Is It Possible to Become Intoxicated without Drinking Alcohol?

What could be worse than being pulled over by the police and getting a DUI? How about getting arrested even when you haven't had a drop of alcohol? As unlikely as it sounds, such a scenario is a realistic risk for people who suffer from auto-brewery syndrome. In this extremely rare medical condition, sometimes called "drunkenness disease," a person's body turns ingested sugar and carbohydrates into ethanol, or alcohol. So, without having a sip of liquor, that person can exhibit a high blood alcohol level. In one New York case, a woman was found to have a blood alcohol level four times the legal limit, but luckily for her, medical tests bore out the truth: She had auto-brewery syndrome. Although no one is born with the disease, it can manifest later in life, often as a complication connected to another health issue, such as Crohn's disease. Treatment options include cutting back on carbs or taking anti-fungal medicine, which might prevent the fungal infection associated with the disease.

Rare and unsettling medical conditions:

• People suffering from Cotard's syndrome believe that they are dead or that they do not exist.
• A stroke, trauma, or tumor can sometimes cause foreign accent syndrome, in which a person develops a foreign accent, albeit usually not a very good one.
• There have been a few reported cases of people being allergic to water, with associated hives and welts occurring after just a few minutes of exposure to water.