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This article has been in the making for a long time.
Back in 2011, a reader emailed me with the most incredible story. She said that she had healed herself of severe gut dysbiosis in a matter of days at home, on her own, with no professional guidance. The life altering gut problems she was experiencing started after the birth of her child and were the result of extensive antibiotic treatment she had received during and after the birth.
Try as she might, she simply could not fix her gut with a nutrient dense, traditional diet which included fermented foods and probiotic supplementation.
She tried everything but was still miserable.
Desperate and willing to try anything to regain her health, Melanie (not her real name) decided to try an at-home fecal transplant using the pure, probiotic rich stool from her exclusively breastfed baby. She had read about the astounding success hospitals were having with this novel treatment for patients with intractable C-diff infections – cases that were completely unresponsive to antibiotics. Half a million Americans get Clostridium difficile, or C-diff, infections each year. 14,000 of them die and the ones who don’t can endure long term nausea, cramping and diarrhea so bad it is often disabling.
Melanie performed what can best be described as a fecal home enema on herself which had the result of improving her gut situation so much that she felt almost completely normal after a single treatment! As time went on, she continued to give herself fecal enemas on an as needed basis and experienced a turnaround in her health that can only be described as astounding.
When I first read Melanie’s story, I was hesitant to write about it as it was so incredibly “out there”. I didn’t doubt her story for one minute and even discussed the situation with her on the phone, but I just didn’t think it was the right time to pen an article about it.
Today, fecal transplants are becoming ever more commonplace and it’s time we all realize that bacteriotherapy, even DIY ones such as what Melanie did, really are the next big thing to help people turn around their severely compromised gut function as we as a modern society brace for a world where antibiotics routinely fail for life threatening infections.
There’s now even an independent stool bank called OpenBiome in Massachusetts that sells healthy poop samples to those that need them.
Poop Pills: Fecal Transplants Made Easy
In the early days just a few years ago when fecal transplants were initially developed, this treatment required hospitalization and invasive procedures such as colonoscopies or throat tubes.
Now, a new procedure, devised by Dr. Thomas Louie, an infectious disease specialist at the University of Calgary, makes the process as easy as popping a pill.
The process involves taking donor stool usually from a healthy relative and sending it off to a lab to be processed. At the lab, food is removed from the stool, beneficial bacteria is extracted, and it is thoroughly cleaned. It is then packed into triple-coated gel capsules which ensures that they won’t dissolve until they reach the desired destination – in the intestines.
“There’s no stool left – just stool bugs. These people are not eating poop,” Dr. Louie said of the treatment.
For patients suffering from C-diff infections, they are given an antibiotic to kill off as much C-diff as possible a few days before the treatment with the poop pills. In addition, the morning of the treatment, the patients have a cleansing water enema to allow the new bacteria coming in via the oral fecal transplant to have “a clean slate” to repopulate the gut with beneficial microbes.
The single treatment requires the patient to down 24-36 capsules in one sitting.
Do the poop pills work?
Oh yes, it does – with flying colors!
Dr. Louie described the results of his work at IDWeek, an infectious disease conference in San Francisco. Of 27 patients treated all who had experienced at least 4 C-diff infections in the past, not a single one had a C-diff relapse after treatment with the poop pills!
Margaret Corbin, one of Dr. Louie’s patients, had this to say about her suffering with C-diff and recovery:
“It lasted for two years. It was horrible. I thought I was dying. I couldn’t eat. Every time I ate anything or drank water I was into the bathroom. I never went anywhere, I stayed home all the time.”
Ms. Corbin’s daughter served as her donor and after a single treatment with the poop pills made by Dr. Louie two years ago, Corbin said, “I’ve been perfectly fine since.”
Since this treatment is not drug based and doesn’t make the pharmaceutical industry any money, no doubt it will be an uphill battle to have the FDA quickly approve the use of poop pills to help the treatment win widespread, conventional adoption by most doctors. The truth is that the FDA is downright hostile to this treatment and cracking down on doctors who perform it for their patients, so if this is something you feel you could benefit from, you may just need to go the DIY route as described below.
DIY Fecal Transplants When Poop Pills Not an Option
Below is the how-to video of a Mother who has used at home treatments (similar to what Melanie did) to help eliminate her daughter’s debilitating gut problems and get her off strong medications. She demonstrates exactly how to do an at home fecal transplant using a simple, low cost enema bottle available over the counter at the pharmacy.
