Question

In Texas, a man showed up at a medical facility claiming that he felt drunk when he had not ingested any alcohol. Indeed his blood alcohol measured 0.37, many times the legal limit. Although he was a home brewer, he claimed that this intoxication had been happening often without his drinking any alcohol. Which of these hypotheses and actions might be most useful in diagnosing this problem?
a. His home brew concoctions have created a type of alcohol that lasts a long time.
b. Have him refrain from home brewing for a week and recheck his blood alcohol.
c. He might have recently had a round of antibiotics that killed the bacteria that usually live in his gut and allowed a yeast species to overgrow. Put him on probiotics and a low carb diet for a week and recheck his blood alcohol. d. The fumes from the alcohol that he is using as a cleaning solution might be getting into his bloodstream. Ask him if he is using alcohol externally.
e. Maybe he feels drunk because he has been eating mushrooms that have sprouted during this very wet weather. Check him for fungal toxins.

Answer 1

Answer:

c. He might have recently had a round of antibiotics that killed the bacteria that usually live in his gut and allowed a yeast species to overgrow. Put him on probiotics and a low carb diet for a week and recheck his blood alcohol.  

Explanation:

This patient may have taken some antibiotics to contain any infection he was having. Antibiotics are medicines with a high power against bacteria. These medications can only be taken with medical supervision because they can kill all bacteria in the body and our gut has beneficial bacteria that help us during digestion.  Probably the antibiotic that the man took killed all the bacteria present in his gut and this allowed for a proliferation of yeast that started an alcoholic fermentation caused the sensation of being alcoholized to the man.

The ideal thing to do with this patient is to prescribe probiotics and put him on a low-carb diet for a week and recheck the blood alcohol.