A WOMAN was left fearing for her life when she developed rare symptoms causing her to feel drunk without bingeing on booze.
A 38-year-old from Manchester has revealed that her life dramatically changed overnight.
Frankie Hurley-Peet used to be a fitness fanatic, often competing in marathons and always active.
Yet, her clean bill of health was struck away when she suddenly developed terrifying symptoms which were so dramatic that even her wife thought she was drunk.
Slurring her words, losing balance and blurred vision before eventually fainting, Frankie feared the worst as a numbness down her left calf quickly spread across her entire left side.
Frankie said: “I hadn’t touched a drop of alcohol, but I felt like I was constantly hammered.”
She revealed she was terrified of looking drunk in public, especially at work and felt like “my body was giving up on me.”
She added: “My words kept getting muddled up. I’d called the remote a ‘brick’ to my wife once, which we laughed about at first.
“But then, I couldn’t even finish a sentence.”
At one point she thought she might be suffering from a stroke.
After a number of medical visits and tests, Frankie was diagnosed with a functional neurological disorder and chronic fatigue syndrome, neither of which have a cure.
The 38-year-old was still frustrated and turned to Google which “suggested cutting out carbs” which she did with Frankie saying, “miraculously, I felt like myself again.”
Although it’s not all been so simple.
At a follow-up appointment in July 2018, Frankie was diagnosed with coeliac disease, an auto-immune condition which causes the immune system to attack bodily tissue and damages the gut.
In Frankie’s case a specialist confirmed her diagnosis of gluten ataxia, a similar neurological form of the disease informing her that she needed to “avoid gluten at all costs” for the rest of her life.
Gluten ataxia is one of many manifestations of coeliac disease and can occur even if there is “no gut damage”.
Symptoms of ataxia can include clumsiness, falls, slurred speech and jumpy vision.
These are a result of damage to the brain which leads to an inability to move accurately.
When treated promptly, an individual is far more likely to see progressive and successful results.
Gluten ataxia is treated through a diet that restricts gluten entirely.
Source: Coeliac UK website
She claims she would currently be in a wheelchair and unable to speak if her diagnosis had taken any longer.
Taking on a skydive to raise £,1000 for Ataxia UK, Frankie hopes to raise awareness for the rare condition saying if she had found out sooner, it would “have been fully reversible and fixable.”
Frankie added: “Fight for a diagnosis if you think something is wrong – as otherwise it’ll be too late.
“Far too many people are suffering without the right help, especially as no one thinks a food item could cause such debilitating symptoms.”
Despite her own diagnosis, the mitigation team leader still suffers from feeling drunk.
She added: “I thought almost all of my damage was reversed, and while my brain function has improved to the extent my life is so much better, it’s still not normal.
“When I’m stressed out or poorly, I revert to being drunk.”
