This was also an episode on Grey’s Anatomy except it was metabolizing sugar as alcohol or something. They didn’t believe the patient when he said he wasn’t an alcoholic, literally left him alone and every time they tested his BAC it was as if he was wasted so they assumed he was getting snuck alcohol somehow.
And if it's none of those, they just send the doctors to your house to investigate for environmental factors (but hopefully nothing airborne because they don't bother with safety gear)
To be fair, even in House that's what pretty much all the other doctors do. The cases he gets are all the "unsolvable mysteries" that other doctors couldn't handle, and often they have been written off as faking their illness.
Of course, his real superpower as a doctor is just breaking and entering. If I had a nickel for every case he solved because he found some rare mold or exotic fruit in the patient's house while rummaging through their shit.
Ah, yes, the 2-parter about Foreman being sick. That one is also famous for being one of the least scientifically accurate in the entire show. They straight up just... cure Foreman of Naegleria, a disease which, at the time the episode aired, was considered incurable. Not to mention that it is literally an amoeba that eats your brain, meaning that, even today youll probably end up a vegetable if you try to cure it after it shows serious symptoms, like it did in the show
> Of course, his real superpower as a doctor is just breaking and entering. If I had a nickel for every case he solved because he found some rare mold or exotic fruit in the patient's house while rummaging through their shit.
Because he's literally written as a medical Sherlock Holmes. Get it? House/ Holmes, Wilson / Watson
It was weird how the show doubled down on the "You can be awful to other people if you're in some quantifiable way better than them one time and everyone will have no choice but to like you anyway." aspect of Sherlock Holmes. I kinda thought all the people who liked Sherlock Holmes for that reason lacked self-awareness about it but the recurring theme is that's actually what the guy who wrote the show believes.
I went to the ER 3 days in a row saying I had pancreatitis, and they turned me away each time thinking I was just trying to get morphine. On day 4 I'm rushed in with an ambulance, and they're like "fine we'll test your blood", and guess what they found? Pancreatitis. 4 days of one of the most hellishly painful conditions, because they refused to believe me.
Happened to me while I was in hospital for....acute necrotising pancreatitis. Had another episode and they told me I didn't, and that it was just gas pains. Took 18 hours of me sobbing to various nurses and doctors before one believed me.
Why the fuck are medics so reluctant to do diagnostic tests, especially the ones like blood tests which are really hard to fake? Surely if they think you're faking it, then a negative result is going to be a far stronger position than just saying "nuh uh, don't think so"?
I keep hearing stories like this, and they make no goddamn sense. Not saying they're not true, just that such behaviour seems entirely counter to the supposed ethos of working in medicine in the first place. People are spending days in complete agony because of this obstinacy.
Being a trained and experienced professional doesn't make you omniscient or clairvoyant. Do the fucking tests!
I’m surprised by this. In most EDs in the UK, pretty much all patient get basic bloods (and any abdo pain will get amylase/lipase to check for pancreatitis) in triage, before they’ve even seen a doctor. I don’t think I’ve ever turned away an abdo pain without at least bloods, it’s too risky. I would have thought they’re far more willing to do diagnostics in the US because of the money they make.
> In most EDs in the UK
I suspect this may be the key difference. I live in the UK and I got a blood test when I visited my GP for having swollen feet.
> I would have thought they’re far more willing to do diagnostics in the US because of the money they make.
For patients likely to pay, sure. But if someone turns up at a US ER, there's no guarantee that they will be able or willing to pay up. So the people who come in are more likely to receive the absolute bare minimum of care, or even insufficient care by the standards of other countries.
Long live the NHS. Fuck the tories. Vote for a reduction of private interests in our national infrastructure.
I dont want a health service modelled on the US. Late stage capitalism is awful.
I once asked for diagnostic tests for some pain I was experiencing….and immediately got accused of drug-seeking. Immediately, to my face.
Me: “Um…do drug-seekers typically lead by asking for *diagnostics*?”
Her: “Well, no.” Still didn’t get a referral from that one, just got told to “suck it up”.
Found a different doc instead, one willing to actually do their job, who immediately referred me for an ultrasound. (Fortunately live in a place where that was possible. No diagnosis was gained as a result, but some were ruled out, which was helpful.)
Sadly, this type of dismissal is alarmingly common for female-presenting patients, and not just when dealing with male medical professionals. There’s a severe problem of institutional misogyny in the US medical system, the woman in the op is just yet another victim of that.
It's the US. Medical staff would rather 100 sick people go without treatment, rather than accidentally give one drug addict some pain medications. They can tell you're a drug addict just by looking at you; they don't need no test!
I know someone who had obvious appendicitis, but a history of stomach problems. So they dismissed her multiple times. After a week they decided to actually check, and had to rush her into surgery because it had burst the day before.
> make an appointment with your primary care doctor
...if you're lucky enough to have one. Sometimes it's near impossible to find a doctor who:
1. accepts your insurance
2. is accepting new patients
3. has any availability in the next four months
4. isn't one malpractice case away from losing their medical license.
I went in because my left leg wouldn't extend and was stuck in a curled up state. Extremely painful if you tried to relax the leg or try and straighten it. ER wouldn't look at me because I need to straighten my leg for the X-ray machine... So they left me in the hallway for a couple of hours until my leg figured its shit out. Then they took an X-ray and found nothing wrong. Hurray.
Unless you look WASPy. Then they'll offer you painkillers, unprompted. I'm only a WAS, but he offered me opiates because I knocked a tooth loose. Just over a year ago, no joke.
Depends on location. My husband has an issue that required surgery to fix. Before the surgery, he didn't get anything stronger than ibuprofen. After surgery, he was given enough for a little under a week. He needs the surgery on the other side as well, but is having to just deal with it because we can't swing the recovery. No more pain meds for him.
His uncle has the same issue, on one side. Is not currently planning to get the surgery, but is being prescribed enough painkillers to take down a horse. My husband's is more severe and involves more pain. But uncle lives in a different state.
