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FECAL TRANSPLANTS: A Guide

FECAL TRANSPLANTS and how they could cure IBD.

While this guide discusses home-based fecal transplants, the opinion of Crohnsforum.com is that they should be done under the supervision of a trained clinician as fecal transplants are potentially dangerous. ALWAYS discuss any potential treatment with your doctor.
- Forum Admin



Fecal Microbiota Transplants(FMT) have induced sustained drug free remissions in both forms of Inflammatory Bowel Disease(IBD) and may have cured some cases of IBD in small trials, according to Gastroenterologist Doctor Thomas J. Borody MD, Ph.d. Details of these reports are listed in section 1.

There are 14 clinical trials planned for the use of fecal transplant in both forms of IBD. In this post you will find out everything about them. Fecal transplants restore missing bacteria in IBD patients by obtaining them from healthy donors stool, mixing a stool sample with saline solution in a blender and giving it to the patient as an enema. This procedure has been performed successfully at home, but if you decide to do it, be sure to read the papers in the post below for expert instruction, don't just jump into it, donors need to be absolutely healthy. http://www.cghjournal.org/article/S1542-3565(10)00069-8/fulltext

Latest studies in IBD show reduced diversity of healthy bacteria that regulate the inflammatory response when compared to groups of healthy people without IBD. Therefore, it is believed by some scientists that the restoration of the bacteria in IBD patients will correct the abnormal inflammatory response. So far we have some good scientific evidence this may be the case, but it will take time to prove this theory with absolute certainty. With official reports of UC and Crohn's patients maintaining a drug free remissions for as long as 25 and 13 years, this provides some compelling supportive evidence that they may have been cured by FMT.

Other ways of performing a fecal transplant are orally through a nasogastric/duodenal/jujenal tube or pill form which is currently in development. So far the studies have shown when donors are well screened with blood tests and meet health criteria, this is generally a safe treatment.


My experiences with Fecal Transplants: In this thread i have posts which detail my experiances with FMT, I was trying to find a way to make a FMT pill which proved pretty difficult. I tried FMT 4x with 3 different donors, only one FMT led to improvements, such as gaining 10 pounds in 10 weeks, improved bowel movements, lowered anxiety, but the majority of my other symptoms remain so I will have to find a new donor and try it again, but I'm convinced doing this again will likely reduce the severity of my disease even more.

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Outline
1. History of Fecal Transplant in IBD: Its success so far
2. Clinical Studies Currently in progress
3. Testimonies.
4. General Information
5. How to select a Donor
6. How to perform a Fecal Transplant



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1. History of Fecal Transplants in IBD: Its Success So Far.


Dr. Borody Background

These studies were done by a doctor in Australia, Thomas J. Borody who is trained in Gastroenterology in addition to other education and experience in scientific research.

Educational/Career background on Doctor Borody.
BSc (MED) (HONS)(Bachelor of Science), MBBS (HONS)(Bachelor of medicine, Bachelor of Surgery), MD(Doctor of Medicine), PhD(Doctor of Philosophy), FRACP(Fellow of the Royal Australasian College of Physicians), FACG (Fellow of the American College of Gastroenterology), FACP (A Fellow in the American College of Physicians), AGAF (American Gastroenterology Association Fellow)

Link to his website where this information was derived-
http://www.cdd.com.au/pages/clinical_staff.html

Here is a link to the U.S. National Library of Medicine /National Institute of Health where a search on his name will show some of his published contributions to various Medical/Scientific journals, search results on this database reveal 74 references to his name which illustrate more documentation of his professional experience. These references date from as recent as 2013 to as far back 1979, spanning about 34 years.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/?term=borody+t



Fecal Transplant Studies on IBD -

1989 – Doctor Borody first used fecal transplants in 55 patients with a wide range of Gastrointestinal disorders ranging from constipation, diarrhea of unknown cause, Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis. 20 were considered cured. 9 were improved and 26 were unchanged. At least one of the cured patients were cured of Crohn’s disease and one of ulcerative colitis. This is an early study so it was unknown how many times a transplant may have to be done to get any results.

The initial rationale for use of FMT in IBD was that if C. difficile causes colitis with reduced microbial diversity and if FMT can reverse this, a similar treatment could be applied to ulcerative colitis (UC). With this in mind, the lead author treated his first UC patient in early 1988, with others soon following, and FMT treatment in 55 patients with various GI disorders was reported in 1989 [36].
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3742951/



2003- Doctor T.J Borody tried this therapy on 6 patients with ulcerative colitis, that eliminated all signs of disease symptoms without drugs ranging from 1-13 years after therapy. These patients are considered to be potentially cured since there is no sign of disease, no longer need medication beyond 2 years and they remain disease free to this day. This study was published in the journal of clinical gastroenterology.
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/12811208/

2011- The same researcher Dr borody reported results in a group of patients with Crohn’s disease and all patients obtained remission without drugs. These were severe cases that didn’t respond to any medication before doing the fecal transplant. The results and details of this study were presented at the American College of Gastroenterology’s (ACG) 76th Annual Scientific meeting in Washington, DC in November of 2011. Here is the Official news release from the American college of gastroenterology-
http://d2j7fjepcxuj0a.cloudfront.ne...2011acg_fecal-transplant-cdiff_FINAL_1025.pdf

references for the 2011 fecal transplant study on crohn’s
Some reports of the ACG meeting in 2011 on various news websites
http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/releases/236885.php
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/10/111031114945.htm

2013
July- 14 year old boy with crohns achieves remission with FMT -https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3742951/

September- Early results from the mcmaster study, news segment-
http://www.ctvnews.ca/health/experi...tionize-treatment-of-bowel-diseases-1.1445800

November - man with severe crohn's disease achieves complete remission without drugs and with only one fecal transplant delivered orally.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24222969?dopt=Abstract

November- patient with crohn's responds to fecal transplant
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24239403
FULL TEXT
http://ecco-jcc.oxfordjournals.org/content/8/3/256



2014

March- Woman remains in remission for 13 years after receiving an oral fecal transplant for Crohns disease, she may have been cured. http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-03-18/sydney-doctor-claims-poo-transplants-curing-diseases/5329836

additional source: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3868025/
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3868025/figure/F2/

May- Mcmaster Ulcerative Colitis Study.
Mixed results, some bad responses while some very good responses to FMT.
http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/824930

August - Beth Israel deaconess Medical center Crohn's Disease,
After 4 weeks of follow-up, 55% had clinical response; 36% were in clinical remission.
http://www.healio.com/gastroenterology/inflammatory-bowel-disease/news/online/{13d3a6cd-6dde-4871-b904-21770537217d}/fecal-microbiota-transplant-improved-symptoms-in-patients-with-crohns-disease

2015

January-Crohn's- 23 out of 30 patients achieve remission with one oral administration of Fecal Transplant.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25168749

March-Crohn's-
http://journals.lww.com/ibdjournal/...icrobial_Transplant_Effect_on_Clinical.7.aspx



Fecal Transplant History of use for C. Difficle Infection.

Here are some reports about the latest study on Fecal Transplants outperforming standard Antibiotic therapy for C. Diff.-
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-204_162...cs-for-curing-diarrhea-caused-by-c-difficile/

Here is a link to the actual study published in the New England journal of medicine 2013
http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa1205037#t=abstract

EXCERPT from the study-
“The study was stopped after an interim analysis. Of 16 patients in the infusion group, 13 (81%) had resolution of C. difficile–associated diarrhea after the first infusion. The 3 remaining patients received a second infusion with feces from a different donor, with resolution in 2 patients. Resolution of C. difficile infection occurred in 4 of 13 patients (31%) receiving vancomycin alone and in 3 of 13 patients (23%) receiving vancomycin with bowel lavage (P<0.001 for both comparisons with the infusion group). No significant differences in adverse events among the three study groups were observed except for mild diarrhea and abdominal cramping in the infusion group(fecal transplant) on the infusion day.







Here is a quote by University of Minnesota Doctor and Researcher Alex Khoruts
some info on him- http://www.med.umn.edu/gi/faculty/khoruts/

"Those of us who've been doing this procedure(fecal transplant) for some time didn't need any more convincing, but the large medical community needs to go through these steps," Dr. Alexander Khoruts, a gastroenterologist at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis who was not involved in the new study, told Nature. "It's an unusual situation where we have more than 50 years of worldwide experience and more than 500 published cases, and only this far along does a randomized trial appear.”

link to quote- http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-204_162...cs-for-curing-diarrhea-caused-by-c-difficile/




2. CLINICAL STUDIES: Currently In Progress


These studies were found on www.clinicaltrials.gov. To verify their existence, enter the identifier code into the website search engine.

