Fecal Transplant and Diet (SCD currently)

Serenity Now said...
Dr Briggs, you can still have your stir fries - at least the ones you make at home. Just don't put them over rice. Same with "pasta" dishes. I rarely ever eat pasta or rice anymore, I put sauce/stir fries/whatever over spaghetti squash. I figured out it's not the pasta or rice I enjoy, it's the stuff that I put on top of it.

They're much more satisfying with rice though. :D

I've done spaghetti squash a few times. It's not bad, I'd just prefer to be able to eat rice. The biggest thing that's hard to replicate or replace IMO though is pizza.

I had never done an enema before doing this, so I was a little apprehensive. I didn't cut the tubes - I wanted to make sure the end was the way it was intended (cutting it could produce sharp edges, potentially). I prevented clogging by filtering with a metal kitchen strainer. That was the messiest part of the entire process. The actual transplants have been going pretty smoothly though.

I usually get around 2-2.5 cups in. I generally have to stop partway through and do somewhat of a headstand to get it to work its way up into my colon to make room for more.

Are you mixing with saline? I made my own, adding salt to distilled water.

Dr Briggs, I did use saline that I bought in little jars. My doctor told me I could totally mix my own if I wanted to but I worry so I bought the sterile stuff that was already mixed.

I usually get around 2-2.5 cups in. Dr Briggs said...

I am amazed how much you get in! I get about 1/2 a cup I would say, and then I just get this feeling like if I put anymore in its all going to explode out, so I stop. But it seems to be working, my second transplant went well. I had three good bowel days in a row which hasn't happened in months. Planning on doing some more transplants this week. I still have to be extremely careful about what I eat, though.

One thing I learned last time was not to put the solution in straight from the fridge. I got so cold from it I was shaking, and I realized putting a substance that is 40-some degrees into the core of my body probably isn't a good idea.

Kookoo, thanks for sharing your experience with FT. I really like reading about how it is going for others as well.

I have no idea whether my transplants helped. I think they did though and I'm still in remission 8 or so months later

kookoo said...
I have used the saline for my neti pot which comes in little sachets. I think my stool formation has improved but I am still feeling very lethargic. I guess it takes time for your body to heal when one has been ill for a long time. I am wondering of anyone has fully regained their vitality from doing the transplants? I take enough superfoods to sink a ship and eat lean protein, salads and veges..no gluten, dairy or sugar ever!
I think I will try to do another one this weekend if poo-sible (haha). Just wondering how many it takes or does it just take time to allow the good bacteria to colonise? I think it definitely helped to do the enema first ..I was having headaches at night after the transplants which seems to be improving anyway. I would love to here from anyone who has seen a good improvement to build up moral for the next one lol

The studies that have focused on people with UC/CD have found that in general it takes more transplants, and more time, for a profound improvement compaired to people with a C-diff infection. Borody speculates that this may be because other bacteria that can be causing UC/CD implant spores in our intestinal walls, allowing them to keep coming back - so repeated transplants are necessary to fully eradicate them.

I think that the fact that some bacteria are able to build strong biofilms to protect themselves, and keep other bacteria from displacing them, can be a factor - which is why I've been using the enzymes to break down the biofilm.

Also, for those of us who have had UC/CD for years, there is probably a fair amount of damage that needs to heal, to the intestinal walls and villi - and all of that takes time.

This weekend was my third weekend of transplants, and I am expecting to keep doing them for probably at least 3-4 more weeks, maybe twice that. I think this approach of doing it on weekends seems to be working pretty well. That is the approach Borody is now using for UC, finding it more effective than a sequence of 5 transplants 5 days in a row.

In my case, the combination of the SCD and transplants seems to be working great. I am officially off Remicade - in the past, I have never gone this long between infusions, since I would start developing mucus, diarrhea, blood, etc.. So far, everything is fine. Nice, well-formed stools, generally around 2 a day.

THis weekend I got perhaps a little too adventurous. Since the rice I had last weekend didn't give me any problems, I decided to give some fried rice from a thai restaurant a try. I'm not sure if it caused any problems or not. I did my transplant Saturday morning, then had fried rice for an early dinner, and held the transplant until Sunday morning. THen I had a nice big, well formed poop (much of it the donor poo). But then within about 45 minutes I had two more pretty urgent poops. They weren't diarrhea, just more urgency than I have had lately, and I was surprised to have three close together. I was fine after that though.

Not quite sure what to make of that.

Also, my transplant on Saturday was more time consuming than normal because I got lazy about filtering, and the result was that the end of the tube clogged a few times. That was a pain to deal with. The moral - make sure you filter nicely.