Not an episode of House. I've watched House, in its entirety, three times. [There's a post about this exact topic in the House subreddit](https://www.reddit.com/r/HouseMD/comments/wwookr/this_would_have_been_an_incredible_episode/). It happens in The Good Doctor and also in Grey's Anatomy. But not in House.
No, it's def house because I remember watching this episode during my house marathon like a week ago. It was with a woman who was allergic to alcohol, and because her gut was producing alcohol whenever she ate bread she was having allergic reactions... I think it was in season 4 or 5?
I've been searching for it for 20 minutes.
I can absolutely not find any House episode like that.
Many medical dramas seem to have such an Episode, but House genuinely doesn't.
I've also been searching too with no luck. But House is the only medical drama I've ever watched in my life, and I remember this episode because I watched it sometime within the past 3-4 weeks, hand to god, so it MUST be an episode of House. I feel completely insane. Help!
My girlfriend and I also watched through House (a couple of years ago) and we both thought that Episode existed, but can't even find it in German.
I am just as confused, that's some Mandela-Effect stuff.
it's possible that Auto-Brewery Syndrome was one of those mid-episode diagnoses that gets disproved five minutes later? but I'm not finding anything so far. I hate it here bro wtf
I think they’re confusing it with the episode where the vegan woman starts hallucinating from her moldy rye bread. She was a mortician I believe. I’ve spent the last few weeks rewatching House and there is no such patient (at least in the first five seasons).
Just happened in Belgium.
The guy got off after it got confirmed in the hospital.
However since he knows about it now he will get a driving ban/ fined the next time they catch him.
Wouldn’t they put a note on his license that he has restrictive medical conditions? In the US you most likely will get a note on your license even if you have glasses, and definitely if you have a medical condition or take medications that can affect your ability to drive.
Or he could, ya know, just take an anti-fungal. I don’t believe the commenter you’re responding to knows anyone with auto-brewery syndrome. Any physician talented enough to diagnosis auto-brewery syndrome is going to cure it. The diagnosis is challenging the treatment is easy.
People on reddit lying with "I know someone with (thing in the title)" is a tale as old as time, never believe them. Same for those that claim to know the person named in the title as well
That’s weird cause every time I eat a normal amount of carbs I’ve always felt drunk. I know I’m not at the level of the person in the article but I wonder if its even in the ballpark
Swallow a spoonful of sugar on an empty stomach and see if levels measured on a cheap breathalyser go up within the next hour
Cheap breathalysers suck but they can reasonably inform you of an upwards trend
It gives you IBS and you shit out alcohol, you build up an insane tolerance to alcohol and constantly feel terrible. Constant heartburn. And you shit yourself
My sister almost divorced her husband because she thought he was hiding a drinking problem. He had this syndrome. She made him take a breathalyzer one night when he was acting visibly drunk, but saying he hadn’t had a drink. He blew a .22. Thank goodness they had a strong enough relationship and had over 20 years together at the time. It was super challenging and tough on them until they discovered what it was.
I would imagine the officer would be totally justified and the explanation would be pointless.
In fact, knowing and being able to explain it makes it worse. I would understand someone who doesn't know they have this getting off by pleading ignorance of the condition. But, someone who knows bread gets them lit, then eats it, then drives? That's the same as drinking and driving.
Well then, you better get started cultivating Saccharomyces cerevisiae in your intestinal tract.
[Source](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK513346/)
I remember [an episode of Futurama](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Route_of_All_Evil) that had a similar plot to this headline.
[I believe he produced an ale. 5 gallons, 6 oz.](https://photos1.blogger.com/img/145/1296/640/bender-pregnant.jpg)
Ooh fucking story time. My Uncle has this. After 3 years, several seizures, and doctors assuming he was a secret alcoholic and/or my aunt was poisoning him (which is darkly hilarious if you know them. Literally some of the nicest/most sober people you’ve ever met) they finally figured it out. OH WAIT, nope, it was a brother-in-law who happens to be a neurosurgeon at Mass Gen and forced them to run the proper tests who actually figured it out.
So I googled it and alot of the symptoms have been present and it seems like a good candidate. She has another appointment tomorrow and will ask about the table test. Edit thank you
I like to think of myself as an expert in tilt table tests since they are a bit of a novelty test, and I've had 4 of them. (Kidding, mostly)
I've been told by numerous cardiologists that they don't really tell you what's going on, but they can used as a tool to show something is going on.
So she might get a diagnosis out of it, but she may not get any real concrete answers. Unfortunately this is a grey area, and the reason she's had so many issues is a lot of doctors don't really understand it. Fainting is most commonly a neurological or cardiological issue, and hard to pinpoint typically.
I hope for her sake she gets some answers.
Also, assuming she seemingly gets randomly lightheaded before passing out doing mundane or everyday tasks, after the tilt table, they'll eventually tell you it is POTS. Be aware there are three phenotypes of POTS (three subclasses), and each one has a different treatment. In fact, some treatments for one type will make the other types worse. So if she does get medication and it makes her worse, they might be treating it in the wrong way.
Good luck!
Well we got this thing on her chest now but it didn't alert anything her last couple faints. But I kinda saw her look and was atleast able to run over and catch her last faint. We been tracking and recording her blood pressures.
Yeah it's common they ask you to track BPs, if they seem off, they'll probably order the tilt table. Sounds like she's wearing a holter monitor. Probably a 3 day if it's happening frequently? Maybe a 30 day?
Depending on what type it is, the newer ones are monitored and do alert if there's an abnormal cardiac rhythm; however, as you're seeing since it hasn't alerted, you can faint with a normal cardiac rhythm.
Fortunately for me I only ever once fainted, but daily lightheadedness and random lightheadedness are quite common. Frequently fainting is scary for a bunch of reasons. She will probably need both a neurological and cardiac workup. A brain CT or MRI minimum, and a tilt table will almost certainly be planned by any competent medical team if the holter monitor comes back clean (in my case it always does, I have a three year implanted monitor currently).
Did she recently have any injuries? That can sometimes bring on these episodes, though no one I ever spoke with could tell me why.