A small study has already shown at home fecal transplantation using an enema to be completely safe and highly effective.
If you feel more comfortable with written instructions, here are directions from Dr. David Williams’ newsletter “How to Perform a Fecal Transplant” using an enema bag.
A suitable donor shouldn’t have any history of gastrointestinal disease, any malignancy, or a history of antibiotic use or hospitalization within the past three months. The donor’s blood gets tested for hepatitis A, B, and C, HIV, and syphilis. And, their stool is tested for pathogens, parasites, and C. difficile. Typically, a family member is selected since they have been in close proximity with the patient and share the same infectious risk factors, which minimizes risk.
To do the procedure, you need the following items in addition to a fresh stool sample:
- A probiotic that should be taken before the transplant by the patient (not the donor), and for at least 60 days following. I suggest staying on it for life.
- A four-day prescription taken by the patient for either metronidazole 500 mg (orally three times per day), or vancomycin 125 mg (orally four times per day) to sterilize or wipe out the bacteria in the colon. The antibiotic needs to be stopped 24 to 48 hours before the procedure.
- At least 200 mL of normal sterile saline solution (found at any pharmacy or online).
- A standard 2-quart enema bag kit.
- A kitchen blender.
The best time to perform the procedure is in the morning following the first bowel movement of the day.
- Combine 50 mL of solid stool obtained from the donor immediately before the transplant (less than 30 minutes) with 200 mL saline solution in the blender.
- Mix in the blender until liquefied.
- Pour the entire mixture into the enema bag.
Have the patient lie on the left side and administer the enema per kit instructions. The patient should remain in that position for as long as possible to avoid defecation. The patient should not feel any pain or discomfort outside of the normal sensations experienced during an enema. If diarrhea occurs within one hour, the procedure can be immediately repeated, but a fresh stool sample will need to be used.
*Please note that you do not have to do the antibiotics before the fecal transplant if you don’t want to. All of the readers who have emailed me about the stunning success they have had with DIY fecal transplants chose to skip the meds beforehand.
Sarah, The Healthy Home Economist
Sources:
Success of self-administered home fecal transplantation for chronic Clostridium difficile infection
THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU, SARAH! I’ve been following this topic for about a year now. A Caltech researcher mentioned fecal transplantation in her presentation at a TEDx day at Caltech on THE BRAIN. Her point was that digestive products from the gut microbiome were major contributors (and probably essential) to healthy brain function.
Is there anything we can do to encourage the approval of this VERY NATURAL healing technique for use in doctor’s offices everywhere. I’ve already informed my very healthy nephew that he’s my donor of choice if I should need it!
Hi all
The reason probiotics, etc is usually unhelpful in difficult cases is because the bacteria implanted by the probiotic are not native to the human body so the body resists colonisation.
Ive heard great things about this but its important to know that there has only been success with C Diff. Treatment of fecal implantation for Crohns, ibs etc is another story altogether and has not been successful.
Though I’m still hopeful they will come up with something like this that allows for colonisation in all circumstances…
All the best
I wouldn’t necessarily say it “hasn’t been successful” with IBS. A study at Montiefiore suggested it could be successful with IBS. Scroll down here
http://gi.org/media/press-releases-for-acg-annual-scientific-meeting/fmt-ibd-ibs/
Could you email this to me at
[email protected]
I have a friend who suffers from this and I would love to send it to her by email. She doesn’t have FB
Thank you so much.
Regards
Wow. This brought tears to my eyes. I want to be well. I’m going to research this further. Thanks so much Sarah.
I found this link that lists providers of this proceedure:
http://thefecaltransplantfoundation.org/?page_id=38
Another testimonial from my email:
“my husband and I performed a fecal transplant on myself using instructions provided by Dr. David Williams in his newsletter in May 2012, (and again in July of this year). We did the transplant in May, 2012. I had suffered for years from inability to digest foods properly and severe gut dysfunction. The traditional diet of Weston A Price, our own goats’ milk, raw milk kefir, fermented veggies, the GAPS diet, etc, couldn’t do what a fecal transplant from my very healthy husband did for me almost instantly! Within a week, I was cured and have never had a set back. We continue on the traditional diet with lots of ferments, and I continue to be very healthy. At age 60, my doctors are amazed at my weight, physical condition and general good health. I have never told any of them what we did.
Thank God for Dr. David Williams and his generosity in publishing the complete instructions!”