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Pediatric Inflammatory Bowel Disease(Ulcerative colitis)
Helen DeVos Childrens Hospital (HDVCH)
Grand Rapids, Michigan, United States, 49503
ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT01560819
Estimated Primary Completion Date: May 2013

recently released study results April 4, 2013-
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/04/130405112859.htm

excerpt-
“Results showed that, 78 percent subjects achieved clinical response within one week while 67 percent subjects maintained clinical response at one month after FMT. Thirty-three percent subjects did not show any symptoms of ulcerative colitis after FMT. Patient's clinical disease activity (PUCAI score) significantly improved after FMT compared to the baseline. No serious adverse events were noted. “Patients often face a tough choice between various medications that have significant side effects. Allowing the disease to progress can lead to surgical removal of their colon," said Dr. Kunde. "Our study showed that fecal enemas were feasible and well-tolerated by children with ulcerative colitis. Adverse events were mild to moderate, acceptable, self-limited, and manageable by patients."


----------------------------------------------------------
Ulcerative Colitis
University of Washington
Seattle, Washington, United States, 98103
ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT01742754
Estimated Study completion Date: April 2013
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ulcerative colitis
Academic Medical Center
Amsterdam, Netherlands, 1100DD
ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT01650038
Estimated study Completion Date: December 2013
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Ulcerative Colitis
Hamilton Health Sciences / McMaster University
Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, L8N 3Z5
ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT01545908
Estimated Primary Completion Date: March 2014

-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Crohn's Disease
Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center
Boston, Massachusetts, United States, 02215
ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT01847170
Estimated Enrollment: 20
Study Start Date: May 2013
Estimated Study Completion Date: April 2014
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Crohn’s disease and Ulcerative colitis
Seattle Children's Hospital
Seattle, Washington, United States, 98105
ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT01757964
Estimated Primary Completion Date: December 2014
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Crohn’s Disease
Medical Center for Digestive Diseases, The Second Affiliated Hospital of Nanjing Medical University
Nanjing, Jiangsu, China, 210011
ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT01793831
Estimated Study Completion date: December 2014
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ulcerative Colitis
Medical Center for Digestive Diseases, The Second Affiliated Hospital of Nanjing Medical University
Nanjing, Jiangsu, China, 210011
ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT01790061
Estimated Study Completion Date: December 2014
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ulcerative Colitis
University of Chicago Medicine Recruiting
Chicago, Illinois, United States, 60637
ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT02058524
Estimated Enrollment: 20
Study Start Date: June 2013
Estimated Primary Completion Date: June 2015
------------------------------------------------------------------
Ulcerative Colitis
University of South Wales
ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT01896635
Estimated Enrollment: 80
Study Start Date: September 2013
Estimated Study Completion Date: September 2016

-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ulcerative Colitis
Texas Children's Hospital/Baylor college of medicine
ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT01947101
Estimated Enrollment: 10
Study Start Date: December 2013
Estimated Study Completion Date: December 2016

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

Crohn's Disease
Gastroenterology department, Saint Antoine Hospital
Paris, France, 75571
ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT02097797
Estimated Enrollment: 18
Study Start Date: March 2014
Estimated Study Completion Date: February 2016
------------------------------------------------------
IBD both forms
Department of General Surgery, Jinling hosptal,Medical School of Nanjing University Nanjing, Jiangsu, China, 210002
ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT02016469
Estimated Enrollment: 30
Study Start Date: December 2013
Estimated Study Completion Date: February 2016

--------------------------------------------

--------------------------------
IBD both forms
Wolfson Medical Center, Holon, Israel.
ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT02033408
Estimated Enrollment: 20
Study Start Date: January 2014
Estimated Study Completion Date: January 2016

------------------------------------------------
Seattle Children's Hospital, David Suskind.
ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier:NCT02272868
Estimated Enrollment: 32
Study Start Date: October 2014
Estimated Study Completion Date: October 2016
3. TESTIMONIES.
-


Testimony #1

This is the best testimony I have found so far because it is so detailed. This is a guy who used his son and his wife as donors. You don’t have to watch the entire videos, you can skip to the parts I have defined in the summary to verify the story. You will notice in the last video that the energy in his voice changes and his speaking ability improves a bit and his mood seems slightly improved, which are signs his health has is improving due to the fecal transplants.


Video #1 –
video length- 33 minutes

Summary of video/skip to these parts-
2:52- 30 years old, Married for 8 years, Bachelors degree in Business Adminstration, Self Employed, Works in financial services industry, Healthy most of life. Has had ulcerative colitis for about 5 years.
7:20- Took antibiotics for 2 years for staph infections on legs, he suspects the antibiotics had something to do with his development of IBD as symptoms appeared while on antibiotics.
9:50 - Description of initial onset of disease.
14:30-19:00 Describes symptoms before doing the fecal transplant which include Fistula, fissures, hemmorhoids. Starting transplants on meds @ 40 mg prednisone recently at 80mg. explains all the medications he has tried during the course of his disease for IBD.
26:00 when and how he heard about fecal transplants


Video day#3-
Summary
1:25 bowel movement frequency reduced from 20X per day to around 2x per day, in about 5 days


Video Day #20
2:50 almost entirely off of medication at this point. he’s generally still doing very well bowel wise and feeling pretty good.
6:00 encourages people to try it, considers it a miracle for him and his condition.


Latest update April 30th, 2013-

0:00-3:30 gained 30 pounds since starting fecal transplants, eats a normal diet now and most symptoms are gone without medication.
3:30-7:32- tips on how to perform the transplant




Testimony #2-

His screen name is Dr. Briggs and he is a university physics professor who is trained as a scientist and who has done the treatment successfully at home using his wife as a donor.
link to the forum discussion where this testimony was found- http://www.healingwell.com/community/default.aspx?f=38&m=2541306&p=4

summary- he has had ulcerative colitis for 12 years, then later was diagnosed with crohn’s disease. He suspects that a course of antibiotics had something to with him developing IBD.
symptoms before starting the Fecal transplant were 3 bm’s per day, previously he has had up to 20 per day. after the transplants he averaged 2 bms a day and he was able to eat foods that used to cause his symptoms to worsen, this indicates a major change occurred in his ability to digest food.

A few quotes from his fecal transplant experience-
posted on 11/27/2012
Dr Briggs-
“So, things are going very well. To recap - I was diagnosed with UC about 12 years ago, and spent time on sulfasalazine and prednisone with no benefit (15-20 bloody very loose stools a day), then eventually Remicade after developing a fistula. I was on the Remicade for a little over 7 years, which partially controlled things (5-7 loose stools a day, no bleeding as long as I got infusions every ~11 weeks).
I am now off all medications, and doing great. Two well-formed stools a day.”

Posted 2/28/2013 1:14 PM

Dr briggs- “Sorry for not responding sooner (a lot sooner) - with my UC seeming to be completely gone, I'm getting caught up in other things, so I have to remind myself to occasionally check out this thread.
Potatoes are often not well digested if you have a compromised GI system, they have lots of complex starches in them. I can eat them now without problems, but before the transplants they gave me issues - and early on after the transplants when I ate potatoes they would give me a very mushy stool afterwards (I have continued healing since the transplants, and now tolerate everything very well it seems - except wheat). “




Testimony# 3

Here is another testimony from a women with the screenname bustersmom, she avoided a colectomy by doing a fecal transplant at home using her husband as a donor-
link-http://www.crohnsforum.com/showthread.php?t=15548&highlight=bacteriotherapy

post# 139
I have Crohn's disease and was on Flagyl and Cipro for over two weeks and got three abscesses. I figured i had nothing to lose by trying the transplant. I waited three weeks after finishing the antibiotics and was in bad shape. abscesses were terrible. I did the transplant daily for a while and the abscesses, Two which were large, Began to shrink every day. After a month they were gone, and made NO fistula! I haven't had one bit of trouble down there since. I believe the transplants work. I don't know if it works all through the colon, but it worked on me in my lower colon and i was a complete mess. Bree


Testimony#4

"Last Fall I went to Sydney Australia on a vacation and while I was there I looked into their programs and research. I found FMT. Fecal Microbiota Transplantation. I was grossed out and said oh hell no. Still, the more I studied and read the more it seemed worth a try. So, I called my doctor here and asked if I could be in one of the clinical studies. Unfortunately there wasn't one here. Only in Portland Oregon. He happened to know the doctor running the study though and offered me another way to treat myself at home. My husbands stool was tested for HIV, Hep A B and C, C Diff, and he passed all the tests with flying colors. So, we bought a retention nozzle, enema bag, tons of Zip lock freezer bags, went through training with our nurses so he could help me complete the series of enemas and my flora was checked and measured by my doctor every other week 7 days after each treatment. I was really sore down there from all the surgeries so instead of 7 days of back to back enemas we changed it to once every other week for 2 months.
I felt it was my last hope and I wanted to try something because nothing else seemed to work and I just wanted to become a guinea pig if I could. 4 months after my (home treatment) I went in for a scope, except some scarring from the past issues I had no inflammation, no diarrhea, no pain, and had started to work out again. I have felt better this past year than I have since I was 26. I have my life back! I have not been on any meds for 6 mos and after my scope today I was told I was in complete remission. (They still don't know how long it may last or if it will.) Right now I feel normal, no pain, no D and I have energy again!"

source-
http://www.crohnsforum.com/showthread.php?t=48939

4. GENERAL INFO
Here are some general videos explaining how this treatment has potential for IBD and many other diseases. Various environmental toxins and even antibiotics are suspected to be involved in damaging intestinal bacteria, which may contribute to developing these conditions.



