but the man had a meal of pizza with soda that caused a severe relapse.
