# Finally Tried A Fecal Transplant After Post Infectious IBS



## MrAndy (Apr 22, 2017)

hi everyone so a little bit of a background around me I'm a 29-year-old male who his whole life had slight bowel issues where sometimes I would get diarrhea once a month but nothing that would affect me too much to make my life unlivable.

Last year I decided to move to Mexico and as everyone knows Mexico is not the cleanest when it comes to their food so I ended up picking up a case of amoebas and salmonella. after taking a very high dosage of metronidazole the aoebas and Salmonella went away I actually started feeling much better from the stomach cramps and morning diarrhea but a couple of days later the diarrhea came back and my stool looked weird as well as my tongue being white. When I did a stool sample it came back positive for a candida overgrowth in my stomach. I then tried an antifungal which got the Candida under control the stomach went back to normal and the diarrhea started becoming slightly more solid.

My stool now was more solid however it wasn't completely solid it was more like wet porridge almost at the level of still diarrhea. I went to my doctor and he put me on Xifaxan which did nothing for me twice. At this point I was also having extreme gas issues where sometimes I couldn't even sleep at night because I would have so much gas.

After reading four different books on IBS including brand-new published books I started to see a trend where the future was in the micro biome of the stomach. It seems that almost all of the New Age specialists and IBS agreed that the key lied in the type of bacteria that had colonized your gut and begun to cause havoc. For me I think that I had a bacterial overgrowth of bad bacteria that was causing too much gas I went to get a stool sample which in a way confirm this and also said I had too much gram-negative bacteria.

I decided that one of the only ways to get this under control was to do a fecal transplant which had been used with a 95% success rate on C. diff's outpatients since C. diff's style is a bacteria which is similar to gram-negative bacteria's I figured that doing the stool transplant would potentially cure me.

My donor selection was not based on a huge amount of testing it was more based on who did I think would actually do this for me and my best friend came to mind. I asked him for the stool sample which he agreed to I know that he is one of our healthiest friends who never has stomach issues and pretty much eats absolutely anything without an issue. The one problem is he's a very heavy drinker he probably gets drunk three times a week and he's extremely sexually active probably with a different girl twice a week however he assured me he had been tested for everything and had no diseases. And as an added bonus he had not taken antibiotics in the past 20 years so his microbiota was relatively clean.

In the morning I took my stool sample I performed an enema with the sample after buying a blender and held the enema in for about three hours. I couldn't believe what happened 8 hours later for the first time in 6 months I had a solid strong bowel movement. this excitement was misleading however since a couple of days later my condition went back to normal and by normal I mean loose stools and urgency. My thought is that I didn't do the transplant for enough time and it acted like using an antibiotic for a short amount of time where the bacteria had a chance to adjust and become immune.

I asked my friend again this time after watching the movie guthack where a NASA scientist with IBS does a fecal transplant this year I decided to try his method where you use a needle to put the blended solution into pills and take them orally. it didn't help that this time the stool sample I got from my friend was a little more loose and fibery and the smell was very strong. I'm not going to lie this is probably the most disgusting thing I ever did in my life, in two hours to three hours later I became violently sick throwing up and staying sick for the next three days.

I have no idea why this time it was such a big failure may be the fact that I took it orally my body just had a hugely negative response. I am however super encouraged by the fact that the first time it work. My friend has said he will give me as much stool as I need to continue to try, he made a joke out of it calls my house Pooplounge. I am however wondering should I attempt this again through the enema way and maybe this time I should take antibiotics which is the standard practice for the C. difficile infection to make sure that your level of bacteria in your body drops before introducing the new bacteria. Then maybe take a high dose probiotic to make sure the bad bacteria doesent colonize.

Has anyone else here tried fecal transplant successfully? I think I'm going to wait a couple of days or a week and then bite the bullet and tell my friend that I'm going to try this this time every day for five days, my issues may have been that I didn't take an antibiotic and then that I didn't hold it in long enough and then that I didn't do it for as many days as I should have.

regards,

Andy


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## jaumeb (Sep 1, 2014)

Flossy did the same experiments you did and they didn't work.


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## MrAndy (Apr 22, 2017)

jaumeb said:


> Flossy did the same experiments you did and they didn't work.


It worked for me for a few weeks then went back to problems so to an extent it did work. Do you have a link to flos post i cant find it in the search function


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## jaumeb (Sep 1, 2014)

This is flossy
http://www.ibsgroup.org/forums/user/61121-flossy/


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## flossy (Dec 8, 2012)

MrAndy said:


> It worked for me for a few weeks then went back to problems so to an extent it did work. Do you have a link to flos post i cant find it in the search function


Hi. Here is my FMT link:

http://www.ibsgroup.org/forums/topic/227418-fecal-transplant-for-ibs-c/

________________________

And here is this board's FMT forum:

http://www.ibsgroup.org/forums/forum/100-fecal-microbiota-transplantation-fmt/


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## laylow (Jun 2, 2016)

If it worked for awhile, you need to do multiples. Try 10 in a row and then once weekly after that.