Video Interview of Professor Lawrence J. Brandt.
Here are some credentials/education: Chief Emeritus of Gastroenterology and Professor of Medicine and Surgery at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine. He also has been performing studies on fecal transplants in C difficile in the U.S. since about 1999. C difficile is very similar to Inflammatory Bowel disease which the mains symptoms are chronic diarrhea and often include colonic inflammation just like inflammatory bowel disease.

Link to verify Professor Brandt’s credentials http://www.einstein.yu.edu/departme...gy-liver-diseases/faculty/profile.asp?id=2519



Part 1-
-talks about his experience studying fecal transplants for C. Difficile Infection.

Part 2- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ot7e9bQO2U8
-his opinion on fecal transplant overall safety, and its potential for other diseases.

Part 3- http://www.youtube.com/watch?NR=1&feature=endscreen&v=u8eNvAVfc0M
SUMMARY-
1:10 history of fecal transplant in veterinary medicine
2:18 different routes of administration of Fecal transplant
3:00 self/home administration of fecal transplant
4:00 more on the future and potential of Fecal Transplant
5:38 mentions pill form as the final future method of administration in the future for fecal transplant.


here is an article published on February 13, 2013 by Lawrence J. Brandt and another professional which was published in current opinion in gastroenterolology

Fecal Microbiota Transplantation: Past, Present and Future
Olga C. Aroniadis, Lawrence J. Brandt
Curr Opin Gastroenterol. 2013;29(1):79-84.
link to article-
http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/776501_1


Video, By Cara Louise Santa Maria - Science educator, Masters
Degree in Neuroscience
link- http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=endscreen&NR=1&v=kLB5Pasjjis



Here is a very well written article On FMT by KSS , a member of this website. there are testimonies of people who have tried Fecal transplant in this article.
http://diyehr.com/analysis-of-crohn...e-peer-to-peer-observational-treatment-study/


Article for TIME magazine in June 2012 about microbiome research-
http://healthland.time.com/2012/06/14/the-good-bugs-how-the-germs-in-your-body-keep-you-healthy/


http://commonfund.nih.gov/hmp/overview


Dr. Martin Blaser has studied the role of bacteria in human disease for over 30 years. He is the director of the Human Microbiome Program at NYU. His new book was just published and discusses the new evidence suggesting antibiotics have contributing to rising rates of diseases like Crohn's by killing off good microbes. - http://martinblaser.com/

http://www.npr.org/2014/04/14/302899093/modern-medicine-may-not-be-doing-your-microbiome-any-favors

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/08...iveASIN=0805098100&linkCode=as2&tag=yoadsu-20

--------------------------------------------

5. How to Select a Donor

Overall, as long as the Donor is in good health, there is very little risk with doing a fecal transplant. Even in some of the documents below they reported bypassing blood tests and health screening for some patients who chose a donor that was a family member that they knew and trusted, buts it probably best to take precautions. All the criteria for selecting a healthy donor and directions for what blood tests they need were obtained from these two papers, one of which was written by doctor Borody and other professionals in the field.



Requirements:
NO ANTIBIOTICS IN LAST 6 MONTHS, OR EVER IS BEST.

NO Gastrointestinal COMPLAINTS LIKE FREQUENT DIARHEA OR CONSTIPATION/excessively firm stool that is hard to pass, blood, No Mucus in stool or intestinal pain. You should have a generally regular stool frequency of 1-2 bowel movements per day.


Absence of metabolic syndrome- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metabolic_syndrome
Symptoms and features are:
-Fasting hyperglycemia — diabetes mellitus type 2 or impaired fasting glucose, impaired glucose tolerance, or insulin resistance
-High blood pressure
-Central obesity (also known as visceral, male-pattern or apple-shaped adiposity), overweight with fat deposits mainly around the waist
-Decreased HDL cholesterol
-Elevated triglycerides
Associated diseases and signs are: hyperuricemia, fatty liver (especially in concurrent obesity) progressing to NAFLD, polycystic ovarian syndrome (in women), and acanthosis nigricans.

No autoimmune conditions- list of conditions-
link- http://womenshealth.gov/publications/our-publications/fact-sheet/autoimmune-diseases.cfm#d

No allergic diseases - asthma, atopic dermatitis (eczema), allergic rhinitis (hay fever), food allergies



Required Blood Tests for donors- full blood count, liver function,
Negative viral screening for HIV 1 and 2, Hepatitis a, b, c. cytomegalovirus, Epstein Barr Virus, Syphilis.



Some studies have bypassed donor screening only in cases where close family members have been selected as donors.

None of the Testimonys I listed in sections #4 of this paper mentioned taking the suggested precautions to follow the donor selection criteria, as most were able to get help from family members who they were confident were healthy. I plan on taking full precautions no matter how healthy my donor is, or whether they are a family member or not. I also have additional criteria that go beyond the advice listed here.

The papers below is where i found most of this information. It is not required that you read these papers with the web links listed below, but if you would like to look them up to verify they exist, feel free to do that.

Article 1
Details on page 3-
http://www.2ndchance.info/inflambowel-Hamilton2011.pdf

Article 2
Details on page 479-
http://www.cdd.com.au/pdf/publications/paper12.pdf




Recommended diet for donors- this will encourage all the good bacteria in your intestine to grow and make it a more potent medicine.
High fiber foods, like whole grain oats and wheat
Berries.
eat at least one apple per day.
veggies.
if you smoke, reduce your smoking as much as possible.

Things to avoid- anything with aspartame or saccharin in it, excessive meat. excessive amounts of processed food in packaging as it may contain preservatives that inhibit bacterial growth.
over consumption of meat- beyond 8 ounces in a day would be excessive.

other tips-
if you become sick or get food poisoning while doing the transplants you will have to stop until you become better.

--------------------------
6. How To perform a Fecal Transplant

chapter a work in progress


RECTAL METHOD/BY ENEMA
I have not included yet any details on how the transplant is done in any precise way, but typically it is done by making a solution of saline (.9% sodium chloride solution/aka salt water) mixed with stool in a blender and giving it as an enema to retain in the body for 6-8 hours or as long as your body can hold it. I will add more very soon but i think it's all here if you want to figure out the details for yourself, otherwise i will soon give some better instructions to make it easy for people to try themselves. There are some details on page 5 and 6 of this paper by doctor borody.
http://www.cdd.com.au/pdf/publications/paper12.pdf

how to make saline solution at home-Quick instructions- mix one gallon of distilled water with 4 teaspoons of salt(preferably pharma grade neti pot salt or non iodized) in a pot and stir on low heat so salt easily dissolves. this will make a gallon of saline solution. Using iodized salt might affect the microbes negatively, since iodine has antimicrobial properties.

.9% sodium chloride w/v solution is expressed as a mass concentration weight/volume solution. In other words, it is telling us how much mass of a certain substance is dissolved within a volume of a fluid. In this case, 100 milliliters of a fluid, and in this, case sodium chloride aka salt. So there is .9 grams(just shy of one full gram) of salt dissolved in every 100 milliliters of h20 aka water.

Here is another source of information on mixing saline at home from the university of michigan: https://www.med.umich.edu/1libr/PedSurgery/ColorectalProgram/SalineSolution.pdf

more to come...https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3742951/
 
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Thank you for posting this, Wildbill! I have been trying to find this info in one location and here it is! My daughter goes to a GI from a large hospital and when we asked about it, they said they are not doing them now, but will be "soon." How can the donor have their stool tested if GIs refuse to run test it for us? Please keep posting anything you find! The FMT is very promising and needs to be made available to the general public ASAP. Thanks again!
 
