Treating Auto-Brewery Syndrome
Once you have a diagnosis of ABS, the treatment may not be simple or straightforward. Your primary provider may decide to try anti-fungal medications but some patients respond to medication and other do not. Some patients take long courses or several courses of the medication before seeing results and there are side effect to most of the medications and they can be hard on your liver.
Whether of not you decide to take medications, almost all patients must abstain from alcohol and maintain a low glycemic index diet at least until symptoms subside and the stool culture comes back negative for yeast. Many patients decide to maintain the diet long term in order to prevent a relapse.
Environmental triggers are important to identify in addition to food that provokes symptoms, because ABS may be brought on by mold in your house, yeast and mold exposure at work, such as exposure to soil, moldy substances, or damp locations.
It’s important to read up on the treatment of yeast overgrowth as many physicians are not aware of the severe symptoms that can occur in patients with overgrowth.
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My 57yr old husband has been dealing with this syndrome for approximately18 months. What test is recommended to determine the level of causative yeast? We have determined it takes his body 24-36 hours to produce the symptoms after ingesting any carbohydrates.
Reply →in reply to JANE KENMORE
I took a fecal test to determine the yeast in my stool
Reply →in reply to melanie
Hi,
Reply →I believe my husband has this. We are getting passed from doctor to doctor. They did a stool sample but then told us that they weren’t able to test for yeast this way. I feel that is wrong. Anyone else have a stool sample performed with an analysis done for yeast?
in reply to Hilary Wilson
They can test for yeast through a stool sample. It’s not a culture but a DNA test and is done by many labs, Quest Diagnostics being one.
Reply →in reply to JANE KENMORE
He should eat more sauerkraut and drink kombucha. It will cure him. There is a dysbiosis in his guts.
Reply →in reply to JANE KENMORE
There is a section on the blog called Diagnosing ABS that has more information.
Reply →For the last month and a half I have had this drunk feeling and headaches and I have been given anti biotics, steroids, and had an MRi of my brain with more blood work and another MRI for my neck. When I read this article it really hit home because I have diabetes 2 and cant control my sugar levels. I try and eat right but I do eat some carbs and yeast products. Please send me any other information or who I could call to find out more about this. Thank you
Reply →in reply to Steve
I’m posting everything I know on this website. Best wishes
Reply →I have ABS and it is miserable! Now that I have completely changed my diet I feel great. You CAN feel better! I would be happy to share my story and what I have learned through trial and error.
Reply →in reply to Paul Whitwell
It’s good to know you have managed your symptoms. However, there are many people who have not responded to dietary changes alone and require medications.
Reply →in reply to Paul Whitwell
Hi Paul Whitwell, I have ABS too and it is terrible. I would like to know your story a everything about your diet. Thanks
Reply →Dana
in reply to Paul Whitwell
I would love to hear your story and how you are doing, the changes you made or supplements you took for abs. boyfriend is struggling with this and we identifued it about 6 weeks ago. fatty liver, seizures etc… wakes up at a .17 on average. trying low carb, no fermented foods, no dairy and no starches etc… added probiotics a few days ago. doctors are not on board yet. :/
Reply →in reply to Paul Whitwell
Hi there, I would love to know how you changed your diet for the ABS my daughter is struggling with it and no one can help her we’ve had so many tests done she is on a high dose of Nystatin right now she was 40 days pretty much with no numbers or low numbers and since this past Thursday she has been going up and down with numbers drastically and fast
Reply →My husband has rhis condition butcwe can’t find anyone to treat it. We live un Michigan about 90 miles from Chicago. Any suggestions?
Reply →My wife and I have been unknowingly dealing with this issue for many years, but she was eventually diagnosed with ABS about 20 months ago. She has been treating with mixed results. Unfortunately, it appears that she is becoming more sensitive to other triggers, including mold, pet dander, and even alcohol-based body lotions that she was using for dry skin. We recently performed a very controlled study by getting baseline breathalyzer numbers, eliminating food and other triggers and applying her normal body lotion and found that about 30-40 minutes afterwards her BAC was about .08.
Reply →We replicated this test three consecutive days with similar results. We have changed all body care and cosmetics to eliminate any alcohol related products with some success. This does not address all the other major triggers. Of course, despite living a major city with many medical schools, we have not been able to find someone who knows or understands the syndrome. Any suggestion or comments would be appreciated.
in reply to Anthony Carrozzo
Anyone with this, or thinks they have this needs to get a "comprehensive digestive stool analysis" or CDSA for short, done. Level 3 or higher. Usually from a "functional" pathology lab. It’s not just your standard stool test, they will explain.
If it shows saccharomyces cerevisiae, a bakers or brewers yeast. Chances are you have youself abs.
Comes with MANY gastrointestinal issues. You’re not just simply drunk
Reply →in reply to lindsay Meynell
Be aware that there are a number of fermenting organisms in addition to S. cerevisiae that seem to contribute to this disorder.
Reply →in reply to Anthony Carrozzo
My wife shows all the symptoms that others have described and she has on average 5-6 days each week where she is affected.Her breathalyzer readings reach very high readings in excess of .25 regularly and at times she becomes comatose and has to be helped physically to prevent her falling down. At this point we are about to see a gastroenterologist but she has indicated that she has no knowledge of ABS. We have made dietary changes with some success but nothing that reduces the onset of intoxication entirely. We are hopeful that a positive course of action is not too far away but here in Australia there is little awareness of ABS even with medical practitioners. Any help or advice for us here in Australia would be gratefully appreciated.
Reply →in reply to Jim Liston
You might consider buying the new book “My Gut Makes Alcohol!” and sharing it with your GI doctor: https://store.bookbaby.com/book/my-gut-makes-alcohol
Reply →There are several articles listed under “Resources” as well that are free. Doctors need to be educated about this. Let me know if you want to join the Facebook support group. I believe there are a couple of other people there from Australia.