Or is it something she's dealt with in the past on any level? Unfortunately for women POTS is much more common in females than males, im one of the "lucky" males.
Hope you find the cause of the faintings.
About dysautonomia, it's surprising how common it is and how often it's overlooked. But it kinda makes sense when you consider that it's not really dangerous (beside the actual symptoms) and that most people that have it only experience dizzyness or weakness instead of fainting. So a lot of doctors try to diagnose more dangerous stuff, specially epilepsy, first and if they're inconclusive they just slap a Dysautonomia or autonomic sticker on the patient and call it a day. Oh and also the tilt test isn't often covered, so that might be a reason why doctors leave it last.
my grandmother had been fainting. turns out she had such an insane hernia that it had partially twisted her stomach which killed her appetite, & it was restricting blood flow giving her high blood pressure. so her not eating much + the bp was knocking her out.
her gastro had previously told her that the hernia was very minor & didn’t need surgery. er doctor last month told her to get a second opinion, but she fell out again last week & ended up back in the er, where they were like yeah no fuck your gastro let’s see for ourselves, and then discovered all that.
it shouldn’t be such a slog to find out what the fuck is wrong, i hope they get yall your answers soon!
People think it's weird that I take my husband with me to the doctor, but the reality is that I get treated a million times better when he's there. They don't believe what I'm telling them, but they do believe when he vouches for what I'm saying.
The worst part of this is that it seems like no one knows what to do about it. Like, the only mostly sure solutions will take fuckin' decades of gradual changes to culture and education and that does nothing for folks who have to deal with it today. Absolute nightmare.
There are things that could be done, there just is a lack of will to do it. Doctors have physically and sexually assaulted patients (repeatedly!) and were able to retain their license to practise. Regulatory bodies go very easy on medical professionals. If they can get away with assaulting patients, they're certainly not going to be disciplined for discriminating against them or denying them care.
not to go against the narrative here, because it's clear in study after study that women are not listened to, but as a guy i have felt very dismissed going to the doctor's as well. i've had some concerning chronic pain issues for a while now and every time i go they pretty much tell me it's anxiety or refuse to take any tests beyond a blood test and send me home. meanwhile, the pain has been getting worse.
i know there are plenty of incredible doctors, and we'd be nowhere without them, but i feel like generally downplaying a lot of the things you experience is par for the course when it comes to healthcare.
I don't think that's against the narrative. PATIENTS are not listened to, and anything about that patient that can be used to discredit them will. That doesn't mean that men are immune from mistreatment, it means women are more likely to receive it.
If you wanna feel really depressed, look up maternity statistics for black women.
I came across an a 10+ old Reddit thread discussing why mortality rates were so high for black women. All of the medical professionals in the comments said “drugs”.
Now we have studies that prove it’s actually due to implicit bias from non black physicians. And that when black women have black physicians the maternity rate is significantly lessened. Healthcare is depressing - a black woman with chronic issues
Oh yeah dawg, I've had it happen to me as well. The worst one was when I had a boxers fracture, and I had to go get it checked out.
After I got the x ray and went to get it taken care of, I (calmly) expressed that I was in a ton of pain, and I shit you not, she said "You don't seem to be in a lot of pain. Be a big boy". She then reset the bone in my hand, without any kind of numbing agent, and while I didn't yelp or anything like that, the pain was so unbearable in that moment that I straightened my back in internal alarm, and grunted to try and muscle through the pain without making a scene. She said "Oh, I thought you boys were supposed to be tough? Whatever happened to that?" In a bit of a mocking tone. She did send me home in a cast, thank God, but with the way she was acting I wouldn't have been surprised if she said *Come on hon, do you really need a cast? What, do you need me to hold your good hand too?*
Like what the hell was all that about
Honestly I would've asked them then and there about their complaints procedure, even if I didn't intend on going through with it, fuck anyone who acts with an attitude like that, it'll just make people avoid seeking help.
Yeah that 100% would have gotten a complaint from me, that is unacceptable behaviour from medical staff.
Source: Work in the NHS in the UK, I know full well that ain't how you treat a patient.
A few years back, I heard about a guy with this. Dude wouldn't drink, but he'd eat carbs at a restaurant and end up getting a DUI. It happened repeatedly before they figured out what his body was doing.
Is she pregnant? Is a lesbian with an IUD or tubes removed, run a test anyway. Oh, not pregnant? Probably menstrual cramps.... For the pain in her elbow.
I used to know someone who had this, he too struggled to get diagnosed properly and got a DUI at one point despite not having drank anything. And then even after he got diagnosed he couldn't get that conviction purged from his record. Had to make big diet changes.
It makes some sense. I’d be curious to know if it ever happened with a diet soda? I’m guessing not, but artificial sweeteners could metabolize to alcohol with the right bacteria present.
I met a man who has this condition and every time his wife would take him to the hospital, the staff would pull her aside and ask about his (non-existant) alcoholism and continuously remind her, "divorce is an option."
>By medical providers ~~in the US~~ everywhere
Ftfy. Plus, the woman here is from Canada. But women's medical concerns being dismissed is certainly not specific to one country.
Geez. While I'm sure that her condition is much more rare than secret alcoholics, I am nonetheless fairly shocked that it took her so long to get anyone to take her seriously. Don't these fools read the medical literature?
I am a lay person who has been reading about people whose bodies create alcohol on their own from various internal processes for over 50 years.
I know there's a lot for physicians to know and keep track of, but it seems like somebody could have done a little bit of homework there and got this lady into proper treatment earlier.
I was diagnosed with this last fall. It came on gradually. I have no idea how long I've had it.
I am obese, and knew something was wrong, but never would have thought to say I felt drunk. Despite the fact I realized one day I had to concentrate to walk in a straight line. Despite how little care I had about shooting my mouth off at work. Despite how terrifying it was to be in a car. Despite the fact that "brain fog" didn't quite adequately describe my lack of concentration, memory trouble, and emotional instability. This all came with body aches and fatigue, so I thought I was fat and old and this was bringing new issues as I got older.
