I enjoyed the sage advice at the end, "Do not try this at home!"
I had a close friend who was wounded several times in Nam and the doctors there had to fill him with powerful medications to keep him alive. As a result all the bacteria in his GI tract were killed and he had to wear a diaper until he got a fecal transplant to get those good bacteria growing again in his GI tract.
Having spent 40+ years in hospitals selling major systems, GI doctors offer the greatest possibility of helping their patients with problems being very rare. The worst medical procedure which is no longer performed in any hospital due to huge lawsuits is a procedure to isolate female bladders to prevent unwanted loss of urine. Kegel exercises will eliminate loss of urine with no side effects.
Its a pity that it is only available for C. diff
My mother has multiple sclerosis and could greatly benefit from this based on anecdotal evidence of those who have tried it "at home". If the stool has been screened, why not allow more open use?
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it's not as odd as we might suspect. What makes beer beer are the waste products of fermentation.
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And fecal transplants from younger mice have reversed the effects of cognitive decline in older animals. Sign me up!
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My 80 year old father was diagnosed with c.diff after an operation in April 2013. A few days later I heard Mary Roach on Terry Gross discussing fecal transplants. Who would ever do that?!, I thought. Well, apparently our family. Thanks to Mary, Terry, an NYT cover story, NYT Magazine story, and the amazing Dr. Neil "Lorax of the Microbiome" Stollman, my father beat c.diff and lived another 7 years. Thank you, ALL!
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I read the New Yorker article several years ago when the application methods were not as advanced as this article suggests. The donor request could be to one’s very taken aback next door neighbor. Looks like things have evolved since.
But sadly I expect that this will become just another miracle cure health fad in the near future in the way that colonics did years ago with the idle rich like Princess Di. Various pills, potions and pot like edibles will likely soon be available OTC to treat every conceivable ailment including COVID.
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@Patrick While researching alternatives to pharmaceuticals my wife read that cannabis could be used to treat them. We were skeptical, but "borrowed" a few gummies from a friend and she was surprised that they actually worked. Not enough to get her high, in fact she doesn't notice any other effects, but hasn't had a hot flash since we got her a medical card and she started taking them.
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@Ben C
I have been lately experimenting a bit with both CBD(non high) and THC(regular pot)as an alcohol replacement now that it is legal in NYS. Neither for any specific issues, perhaps mood enhancement or sleep. I was never really into weed back in the day, so the jury is still out for me as to whether it does anything or if I even like it. Does help with sleep, but I really have to be in the mood for the high inducing THC.
Well, baby elephants, and I think all pachyderms, do it instinctively: ingesting the needed symbiotic microbial bacteria from stool right off their mother's vent.
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Currently, Fecal Microbiota Transplant (FMT) material is only obtainable for those with emergency cases of C. Diff. I know this because I was hospitalized with a serious c. Diff. infection recently and was fortunate to have gotten FMT as part of my treatment. The docs kept saying how hard it is to get the material right now. Check out https://www.openbiome.org/ for more info.
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Interesting this article is just below a picture of Senator McConnell.
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A friend did a fecal transplant after a months-long, very difficult ordeal involving a c-difficile infection that left him weak and struggling to do basic tasks. It changed his life. He has to be very careful, perhaps for the rest of his days, with antibiotic use. But it really was a miracle treatment for him.
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Absolutely amazing - hope we continue to uncover more medical break throughs!
As I recall, The New Yorker article on fecal transplants (published a few years ago) had a fascinating part about a man who had a serious ear infection in one ear but none in the other ear. He was treated repeatedly for this to no avail. One day, in desperation he took some ear wax from the healthy ear and put it in the infected ear and he was cured. And this was after numerous attempts by various doctors to help the poor guy with his chronic ear infection.
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I guess I'm not that squeamish because I would for sure ingest fecal matter if it would increase my metabolism -- in a heartbeat. Curious as to whether there were any incidental metabolic effects of the transplants for c.diff. I clicked on the obesity link and it looks like they did a clinical trial giving transplants of lean people to others with a control group and I now find myself really curious to know what the results were (no results were posted yet).
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@Tracy There seems to be a relationship between one’s microbiome and obesity, so that my gut bacteria could possibly make me overweight/obese. Perhaps a fecal transplant from a person with a BMI of 22 can “cure” obesity. Sounds like a worthwhile research project.
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Found effective in 1958 and entering general practice in 2019. 61 years in the making. Why did it take so long?
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@Eric
Big Pharma $$$$$...why cure the root of the problem when you can extract lifetime profits by "managing" the symptoms?
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@Eric the stool transplant can cure C diff colon infection with 96% effectiveness even in the most severe cases. That said it was banned in my state because supposedly, recipient of the stool can have mood and personality changes after transplant that reflect their donors.