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## writerbettie (May 14, 2016)

Yes, I first tried the fecal transplant for c-diff which I suffered from for years. No matter what doctors did I could not get well, even from the newest meds. Within an hour after the transplant, I knew that I no longer had c-diff and tests proved this. C-diff does leave most people with IBS and I was no exception so I am now going to start doing this ever so often and hope it helps my IBS. My days are spent in pain and running to the bathroom. The donor is important; my husband was my donor and even though I knew there was no problem, my doctor tested him for anything that could be transferred this way. We did the transplant at home. It is important to have cleaned out your intestines thoroughly before doing this. I didn't eat the day before and took a physic...yes even though I already have loose stools. The transplant won't work unless you are totally cleaned out. When you give yourself the enema or someone else helps you, lie down quickly on your side. When I did this I held the transferred fecal matter totally in...none came out as with the case of a normal enema which is usually the purpose. In the case of the transplant, you want to hold it in. I am going to do my one for IBS next Thursday when I have time to prepare the day before and privacy the next day to do it. I am very optimistic that it will help this suffering. I am not good at following diets and have to work on this too. Good luck.


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## acureisoutthere (Jun 28, 2014)

Hi MrAndy,

I reversed my IBS-D in 2015 via an FMT.

One of the mistakes you are making is the exposure to air. 90% of the bacteria you are trying to transplant via an FMT are anaerobic. Hence, they die when exposed to air. You've been killing them.

For the average person to make FMT pills, they would need to do it completely anaerobically, (no exposure to air at all). If that wasn't enough of a challenge, one also takes a large risk of becoming violently ill when swallowing feces. So, if you make a mistake, or slip a little, you could have real problems. Making home FMT pills should be avoided. It's not a wise approach and has serious risks.

Also, donor selection is very critical. They must be in perfect health. Not everybody is a good donor. The average American has lost 40% of the diversity of their microbiome. Athletes tend to have more diverse microbiomes.

You can follow my story here :

http://www.ibsgroup.org/forums/topic/243081-i-recently-fixed-my-ibs-d-its-gone/


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## MrAndy (Apr 22, 2017)

acureisoutthere said:


> Hi MrAndy,
> 
> I reversed my IBS-D in 2015 via an FMT.
> 
> ...


Thanks acure going to read your thread now. I am now leaning more towards a clinic solution since they have access to the best screened donors and my list of friends to ask is narrow and my whole family has lots of health problems so thats out. I wish you could just put a craigslist ad out "looking for fecal donor no antibiotics used in last 10 years" . Crazy that 90% are anerobic, well looks like the 10% fought it out for a good two days before they got overtaken because i definitely had results!

I am now looking at either the taymount clinic in london or the newbery clinic, their 6k a pop so its going to hurt the wallet especially in my financial situation, but i figure the amount of time im losing and depression with suffering, I would make that back twofold after the procedure.


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## glockola (Apr 16, 2017)

OF COURSE IT DOES NOT WORK!!! PI-IBS is caused by a damaged intestinal mucosa! Increased permeability, increased inflammatory cells, enterochromaffin cells and damaged to nerves!! bowel flora is not responsible for your symptoms!!! There is 0 evidence for fecal transplant in PI IBS... only if you have and active Clostridium Difficile infection will fecal transplant be necessary.


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## acureisoutthere (Jun 28, 2014)

laylow said:


> If it worked for awhile, you need to do multiples. Try 10 in a row and then once weekly after that.


Laylow is right, according to what I read, it often takes multiple FMTs to reverse IBS.

You should consider this.

Perhaps there was an error in your procedure ?


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## acureisoutthere (Jun 28, 2014)

glockola said:


> OF COURSE IT DOES NOT WORK!!! PI-IBS is caused by a damaged intestinal mucosa! Increased permeability, increased inflammatory cells, enterochromaffin cells and damaged to nerves!! bowel flora is not responsible for your symptoms!!! There is 0 evidence for fecal transplant in PI IBS... only if you have and active Clostridium Difficile infection will fecal transplant be necessary.


It would be interesting to hear what Dr. Thomas Borody would have to say about this. After all, he has done thousands of FMTs. I think it was around 12,000, the last time I read. Glen Taylor has also done thousands of FMTs. Both of them are reversing IBS, and of course C. Diff. too. C. Diff. is relatively easy to reverse it seems, with some trials remporting 98% reversal rates from two FMTs.