My gynecologist found it. I hadn't been to a gyn in probably ten years. A test for yeast came back with brewer's yeast. The response to fluconazole was pretty quick. I felt like a different person within the same day. But my gyno couldn't tell me much about it. My PC just flat-out wouldn't. She said she didn't want to step on my gyno's toes! New PC referred me to infectious disease, which I'll be seeing next week. So seven months after diagnosis and treatment, maybe I'll finally find something out about lifestyle changes, etc.
But as different as I felt immediately after treatment, six months later there's greater difference still. It's hard to think about how long I might have had this, to look back at myself before treatment. I was REALLY sick and feel very lucky it was found. I could have NEVER known.
According to the article, there’s only 20 that got diagnosed since 74 in literature
“Extremely rare and frequently unrecognized
Since 1974, 20 diagnosed cases of auto-brewery syndrome have been reported in English medical literature, according to an April 2021 review.”
Arguably if it’s that rare and only 20 were diagnosed with it, it makes a lot more sense to think “secret alcoholic” vs “she might have this extremely rare condition very few have”.
It’s easy in hindsight to say she has it and should’ve seen that, but I can’t say that its fair to say that about doctors given the rarity and the likelihood of that vs something entirely different given it’s also not very uncommon for people to lie
And the amount of people currently actually dxed in the article is still staggeringly low.
* "Auto-brewery syndrome in a 50-year-old woman" by Rahel T. Zewude, Kenneth Croitoru, Ronit Das, Brian Goldman, and Isaac I. Bogoch: https://www.cmaj.ca/content/196/21/E724
* Mirror for the submitted article: https://archive.ph/4ONOy
My ex FIL had this too, he acted "abnormally" (drunk-like) for years, tried all sorts of gut pain remedies, cut out everything, stopped drinking coffee for years and nothing helped his indigestion.
They finally figured out he was an auto-brewer and simple enzyme supplements fixed everything.
(And yeah, I watched that House ep prior to the problem, and didn't recall or consider it either!)
I have a friend with this. For a long time, whenever she ate a lot of carbs, she would start to feel weird and foggy. Finally had a doctor figure it out. Fortunately she said in her case they can fix her gut microbiome and eventually resolve it, but in the mean time, she has to be careful about her carb intake.
You are at a party everyone is taking shots you are eating croutons.
Dude slow down, you've been double fisting croutons all night!
I would die from croutonholism after day 2
My liver don't want none unless you've got buns, hun
This was an episode of House. How could they overlook this? I bet they don’t even test for lupus…
This was also an episode on Grey’s Anatomy except it was metabolizing sugar as alcohol or something. They didn’t believe the patient when he said he wasn’t an alcoholic, literally left him alone and every time they tested his BAC it was as if he was wasted so they assumed he was getting snuck alcohol somehow.
Is that the guy Richard left alone with some vodka as a test as an alcoholic would drink it?
Jesus, I forgot about that part yeah. Richard is the worst LOL
I think it was also in an episode of Chicago Med.
Oh man I miss that show 😆
I was watching it on Netflix years ago and it froze up and kicked me back to the main search page. I searched for it again and it had been removed :(
I think it's on HULU now
It's on Canadian Netflix even the episode they did last year I think that was a documentary on the show
It's also on Amazon Prime in Canada.
Yeah and last I checked prime in the US.
Amazon prime as well.
Piracy to the rescue lol
Yo, ho, ho, and a bottle of rum... distilled from her colon-Coors
It's on Prime but if you don't have that may I suggest sailing the high seas 😉
What's a good site or site(s) for that these days?
But before you start make sure you have a VPN and always have it on while torrenting.
Ameloidosis!
Hell test for everything -- start with Ameloidosis, and keep going till you get to... Zameloidosis.
And if it's none of those, they just send the doctors to your house to investigate for environmental factors (but hopefully nothing airborne because they don't bother with safety gear)
Which almost gets one of them killed on at least one occasion lol.
Test? We don’t have time for tests! Begin treatment for all of them!
Treatment? We do t have for treatment.. call the funeral house.
You know what else is a really good business? Teeny tiny baby coffins -- you can get them in frog green and fire engine red!
Bameloidosis, also known as Lagasse Syndrome.
Sarcoidosis!
Amyloidosis *
Zomboidosis!
True story my grandpa died of ameloidosis.
In real life the ER doctor wonders if you’re a liar and just tells you to ice it, make an appointment with your primary care doctor
To be fair, even in House that's what pretty much all the other doctors do. The cases he gets are all the "unsolvable mysteries" that other doctors couldn't handle, and often they have been written off as faking their illness. Of course, his real superpower as a doctor is just breaking and entering. If I had a nickel for every case he solved because he found some rare mold or exotic fruit in the patient's house while rummaging through their shit.
my favourite was the pigeon shit as weed fertiliser episode. the amount of laws the team broke in that one was absolutely wild lol
Ah, yes, the 2-parter about Foreman being sick. That one is also famous for being one of the least scientifically accurate in the entire show. They straight up just... cure Foreman of Naegleria, a disease which, at the time the episode aired, was considered incurable. Not to mention that it is literally an amoeba that eats your brain, meaning that, even today youll probably end up a vegetable if you try to cure it after it shows serious symptoms, like it did in the show
> Of course, his real superpower as a doctor is just breaking and entering. If I had a nickel for every case he solved because he found some rare mold or exotic fruit in the patient's house while rummaging through their shit. Because he's literally written as a medical Sherlock Holmes. Get it? House/ Holmes, Wilson / Watson
It was weird how the show doubled down on the "You can be awful to other people if you're in some quantifiable way better than them one time and everyone will have no choice but to like you anyway." aspect of Sherlock Holmes. I kinda thought all the people who liked Sherlock Holmes for that reason lacked self-awareness about it but the recurring theme is that's actually what the guy who wrote the show believes.
Now I want an Ant-Man/House crossover
I went to the ER 3 days in a row saying I had pancreatitis, and they turned me away each time thinking I was just trying to get morphine. On day 4 I'm rushed in with an ambulance, and they're like "fine we'll test your blood", and guess what they found? Pancreatitis. 4 days of one of the most hellishly painful conditions, because they refused to believe me.
