A clean-living church pastor whose wife thought he had started drinking in secret discovered he has a rare condition which sees his gut turn carbohydrates into alcohol.
Adam Stump, from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, would become drunk, black out and slur his speech without drinking a single sip of alcohol, while he was forced to temporarily give up driving due to his symptoms.
His bewildered wife Jana Stump, 37, was convinced he was leading a ‘double life’ and concealing a drinking habit after he regularly became belligerent and stunk of alcohol.
But after visiting baffled doctors who believed he was a secret alcoholic and urged him to stop drinking, the church pastor was diagnosed with auto-brewery syndrome (ABS) in February.
Adam Stump (pictured), from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, would become drunk, black out and slur his speech without drinking a single sip of alcohol
His bewildered wife Jana (both pictured), 37, was convinced he was leading a ‘double life’ and concealing a drinking habit after he regularly became belligerent and stunk of alcohol
But the church pastor was eventually diagnosed with auto-brewery syndrome (ABS). Pictured: Mr and Ms Stump with sons Tristan, 10, Wyatt, eight, Kilian, five and Judah, three
ABS, which is also known as gut fermentation syndrome or endogenous ethanol fermentation, is a rare condition that causes the body to turn carbohydrates into alcohol in the stomach.
Father-of-four Mr Stump said: ‘At the start, Jana didn’t believe I hadn’t been drinking. She thought I was sneaking it somewhere. I had to convince her that I hadn’t been drinking.
‘It was terrible for her to think that I was living a double life. When I was diagnosed, she collapsed and said she couldn’t take any more stress.
‘I would slur my speech, black out and walk around talking but not remember any of it. I was quite belligerent and combative. I didn’t hurt anyone but once I threw the dining room table and had to get a friend round to calm me down.
‘There were a few times where my wife would be looking for me and I’d be in strange places like the garden or laying on the basement floor with no recollection of how I got there.’
Mr Stump said ABS is a ‘personality changer’ and made him feel like he was both drunk and had a hangover at the same time.
Now, Mr Stump (pictured with Jana and son Judah, three) manages his condition by avoiding carbohydrates and lives on a diet of eggs, chicken, beef, burgers and steak
Mr Stump (pictured with his wife Jana) said ABS is a ‘personality changer’ and made him feel like he was both drunk and had a hangover at the same time
The father-of-four (pictured with sons Tristan, 10, Wyatt, eight, Kilian, five and Judah, three) believes antibiotics to tackle previous illnesses may have triggered the mysterious diagnosis
The father-of-four believes antibiotics to tackle previous illnesses may have triggered the mysterious diagnosis, which saw his symptoms begin in December 2020.
Now, he manages his condition by avoiding carbohydrates and lives on a diet of eggs, chicken, beef, burgers and steak.
Stay-at-home Ms Stump first suspected her husband had an alcohol problem in December last year, when his breath stank of alcohol and she found him passed out on the basement floor.
Mr Stump explained: ‘On Christmas morning we were opening presents and my wife said I smelled of alcohol and asked if I’d been drinking but we’d literally just woken up.’
He said his wife realised something wasn’t right when a breathalyser test showed he was over the legal driving limit, despite the pair having been at church all morning without drinking.
He continued: ‘It was very hard on her as bad as it was for me. She knew there was something wrong so it was very stressful for her.’
Mr Stump said only one doctor had ever heard of the syndrome while others did not believe it was real, leading to medics telling him to stop drinking as they thought he was an alcoholic.
His wife began researching his symptoms and suspected he may have auto-brewery syndrome, so the pair began pushing sceptical medics to run tests, which revealed Adam had ABS.
Tests to diagnose ABS can include a stood test to determine if there is too much yeast in the gut, or the glucose challenge, which sees patients given a sugar capsule to eat, before a doctor checks their blood alcohol level.
Mr Stump began treatment in March but withdrawal symptoms, including nausea, diarrhoea and stomach cramps, meant Mr Stump was forced to take three months off work.
He said: ‘I started treatment in March and I was incapacitated.
‘We got rid of all carbs and sugar and I went on a full carnivore diet of meat, eggs and cheese.
‘It gets really old really quickly, I take anti-bacterial drugs and lots of vitamins.
‘I experienced nausea, diarrhoea and stomach cramps because my body was craving alcohol.’
He will now have to eat eggs for breakfast, a burger with no bun for lunch and chicken and steak or beef for dinner for the rest of his life to help keep the condition under control.
Mr Stump said he has managed to introduce some foods, including Brussels sprouts, but said he cannot have vinegar, ketchup, or other starchy or sugary foods.
He added: ‘There are some things I can never have again in my life and that controls the condition.
‘It’s a small price to pay to be healthy. I have been really careful not to introduce the wrong type of food.
‘When we prepare dinner, the biggest plate on the table is the meat plate because I have so much of it.
‘I’ve got to the point where I’ve realised it’s better to be healthy so it doesn’t bother me to see people eating and drinking. It’s worth it to be a husband and father.’
Source:
