Hi all,
Quick Background:
- Diagnosed with moderate pancolitis in 2011 - At worse I was going 5 times with mucous and sometimes blood. Lost about
20lbs on a 145lbs frame.
- Went on Prednisone - Took 5 months to taper off (very slowly) onto just Asacol and Canasa
- Was in a pretty weak remission for about
year and started going into a flare in Fall of 2012
- Started Imuran which put me into remission after a month
- Solid remission for 1 year and then started fell into a small flare this fall again. Clearly there is something strongly seasonal about
my symptoms.
- Doc started me on 40mg of pred. I am currently at 20g with no active symptoms.
Background with Fecal Transplant:
When my most recent flare started this fall (going once or twice a day with mucous in the stool and occasional spots of red on the wipe), I decided to do some FT's at home. This is what we experienced before the doc started me on Prednisone:
My wife has the most perfect stool in the world (jealous!) so I knew that she would be as good a donor as any. We've been together for a while and so did not do any stool screening, nor did I go on antibiotics.
- We emptied out Rowasa bottles, and rinsed them clean.
- Wife delivered a "sample" into a ziplock bag
- Mixed with enough saline to create a slurry that was of similar consistency to mesalamine enema
- Tried to clear my bowels as best I could
- Delivered the enema and then did a headstand for a couple of minutes.
- I usually did these at night and did not have too much difficulty holding them all night.
- We did 6 total infusions over 2 weeks.
I noticed that the day after one of these treatments would feel pretty good - No excessive gurgling in the intestines, no urgency, usually no blood and very little mucous in BM. However, it seemed like the flare was getting slightly worse each week - so in a few days of not doing an FT, I would take a step back with the symptoms.
I decided that I wanted to try the FT with no active inflammation in the colon, which Dr. Borody has mentioned is the best case for allowing the good bacteria to colonize. So we gave into starting a small course of Prednisone, because I tend not to have terrible side effects from it...and it tends to work pretty fast for me.
FT while on Predisone:
- Started Prednisone 2 weeks ago - Have tapered from 40mg to 20mg
- I have done 5 FT's thus far (over about
8 days)
- I clear my bowels in the morning, and follow the same procedure as above.
- I have held all 5 FT's for 24 hours
- Which is nice until you have to pass a bunch of dry stool the next morning - definitely feeling the hemorrhoids! (which is also why I haven't done them everyday)
- I have no active symptoms at all, but of course I am still on 20mg of Prednisone so we can't attribute anything to the FT's yet.
I plan on continuing an every other day FT through my taper which should last another 3 weeks (for a 5 week predisone course). At this point this is as controlled of an FT experiment as I can do at home, so I am keeping everything crossed and hoping that the symptoms stay gone through the taper and then beyond that!!
I'll keep this post updated through my taper.
Thanks!
P.S. Current Meds: Pred 20mg, Imuran 100mg, Asacol 2400mg, Canasa every other night.
Post Edited (dAetomeN) : 12/30/2013 12:43:13 PM (GMT-7)