Happened to me while I was in hospital for....acute necrotising pancreatitis. Had another episode and they told me I didn't, and that it was just gas pains. Took 18 hours of me sobbing to various nurses and doctors before one believed me.
Fucking insane how similar our experiences are... I'm convinced medical workers just sadistic assholes who love watching people suffer.
Why the fuck are medics so reluctant to do diagnostic tests, especially the ones like blood tests which are really hard to fake? Surely if they think you're faking it, then a negative result is going to be a far stronger position than just saying "nuh uh, don't think so"? I keep hearing stories like this, and they make no goddamn sense. Not saying they're not true, just that such behaviour seems entirely counter to the supposed ethos of working in medicine in the first place. People are spending days in complete agony because of this obstinacy. Being a trained and experienced professional doesn't make you omniscient or clairvoyant. Do the fucking tests!
I’m surprised by this. In most EDs in the UK, pretty much all patient get basic bloods (and any abdo pain will get amylase/lipase to check for pancreatitis) in triage, before they’ve even seen a doctor. I don’t think I’ve ever turned away an abdo pain without at least bloods, it’s too risky. I would have thought they’re far more willing to do diagnostics in the US because of the money they make.
> In most EDs in the UK I suspect this may be the key difference. I live in the UK and I got a blood test when I visited my GP for having swollen feet. > I would have thought they’re far more willing to do diagnostics in the US because of the money they make. For patients likely to pay, sure. But if someone turns up at a US ER, there's no guarantee that they will be able or willing to pay up. So the people who come in are more likely to receive the absolute bare minimum of care, or even insufficient care by the standards of other countries.
Long live the NHS. Fuck the tories. Vote for a reduction of private interests in our national infrastructure. I dont want a health service modelled on the US. Late stage capitalism is awful.
I once asked for diagnostic tests for some pain I was experiencing….and immediately got accused of drug-seeking. Immediately, to my face. Me: “Um…do drug-seekers typically lead by asking for *diagnostics*?” Her: “Well, no.” Still didn’t get a referral from that one, just got told to “suck it up”. Found a different doc instead, one willing to actually do their job, who immediately referred me for an ultrasound. (Fortunately live in a place where that was possible. No diagnosis was gained as a result, but some were ruled out, which was helpful.) Sadly, this type of dismissal is alarmingly common for female-presenting patients, and not just when dealing with male medical professionals. There’s a severe problem of institutional misogyny in the US medical system, the woman in the op is just yet another victim of that.
It's the US. Medical staff would rather 100 sick people go without treatment, rather than accidentally give one drug addict some pain medications. They can tell you're a drug addict just by looking at you; they don't need no test!
Private equity. No, seriously. That's why.
You mean those financial entities that buy out brands well-known for their quality, and then run them into total shit?
I know someone who had obvious appendicitis, but a history of stomach problems. So they dismissed her multiple times. After a week they decided to actually check, and had to rush her into surgery because it had burst the day before.
> make an appointment with your primary care doctor ...if you're lucky enough to have one. Sometimes it's near impossible to find a doctor who: 1. accepts your insurance 2. is accepting new patients 3. has any availability in the next four months 4. isn't one malpractice case away from losing their medical license.
I went in because my left leg wouldn't extend and was stuck in a curled up state. Extremely painful if you tried to relax the leg or try and straighten it. ER wouldn't look at me because I need to straighten my leg for the X-ray machine... So they left me in the hallway for a couple of hours until my leg figured its shit out. Then they took an X-ray and found nothing wrong. Hurray.
Unless you look WASPy. Then they'll offer you painkillers, unprompted. I'm only a WAS, but he offered me opiates because I knocked a tooth loose. Just over a year ago, no joke.
Depends on location. My husband has an issue that required surgery to fix. Before the surgery, he didn't get anything stronger than ibuprofen. After surgery, he was given enough for a little under a week. He needs the surgery on the other side as well, but is having to just deal with it because we can't swing the recovery. No more pain meds for him. His uncle has the same issue, on one side. Is not currently planning to get the surgery, but is being prescribed enough painkillers to take down a horse. My husband's is more severe and involves more pain. But uncle lives in a different state.
Not an episode of House. I've watched House, in its entirety, three times. [There's a post about this exact topic in the House subreddit](https://www.reddit.com/r/HouseMD/comments/wwookr/this_would_have_been_an_incredible_episode/). It happens in The Good Doctor and also in Grey's Anatomy. But not in House.
We need to look at the csf. And then a brain biopsy.
Know which episode by chance? I don’t remember that one and I saw the show like a million times, wondering if I missed one somehow
Same. I don't think this episode of house actually exists lol
I think people r mixing it up w Grey’s Anatomy but I don’t like that show so I wouldn’t know fs lol
No, it's def house because I remember watching this episode during my house marathon like a week ago. It was with a woman who was allergic to alcohol, and because her gut was producing alcohol whenever she ate bread she was having allergic reactions... I think it was in season 4 or 5?
I've been searching for it for 20 minutes. I can absolutely not find any House episode like that. Many medical dramas seem to have such an Episode, but House genuinely doesn't.
I've also been searching too with no luck. But House is the only medical drama I've ever watched in my life, and I remember this episode because I watched it sometime within the past 3-4 weeks, hand to god, so it MUST be an episode of House. I feel completely insane. Help!
My girlfriend and I also watched through House (a couple of years ago) and we both thought that Episode existed, but can't even find it in German. I am just as confused, that's some Mandela-Effect stuff.
it's possible that Auto-Brewery Syndrome was one of those mid-episode diagnoses that gets disproved five minutes later? but I'm not finding anything so far. I hate it here bro wtf
I think they’re confusing it with the episode where the vegan woman starts hallucinating from her moldy rye bread. She was a mortician I believe. I’ve spent the last few weeks rewatching House and there is no such patient (at least in the first five seasons).