Dr. Briggs, I was curious if you had any thoughts on the following article:

http://news.yahoo.com/chimp-human-gut-bacteria-nearly-identical-172628782.html

kookoo said...
Just wondering which enzymes you are using for the biofilm Dr Briggs? I cant get a hold of the Clairelabs interfase here (not for lack of trying) so am taking serrapeptase not sure how effective it is for this though?

I'm using the Claire Labs Interfase enzyme. For some reason they give me some major gas. I'm only taking them in the middle of the night, since you're supposed to take them well away from meals, since otherwise they will just be used for digesting food. I eat about 5-6 meals a day, so there aren't really any times during the day when I can take them far apart from meals (preferably at least 3 hours apart from a meal).

Taking just one of them gives me moderate gas. Taking two pills during the night gives me major gas (painful), and sometimes some foamy diarrhea. At this point I'm only taking the pills on Thursday and Friday nights, prepping for the transplants. When I take two of them, the resulting diarrhea cleans me out pretty good.

I'm not entirely sure why I get such severe gas and diarrhea from them. I talked with someone from Claire Labs, and my impression is that it could be a result of the biofilm being broken down.

Update: things are going very well. I did one transplant last weekend. I'm planning on just doing one a week for the next few weeks.

I've been doing a little playing with eating non-SCD compliant foods. I had fried rice again on Saturday and Monday, with no problems. Plus a little bit of veggies cooked in a cashew sauce from the same thai restaurant. Yum!

I had some baked beans from a restaurant Sunday morning, and that gave me a *slightly* loose stool eventually, but not that loose - and just the one. I've remained pretty regular at two stools a day, well formed.

It seems that when I eat something with complex carbohydrates in it, sometimes it gives me one softer-than-normal stool (i.e. not well formed), but that's the end of it - no persistant problems.

For example, I had some regular refried beans with dinner last night (pinto beans contain a starch in them), and my stool this morning was not as well-formed as normal. But other than that I'm fine.

Here's what I'm thinking about this: I think/hope that my bacterial problem may be largely "cured" now (knock on wood), which is why I don't develop recurrent problems from eating something that I don't fully digest.

But, I think my villi still need time to heal, as there are some complex carbs that I am not fully digesting - giving me a softer stool after eating them (and some gas, from the undigested carbohydrates feeding bacteria in my intestines. But, hopefully there is a healthy bacterial makeup in there now, so eating the complex carbs doesn't trigger the "vicious cycle", it just gives me one loose stool).

Anyway - I feel like I am on the road to being able to say I am fully "cured". After having this for 12 years, this is a great feeling.

Thats great Dr Briggs.I did another last weekend too. I am also feeling better, much more energy and people say my face looks brighter. What a journey there and back, yes it has been about 8 years for me. Have since learned taking ro accutane (for acne) which I did coupled with low immune (I had a tooth that died for about 4 years but didnt know) can cause this. Weird when you don't recover though. My severe gas (like something was dying is settling) and I am hoping some of my 'auto immuny' things keep improving. Wow so glad I tried this... touch wood....
Diet: Paleo style
Taking: Mastic Gum, Serrapeptase and digestive enzymes

dr. briggs, that is great news! i'm so happy to hear this worked for you. i was worried that when you starting going off of SCD you might get symptoms again. i'm glad that's not the case.

have you seen your GI doctor to tell them about what you're doing? mine is usually not supportive of anything i try so i'm interested to see what yours says. when i told my doc i did fecal transplant, he thought i was nuts and couldn't believe i did it at home.

Woohoo!  Way to go Dr.Briggs.  Thanks for keeping us updated, I really really hope things continue to go so well for you.  I'd be really wary of eating toooo adventurously, though I have a tendency to do that myself.

 

bananagirl said...

have you seen your GI doctor to tell them about what you're doing? mine is usually not supportive of anything i try so i'm interested to see what yours says. when i told my doc i did fecal transplant, he thought i was nuts and couldn't believe i did it at home.

I talked to him before I started - I haven't told him yet how well it has worked - I'm really looking forward to that. :)

My GI actually seemed somewhat supportive when I told him about it - although he did say that he couldn't do the process himself.

What heartening news. As a doctor any views on what maybe happening with someone with ulcerative proctitis as opposed to UC and CD? I have had UP for 21 years but its well controlled by enemas.

I am tempted to follow the same pattern as you once I hit my 12 week mark with SCD (at 6w). I would hazard to guess for UP I just need to get the FMT into the rectum and not any deeper. But no harm in letting it go deeper.

Also, any chance of a detailed process of what you did at some point - items used, regime of drugs (if any) etc?