Eric Poulin Explores Fecal Transplant After 10 Years of Auto-Brewery Syndrome, Wife Launches App
Updated
Updated · CBC Sports · May 28
Eric Poulin Explores Fecal Transplant After 10 Years of Auto-Brewery Syndrome, Wife Launches App
2 articles · Updated · CBC Sports · May 28
Nearly 10 years after unexplained intoxication episodes began, Nova Scotia's Eric Poulin is now pursuing a fecal microbiota transplant in capsule form after diet changes and antifungal treatment failed.
Fewer than 100 cases of auto-brewery syndrome have been documented, and doctors say an imbalance of gut microbes can ferment alcohol continuously, producing ethanol faster than the body can clear it.
Poulin said the condition left him appearing drunk without drinking, with slurred speech, alcohol odor and memory gaps, while the health-care system often treated him as a hidden alcoholic.
Since 2023, he has been unable to work and says the illness has strained life with his five children; his wife Sarah is launching the Abstrack app to help patients log symptoms for clinicians.
Doctors involved in his care say the diagnosis is only one step, underscoring how rare, understudied diseases can remain difficult to treat even after they are identified.
An AI now predicts rare diseases. Can it finally solve the mystery of people who brew alcohol in their own gut?
Is our modern diet turning our guts into rogue breweries without us ever knowing it?
When your own body makes you drunk, who is legally responsible for a DUI?