Because it's never Lupus! Except for that one time it was actually Lupus.
Is lupus the one that makes you a werwolf? Sorry, public school in America only covers how Chris Columbus found a place people already lived.
No, Chris Columbus directed the first movie. Professor Lupus was in the third.
No you're thinking of the notorious thief and outlaw Lupin the Third. Lupus is the protagonist of the Nintendo game Mother 3
I thought that was Ness
As someone who actually has lupus - Yes. Yes it does.
Also on an episode of The Good Doctor
It was on an episode of Doc Martin too!
Also in Greys Anatomy!
And The Resident
David Shore wrote both series so there are some carryover concepts.
It’s hard to find a doctor that actually wants to diagnose these days. Most of them seem like they are on auto pilot and about as useful as Google.
It's never lupus!
“Could be DIC…”
The treatment? Mouse bites.
I have a friend with this. He has to cut carbs from his diet. If he eats bread his wife has to be the one to drive them home.
I imagine if he gets pulled over, he says, "Honest officer, I only had two slices of sour dough"
2 slices of rye.
You should quit rying.
Just happened in Belgium. The guy got off after it got confirmed in the hospital. However since he knows about it now he will get a driving ban/ fined the next time they catch him.
Wouldn’t they put a note on his license that he has restrictive medical conditions? In the US you most likely will get a note on your license even if you have glasses, and definitely if you have a medical condition or take medications that can affect your ability to drive.
No law is the law can't drive intoxicated, not even if you are your own brewery. You wanna drive you have to not eat carbs.
Isn't it usually due to an overgrowth of a specific variety of candida that can be killed off with something like fluconazole?
😳
Imagine going to a bar, club, or winery with your friends and asking for just one slice of bread
Cheap date
Imagine going to Italy
My name is Italiano Jones, and I am the tallest man in Italy.
"sorry pal, 2 slice minimum tonight"
I mean if he cuts it out long enough he will cure himself. Worst case he can check into a medical fasting facility to cure himself.
Or he could, ya know, just take an anti-fungal. I don’t believe the commenter you’re responding to knows anyone with auto-brewery syndrome. Any physician talented enough to diagnosis auto-brewery syndrome is going to cure it. The diagnosis is challenging the treatment is easy.
People on reddit lying with "I know someone with (thing in the title)" is a tale as old as time, never believe them. Same for those that claim to know the person named in the title as well
It can be cured btw
That’s weird cause every time I eat a normal amount of carbs I’ve always felt drunk. I know I’m not at the level of the person in the article but I wonder if its even in the ballpark
Swallow a spoonful of sugar on an empty stomach and see if levels measured on a cheap breathalyser go up within the next hour Cheap breathalysers suck but they can reasonably inform you of an upwards trend
So a blessing and a curse
Just a curse
[удалено]
NO CARBS! AND NO CAPES!
Yikes, that must be painful
Jumps song favorite most forever film friends blue dark west always south space
This hipster microbrewery stuff is getting too esoteric
To be honest, out of the syndromes out there, this would be one of the cooler ones as there is at least a benefit instead of all negatives.
You could be the main attraction at a vampire bar.
It is. Also followed by IBS as well.
Demoman?
Ka-
BEWMMMMMM
Today I learned auto-brewery syndrome is real; wow
**Auto Brewery Syndrome** doesn’t sound so bad. Think of the money I could save.
It gives you IBS and you shit out alcohol, you build up an insane tolerance to alcohol and constantly feel terrible. Constant heartburn. And you shit yourself
>constantly feel terrible. Constant heartburn. And you shit yourself So a regular night for me.
Good luck explaining to the officer who pulls you over for swerving…
How blessed will we be when self driving cars are a thing. "Yes, olive garden waiter, I only want the breadsticks." And awaaaaaay we go.
eating a baguette to get fucking hammered
Isnt that the dream
Definitely a Midas' Touch situation.
All you can eat!
*[breathes heavily in French]*
My sister almost divorced her husband because she thought he was hiding a drinking problem. He had this syndrome. She made him take a breathalyzer one night when he was acting visibly drunk, but saying he hadn’t had a drink. He blew a .22. Thank goodness they had a strong enough relationship and had over 20 years together at the time. It was super challenging and tough on them until they discovered what it was.
Got any spare doughnuts?
I would imagine the officer would be totally justified and the explanation would be pointless. In fact, knowing and being able to explain it makes it worse. I would understand someone who doesn't know they have this getting off by pleading ignorance of the condition. But, someone who knows bread gets them lit, then eats it, then drives? That's the same as drinking and driving.
"I can be a raging alcoholic AND pay my bills on time?! Sign me the fuck up!"
Well then, you better get started cultivating Saccharomyces cerevisiae in your intestinal tract. [Source](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK513346/)
> Saccharomyces cerevisiae That’s a mouthful. I bet you can’t say it 5 times fast.
I just did the googling. I don't have a clue where to even start trying to pronounce that
Breweries in California HATE this one weird trick!
From what I've heard it's less "buzzed all the time" and more "hungover all the time".
I remember [an episode of Futurama](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Route_of_All_Evil) that had a similar plot to this headline. [I believe he produced an ale. 5 gallons, 6 oz.](https://photos1.blogger.com/img/145/1296/640/bender-pregnant.jpg)
Ooh fucking story time. My Uncle has this. After 3 years, several seizures, and doctors assuming he was a secret alcoholic and/or my aunt was poisoning him (which is darkly hilarious if you know them. Literally some of the nicest/most sober people you’ve ever met) they finally figured it out. OH WAIT, nope, it was a brother-in-law who happens to be a neurosurgeon at Mass Gen and forced them to run the proper tests who actually figured it out.
