Notice I said "a" cure, not "the" cure. And to say there isn't a cure available when one has successfully worked for some is just not true. While FMT has not yet been widely tested using large scale studies, although when facing immanent surgery or a drug which helped send me to the hospital with an out-oc-control skin infection this was a much better alternative. I also don't know of any other treatment approaches other than FMT which offers results where effectiveness continues at least in some people for an indefinite period of time after stopping it. In his paper "Treatment of Ulcerative Colitis using Fecal Bacteriotherapy" Dr. Borody suggested that "if such a therapy can achieve prolonged absence of UC without maintenance drugs, the result should be considered a cure."
I'm going on two years of being symptom-free now after every other treatment option offered to me by my doctors over a 12 year period of time had failed, and I am not the only person out there who has had these results. Speaking for myself and others for whom it has worked to achieve a prolonged absence of symptoms without maintenance drugs, I'd say we have found a cure. Apparently the cause was somehow related to bacteria such that successfully establishing a new bacterial colony helped resolve the illness. Does this mean all cases of Ulcerative Colitis are this way? I don't know. Years ago stomach ulcers were thought to be an incurable auto-immune disorder and now it has become accepted knowledge that bacteria lies at the root cause.
We do not yet know if the same exact method will work for everyone or if it will need to be adapted based on various factors such as the severity of ulceration in the intestines, the severity and impact of co-morbid IBS symptoms or the types of pathogens lying at the root of the inflammation. However if we assume that all illness that is currently being correctly diagnosed as Ulcerative Colitis has a root cause that is bacterial combined with a self-perpetuating cycle of inflammation, diarrhea and muscle spasms why wouldn’t FMT plus drugs and supplements be effective if it can be effectively applied to all of those factors simultaneously? I haven't read of a case yet, where all of these factors were controlled for an extended period of time that this did not work.
For some people who have attempted FMT as part of their treatment approach where it has not yet worked we don’t necessarily know why it didn’t work for them. I went for a much longer period of time than just 5 days because I really wanted to be sure I got this thing knocked out since my case had been so severe. Maybe for others it was simply that they did not do all of the necessary parts of the treatment for long enough.
Maybe they needed more protein to rebuild the intestinal walls?
Maybe they needed to sustain the new bacteria with continued infusions for a longer period of time to fight through multiple bloom cycles of bacteria?
Maybe they needed to suppress inflammatory response to stop the ulceration so that the newly introduced bacteria could get to the deeply embedded spores.
Maybe they needed more anti-depressants or anti-anxiety drugs to calm muscle spasms and diarrhea and weaken the impact of stress on the immune system?
As for calling my experience a cure, below is an excerpt from the first two paragraphs of the discussion section of Borody's article. This is the definition I am using. Does anyone disagree that if Borody's proposed standard is met that exceeds current definitions of remission then this cannot be called a cure?
"Treatment of Ulcerative Colitis using Fecal Bacteriotherapy" (Journal of Clinical Gastoenterology 2003;37(1);42-47. http://www.cdd.com.au/pdf/publications/paper17.pdf
“… Although these are case reports several observations can be made. All patients had documented idiopathic UC with an absence of detectable infective agents. Complete reversal of UC was achieved in all 6 patient following the infusion of human fecal flora. All patients ceased anti-inflammatory therapy within 6 weeks and did not require further treatment during the extended follow-up period. After 1 to 13 years, patients remained asymptomatic with a health colonoscopic appearance and normal histology. Though there is little doubt that UC can go into clinical remission, chronic UC can has not been known to spontaneously resolve both colonoscopically and histologically without relapse for up to 13 years, as observed here. To our knowledge, these 6 cases document for the first time the total disappearance of chronic UC without the need for maintenance treatment. This is an unprecedented finding that demands explanation through further research.
Our cases differ from the remissions commonly seen in clinical practice. Remission in UC is a term describing significant clinical improvement often measured by an activity index. There is currently no definition of remission that demands colonoscopic and histologic normality with no recurrence after a prolonged period without medication. Perhaps in the future, if such a therapy can achieve prolonged absence of UC without maintenance drugs, the result should be considered a cure."
Post Edited By Moderator (Michelejc) : 6/10/2013 10:17:40 AM (GMT-6)