The best I have heard was 80% reversal, by Dr. Borody, for IBS-D.

For IBS, multiple FMTs are often needed, as reported by these individuals. They have an advantage of screened and tested donors, and the best equipment.

Hopefully, the science continues to move forward.


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## PD85 (Aug 19, 2010)

I'd bet that some IBS can be cured by FMT and some can not.


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## MrAndy (Apr 22, 2017)

glockola said:


> OF COURSE IT DOES NOT WORK!!! PI-IBS is caused by a damaged intestinal mucosa! Increased permeability, increased inflammatory cells, enterochromaffin cells and damaged to nerves!! bowel flora is not responsible for your symptoms!!! There is 0 evidence for fecal transplant in PI IBS... only if you have and active Clostridium Difficile infection will fecal transplant be necessary.


In my first post I wrote it did in fact work for a few days, so i suspect is causation correlation I think the damage to intestinal mucosa, increased permeability and inflamatory cells are all being caused by my imbalance of the wrong bacteria. If I had done my test and nothing had happened I would be more inclined to say it doesent work but the result for two days later was drastic I felt like a new person.


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## Guest (May 30, 2017)

Why would do an FMT for PI-IBS without getting IBSChek done first to confirm you have the antigens? Seems really risky.


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## acureisoutthere (Jun 28, 2014)

MrAndy said:


> In my first post I wrote it did in fact work for a few days, so i suspect is causation correlation I think the damage to intestinal mucosa, increased permeability and inflamatory cells are all being caused by my imbalance of the wrong bacteria. If I had done my test and nothing had happened I would be more inclined to say it doesent work but the result for two days later was drastic I felt like a new person.


Ditto, MrAndy,

I still have that feeling after my successful FMT for IBS. After I did my FMT I slowly introduced problem foods, one at a time, to see if any caused me problems. Overall, it was a big success ! I now have so many foods back, with one exception : dairy. I still have some issues with dairy, however it is very noticeably improved since my FMT. I know I am very fortunate. I also know I spent an incredible amount of time doing my best to figure this out, analyzing every facet of the procedure, doing my best to understand the microbiome and the bacteria we are transplanting.


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## Anaerobic FMT (Jul 23, 2017)

FMTs are working for us. The key, and I don't know why everyone is missing this ( https://www.ncbi.nlm...PMC4030581/#B14) is to boil the distilled water to remove the dissolved oxygen before using it to prepare the FMT. The best bacteria dies when exposed to oxygen and water contains lots of dissolved oxygen (ask the fish) which leaves when the water is brought to boiling (ask a fish why it dies in warm water and loves Alaska). After boiling the water we let it cool in sealed gallon jugs with CO2 blown into the air space.

We took the extra step of buying a CO2 cylinder and regulator (about $170) to fill the top of our mason jar with CO2 before blending the feces and water so that oxygen from the ambient air didn't enter the water while we were mixing the solution and kill the anaerobic bacteria. CO2 is more dense than air so it displaces the air on the top of the jar and the gallon jugs. We put a lid on the mason jar containing the feces and de-oxygenated distilled water with the CO2 filling the rest of the jar.

Oh, and use at least 500 ml of FMT solution; that is what the research says. Along with the stool being as fresh as it can be and from as close a relative or person living in your environment who is healthy as you can. The studies all seem to test one variable or another. The testimonies get some variables right but miss others. Why not get them all right and give yourself the best chance of healing - not just remission, but healing - that you can?

Medicine says the trouble is the immune system - take drugs to interfere with the immune system and maybe reduce inflamation. You've lived with that approach and don't like it any more than we have for the past few years.

Fecal microbiota transplant says the trouble is your immune system - your immune system hinges on strong bacterial balance in your gut so re-seed the bacteria so you can establish a good community like the people who are fortunate enough not to have bowel disease.

I'm not a terrific writer and I hope other people can run with this and spread the idea.


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## dekkalife (Aug 21, 2015)

testingtestingibs said:


> Why would do an FMT for PI-IBS without getting IBSChek done first to confirm you have the antigens? Seems really risky.


I'm sorry for being blunt, but these online companies like IBSchek and uBiome are an absolute waste of money. IBS cannot be diagnosed by a blood test, nor a stool test. IBS is diagnosed by excluding other possibilities. Most of these companies stipulate that your results cannot be used for diagnosis, because they are not accurate. I have personally emailed many of these companies and have been given this response. Tests like these are a novelty, akin to finding out your "ancestry" from a swab of saliva.


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