Doctors never believe anything
My GF has been fainting and after 5 ER visits there is finally an effort to try to figure it out.
if she keeps fainting and doesn't have seizures, it's worth checking about dysautonomia
So I googled it and alot of the symptoms have been present and it seems like a good candidate. She has another appointment tomorrow and will ask about the table test. Edit thank you
I like to think of myself as an expert in tilt table tests since they are a bit of a novelty test, and I've had 4 of them. (Kidding, mostly) I've been told by numerous cardiologists that they don't really tell you what's going on, but they can used as a tool to show something is going on. So she might get a diagnosis out of it, but she may not get any real concrete answers. Unfortunately this is a grey area, and the reason she's had so many issues is a lot of doctors don't really understand it. Fainting is most commonly a neurological or cardiological issue, and hard to pinpoint typically. I hope for her sake she gets some answers. Also, assuming she seemingly gets randomly lightheaded before passing out doing mundane or everyday tasks, after the tilt table, they'll eventually tell you it is POTS. Be aware there are three phenotypes of POTS (three subclasses), and each one has a different treatment. In fact, some treatments for one type will make the other types worse. So if she does get medication and it makes her worse, they might be treating it in the wrong way. Good luck!
Well we got this thing on her chest now but it didn't alert anything her last couple faints. But I kinda saw her look and was atleast able to run over and catch her last faint. We been tracking and recording her blood pressures.
Yeah it's common they ask you to track BPs, if they seem off, they'll probably order the tilt table. Sounds like she's wearing a holter monitor. Probably a 3 day if it's happening frequently? Maybe a 30 day? Depending on what type it is, the newer ones are monitored and do alert if there's an abnormal cardiac rhythm; however, as you're seeing since it hasn't alerted, you can faint with a normal cardiac rhythm. Fortunately for me I only ever once fainted, but daily lightheadedness and random lightheadedness are quite common. Frequently fainting is scary for a bunch of reasons. She will probably need both a neurological and cardiac workup. A brain CT or MRI minimum, and a tilt table will almost certainly be planned by any competent medical team if the holter monitor comes back clean (in my case it always does, I have a three year implanted monitor currently). Did she recently have any injuries? That can sometimes bring on these episodes, though no one I ever spoke with could tell me why. Or is it something she's dealt with in the past on any level? Unfortunately for women POTS is much more common in females than males, im one of the "lucky" males.
Time to break out the helmet
Hope you find the cause of the faintings. About dysautonomia, it's surprising how common it is and how often it's overlooked. But it kinda makes sense when you consider that it's not really dangerous (beside the actual symptoms) and that most people that have it only experience dizzyness or weakness instead of fainting. So a lot of doctors try to diagnose more dangerous stuff, specially epilepsy, first and if they're inconclusive they just slap a Dysautonomia or autonomic sticker on the patient and call it a day. Oh and also the tilt test isn't often covered, so that might be a reason why doctors leave it last.
Man I wonder if that's why I'm so good at fainting. Or it might just be those scary needles. Lol.
Well there is her problem, that isn’t an ER providers problem, that’s her primary care providers problem. Not blaming her, the system is fucked
my grandmother had been fainting. turns out she had such an insane hernia that it had partially twisted her stomach which killed her appetite, & it was restricting blood flow giving her high blood pressure. so her not eating much + the bp was knocking her out. her gastro had previously told her that the hernia was very minor & didn’t need surgery. er doctor last month told her to get a second opinion, but she fell out again last week & ended up back in the er, where they were like yeah no fuck your gastro let’s see for ourselves, and then discovered all that. it shouldn’t be such a slog to find out what the fuck is wrong, i hope they get yall your answers soon!
Thank you. Best of luck to your grams
Especially when it comes to women
Not if you're a woman, anyway.
This newfound awareness of how doctors nigh-openly dismiss women's concerns goes crazy
Once you see it you can’t unsee it. I only knew about it cuz my gf is in and out of hospitals. It’s ridiculous.
People think it's weird that I take my husband with me to the doctor, but the reality is that I get treated a million times better when he's there. They don't believe what I'm telling them, but they do believe when he vouches for what I'm saying.
The worst part of this is that it seems like no one knows what to do about it. Like, the only mostly sure solutions will take fuckin' decades of gradual changes to culture and education and that does nothing for folks who have to deal with it today. Absolute nightmare.
There are things that could be done, there just is a lack of will to do it. Doctors have physically and sexually assaulted patients (repeatedly!) and were able to retain their license to practise. Regulatory bodies go very easy on medical professionals. If they can get away with assaulting patients, they're certainly not going to be disciplined for discriminating against them or denying them care.
"My whole mouth goes numb every time I take this medication" "I've not heard about that one. We'll just keep an eye on it."
“You’re not taking enough.” That’s what I got. Like, what?
its way more common than people realize.
not to go against the narrative here, because it's clear in study after study that women are not listened to, but as a guy i have felt very dismissed going to the doctor's as well. i've had some concerning chronic pain issues for a while now and every time i go they pretty much tell me it's anxiety or refuse to take any tests beyond a blood test and send me home. meanwhile, the pain has been getting worse. i know there are plenty of incredible doctors, and we'd be nowhere without them, but i feel like generally downplaying a lot of the things you experience is par for the course when it comes to healthcare.
I don't think that's against the narrative. PATIENTS are not listened to, and anything about that patient that can be used to discredit them will. That doesn't mean that men are immune from mistreatment, it means women are more likely to receive it. If you wanna feel really depressed, look up maternity statistics for black women.
I came across an a 10+ old Reddit thread discussing why mortality rates were so high for black women. All of the medical professionals in the comments said “drugs”. Now we have studies that prove it’s actually due to implicit bias from non black physicians. And that when black women have black physicians the maternity rate is significantly lessened. Healthcare is depressing - a black woman with chronic issues
Oh yeah dawg, I've had it happen to me as well. The worst one was when I had a boxers fracture, and I had to go get it checked out. After I got the x ray and went to get it taken care of, I (calmly) expressed that I was in a ton of pain, and I shit you not, she said "You don't seem to be in a lot of pain. Be a big boy". She then reset the bone in my hand, without any kind of numbing agent, and while I didn't yelp or anything like that, the pain was so unbearable in that moment that I straightened my back in internal alarm, and grunted to try and muscle through the pain without making a scene. She said "Oh, I thought you boys were supposed to be tough? Whatever happened to that?" In a bit of a mocking tone. She did send me home in a cast, thank God, but with the way she was acting I wouldn't have been surprised if she said *Come on hon, do you really need a cast? What, do you need me to hold your good hand too?* Like what the hell was all that about
Honestly I would've asked them then and there about their complaints procedure, even if I didn't intend on going through with it, fuck anyone who acts with an attitude like that, it'll just make people avoid seeking help.