From Dr. Williams’ newsletter “How to Perform a Fecal Transplant”
A suitable donor shouldn’t have any history of gastrointestinal disease,
any malignancy, or a history of antibiotic use or hospitalization within the
past three months. The donor’s blood gets tested for hepatitis A, B, and
C, HIV, and syphilis. And, their stool is tested for pathogens, parasites, and
C. difficile. Typically, a family member is selected since they have been in
close proximity with the patient and share the same infectious risk factors,
which minimizes risk.
To do the procedure, you need the following items in addition to a fresh
stool sample:
â– A probiotic that should be taken before the transplant by the patient
(not the donor), and for at least 60 days following. I suggest staying on
it for life.
â– A four-day prescription taken by the patient for either metronidazole
500 mg (orally three times per day), or vancomycin 125 mg (orally four
times per day) to sterilize or wipe out the bacteria in the colon. The
antibiotic needs to be stopped 24 to 48 hours before the procedure.
â– At least 200 mL of normal sterile saline solution (found at any pharmacy or online).
â– A standard 2-quart enema bag kit.
â– A kitchen blender.
The best time to perform the procedure is in the morning following the
first bowel movement of the day.
â–
Combine 50 mL of solid stool obtained from the donor immediately
before the transplant (less than 30 minutes) with 200 mL saline solution
in the blender.
â–
Mix in the blender until liquefied.
â– Pour the entire mixture into the enema bag.
Have the patient lie on their left side and administer the enema per kit
instructions. The patient should remain in that position for as long as possible to avoid defecation. The patient should not feel any pain or discomfort
outside of the normal sensations experienced during an enema. If diarrhea
occurs within one hour, the procedure can be immediately repeated, but a
fresh stool sample will need to be used.
I’m confused as to why taking an antibiotic is part of the protocol. Isn’t that what caused the problem in the first place for many of us? And taking vancomycin is heavy duty.
Yes, that is confusing … it’s supposed to help the gut start with a clean slate so to speak before the fecal implant is introduced. That said, I know some who didn’t do the antibiotic and still had successful results.
I’m confused how this would help any issues happening in the small intestine? Does the good Bactria find its way up? Doesn’t this only address bacteria in the colon? Finding someone with healthy guy flora in my family would be a challenger this the reason we all have digestion/autoimmune issues and intrigued by this video. I’ll actually be starting GAPS next month but if this were an appropriate alternative that would be worth considering..
This just in from my FB inbox:
“I like “Melanie” cured myself with the transplant. At the time 5 years ago I could not find a Dr to do this. But I cured myself from C-diff..after two year of using VANCOMYCIN…a last resort antibiotic. This was real life and death. I tried probiotics etc…but nothing else helped. I did this transplant with my daughters stool at home 1 x and was cured…over 5 years now. Thanks for sharing the info.”
fecal phobia, is the word, well two words then, to describe our society. We have been convinced that what comes out is dirty, disgusting , and to be avoided at all costs. Thanks for publishing this. And thanks for all you do.
Would this work for Crohn’s?
I was wondering the same thing for ulcerative colitis.
I think it would be worth a try if you can find healthy donor…(or an appropriately screened donor?)
For some reason although, I am normally vary low on the scale of tendency towards squeamishness I am a little worried about doing it diy. But part of that has to be attributed to the fact that no one living in my house would be a good donor and broaching the subject with others would definitely be difficult, not to mention… who? who is on a traditional diet where I live? lol
Oh well. I am thankful that the info is coming out and praying about it. I think I’d even consider traveling to get to see someone in Calgary or in Australia.
YES! I did this 2 years ago out of desperation amidst a Crohn’s flare (could be colitis…doctors disagree) I had not had a solid stool in over 3 months, and was down to 100 pounds (130 is normal and trim for me). I used my 14 year old son as a donor. Didn’t do antibiotics or have him tested…I knew he was healthy. He’d only had antibiotics once in his life over 10 years ago. I asked him to stay off all sugar for a week, and then went for it. I had found the same video that Sarah posted somewhere on Youtube, and followed the same basic procedure. I managed to hold it for a couple of hours. The next day I had my first solid stool in months! A few days later I began eating solid foods again for the first time in months, as I had been unable to process anything for so long. I continued to get better and better! I totally believe in this procedure!
They’re also suggesting that the gut flora is responsible for obesity and diabetes and studied using fecal transplants for this.
http://www.nih.gov/researchmatters/april2013/04152013bypass.htm