My Gut Makes Alcohol!: The Science and Stories of Auto-Brewery Syndrome

Imagine a normal Sunday: you wake up, get dressed, have some coffee, and drive to church with your wife. After church at lunch, the room starts to sway, you lose coordination, and when you talk, your words are slurred. You feel like you pounded a handle of hard liquor but you haven’t had a drop to drink. In the ER, the doctor tells your wife your Blood Alcohol Content is through the roof, that you are an alcoholic and a liar. Dr. Barbara Cordell’s husband Joe experienced exactly this, and it sent her on a long fascinating journey for answers.Auto-Brewery Syndrome is rare condition where yeast in the body’s microbiome interacts with sugars to ferment ethanol, making the person intoxicated and resulting in a nightmarish cascade of symptoms. People afflicted with ABS are sometimes incarcerated for driving under the influence, their careers are often ruined, and their social lives disintegrate. And yet, the medical community, by and large, doesn’t believe them. In My Gut Makes Alcohol!, Dr. Cordell takes a close look at all the science, new and old that surrounds ABS. She reveals the painful experiences of ABS patients and in doing so, exposes the medical community’s resistance to new knowledge and potential for cruelty. She credits the citizen scientists, whose dedication and diligent research on behalf of their afflicted loved ones enable some open-minded healthcare providers to see the light. This book is the first of its kind on this subject and provides critical understanding for patients, family members, doctors, healthcare providers, law enforcement, and the legal justice system. It’s a call to action for all of us to be more sensitive and compassionate toward people with rare or invisible diseases.