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poop pills -vs- fecal material transplant:  the war against disease

MORE INFORMATION ON GUT HEALTH &
FMT AS RELATED TO OVERALL HEALTH

FMT Autoimmune Diseases

Lisa Baird – Richfield/USA – Pixabay

Dr. Ayers,  I have a story to share. I am a 38 year old mother of three who was diagnosed with Celiac 6 years ago just after my third pregnancy. I have been on a strictly gluten free diet since my diagnosis, and was on the SCD and GAPS diet for three years. While my symptoms improved somewhat, I still had frequent bouts of diarrhea, and what I now recognize as mild anxiety. My stomach always felt terrible in spite of all the probiotics and supplements that I tried. I started to read about fecal transplants and made a mental note to try one at some point…..   I was very depressed and still very, very ill. I had lost 20 pounds, had severe diarrhea and was so weak that I kept falling when I tried to walk. I was desperate to get back to caring for my children. I told my husband that it was time to try a DIY fecal transplant. I had hit rock bottom and things could only improve or stay the same. We did a fecal transplant that night following instructions from the Power of Poop website. My wonderfully supportive husband was the donor. I retained the transplant for 6 hours overnight. Within 18 hours, I felt that my digestive system had been transformed. I had NONE of my previous symptoms. Three weeks after the transplant, we went on vacation to Boston and NYC, where I walked for miles each day, and ate out at all kinds of restaurants regularly.  It has now been 6 months, and I am still symptom free. I only wish that I had done the fecal transplant years earlier. It has changed my life.”  Sabrina, from a shortened comment from Dr. Art Ayers website, Cooling Inflammation (Celiac, Gluten, and Trypsin Inhibitor).   

Repair of gut flora is, in my opinion, the most important public health issue in medicine today. Unfortunately, no one has found a way to make money using freeze dried feces to cure disease. It is literally possible to replace a million dollars in medical treatment with a hundred dollars worth of poo pill. The medical industry essentially refuses to study it and without study there is no regulatory approval. In the mean time, I think that we have to get beyond the pill and start thinking again about the normal course of gut flora acquisition. Normally we get a starter set of “dairy” probiotics with mother’s milk and when we have teeth, we start to eat crushed veggies. Many mothers continue the time honored practice of pre-masticating food for toddlers. That chewing transfers the mothers gut flora to the kid with the result that a new adult gut flora gradually takes over. Starting as an adult with damaged gut flora, it is harder to fix. It is just as difficult starting with formula, which systematically produces an inflammatory gut flora. Fixing requires continual exposure to new bacteria that can take up residence in the gut. Most of the bacteria that grow on simple sugars, e.g. lactic acid bacteria, that are present in fermented foods, can provide some of the benefits of a healthy gut flora, but the desirable bacteria are those that grown on soluble fiber. So what is needed are the bacteria that would digest the soluble fiber of fermented vegetables into mush. So we need some fermented food recipes that are therapeutic for gut flora.  DR. ART AYERS in a reply on the same post mentioned above.

Eat Sh_t.  The tattoo of an individual I knew years ago while in college (he played in a band).  It was on his outer, upper shoulder, and he loved pulling up the sleeve of his T-shirt to tell you what he was thinking.

In America we like to do things the hard way.  Rather than try inexpensive, conservative, and natural healing methods first, we will slog through years of doctors visits, tests, specialists, drugs, procedures, potions, lotions, more tests and drugs, and whatever else is recommended.  And when none of it works as advertised (or we are flat broke — whichever comes first), we start looking at the “alternatives”.  All you have to do is take a quick peek at my PATIENT TESTIMONIAL VIDEOS to see that this is true.  And it’s especially true when it comes to some of the new research on the healing powers of feces.  Huh?

When Naaman was told by Elisha that all he needed to do in order to be healed of his leprosy, was to bathe seven times in the Jordan River, he balked.  He was incensed that someone would as much as ask a dignified person of high social standing such as himself to stoop so low as to even think of such a thing.  That is, until a young servant girl convinced him otherwise.  “My father; had the prophet told you to do some great thing, would you not have done it? How much more then, when he says to you, ‘Wash, and be clean’?” (HERE is the complete story).  That’s how it usually is when I talk about some of the published research on the relationship between AUTOIMMUNE DISEASES (HERE is a list), INFLAMMATION, and GUT HEALTH.  Where am going with all this?

