Fecal Transplant - I took the plunge! PART V

Is it possible to get AIDS by doing this?

tankor said...

The unpleasant nature of everything is what has kept this from being more mainstream.

Must be. That and the fact that the pharmaceutical industry is going to discourage anything they can't profit from. Surprisingly, the gross factor did not play a part for me. I didn't find FT nearly as gross as the flare itself. When I was flaring, I was shooting poo and blood and blood clots all over the place and making a lot of noise too. I don't do that anymore. That said, people have all these concerns about sharing poo that I just don't understand. They aren't nearly as concerned with having sex and sharing germs with someone as they are about putting poo up the butt. How many of you had your donor tested before you had sex for the first time? I don't get it.

Hi Cure UC, i am sorry that you are feeling that you can not tell people about your FT. I was choosy about who I shared my experience with. For the most part the reaction and support was very very positive. I am sorry you are being met with a closed minded response.

For me the FT was not icky at all. I would do it again in a heartbeat.

Stacy

CureUC: UC and IBD is a very lonley disease. I did benefit from some therapy about my feelings around having such a sinister disease that can be very isolating. I hope that you get well from FT and can be a part of a movement that helps FT become an option for those wanting this treatment. I know that its not for all, and will not help all but I do believe that it should be a treatmnet option.

Please keep us posted on how you are feeling, I am very interested in your progress.

Cure - My son was diagnosed with pancolitis when he was 13 and had to miss the last 1/3 of that school year - and lost a lot of friends. I know what you're talking about, because I spent a lot of time hanging out with my kid.

A friend of mine at the time, a social worker for a pediatric specialist, told me some of the teens she worked with played xBox (or whatever) together and had mutual support that way. Maybe a local doctor's office would be able to help you find other folks to "share" with?

In the meantime, I'm sure glad you found us!!

Good luck on the rest of the flagyl! That really helped my kid when he had a small flare last year! With him, the results really didn't show until about the time he had been done with the flagyl for a few days. Hang in there!!

good luck ...will be looking forward to your update on how it went.

from talking to Borody himself and the "experts" this is how I understand it.

Intestinal flora is complete by about the age of 2. However, flora is stronger in males, and
also stronger in adults. My guess is the reason this is true, is that your immune system learns to
adept and get stronger as you get older. Children get chicken pocs, measels, & alot of other stuff.
The immune system I'm guessing gets stronger once it overcomes these things as it learns to deal
with them.

However people have had success using young children & babies. I believe alot of UC, patients are lacking
certain species of bacteria. Using you daughter as a donor could help to replace those species. Also, I
believe you have no reason to fear contracting STD's or parasites or anything else unwanted from a 2 year old.

If I was you, I would personally try this ASAP if I had my own son/daughter, without fear of anything.
But do your own research and make a good educated decision.

Good luck

Oh and by the way, i fould out the hospital was trying to stop my specailist helping me to do this, but he put up a fight and still did it for me, the doctors and nurses are very interested because they found out i was the first person in New Zealand to do it (through a hospital) So they have been ringing my cell phone to ask how im going. They will do anything to stop this procedure huh?

CureUC: thanks for the update - bring on the healing!! good for your dr. for going ahead with the procedure.

I second that. Finding a donor is very challenging. Most people are gonna
think you are crazy.

Well this is why I'm thinking I would be interested in trying this treatment when I'm flaring again... but I know I'd botch it up if I were to try to do it myself. Plus I don't know who I'd use as a donor. I really wish it were an option to do at a health care professional's office, even if I had to pay out of pocket.

I guess the important point to take away from GidHike's post is that even with botching it up, he/she still saw dramatic improvement. Amazing! Who was your donor?

I'm hearing a lot of talk about messiness here. I'm wondering what part of the process is getting messy, because I was able to do nine infusions with zero spillage/mess/accidents.

I definitely had a few close calls during the first few, but never any real mess.

Here was my basic procedure:

1. Dump poo from disposable tupperware container into blender.

2. Add 1-2 cups saline and 1/4-1/2 tsp psyllium.

3. Blend 10-15 seconds, adding more water if necessary to achieve a paint-like consistency.

4. Pour through a mesh strainer set over a small bowl/pitcher, using a spoon to push it through the strainer, leaving behind any solids.

5. Pour from bowl through funnel into disposable enema bag (available from Amazon.com), making sure the tubing on the enema bag is clamped shut first.

6. Hang up bag near your bed/padded area where you will lay. Unclamp the tubing, letting the solution flow down close to the clip, or even a bit past it, but not to the end of the tube. Clamp tube again before solution reaches the last ~6 inches of the tubing. (this pushes some of the air out of the tubing so you are shooting a bunch of air up your butt before the solution starts flowing)

7. Lay down in a comfortable position on your left side, with knees brought up toward chest (sort of a "fetal position"). Try to elevate your hips with a blanket or pillows. I find it helps to have a pillow between my knees too.

8. Insert tubing in yer butt, unclamp the tubing and let the doodoo flow.

9. When almost all of the solution has flowed out of the bag, reclamp the tubing, remove it from yer butt and place the cap back on the tubing to prevent any spills. Stay on your left side for a while, massage your belly, move to your back, massage, right side, massage, lay on your stomach, massage. I actually went straight from my left side into a headstand most of the time (I'm a bit of a yogi) to try to encourage the implant to flow backwards up my descending colon. I would suggest this if you're capable.

Depending on the consistency, my implants ranged from 250-400 mL and took from 15-40 minutes to be done. You want to get the consistency thick enough that it won't be too hard to hold in, but thin enough to flow through the tubing. This takes some experimentation.