I've just contacted a clinic for FMT treatment. Haven't made up my mind yet, but I am leaning towards it as I have struggled through the past year with psoriasis and lower back pain. Tried mesalazine with no effects at all, and there is no medical insurance on biologics or immunosuppressant drugs so for me it's equally expensive. I did a colonoscopy back in January showing inflammation on entire digestive tract and almost all organs, the only upside is that they are all mild inflammation. Any advice or suggestions are appreciated.
Should I go for fmt?
- Thread starter edamame
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Some of the biologics have programs to help you pay. With Remicade, it is called Remistart. With Humira , on the program ,you only have to pay five dollars.
If you've run out of or can't afford more proven methods and are still suffering from severe Crohn's then there is probably nothing to lose in trying FMT. But I wouldn't discontinue any medication that is helping in favor of FMT.
The current state of FMT is that it works pretty well to cure C. diff. infections; it works reasonably well to relieve UC, but the results with Crohn's are at best spotty.
So with a carefully chosen donor FMT is unlikely to be harmful, but for a bad case of Crohn's the improvement is likely to partial and temporary.
The current state of FMT is that it works pretty well to cure C. diff. infections; it works reasonably well to relieve UC, but the results with Crohn's are at best spotty.
So with a carefully chosen donor FMT is unlikely to be harmful, but for a bad case of Crohn's the improvement is likely to partial and temporary.
I am in China, there's only two areas/cities with medical issuance for infliximab, besides I want a quick fix in case there are some other infections in my gut that I don't know about. The clinic told me about 50% chance of relieving the symptoms, and whether it would be long term is unknown. I don't see many ppl who have tried fmt and posted here, any stories ?
Well no, the worst that can happen is that the new engrafted bacteria are worse for your health in some way than the ones you started with. That's why I made the comment about a carefully chosen donor.
There is a fascinating and alarming report in the medical literature of an FMT recipient, who had always been of normal body weight, suddenly putting on a lot of weight and becoming obese shortly after getting FMT from an obese donor. And there may be other surprising side effects lurking out there that we don't yet know about.
It's early days yet on the whole FMT thing. FMT holds a lot of promise, but there is a lot we don't know yet. That's why I encourage caution.
According to their website, only 15 or so donors have been screened eligible out of more than 10,000. I talked to several hospitals about fmt before and their donor screening process reflects similar ratio. Anyway I'll talk to the clinician first then make a decision, thanks.
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edamame, So you are in china? and FMT is allowed for IBD? is this a study you are participating in? love to know more! What is the place/organization called?
FMT is largely unavailable in the United States but only for studies or for certain C diff patients.
Research shows that IBD can be brought into remission with multiple FMT's where C. difficile takes 1-2 FMT's. Somes studies show oral fmt is more effective in crohn's and can bring rapid remission.
Overall microbiome diversity in Crohns is lower then U.C. or c diff, this could be one reason why it takes more FMT's to correct it. One other reason crohn's could be harder to correct is intracellular bacteria that live inside immune cells which maintain the inflammatory response. The lack of FMT in pill form could be one thing holding back progress in research for microbiome restoration.
FMT is largely unavailable in the United States but only for studies or for certain C diff patients.
Research shows that IBD can be brought into remission with multiple FMT's where C. difficile takes 1-2 FMT's. Somes studies show oral fmt is more effective in crohn's and can bring rapid remission.
Overall microbiome diversity in Crohns is lower then U.C. or c diff, this could be one reason why it takes more FMT's to correct it. One other reason crohn's could be harder to correct is intracellular bacteria that live inside immune cells which maintain the inflammatory response. The lack of FMT in pill form could be one thing holding back progress in research for microbiome restoration.
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Yes, fmt has been used to treat UC with some good results. But it's not yet recommended for crohn's, there are several hospitals where this treatment is available, but they usually do a maximum of 3 fmts from the same donor, the first doctor I have contacted wanted to see me failing other drugs before even considering it. Those who did receive fmt usually need another treatment after 3 months.
I've contacted 5 hospitals in total. 2 of them rejected my quest of trying fmt(partly because my case is not severe enough,partly because of the 50% success rate), one hospital would only do 1 fmt, one would do a course of 3, the last one wants to review my case and evaluate. Overall they are cautious about it.
The clinic I contacted is in Hongkong, and they would do a total of 10 fmts, with mixed donor samples.
The clinic I contacted is in Hongkong, and they would do a total of 10 fmts, with mixed donor samples.
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You will probably get better results with multiple fmt's and the only patient suspected to be cured of crohn's after fmt, had a single large volume nasojujenal FMT using 3 donors. it took a few hours to administer it though.
More importantly not all 'stool' is created equal, the donors health and diet play a large role in it medicinal potency. If the person is on a low fiber diet, it probably wouldn't matter how many fmt's you received as the microbial content would be so low.
I'm not sure why a similar protocol has not yet been utilized since this was so successful, but scientists goals aren't necessarily focused to find a successful way to do a fecal transplant, as much as they are examining the effect of different variables that affect fmt success, and trying to answer different questions pertaining to fmt. Ultimately they do want to make fmt more successful and they will, but why not just copy what has worked in the past? Original research and curiosity is sometimes held at a higher value in science then plain old "success".
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