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Didn’t drink but alcohol was in my system

Heart & Blood Health | Last Active: 3 days ago | Replies (11)

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Profile picture for rogue19 @rogue19

This recently happened to me a few weeks ago. I was at work and coworkers noticed my speech was slurring. They were concerned as well as my family who said I sounded "drunk" and the words I was saying didn't make any sense. My fiancee (at the time) picked me up and took me to the emergency room for testing. CT was normal but the lab work showed both an ethanol level of 10, my glucose was at 259 and my blood pressure was really high that day as well. Unfortunately, I do not remember any of this. Since then, my fiancee has broken up with me as he doesn't understand how I could have tested positive for alcohol when I clearly hadn't been drinking. I've had an MRI and that also came back normal. I recently had more blood work done as well as my first of 2 EEGs. Some at work say I was walking normally according to footage while others say I wasn't. My ex wants to go to the police and file a report thinking maybe somebody slipped me something. The only problem with that is that I lost memory before a supposed guest came up to my work station. My family is afraid I will lose my job if I go to the police and see if they can get the security footage as my neurologist even wants to see it to make a better diagnosis yet they refuse saying it's against company policy. My whole world has been turned upside down. I've lost my finace. I feel like I will lose my job if I go to the police or an attorney about this situation. I'm trying to get to the bottom of this medically but for some reason that's not good enough for him. Could a high sugar level cause memory loss and someone appear drunk when they haven't been drinking? I've looked into auto brewery syndrome and am waiting the results of another blood test. I just don't know who or what to believe anymore. I'm constantly questioning everything and everyone I love including the man who broke my heart by leaving me in my time of dire need. If anyone has any suggestions I would greatly appreciate it.

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Replies to "This recently happened to me a few weeks ago. I was at work and coworkers noticed..."

Don't know about other conditions causing false positive results for alcohol, but I grew up with a sister who had Type I diabetes and she regularly had reactions in which speech was slurred & she appeared drunk. One more observation is that even if you were "just a drunk" you are entitled to compassionate & knowledgeable care. Sorry your caregivers did not understand this basic tenet of medical practice.

@rogue19

This sounds very similar to what my wife has been going through for the past few years. It has been incredibly frustrating for her, for me, and for our adult kids, as this happens at least 3 times per week, typically starting mid-late afternoon. Her symptoms present nearly identically to diabetic ketoacidosis (so I have read); her breath has a sweetish-ethanol smell, she acts like she is drunk, and I have measured her BAC as high as 0.031 when she has an "episode". She is retired and I work out of my home office and see her all day. She does not drink alcohol, and I can literally just watch it happen over the course of an hour or two. I have measured her glucose, ketones, and measure her BAC using a breathalyzer to try to gather data to present to her doctor, all baselined in the morning when her BAC is zero. Glucose and Ketones barely change, so we are thinking it must be Auto Brewers. However, we have approached her doctor as well as a gastroenterologist and they have been little to no help- it is mind-blowingly frustrating. She is in good shape and has a low-carb, low sugar diet. @rogue19, were you able to determine what caused your issue? Has anyone else experienced this?