Dad’s life upended by uncommon auto-brewery syndrome — his physique makes alcohol

A father of two who misplaced his highschool educating job over a drunk driving price discovered he failed a Breathalyzer check out because of he has auto-brewery syndrome (ABS), a uncommon scenario the place the physique produces alcohol throughout the gut.

Mark Mongiardo, of Estero, Florida, said his indicators first emerged in 2006 when he was a highschool teacher and coach in New Jersey, the place coworkers began complaining that he reeked of alcohol although he by no means drank at work.

The incident lastly compelled him to switch jobs to a school in upstate New York, nonetheless each half obtained right here crashing down in 2018 when he was abruptly pulled over and charged with drunk driving.

Mongiardo insisted, however as soon as extra, that he didn’t drink a drop of alcohol, nonetheless the price worth him his job.

“That’s when I lost everything. I lost everything that somebody could lose,” he instructed ABC 7. “I wanted to advertise my residence, I wanted to advertise my automotive. I couldn’t get a job in coaching, I couldn’t get a job at a grocery retailer.

“I had pending felony charges. You know, I was facing prison time for two DWIs when I had not been drinking.”

The incidents lastly led Mongiardo to Staten Island-based gastroenterologist Dr. Prasanna Wickremesinghe, one in all many few consultants who focuses on treating ABS, who acknowledged him with the scenario.

“I started hysterically crying because I really felt that I had found the answer,” Mongiardo, who now works at a Target, said.

Answers lastly arrived when Mongiardo visited Wickremesinghe, who has been fascinated by ABS since he first encountered it in 2014.

Wickremesinghe, who has been fascinated with ABS since he first encountered it in 2014, instructed The Post that there isn’t any set framework on diagnosing the scenario which he said is mainly triggered when a affected individual has an adversarial impression to antibiotics.

He said the treatment can disrupt the biome throughout the gut, allowing fungi and yeast to take over. Then when carbohydrates are launched, the gut ferments alcohol.

“That’s how you get a patient who appears drunk but claims they haven’t had anything to drink,” Wickremesinghe said.

The expert has dealt with 30 victims with the scenario, which frequently requires antifungals and a strict low-carb consuming routine.

Wickremesinghe added that he’s working to spice up consciousness of ABS throughout the medical group as a method to help decide further attainable victims — and to hopefully arrange a framework for diagnosing and treating the scenario.

Mongiardo first suspected one factor was fallacious whereas he served as a bodily coaching teacher and assistant basketball coach on the New Milford High School in New Jersey.

While working there, staffers began griping that he smelled of alcohol.

“I would never do that. I’m a teacher,” Mongiardo said. “I really had no idea what was going on.”

Eventually, Mongiardo said he needed to go away the faculty, taking a job as a result of the director of bodily coaching, effectively being and athletics on the Liberty Central School District in 2018.

But solely three weeks into his new job, Mongiardo found himself pulled over by police as soon as they acknowledged his automotive as being identical to one different that someone was littering from.

During the stop, Mongiardo was shocked to review he had a blood alcohol content material materials of spherical .18, means above the approved limit.

And it occurred as soon as extra in 2019 when he was pulled over for driving whereas using his cellphone, with the later incident reaching his employer.

“During the school day, I had a meeting, I was forced to take a blood test and a breath test, and I had alcohol in my system,” he said.

Mongiardo was positioned on depart for the rest of the faculty 12 months, and the faculty instructed him they may not renew his contract, efficiently sealing his career in coaching.

Luckily for Mongiardo, the DWI charges in direction of him had been lastly dismissed ensuing from prosecutors’ failure to prosecute him in a effectively timed technique.

Now the Florida resident takes 30 medication a day to take care of his ABS, following the low-carb consuming routine and testing himself with a Breathalyzer sooner than getting behind the wheel.

“I’m really coming out on the other side in a positive way,” he instructed ABC. “I’m happy I’m moving forward with my life.”