I wont claim to be an absolute expert on this but here is some information.

you can order these tests yourself through online companies like labtests online, here is a link-
http://labtestsonline.org/understanding/analytes/stool-culture/tab/test
http://labtestsonline.org/understanding/analytes/op/tab/test

but i would say testing the stool may not be necessary for a fecal transplant donor, unless they are a complete stranger, who may give a biased/inaccurate report on their health status. Otherwise if they are a friend or family member you can trust to tell you about gi system abnormality, testing the stool is not necessary. But testing for hiv and hepatitis should always be done for a donor.

It will be easy to tell if the person's gi tract has been infected by some pathogen, as they will have symptoms like diarhea etc. that lasts for a few days. There is only one other exception and that is certain parasites that may persist without symptoms. i would say that risk is very minimal and non serious and in almost every case, diarhea would be a symptom of this infection which your donor would inform you of if they are honest and trustworthy.
 
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News Update

FDA Grants Fast Track Designation to Rebiotix for Its Microbiota Product for Recurrent Clostridium difficile Infection. Wall Street Journal, June 24, 2013
http://online.wsj.com/article/PR-CO-20130624-906399.html?mod=googlenews_wsj




What is REBIOTIX?

all the descriptions are vague, but its basically a "preparation" of live bacteria to solve current problems of giving someone a fecal transplant. I believe they are talking about a creating pill to take orally, but they don't say this anywhere, nor describe the product in development.



What is the fda fast track development program?

The FDA Fast Track Development Program is a designation of the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) that accelerates the approval of investigational new drugs undergoing clinical trials with the goal review time of 60 days. Such status is often given to agents that show promise in treating serious, life-threatening medical conditions for which no other drug either exists or works as well.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FDA_Fast_Track_Development_Program


having some sort of fecal transplant pill would be cool, although im not positive that is what they are developing. but what other kind of product would they be developing and selling right?
 
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Best Pract Res Clin Gastroenterol.
2013 Feb;27(1):127-37. doi: 10.1016/j.bpg.2013.03.003.
Fecal transplant: A safe and sustainable clinical therapy for restoring intestinal microbial balance in human disease?


Source
Department of Internal Medicine, AMC, University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands.

Abstract
Recent studies have suggested an association between intestinal microbiota composition and human disease, however causality remains to be proven. With hindsight, the application of fecal transplantation (FMT) does indeed suggest a causal relation between interfering with gut microbiota composition and a resultant cure of several disease states. In this review, we aim to show the available evidence regarding the involvement of intestinal microbiota and human (autoimmune) disease. Moreover, we refer to (mostly case report) studies showing beneficial or adverse effects of fecal transplantation on clinical outcomes in some of these disease states. If these findings can be substantiated in larger randomized controlled double blind trials also implementing gut microbiota composition before and after intervention, fecal transplantation might provide us with novel insights into causally related intestinal microbiota, that might be serve as future diagnostic and treatment targets in human disease.
 
here is a great new testimony of someone trying a Fecal transplant and also provides an example of why i have developed a way to encapsulate fecal material to be taken orally as enemas are difficult to perform correctly and reach entire affected colon up as far as the ileocecal valve, and especially for crohn's which involves the ileum and small intestine where an enema would never reach.

http://www.healingwell.com/community/default.aspx?f=38&m=2799459
I used to work in the encapsulation industry. When I saw this, in a way made me chuckle in that I can see companies hesitation in bringing fecal matter into their facilities. They would do it I'd imagine once QC was satisfied, just the sanitation issues that would need to be resolved.

You might not be interested in mentioning due to proprietary reasons, but what route are you looking at, softgel or two piece?
 
Rebiotix Receives FDA IND Approval to Begin Phase 2 Trial of Pioneering Microbiota Restoration Therapy
Reuters.
Mon Jul 29, 2013 5:10pm EDT

Rebiotix Inc. announced today that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved the company’s Investigational New Drug (IND) application to begin the Phase 2 clinical study of RBX2660 for the treatment of recurrent Clostridium difficile infection (CDI). If successful, RBX2660, a preparation containing live microbes designed to rebuild a healthy intestinal microbiome, has the potential to become the first FDA-approved drug based on the human microbiome.

About RBX2660
RBX2660 (microbiota suspension) is a preparation containing live microbes designed to rebuild a healthy intestinal microbiome.

Fecal transplant, the predecessor to microbiota restoration therapy, has demonstrated high rates of success in curing recurrent CDI in clinical studies. However, the non-standardized and unappealing processes involved in sample preparation, in addition to expensive and time-consuming donor screening, are limiting factors for patients and physicians. RBX2660 is designed to solve these problems and, if clinically successful, is anticipated to be physician friendly, ready to use, and available on demand.

About the Planned Clinical Study
The PUNCH™ CD study is designed to assess the safety of RBX2660 (microbiota suspension) for the treatment of recurrent Clostridium difficile-associated diarrhea (CDAD). Secondary objectives of the multi-center, open-label study include gathering efficacy information, data to assess patient quality of life, and cost-effectiveness of the therapy.

full article- http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/07/29/mn-rebiotix-inc-idUSnBw296437a+100+BSW20130729


they still havent said whether or not this is a fecal transplant pill or what the live bacteria preperation actually is, but i still anticipate it is a fecal transplant pill.
 
so this trial is going to be for Cdiff? Then hopefully for Crohns
the time will come, but so far the evidence we have for crohns and fecal transplants is only good, but not great. so some doubt remains whether it can ever be as effective for crohns as it has been shown to be for ulcerative colitis. i believe the protocol for treating crohns with a fecal transplant has to be improved somehow, such as following a special diet, only taking bacteria in an oral capsule daily or even multiple times a day and taken simultaneouly with fiber. not until extreme measures like this are added to the protocol will we begin to generate better results for crohns.

the soonest studies on fecal transplant for crohn's isnt until december 2014. we may have to wait another year from that until they build upon the results of that study, to show that there IS STILL potential for fecal transplant for crohn's.

for me it is a matter of interpretation of current evidence. people may interpret the lack of dramatic success of FMT for crohns as meaning, "see, FMT isnt working as good as is for UC, therefore, no further studies are needed" and i say to that, the protocol just needs to be different, that is why the results have been different, because of differences in nature of crohn's compared to UC. The evidence that exists doesnt prove that FMT will not work for crohns, therefore, potential still exists, and not until the fecal transplant pill is tried in crohns will we start to see any good results for crohns. there are currently no plans on doing it this way that i am aware of from searching clinical trials.gov or reading almost every study that exists, although they do mention oral route may be better for crohns, just no mention of the use of pills or the nature of a protocol that differs from the status quo.
 
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One thing that I´ve noticed several times...is that everytime someone else have used a toilet before me, their "aftermath" smells so much more than my shit...the smell is very strong and profound, but mine never smells too much. I wonder if that is a evidence of a diverse flora vs simplified flora?!? I don´t know if you guys have ever noticed.
 
One thing that I´ve noticed several times...is that everytime someone else have used a toilet before me, their "aftermath" smells so much more than my shit...the smell is very strong and profound, but mine never smells too much. I wonder if that is a evidence of a diverse flora vs simplified flora?!? I don´t know if you guys have ever noticed.
I've noticed the same thing with my daughter who has CD. The stinkier her BMs, the better she feels.
 
Lisa: Very interesting indeed, as it does not matter if it´s an adult or a kid, like today at the indian restaurant, very distinct odor...almost "personal". Funny thing though, Before I was diagnosed I never had this odorless poop.

Hopefully my FMT next month will fix this.
 
FMT: What works and what doesn´t

http://thepowerofpoop.com/interview-with-fecal-transplant-doctor/

Wildbill: I know you are a strong believer of FMT for Crohns too and Kiny is not for example, only time will tell, but it says that FMT for crohns is unsatisfying.

I wonder and might be so:

UC: Gut dysbiosis
Crohns: "Gut dysbiosis+leaky gut+?
great article and thanks for showing it to me.

here is his direct quote:

What kind of successes and non-successes have you seen with FMT?

We’ve had excellent results with C. diff. and UC. Our success rate for the treatment of C. diff. is nearly 100% and for ulcerative colitis it is in the range of 70 to 80%. We’ve also seen IBS-D predominant patients reduce their diarrhea significantly. The use of FMT to treat Chrohn’s patients has been disappointing.