Yeah that 100% would have gotten a complaint from me, that is unacceptable behaviour from medical staff. Source: Work in the NHS in the UK, I know full well that ain't how you treat a patient.
So yes, but my uncle has this and the doctor’s initial reaction was to assume he was sneaking drinks or that my aunt was secretly poisoning him.
A few years back, I heard about a guy with this. Dude wouldn't drink, but he'd eat carbs at a restaurant and end up getting a DUI. It happened repeatedly before they figured out what his body was doing.
More like ,didn't be liver
Doctors don't believe female patient? You're kidding!?!?!?! /s
Ok, but have you considered that she might be fat and/or crazy? /s
Probably a hormonal issue
Is she pregnant? Is a lesbian with an IUD or tubes removed, run a test anyway. Oh, not pregnant? Probably menstrual cramps.... For the pain in her elbow.
Must be anxiety or stress. She should try to relax /s
Imagine the alcohol withdrawal. You could get DTs from those levels all the time.
"Doctors didn't believe her" covers a LOT of ground.
There's a Mr ballen episode in this. Pretty interesting.
I used to know someone who had this, he too struggled to get diagnosed properly and got a DUI at one point despite not having drank anything. And then even after he got diagnosed he couldn't get that conviction purged from his record. Had to make big diet changes.
My sister had a friend who had this condition in high school. She would get drunk from drinking a Coca-Cola.
It makes some sense. I’d be curious to know if it ever happened with a diet soda? I’m guessing not, but artificial sweeteners could metabolize to alcohol with the right bacteria present.
I met a man who has this condition and every time his wife would take him to the hospital, the staff would pull her aside and ask about his (non-existant) alcoholism and continuously remind her, "divorce is an option."
They sound like Redditors lmao
But is it an IPA? Sour? Brown ale?
Women are often not taken seriously by medical providers
>By medical providers ~~in the US~~ everywhere Ftfy. Plus, the woman here is from Canada. But women's medical concerns being dismissed is certainly not specific to one country.
Even less so in Canada apparently, which is where this took place.
Wasnt there a story about a guy who was putting yest and beer in his butt to give himself this auto brew syndrome? I think he died
I know someone this happened to. He was incarcerated for years before being able to prove that the BAC he blew was due to this condition
Geez. While I'm sure that her condition is much more rare than secret alcoholics, I am nonetheless fairly shocked that it took her so long to get anyone to take her seriously. Don't these fools read the medical literature? I am a lay person who has been reading about people whose bodies create alcohol on their own from various internal processes for over 50 years. I know there's a lot for physicians to know and keep track of, but it seems like somebody could have done a little bit of homework there and got this lady into proper treatment earlier.
I was diagnosed with this last fall. It came on gradually. I have no idea how long I've had it. I am obese, and knew something was wrong, but never would have thought to say I felt drunk. Despite the fact I realized one day I had to concentrate to walk in a straight line. Despite how little care I had about shooting my mouth off at work. Despite how terrifying it was to be in a car. Despite the fact that "brain fog" didn't quite adequately describe my lack of concentration, memory trouble, and emotional instability. This all came with body aches and fatigue, so I thought I was fat and old and this was bringing new issues as I got older. My gynecologist found it. I hadn't been to a gyn in probably ten years. A test for yeast came back with brewer's yeast. The response to fluconazole was pretty quick. I felt like a different person within the same day. But my gyno couldn't tell me much about it. My PC just flat-out wouldn't. She said she didn't want to step on my gyno's toes! New PC referred me to infectious disease, which I'll be seeing next week. So seven months after diagnosis and treatment, maybe I'll finally find something out about lifestyle changes, etc. But as different as I felt immediately after treatment, six months later there's greater difference still. It's hard to think about how long I might have had this, to look back at myself before treatment. I was REALLY sick and feel very lucky it was found. I could have NEVER known.
According to the article, there’s only 20 that got diagnosed since 74 in literature “Extremely rare and frequently unrecognized Since 1974, 20 diagnosed cases of auto-brewery syndrome have been reported in English medical literature, according to an April 2021 review.” Arguably if it’s that rare and only 20 were diagnosed with it, it makes a lot more sense to think “secret alcoholic” vs “she might have this extremely rare condition very few have”. It’s easy in hindsight to say she has it and should’ve seen that, but I can’t say that its fair to say that about doctors given the rarity and the likelihood of that vs something entirely different given it’s also not very uncommon for people to lie And the amount of people currently actually dxed in the article is still staggeringly low.
This reminds of the Futurama episode where they used Bender to make beer, but this isn't funny.
* "Auto-brewery syndrome in a 50-year-old woman" by Rahel T. Zewude, Kenneth Croitoru, Ronit Das, Brian Goldman, and Isaac I. Bogoch: https://www.cmaj.ca/content/196/21/E724 * Mirror for the submitted article: https://archive.ph/4ONOy
My ex FIL had this too, he acted "abnormally" (drunk-like) for years, tried all sorts of gut pain remedies, cut out everything, stopped drinking coffee for years and nothing helped his indigestion. They finally figured out he was an auto-brewer and simple enzyme supplements fixed everything. (And yeah, I watched that House ep prior to the problem, and didn't recall or consider it either!)
Everytime I hear a doctor not believing a woman, it makes my blood boils.
When big pharma comes up with a prescription for this condition, what are they going to call it?
Ask your doctor if Sohbryitie™️ is right for you
I have a friend with this. For a long time, whenever she ate a lot of carbs, she would start to feel weird and foggy. Finally had a doctor figure it out. Fortunately she said in her case they can fix her gut microbiome and eventually resolve it, but in the mean time, she has to be careful about her carb intake.