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Fecal Microbial transplant

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Ulcerative Colitis
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Posted 7/19/2014 10:52 PM (GMT 0)
Hello, my husband has Ulcerative Colitis for 8 plus years now. I'm researching the fecal transplant and haven't really found an answer. I see quite a few people have tried it in different forms but no answer to if they can get it in pill form from their GI doctor. I want to bring this up to his doctor this week but I know sometimes the doctors look at their patients like they're crazy. My husband has tried everything, sulfasalazine, prednisone, remicade and the next step is Humira. I just want something that works and is safe. The remicade worked for 3 years and then we lost insurance so he had to stop. But now we have insurance and he's been on Remicade for 5 months. It has helped but he has really bad days and a couple good ones. Does anyone know if the pill form is available from a regular doctor in the US yet? Thank You
Posted 7/19/2014 11:27 PM (GMT 0)
Fecal transplants are still not understood and are strictly experimental. Your husband could likely suffer more from FMT administration so be careful. Use at your own risk.

Dont think the pill form is available commercially.
Posted 7/19/2014 11:30 PM (GMT 0)
Thank You for quick response any insight is very appreciated.
Posted 7/20/2014 12:52 AM (GMT 0)
I think you would have to look for clinical trials to get something like that but i don't know if it's even in trials. Even ft by scope or enema is limited for uc... If you want to try it, you could do some research here and find the at home protocol people have used but I do believe it's not always beneficial. I think of an ft pill and I try to imagine if that would cause bad breath. Gross.
Posted 7/20/2014 1:59 AM (GMT 0)
As far as I know the pill form is available pretty much nowhere. There have been some experimental trials done with it but I don't think you would have an easy time of even finding out where or how to get into the trial. I believe a doctor up in Canada had been experimenting with it. UC is a disease where some unknown root cause causes your gut microbes to get out of whack and the whole process leads to inflammation and UC. Merely getting the gut microbial balance back in line (like with FMT) would not be a long term solution because it does not address the root cause so he would eventually be back to square one all over again unless he took the pills permanently (assuming they worked in the first place). FMT's have a high rate of success for C-Diff.
Posted 7/20/2014 2:22 AM (GMT 0)
A doctor from the University of Alberta first made FMT pills and used them to successfully cure 27 patients of C. diff back in September of past year. However, because some of the bacteria in faeces cant be cultured, the pills cant be mass produced/stored for any duration of time, and must be made and used within a very short period of time (i.e. you must have a connection to the proper lab).

A group down in Minnesota (or some other place in the US starting with an M) is currently working on developing a protocol to essentially freeze dry the pills/bacteria so that they can be shipped and used like a regular pill.

Were still quite a ways away from having the pills available for C. diff and even further from having them available for UC; but we are getting there and this advance will help to speed up clinical trials
Posted 7/20/2014 2:25 AM (GMT 0)
Marauder: I really appreciate all of the knowledge you bring to this forum. I trust your posts to be pretty accurate most of the time and I learn a lot from you. Thanks.
Posted 7/20/2014 3:40 AM (GMT 0)
hey hopeful - diy ft's are no big deal - at least for some folks - if you have a suitable donor available, I would definitely advise you to give it a go -
Posted 7/20/2014 4:26 AM (GMT 0)

soystud said...
hey hopeful - diy ft's are no big deal - at least for some folks - if you have a suitable donor available, I would definitely advise you to give it a go -

Most of the time they are ok, but honestly, I would never recommend this. Without proper fecal testing, you never know what kind of bugs or other pathogens a person is carrying. No credible doctors recommend DIY FMTs; and there is a reason for that. I mean, if your on your last legs before surgery, even I would give it a shot, but beyond that, Id never do it.

@ Gary - Thanks a lot for that; I enjoy helping when I can. Trust me when I say that the feeling is mutual!
Posted 7/20/2014 5:36 AM (GMT 0)
so most of the time ok means what exactly ? docs pretty much go with that premise - they certainly don't offer anything better -

and by using a suitable donor, i.e., someone you know and trust, like a close relative or friend, your chances of anything risky is pretty slim imo -

I don't believe that it's anywhere close to a do or die treatment -

but then I've always lived a little out there, so shooting poop up my butt was nothing unusual - and imo opinion, it beats taking risky meds any day -
Posted 7/20/2014 3:12 PM (GMT 0)
@ soy - By ok I mean most of the time they are not going to hurt you.

Yes you are right, most of the time risk is slim, but people are often either stupid or ignorant, and though they may not try to intentionally harm you, their lack of knowledge can do just that.

Again, there is a reason doctors and researchers dont ever advise at home FMTs. But hey Im not going to stop or condemn anyone, I just want to make sure they understand the risks associated with such a decision.
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