- See more at: http://thepowerofpoop.com/interview-with-fecal-transplant-doctor/#sthash.Oib7agGW.dpuf
ok, so he is not giving very much information about his experiances or methods, and certainly not enough quality information for me to completely change my position. and my position is, he is right, crohn's will at first be more difficult to treat then UC, this is what i always anticipated. this is likely because of the protocol being used. Recurrent daily applications by oral infusion(gastric, doudenal, pill form) is when you will see better results for crohns disease, and also in addition to dietary changes.

We also still have other good sources of information for us to believe there still is potential for FMT with crohn's such as borody's experiments on crohn's patients which seemed successful. so even though its not absolutly clear yet whether crohns will be cured or can be treated with a fmt, there has not ben enough good studies yet. There are more reasons for us to believe that potential exists, then to falsely, or conclude too early, that it absolutly doesnt work at all.
 
Here is another testimony/news article of a person who used Fecal transplant to treat crohns disease.

Some, like Toronto resident Charlie Curtis, are even using the treatment for inflammatory bowel diseases. Now 24, Curtis began suffering from Crohn’s disease about five years ago. It got so bad, at one point he lost 65 pounds in two months. He was in severe pain, visiting the bathroom up to 30 times a day to pass blood. It was so debilitating, he dropped out of university several times. He tried standard antibiotic treatment, “massive amounts of steroids,” alternative treatments and special diets, all to no avail.
His mother, Sky Curtis, researched bacteriotherapy, hooked up with some supportive doctors, including Dr. Thomas Borody from Australia, an international leader in the field, and a year ago began helping Charlie with fecal transplants, using her own stool.
“In five years I have never felt this healthy,” exclaims Charlie, who last month had a colonoscopy that showed no trace of the disease. “My chest filled up with sunshine. It was amazing.”

published in the toronto Star, Apr 03 2011
http://www.thestar.com/life/health_...ry_fecal_transplant_as_cure_for_superbug.html
 
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Ah, ok that´s Skys son, heard about here a friend of mine have spoken to her as guidance while doing FMT. I wonder how that chinese study is going
 
wow I hope its successful
http://clinicaltrials.gov/show/NCT01793831
scroll down to where it says "assigned interventions".


it states:
Procedure: FMT
Standard FMT, once

then to the scroll down to the detailed description:
Detailed Description:
The present clinical trial aims to re-establish a gut functionality state of intestinal flora through FMT as a therapy for CD. We established a standard bacteria isolation from donated fresh stool in lab. Then the bacteria is transplanted to mid-gut (at least below the duodenal papilla) through regular gastroscope. Patients from multi-clinical centers in this study will be assigned to receive FMT only once or traditional treatments according to associated guidelines and follow-up for at least one year. Blood tests, abdominal X-ray, endoscopy and questionnaire will be used to assess participants at study start and at study completion.

so this study is transplanting it through the oral route/ through a duodenal tube, but only once. Its highly unlikely this will lead to any long term changes, similar to the recent study with one single FMT application through colonoscopy for ulcerative colitis.

at this point i am happy they are trying this for crohn's disease, but afraid that without changing the protocol we will not be able to see the true potential of FMT for Crohns. that's why i say, do not wait for them to be done messing around with this already proven safe therapy. its already been like 30 years since some of the first experiments on UC, even though things are moving quite faster these days in general, they could be moving much faster.
 
WildBill, do you know if duodenal tube has a better efficacy rate with Crohn's than enema/colonoscope (either anecdotally or study-wise)? FMT make alot of sense to me - as a Vet student, I'm not really grossed out by it, I'm really intrigued. If I decide to go down the FMT route (trying to get symptoms, etc under control first, as I'm newly diagnosed) I'd like to give it the best chance of working as possible.
 
WildBill, do you know if duodenal tube has a better efficacy rate with Crohn's than enema/colonoscope (either anecdotally or study-wise)? FMT make alot of sense to me - as a Vet student, I'm not really grossed out by it, I'm really intrigued. If I decide to go down the FMT route (trying to get symptoms, etc under control first, as I'm newly diagnosed) I'd like to give it the best chance of working as possible.
off the top of my head, i dont think its ever been done for crohn's this way yet, at least officially. i believe until we have a fecal transplant pill that's the day you will see great results with crohns, but they have had some good success with daily enemas too. really not much evidence overall though just a few soso studies. buts its the theory and accumulating bulk of science that supports it that is so very strong, urging more studies to be done now. do them right now lots of them lets see what this can do, its safe, and already shows some efficacy. for the most part its started tho, still waiting on that fecal transplant pill tho.
 
just reading a new article in new york times, and this person was tracking their gut microbiota during a course of amoxicillin and observed many negative changes. i have always suspected my crohns to have been caused by a course of amoxiciliin i took in feb 2008, now here is another piece of info that supports my theory, in addition to what i have found in scientific literature.

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/19/m...crobiome.html?pagewanted=1&_r=2&ref=magazine&

One of the more striking results from the sequencing of my microbiome was the impact of a single course of antibiotics on my gut community. My dentist had put me on a course of Amoxicillin as a precaution before oral surgery. (Without prophylactic antibiotics, of course, surgery would be considerably more dangerous.) Within a week, my impressively non-Western “alpha diversity” — a measure of the microbial diversity in my gut — had plummeted and come to look very much like the American average. My (possibly) healthy levels of prevotella had also disappeared, to be replaced by a spike in bacteroides (much more common in the West) and an alarming bloom of proteobacteria, a phylum that includes a great many weedy and pathogenic characters, including E. coli and salmonella. What had appeared to be a pretty healthy, diversified gut was now raising expressions of concern among the microbiologists who looked at my data.

“Your E. coli bloom is creepy,” Ruth Ley, a Cornell University microbiologist who studies the microbiome’s role in obesity, told me. “If we put that sample in germ-free mice, I bet they’d get inflamed.” Great. Just when I was beginning to think of myself as a promising donor for a fecal transplant, now I had a gut that would make mice sick. I was relieved to learn that my gut community would eventually bounce back to something resembling its former state. Yet one recent study found that when subjects were given a second course of antibiotics, the recovery of their interior ecosystem was less complete than after the first.
 
Science News
... From universities, journals, and other research organizations
Save Email Print Share Fecal Microbiota Transplantation as Effective Treatment for C. Difficile and Other Diseases
Aug. 22, 2013 — Fecal microbiota transplantation (FMT) has emerged as a highly effective treatment for recurrent Clostridium difficile (C. Difficile) infection, with very early experience suggesting that it may also play a role in treating other gastrointestinal (GI) and non-GI diseases. The topic is examined in the Review Article, "An overview of fecal microbiota transplantation: techniques, indications, and outcomes" in the August issue of GIE: Gastrointestinal Endoscopy.


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Fecal microbiota transplantation refers to the infusion of a suspension of fecal matter from a healthy individual into the GI tract of another person to cure a specific disease. FMT has received public attention recently with the publication of several studies showing that stool is a biologically active, complex mixture of living organisms with great therapeutic potential for Clostridium difficile infection and perhaps other GI and non-GI disorders. C. Difficile is a bacterium recognized as the major causative agent of colitis (inflammation of the colon) and diarrhea that may occur following antibiotic intake. The disruption of the normal balance of colonic microbiota as a consequence of antibiotic use or other stresses can result in C. Difficile infection. It is now estimated that 500,000 to 3 million cases of C. Difficile occur annually in U.S. Hospitals and long-term care facilities.

According to authors Lawrence J. Brandt, MD and Olga C. Aroniadis, MD, Montefiore Medical Center, Bronx, New York, current first-line treatment for C. Difficile includes cessation of the culprit antibiotic, if possible, and treatment with metronidazole, vancomycin, or fidaxomicin, depending on disease severity. Most patients with C. Difficile initially respond to this treatment, but recurrence rates are 15 percent to 35 percent. Patients who have one recurrence have up to a 45 percent chance of a second recurrence, and after a second recurrence, up to 65 percent of patients will have a third. Recurrences are usually treated with additional courses of metronidazole, oral vancomycin, or prolonged oral vancomycin in various pulsed-tapered regimens, occasionally "chased" by other antibiotics such as rifaximin. The high recurrence rates of C. Difficile prompted the need for alternative therapies, to which the authors believe FMT offers a rational and relatively simple approach.

