In the United States, a woman appears to have produced alcohol in her body due to poor management of her diabetes.
Doctors learned this after the 61-year-old woman was examined in hospital for a possible liver transplant. The woman was seriously looking for a new liver, because she was dealing with severe forms of diabetes and liver cirrhosis. Her diabetes was not properly maintained and her liver no longer functioned properly due to cirrhosis. Cirrhosis is caused by liver tissue being replaced by the body with scar tissue.
The result is that the liver no longer functions properly. Initially, she was not eligible for a liver transplant because alcohol was continuously found in her urine. The woman repeatedly denied that she had drunk alcohol. Ultimately, this was a reason for the doctors to analyze the urine even better. It showed that the urine did not contain the substances that the body uses to process alcohol.
Auto-brewery syndrome
The woman turned out to be suffering from the very rare auto-brewery syndrome. The body's own substances are converted into ethanol. Normally this happens in the digestive system, causing clear complaints that are also visible when consuming alcohol. For example, a drunk feeling, a hangover or a dry mouth. For example, it appears that someone was once arrested with 4 times the maximum amount of alcohol in their body, without having drunk a drop. The fact that auto-brewery syndrome now occurs in the bladder is a unique situation, which has led to much surprise among American doctors.
Severe diabetes
The cause of the body's own production of alcohol was the woman's poorly maintained diabetes. The urine in her bladder contained high amounts glucose and yeast. And in the rare event that this is the case, it can trigger a fermentation process. Everyone has yeast in their body, but the high amount of glucose in combination with a lot of yeast acts as fuel to convert the yeast into alcohol. It appears to be unique that this process takes place in the bladder. It is difficult to detect because the bladder wall is less permeable to liquids such as water and ethanol.
As a result, the alcohol level in her blood never rose and it could not reach the liver. This was the reason the woman never felt drunk or suffered from a hangover. The University of Pittsburgh Medical Center shared these extraordinary findings in the scientific journal Annals of Internal Medicine. They hope that these forms of the auto-brewery syndrome will receive more attention. For privacy reasons, it is not known whether the woman has successfully completed a liver transplant.
Preventing diabetes complications
It is vital for diabetes patients to keep a close eye on their blood sugar levels. There are various glucose meters that adequately measure blood sugar in the body. You can combat the physical consequences of diabetes in various ways. Make sure you exercise enough, stop smoking, be aware of your diet and keep your weight under control. This can probably prevent these types of exceptional situations.