Post FMT Update - 2.5 years later

Hello all.

I try to come on here every 6 months or so to give an update on my health status post FMT. After being diagnosed in 2008 and living with UC for 5 years, I did an "in-home", 10-day, FMT procedure using a protocol that I received from a doctor at UT Southwestern in Dallas. The procedure was in May 2013.

Here is a link to my last update in June 2015...you should be able to look at that link and the links within that link to get "my story":

www.healingwell.com/community/default.aspx?f=38&m=3420378

So I just had an annual check-up with my Gastro on Wednesday of last week. Based on this most recent round of blood work, there are still no active inflammation markers in my system. But I could have told the doctor that prior to testing because I have been completely symptom free since shortly after the FMT procedure in May 2013. I now have a "normal" bowel - 1-2 solid BM's per day with no prescriptions, no supplements, no blood, no urgency, no days spending 3-4 hours on the toilet, no sleepless nights, etc. In other words, I feel "fine".

There is no doubt in my mind the FMT procedure is what "shocked" my system "back to normal". I weighed 197 lbs on the visit last week...up from the 150-165 range I was fluctuating between in early 2013.

I know what its like to be sick with this and just desperate to feel normal again. So I am posting once again to represent an example of an FMT that "worked". Please consider FMT after proper due diligence and consult with your doctor (my Gastro was skeptical - she introduced me to the other doctor that provided the procedure but was not involved in the process - now she is excited to see me healthy). Give yourself this shot as soon as possible and certainly before surgery.

Good luck.

brucen36 said...
Have you posted the specific procedure you used?

Here's a link to my first post about it:

www.healingwell.com/community/default.aspx?f=38&m=2799459

Rather simply it was:

-Identify donor, have donor screened for communicable diseases (helps if they are regular)
-Have donor go on high fiber diet for 2-3 weeks.
-Collect sample (preferably in evening), blend it with saline solution
-Screen sample into enema bag or enema bottle (more on this later)
-Shoot sample into rectum, lay on back and hold as long as possible; elevate lower extremities and massage the outside of the bowel in a motion like you are pushing the sample back up and around the "U" of the colon
-Try to get to where you are holding the sample overnight
-Do this for 10 days straight

I had to do it in the AM cause that's when my brother (donor) did his thing. I ditched the enema bag after Day 2-3 and went to reconstituted Fleet enema bottles (these got the sample "up in there", if you will). I also started taking Imodium along with the enemas to help keep the sample up there. By the last half of the 10-day procedure, I was holding the sample pretty much all day.

Look, even though this protocol was provided by physicians working in the UT Southwestern Digestive and Liver Disease Clinic I was kinda blown away by how free-form it was when it came down to it. Other than the part about 10-days and choosing a male donor, as well as basic instructions and the list of diseases the donor was to be screened for, they didn't have much else to tell me.

Post Edited (UC_Hater) : 1/11/2016 3:26:17 PM (GMT-7)

I woulddo this before surgery for sure!

Thanks so much for coming back and updating! I love when people take the time do this after getting back to regular life.

Hope you find continued and long term success. Thanks again.

awesome news !

can we get your poop on amazon ?

So happy you are doing well !! Best to you!
KM

Oh Lord, that was in my art history book. I really don't like art after the impressionist and surrealist movements lol.

LaurieD said...
gaahahahahaa @stud, I just laughed so hard!

UC_hater, I remember you from when I basically lived on here while I was very sick. This is awesome!! I feel like FMT is being put out there more and more as time goes on -- especially in regards to its benefits in treating c.diff. I am certain that I have seen stories about donors and recipients aired on TV more than once.

If I ever flared again, I would give it a shot without question!

I get friends and family forwarding me articles on FMT from time to time. Invariably they deal with treatment of C-Diff. Interestingly enough, I contracted C-Diff around 2010 following a colonoscopy. Didn't use FMT then, just nuclear antibiotics.