The Review Article addresses FMT methodology, including donor and recipient screening, donor selection, how FMT is performed and safety. FMT is most commonly performed via colonoscopy; however, donor feces also have been administered via a nasogastric or nasoenteric tube, gastroduodenoscopy, and enema. All the studies have reported remarkable cure rates without serious adverse effects directly attributable to FMT. The article notes that current literature on FMT for C. Difficile predominantly comprises single-center case series and case reports, but also a meta-analysis, two systematic reviews, and one recently published randomized, controlled trial. In all, 92 percent of patients were cured of their recurrent C. Difficile, with a range of 81 percent to 100 percent.

In the only long-term follow-up study of FMT to date that included 5-medical centers and 77 patients who had FMT, the patients experienced a 91 percent primary cure rate and an astounding 98 percent secondary cure rate, the latter defined as cure enabled by use of antibiotics to which the patient had not responded before the FMT or by a second FMT. Patients in this study had symptoms for an average of 11 months before FMT, and most (74 percent) reported resolution of diarrhea within three days. FMT also has been successfully used to treat a variety of other GI disorders including inflammatory bowel disease, irritable bowel syndrome, and constipation. There is a growing literature on an altered intestinal microbiome in these and other disorders.
 
update on my fecal transplant:

i found a donor, but they are 2 hours away so we are just waiting for our schedules to line up. im hoping they wont drop out on me, but it seems they are dedicated to helping me do this. well here i go, as soon as me and my donor can hook up!! hopefully anywhere from today to one week from now. i will keep you updated!!




RANT:why am i going through these lengths to cure(maybe) my disease?? i dont know, you could call it years and years of frustration leading to anger of the current medical system in looking for advice from doctors on health, and getting careless stares while I suffered from acne and other issues. I recall reading all the acne message boards of people that have taken accutane 2,3,4,5, and up to 6x and still had acne. i realized, they(doctors scientists) dont understand the human body nor how it works....yet. NEVER did i get advice on dietary science in any of my doctors visits(philosophical differences). in the end i learned i could improve my diet and my skin also improved quite a bit, i guess i dont see accutane as my final option anymore this = hope, when previously i only thought the drugs were THE ONLY WAY i almost commited suicide when i seemed to have a bad reaction to accutane in 2007. so when i was devastated with the diagnosis of crohns in 2009, i had a very different attitude from the beginning and also noticed that with dietary changes, i could improve my disease progression and state, but it didnt cure it. but why has both diseases dramatically effected by diet? and why so many testimonys similar to mine on these acne message boards?? why was the SCD diet and its theory so helpful to managing my IBD symptoms? this would begin my obsession with science,philosophy and intestinal bacteria as a possible explanation for all of these(and more) health problems. its somewhat become my life's mission, one of the many.

I read a book by an (old)scientist elie metchnikoff, which theorized gut bacteria to somehow play a large role on longevity and involved many disease states, now i believe we are on the brink of explaining many diseases(beyond genetic), and fecal transplants might be the wave of the future of medicine, and guess what, poop is free!! and most tragically, 50 years of outdated popular theories of disease states or germ theory of disease and the resulting proliferation of antibiotics have only made us become sicker!!!

interestingly, my mother has been active in alternative health circles for years, she had told me about the horrors of antibiotics years before, me being a little bit on the side scientism(only scientists and scientific methods can produce knowledge) so i thought i could easily ignore these warnings from laymen right?, and also not truly understanding to scientific process as far as putting some value on testimonys, didnt think much of it. but in these alternative health circles it was "common knowledge" that antibiotics can damage your health. and guess what, now with what science is understanding and verifying, it is looking like those testimonys are factual. i have enough scientific data now to prove almost conclusively that augmentin(amoxicillin-clavulanic acid) could have caused my crohns disease. if not conclusively then at least a 99% probability.


maybe im crazy, but im the crazy guy who has read the literary works of some of the greatest philosophers and scientists in history, if thats what crazy people do then, call me nuts!! i have risked death multiple times just to avoid any further medications and to learn how the human body really works, which now i believe meds are mostly safe, but unfortunatly thats the route ive taken. right now im taking lialda, but i only take one pill a day, as any more brings on symptoms of joint pain. who knew a cause of IBD joint pain was the very medication we are taking!!! insane. but the lialda barely improves my symptoms, only helps a little. turmeric is more effective really.


i do realize that this may not cure my crohn's, but the potential is there. i realize that these things need to be proven scientifically, but that's exactly what im going to do. i suppose that's what they would call a bias, but its also called independant thinking and also what scientists are supposed to be good at, giving your own reasoning and observations, merit, sometimes, over and above others, even supposedly more educated others. mainly to reach a true understanding of the universe, and not for insane some ego trip. i definitely took the time to read all existing theories and ideas, and im in no way arrogant or on some ego trip, im here to learn the truth and live a better life.
 
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Goodluck brother, keep us posted, I got my fingers crossed for you, just remember one pill might not be enough, especially when you have different types of phylum there that may inhibit the donors bacteria from sticking, I hope it goes well, keep us posted and stay safe
 
I basically use SCD diet principles and that alone has me at one solid bm a day without any meds, except one lialda a day which i confirmed is not responsible at all for my bowel control, it is the scd principles, as whenever i stray from them, diarhea immediately returns.

So for the most part, i am controlling the bad bacteria with SCD, or keeping the levels very low.
 
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Anecdotal evidence suggests that Crohn's is harder to cure with fecal transplant and is only one part of the recovery toolbox, however it can definitely help. Check out Genevieve's FMT Success Story at the Power of Poop website. We also have two members on the FMT facebook group who have gone into remission with FMT.
 
I think its ileitis that is supposably a little bit harder, colonic crohns is a different sub-type in my opinion, I think if the microbial balance can be restored that will be half the problem fixed for some but maybe 100% for others, fingers crossed either way.
 
well after my first pill yesterday, im still alive!!!! no bad effects to speak of.

way too soon to conclude very much but 2 hours after taking the pill i seemed to get a slight energy boost, and each time it would have reached an effected area i seemed to hear and feel some slight gurgling sensations, which were not clearly related to the fecal transplant pill, but may have indicated something positive going on, definitely nothing getting worse tho. also when everything would have hit my ileum and colon, ~4-6 hours after taking it with the a meal, i experienced increased physical strength it seemed.Low energy and low physical strength is something i have dealt with and is a symptom of active crohn's/IBD.

so my interpretation from this first experience is that something may have changed positively in bodily functions and symptoms related to disease, but the effects may have been too weak to clearly come to any conclusions, but i passed the first test and that is, i experienced no bad effects associated with the pills i made, so today i will take 3 pills with my first meal instead of one, although this still may be too weak of a dose.

as tracy mac stated, existing evidence suggests it is much harder to treat crohn's with a fecal transplant then U.C. it seems with crohns you need a strong enough application of FMT, that is sustained for it to have a good effect, im not sure i will be able to achieve this with the pills i have made, if i have to take 15-20 pills a day then that is actually not too hard but making them is more difficult then taking them, but i have almost got my method perfected by now.

just a reminder tho, i have my diarhea under control with my diet of no lactose or sucrose/Specific Carbohydrate Diet diet, and this i assume/hope will make it easier to make the new bacteria re-establish themselves, eliminating the need for multiple full strength enemas, but much of this is unknown territory and i will have to change my strategy according to the evidence i find in my experiences.

also, another option is to take it with a fiber supplement such as inulin, which is classified as a prebiotic. currently im taking it with a bowl of oatmeal, which has fiber that the bacteria can feed from, but may not be as powerful of a prebiotic when compared to inulin.
 
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you have to use pills that will be resistant to gastric juice otherwise all bacteria will be not survive!
no they will survive, this is the route they took at birth to get in the gut. Acid resistance/tolerance is a way to define a probiotic bacteria anyway.
 
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The bacterial cocktail pill that Rebiotix is working on is not derived from fecal material but from bacteria that the company believes to serve as foundations for a healthy human digestive system. This may be the first in a 21st-century wave of probiotics that are FDA-approved for microbiota restoration therapy in ill patients.
http://www.medicaldaily.com/rebioti...cteria-based-medicine-combat-c-diff-infection

for those of you who have been keeping up with this issue in this thread, i finally found an article that claims that rebiotix is definitely making a fecal transplant pill. but one issue is, its NOT based on the full fecal flora, so it is unlikely this will ever be used to treat IBD and if they do try it, it will likely not be as effective as the full flora, but i do not know this for sure yet. this may be bad news for us. but we may still look forward to treating IBD with a donors stool, and perhaps later the real fecal transplant pill will arrive, but as of now, there is nothing i know of beside the company rebiotix that is making one.

i also bet this is the real reason the fda started to tightly regulate fecal transplants, as before(like not even a few months ago), they didn't seem to care which doctors did them, until the massive potential was understood. Then perhaps a company needed control over their market. ok sorry for the conspiracy theories!! but it does make me wonder though why when we knew little about them and very uncertain, they were not controlled,but now we know they are pretty safe so they have increase the regulations and they are harder to get?? sounds ass backwards because if the fda is truly protecting us, the regulations would have been tighter because we knew so little. could they be protecting big businesses sometimes too, rather then us? in this case, i dont see why they would want to tighten regulations when the safety profile is become greater. only other reason is that the good evidence that exists now may encourage many more to try it, and i suppose, they should know how to do it right, by someone with experiance in the health field and a proper education.

either way, real poo is almost certainly better! maybe the work im doing is valuable after all!!
 