A patient of mine was recently diagnosed with one of the numerous Autoimmune Diseases.  It’s a progressively degenerative joint disease that is terribly painful.  When talking to them (husband and wife) about the topic of Fecal Material Transplants (FMT) mentioned in the top quote, the idea was essentially waved aside in favor of those things that have been scientifically “proven” to work.  Things like Immuno-suppressive Drugs (many of THESE are chemotherapy rejects), CORTICOSTEROIDS, and ANTI-INFLAMMATORIES

Oh; don’t get me wrong — this approach certainly has the ability to ease the symptoms and make life tolerable again.  The problem is that the side effects can be severe, and the underlying problems are not being dealt with.  A failure to address the underlying Autoimmunity means that you are likely to end up with multiple Autoimmune Diseases because they tend to travel in packs —- like wolves (HERE).  Once the Immune System is messed up (and remember — 80% of your Immune System IS IN YOUR GUT), your health can rapidly become a Pandora’s Box that is essentially a grab bag for Autoimmune Diseases du jour.  Bottom line; even if you decide to take their drugs, you absolutely must get serious about fixing your Gut!  Although there are many ways to go about doing this (HERE is some information), one of the hottest new topics of research involves FMT.

POOP PILLS OR FECAL MATERIAL TRANSPLANTS?

Poop Pills

Peggy und Marco Lachmann-Anke – Larnaca/Zypern

I have seen numerous studies touting the benefits of “Poop Pills”.  These are pills made with someone else’s poop that are taken orally.  In fact, the latest issue of JAMA (Journal of the American Medical Association) just published a study on this topic the other day (Oral, Capsulized, Frozen Fecal Microbiota Transplantation for Relapsing Clostridium Difficile Infection).  In my opinion, there are several problems with going this route over the “traditional” FMT as performed more like an enema.  Firstly, here in America, unless you DIY (HERE and HERE) the only people who have access to either of these products / procedures, are those who have been diagnosed with C. Diff — a nasty bacterial infection that is almost always IATROGENIC (it’s both caused and treated with ANTIBIOTICS, which, if you think about it, is an absurd dichotomy). 

Secondly, why take Fecal Material orally, when you can simply “inject” a few ounces into your colon with a device that essentially looks like a glorified turkey baster?  I would be concerned that people with this sort of DYSBIOSIS could potentially develop SIBO (Small Intestinal Bacterial Obergrowth) due to the route that the pills must take to get to their target area (the Colon).   Thirdly, the study itself sums it up pretty well by telling us that while, “Fecal microbiota transplantation (FMT) has been shown to be effective, practical barriers and safety concerns have prevented its widespread use.” 

And lastly, in a study from last an issue of Discover last October (Poop Pills’ Could Replace Fecal Transplants of Gut Bacteria) we know that it takes a lot of pills to do the job.  How many pills constitute “a lot”?  Take a look.  “Donor stool, usually from a relative, is packed into triple-coated gel capsules so they won’t dissolve until they reach the intestines… It takes 24 to 34 capsules to fit the bacteria needed for a treatment, and patients down them in one sitting.”  Gulp!  Not sure about you, but if there were a simple way to avoid downing 36 capsules of anything at one sitting — let alone 36 capsules of my kinfolk’s dukie — count me in.

But before I move on, let’s take a moment and look at the results of the JAMA study mentioned earlier.   According to the study’s Design, Setting, and Participants section, the study was done on 20 patients between the age of 11 and 89, who had suffered through at least three episodes of C. Diff requiring 6-8 weeks of Antibiotic Treatment each, or two episodes of C. Diff requiring hospitalization.

No serious adverse events attributed to FMT were observed. Resolution of diarrhea was achieved in 14 patients (70%) after a single capsule-based FMT.  All 6 non-responders were re-treated; 4 had resolution of diarrhea, resulting in an overall 90% rate of clinical resolution of diarrhea (18 of 20).

All I can say is “dang“!  If that does not at least pique the interest of those dealing with severe and chronic diseases, then I’m not quite sure what might.  Maybe another drug that was advertised on TV last evening (HERE)?  Oh; but you’ve tried that route over and over again.  What makes you think that the next “big thing” is going to work any better than the last “big thing” — or for that matter, the “big thing” before that?

Let’s go back to Second Kings 5 for a moment.  The neat part of the story of Naman is that he finally saw the light.    After “dipping” in the Jordan seven times, the Lord cured him — just like Elisha prophesied He would.  Could a “cure” be that close at hand for you?  I honestly don’t know (and remember, we can never use the word “cure” with the FDA watching us).  But really; what have you got to lose?  I get it —  it sounds icky.  But what’s worse; debilitating pain and dysfunction or squirting a few ounces of liquified “stool” into your rear end in the privacy of your own home?

As always, never take my word for anything.  Do your own research.  Not only is the internet loaded with information on this topic, I have yet to see a “HORROR STORY” associated with DIY FMT.  By the way, my best guess is that there are people out there who absolutely could not LOSE WEIGHT until they underwent FMT (HERE is the thought process behind this statement).  Would love to hear from someone regarding this.

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