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Wildbill: I strongly believe FDA etc. will do all in their Power to regulate and don´t come out with a Product that could cure people. Why would they? Everything is about Money, so yes I believe in the Conspiracy theory.

It´s when you become ill, when you really start to see things in another perspective. It´s all about keeping people in enough good shape so that they can go to work.
 
UPDATE: i said earlier my fecal transplant pills may not have had any bacteria in them, but now it seems some changes are taking place. so my 1st attempt at the fecal transplant pill project may not be a complete failure just yet.

the changes are both simultaneously good and bad, so im not sure if things are being corrected or not. but i think its safe to say, some changes have taken place as a result of the fecal transplant pills i made. it could be another week before i have any better answers then this.

Trying real hard to make accurate judgments here and not think wishfully or falsely interpret any of my observations, nor lead anyone on. i will readily admit a "temporary" failure, but, i cant say i failed just yet because of the peculiar changes taking place.

stay tuned!!
 
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This is great Wildbill. Any chance of you giving details of how you made your fecal transplant pills. Also I would think you would need to up your doseage a lot. When you compare the amount of fecal matter your ingesting compared to a Fecal transplant enema.
 
i'll post my conclusions and experiances in a few days.

I will NOT be taking any more of the pills i made. But i will be making a second attempt with improvements. making a fecal transplant pill is alot harder then i had imagined.
 
I thought I´d bring some good news. A close friend of mine sent me this SMS:

"After 85 daily FMTs to treat Crohns Colitis, I had a scope today which showed no signs of inflammation. This is a milestone considering I've pretty much always had inflammation the past 15-years."
 
yet another new study for fecal transplants, this time, and FINALLY, another one for crohn's disease.

previously there were only 2 studies for crohns and 6 for Ulcerative Colitis. now this new study will total 3 for crohn's. this is a total of 9 studies most ending in december 2014, one ending in 2016 and one recently completed for ulcerative colitis.

i will add this to the list of clinical studies in the first post.

http://www.clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT01847170
 
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UPDATE:
summary of experiment-
the changes i experianced were 30% positive 70% negative for reasons i may now understand. I made some mistakes, so i am making another attempt in a few weeks. I cant really recommend this to anyone just yet, but if i am successful i will take the time to give more details about my experience. Otherwise there is not much to say if it doesn't seem to work, its kind of risky too. if you want to try a fecal transplant, try an enema.


more details-
all these results were based on no dietary changes, meaning i ate the same thing every day that i have eaten for the previous 2 months so nearly every bodily change is a pure reflection of the fecal transplant pills i took so as to make a fair judgement of the fecal transplant pills. these are the results of taking only one dose on one single day. before this experiment i have a bm 1x a day every day, no blood no mucus and firmness ranging from generally soft to firm and moist but not super hard or dry. so i started out pretty healthy and normal from following SCD principles.

2 days after taking the pills which would have represented the results of the pills, i had an obvious increase in bm volume and softness, without any mucus which i interpreted as a slight improvement in bowel health, as a result of taking the pills.

the next day i had another bm that was 3-4x the volume i would typically have compared to the previous 9 months or so, and very soft, there was a slight amount of mucus in this bm with no blood. i interpreted this to mean an improvement in bm health, with some uncertainty about making a qualitative judgement of the presence of mucus, tentatively, i will say that is a decline.

i then started to have increased tenderness in affected areas, and some acute moments of severe pain, then i had a day where i was constipated and had no bm. around this time i had some psychological effects of increased depression/emotional sensitivity. i tentatively interpreted this to mean a decline in health.

the next day was a relief of previous days constipation and came out at a normal time, along with what would have been my normal bm for that day. there was some discolorations and a noticable amount of mucus. the constipated bm was firm and dry and the remaining half of that bm was relatively soft, and more healthy.

the next 2 days my bms were very large soft with hardly any mucus or blood, i interpreted this to mean an increase in health. and possibly the worsening of pain and tenderness to possibly be a severe die off reaction of pathogens OR the pills i made were severely damaged from what had come from the donors body due to how i processed them. the pain and tenderness was now decreasing. my skin health improved, and now it seemed like my abdomen felt very squishy, where typically the places that are inflammed are firm or hard most of the time. i believe inflammation was lower now from where i started. but after the meals when i eat my refried beans, i still felt slight bloating and firmness in only one area. so improvements weren't uniform in entire intestine, but there were some.

today- now i'm constipated again for seemingly no other reason other then whatever the pills did to me/still doing, as nothing in my diet changed. and my psychological function has been fluctuating, i'm still having periods of depression i didnt have before, but they are definitely getting less then they were at its worst, so most of negative effects from the pills are fading away, it is taking a while though. i still have what seems to be less inflammation in some parts of my intestine, so i hope i retain some of these benefits and the negative effects continue to reside. my energy levels seemed to increase for 3-4 days after taking the pills, then they seemed to decline or go back more towards where i was before taking them, so not sure what that means.



im not sure if i accounted for all days of experiment here but that's my best for now. so you see, its hard to judge whether my experiences would be considered normal or good, i believe the noticeable negative effects i experienced would be abnormal, as i have never heard anyone describe doing enemas to have effects like this, but its also could have been from it being so effective that it killed of so much bad bacteria, and supposedly they release the lipopolysaccharide stored in the cell wall when it bursts, and when alot of them die at once, it can increase disease activity, so that may be considered a good thing. either way i still believe the pills were not made right but im still not changing anything in my diet and taking notes to see where my disease will eventually end up as i recover. so i will say i experianced 30% good and 70% bad effects due to the fecal transplant pills and will improve the process and try it all again since i'm obviously still alive and still recovering and retained some minor benefits.

UPDATE:
sept 21 -constipation relieved

sept 22- had a nice bm with slight mucus no blood. reduction in inflammation still noticable. today i believe i have completely recovered from the psychological side effects of ft pills. energy is back to about where i was before ft pills, as it first increased then declined after the ft pills, now it seem i am where i was before ft pills. so i suppose i have retained the improvements from doing this and all side effects seem to be about 95% gone.




more thoughts- im wondering if the reason im fluctuating in bm quality and symptoms is a sign that i did get some good bacteria to repopulate my gut, and the irregular patterns in side effects and beneficial effects are from them gaining ground, and everytime they come across some bad bacteria, hell breaks lose. of course this is completely theoretical.
 
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One thing that I´ve noticed several times...is that everytime someone else have used a toilet before me, their "aftermath" smells so much more than my shit...the smell is very strong and profound, but mine never smells too much. I wonder if that is a evidence of a diverse flora vs simplified flora?!? I don´t know if you guys have ever noticed.

i thought of your observation when i read this. it is a article i found on the american society of microbiology website blog written by a surgeon or something who says when antibiotics first came out he saw many people gi system destroyed from unregulated doses of antibiotics and they starting giving them feces in pills to restore the flora and it was able to restore their issues. the report of healthy bowel having a strong odor and damaged flora having little odor was something i thought peculiar.

The physician in question, who I will simply call Dr. S, thought after examining and talking to patients who had not “felt right” after their surgery had suffered from the aftereffects of the antibiotics that had been given them to sterilize their bowel flora before surgery. The feces of many of these patients would yield no growth on blood agar plates and MacConkey agar for days after their surgery. (We didn’t do anaerobic cultures in those days though). The stools were even odorless. Few stools can make that claim. S thought that their normal flora had been disrupted by the antibiotics. ‘Healthy bowels, and regularity made a happy patient”, he said.
http://schaechter.asmblog.org/schaechter/2013/05/fecal-transplants-in-the-good-old-days.html
 
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just wanted to let everyone know im still planning on making a second attempt at a fecal transplant pill with many changes/improvements. The time frame is about 4 weeks from now. working hard everyday though on my next plan!

also, i emailed alexander khoruts from the university of minnesota who is a leading researcher in fecal transplants and owns patents on these processes to perform fecal transplants and to make fecal transplant pills. the email was just to obtain information of any upcoming study's for the use of a fecal transplant pill to treat crohn's disease, he said at the moment he wasn't aware of any, but he is doing a study on treating c diff infection with a fecal transplant pill.
 
This sounds gross lol. Best of luck. I read your reports and I don't see improvements. Correct me if I'm wrong. Hopefully that stem cell thing I hear about works.
 
This sounds gross lol. Best of luck. I read your reports and I don't see improvements. Correct me if I'm wrong. Hopefully that stem cell thing I hear about works.
I agree with you, its confusing for a novice. if you only decide to read some of the information here then you are not going to understand what is going on, and what sense to make of everything. also, there is information i'm not giving here either, that i will make more clear later on.

i did have about 5 days of zero inflammation during the second week after taking my fecal transplant pills, but now i'm almost entirely where i was at the begining and i have only retained some of the benefits.

im trying to demonstrate/prove that fecal transplant pill can be superior way administer a fecal transplant to treat and possibly cure crohn's disease. what you are witnessing here are the ups and downs of that process. fecal transplants have already cured ulcerative colitis and may have cured crohn's as well. there is no standardized protocol for administering fecal transplant either by enema nor by pill, and if you were to read my initial post you would see that the 9 or so studies that are planned for the next 2 years, are going to gather information to determine the necessary protocol for giving a fecal transplant by way of an enema, but not a pill as of yet. what im trying to figure out here is not quick or easy, but the end results and what i learn will actually be very simple for anyone to do themselves independant of any doctor or medical institution.

i wish the answers were shorter and simpler then that, but thanks for visiting!!
 
Hi wildbill_52280, I've been following your journey. I hope this next experiment goes better for you.

I have a question in relation to this:

i did have about 5 days of zero inflammation during the second week after taking my fecal transplant pills
How did you determine you had zero inflammation? CRP? ESR? Fecal calprotectin level?

Good luck in your journey.
 
Hi wildbill_52280, I've been following your journey. I hope this next experiment goes better for you.

I have a question in relation to this:



How did you determine you had zero inflammation? CRP? ESR? Fecal calprotectin level?

Good luck in your journey.

zero isnt an accurate description there was nothing precisely numerical about my measurements, what i meant precisely was, there was no detectable abdominal mass/masses, upon my own physical examination.

i check this on a daily basis and feel my abdominal area to see how things are going at least 2 times a day or more, i did this before and after the fecal transplant pills so i have a good comparison, to judge the effects of the pill as fairly as possible. i had 5 days of just pure squishy flatness, and no hard masses. after those five days it would periodically fluctuate between no detectable mass to slight or obvious detectable mass, now im pretty much where i was before the fecal transplant pills where 80% of the time, there is at least some mass detectable in abdominal area, and 60% of the time it is very noticable, and nothing subtle about it.

therefore, 5 days of consistent reduction in the inflammatory mass, is a unique event for me, only attributable to the ft pill, as nothing else changed in my diet, or anything i ingested. i believe the pills i made contained some beneficial bacteria that momentarily found there niche, yet also the process i took to get it into the pill, changed the flora in the pill in a way that may have been responsible for some of the negative effects i experianced. i have read more about what it takes to handle bacteria properly, and now the second time around i believe there will be much more benefical bacteria in these next pills.
 
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Soft bellies are excellent! I went years w/o one.

This is besides the point so not to take away from the value of your experiment at all: I believe it's properly called a stricture as opposed to a mass. I used to have a physician who was about 85 years old who used to try and measure my "mass" with a ruler. When I talked to another physician and explained what he'd been doing she said it's not a mass it's a stricture. And she was like "Did he really call it a mass?" I was like "Yep, every time I see him." She, disapproved.
 
Soft bellies are excellent! I went years w/o one.

This is besides the point so not to take away from the value of your experiment at all: I believe it's properly called a stricture as opposed to a mass. I used to have a physician who was about 85 years old who used to try and measure my "mass" with a ruler. When I talked to another physician and explained what he'd been doing she said it's not a mass it's a stricture. And she was like "Did he really call it a mass?" I was like "Yep, every time I see him." She, disapproved.
so you are saying, inflammation does not present itself by physical visual external examination with noticable swelling in IBD? but yet this is how we can confirm stricturing? i would have thought the term mass would have been a more accurate description, in the sense that, that is as accurate as diagnosis as i could get just by feeling it with my hands. mass would seem the only justifiable term/conclusion at that point, as it could also be a tumor, or something lodged in my intestine.

In way though, i previously and still understand it to be, pretty much one and the same, stricturing occurs due to long standing inflammation, and inflammation typically involves swelling of tissues. so they like happen in the same area, although not always at the same time. i'm really no expert at this though, and this is way far from the questions, concerns and goals i want to focus on. i have a mass, that i have almost always had that is related to my crohns diagnosis, i suppose thats what i am justified to know at this point without giving myself or having someone else give me a colonoscopy.
 
Stricturing does occur due to inflammation but you can have a stricture also due to scar tissue.

Feeling my son's belly for softness would be a poor indicator for us, since not all inflammation causes stricturing. But thanks for replying to my question.
 
Nope, not what I said at all.
sorry, my previous response was wordy and confusing. i wasn't sure what you meant, so i was trying to clarify. it sounded like you were trying to say all intestinal masses are strictures. which is probably not what you meant. i believe you may have meant in your particular case, you had a stricture when the doctor was using the general non specific term "mass".

otherwise, if you were analyzing my reasoning and how i determined the mass was due to inflammation and not something else unrelated to IBD, that's a good thing and i appreciate that.
 
MAJOR NEWS RELEASE: Seattle times, October 26, 2013.

New evidence of Fecal transplants efficacy in crohn's disease in a recently completed study. actually the first study reporting efficacy for crohn's in the U.S.A. This could inspire even more studies for fecal transplant in crohn's disease now. There were only two studys as of date, including this one.


At Seattle Children’s, Dr. David Suskind has just finished the first FDA-approved studies of fecal transplants in children with inflammatory bowel disease. Those with ulcerative colitis didn’t see much improvement, but seven of 10 Crohn’s patients went into remission — results similar to those of drug treatments with more potential side effects.

Now, Suskind says, “I think there are very many more important questions to answer.”

http://seattletimes.com/html/localnews/2022132117_cdifftransplantxml.html
 
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Thank you everyone for this informative forum on FMT. My 20 year old daughter was diagnosed with IBD in May. She was just in the hospital for 10 days with a severe C-dif infection that caused her to have a bad flare. She is currently on Vancomycin and Flagyl as well as 40 mg of Pred. Her new GI has aggreed to perform a FMT. I hope it is successful in knocking out the C-dif and her UC. He will be putting donor fecal material in her colon via a colonoscopy. Does this work as well as poop pills?
 
Too bad that article is written so poorly, a lot of inaccurate terminology and words used, but the more to the point, atleast it's another win for fmt
 
Thank you everyone for this informative forum on FMT. My 20 year old daughter was diagnosed with IBD in May. She was just in the hospital for 10 days with a severe C-dif infection that caused her to have a bad flare. She is currently on Vancomycin and Flagyl as well as 40 mg of Pred. Her new GI has aggreed to perform a FMT. I hope it is successful in knocking out the C-dif and her UC. He will be putting donor fecal material in her colon via a colonoscopy. Does this work as well as poop pills?
typically repeated enemas are necessary to make a noticable difference in ibd. like 30-60 enemas sometimes to reach remission, but these are in the worst cases. some have had success with less enemas though. one colonoscopic FMT almost certainly will not be enough, and there is a recent study that even showed this not to be enough in UC.

they have not completed the development of a fecal transplant pill, but they have tried a prototype which was effective in eliminating c difficile.
 
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wildbill, did you ever see the research I did using Crohnology's FMT users? There are not only 6 participants but I also included links for a couple of others I found with vidoes on youtube. And 3 of the 6 had UC.
yes i did see the article before and thought it was great. this time i decided to put a link to it in the first post of this thread in the first section of general information, but also mentioned there were more testimonys in the article as well, and a reference to your screenname.
 
I found another study that is planned for fecal transplants in ulcerative colitis, that would total 10 studies planned so far, with 2 being completed already. 8 more to go from now until 2016.


the most recently completed study on crohn's using fecal transplants was actually estimated to be completed in december 2014, but i found the news releases stating the results. its possible that it will become easier to recruit people to do fecal transplant studies as time goes by and like the recent study, complete these studies early. i kind of hope thats the case.


http://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT01742754?term=fecal+transplant&rank=15
 
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