@Cookies
Please cite your source. I’m interested.
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For people suffering with severe C. Diff, fecal transplant can literally be a life-saver. Normal probiotics can help, but evidence has really showed healthy bacteria from another individual results in much higher density and strength of probiotics. The key is making sure the donor is healthy.
If you are looking to have this done professionally, there are a number of clinics around the US that offer the treatment. I'd recommend looking at RDSInfusions in Tampa, Florida for those considering it. One of my friends had great success with their recurring C. Diff. You can find them here - rdsinfusions.com
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Fecal transplantation is the most inspiring medical discovery since immunotherapy (the cancer treatment which recently won the Nobel Prize for Medicine). Both treatments succeed by leveraging the innate self-healing abilities of the human body to correct diseases -- diseases that are often created by our ham-handed interference with and disruption of the natural world (of the microbiome, with the sea of antibiotics we currently swim in; and of the normal cancer-policing work performed by our immune system and its NK -- natural killer -- cells).
These treatments are ingenious because they employ the body's inherent self-healing abilities to restore health and order.
Antibiotics and chemotherapy are the atom bombs of modern medicine. They have served us to a point, but they have also done much damage to our health in the process.
Let's hope these new treatments will be mark the beginning of an era of Enlightened Medicine; a system of healing based upon close observation ... awed comprehension ... and a profound reverence for the unparalleled wisdom of the natural world.
We need only watch with open eyes and an open mind to understand and benefit from nature's precious secrets.
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It would have saved my beloved mother-in-law’s life in 2006. It was a very ugly and lengthy death from C. Dif. Deep regrets that the treatment wasn’t around then.
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The procedure badly needs a new name!
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@Robin agree. how about Microbiome Transplant?
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Ordure Transplant
I HAD TWO DIFFERENT C DIFF INFECTIONS, WITH ALMOST CONSTANT DIARRHEA FOR MONTHS.
IN 2016, I HAD A FECAL TRANSPLANT (THROUGH MY ESOPHAGUS, WHILE SEDATED.) IT WORKED VERY QUICKLY AND VERY WELL.
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@BARRY
I’m not sure about that as you seem to have developed a bad case of Pinkyitis, a rare disease affecting keyboard motor skills especially with respect to the Cap Lock key.
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What a vile article to write, this is simple click bait if I’ve ever seen it.
I think I’d rather live with whatever I have than planting someone else’s feces inside of me, no thanks ....
@There This only proves that you have not had c.diff. I have. It can kill you but along the way you will have projectile vomiting and projectile diarrhea, no energy, feel cold all the time, have headaches, become so weak you need help up from the toilet, you often will not be able to eat and thus may end up with a port and a feedbag that runs 19 hours a day while you lug it around in a backpack...When my doctor suggested a fecal transplant I gagged and said, "Never." Five months later, 110 pounds lighter on my 6'1" frame and literally starving to death, needing a home health nurse to come to my house because I was too weak to walk to the car to go to the doctor for blood tests, and three rounds of extremely potent antibiotics, I gave in. Within days I could feel the results and it cured me. Never say never. This is not a vile article, it could be lifesaving for someone.
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@There Then you'd be willing to die over this?
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@There
Articles like this can give life-saving information to people who are suffering from C.diff.
It's viler to let people die when there is a treatment available.
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A fecal transplant literally saved my mother’s life last week. A C. Diff infection post pneumonia led to a week long hospitalization. Antibiotics were useless. 24 hours after the fecal transplant, she was out of the hospital. One of my biggest regrets will always be that I didn’t push for it earlier. Anyone with a loved one auffereing from C. Diff—don’t delay for another moment!
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Two years ago, after 4 admissions (in isolation) at Detroit Medical Center for reoccurring C-Diff following a bout of flu and
and antibiotic therapy, I endured the 'recommended treatment of choice Flaygel later with Vancomycin to no avail. As last resort, I agreed for FMT via enema. The first FMT was unsuccessful I feel because the doctor did not follow the instructions as written...As a retired 90 year old RN, I read the insert and discussed with doctor what I had read. It specifically instructed that the FMT was not to be administered until after the patient was off antibiotics so many days....and also the position for the enema. The doctor was not offended or threatened— but agreed to do the second FMT as directed.......Complete success...We both agreed that perhaps the FMT should be the first treatment, instead of the last resort.... thus saving wear and tear on the body..not to mention cost of hospitalization and ect.
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I believe an article in the New Yorker several years ago pointed out that the Chinese used this technique a thousand years ago or so. Further, I can assure commenters here who express doubts that they have never had c diff!
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Great article, our medical system needs to seriously study this procedure. We know virtually nothing about our bodies beneficial bacteria including and most especially our residents in our gut and intestines. Fecal transplants have been around for centuries, Google it! Getting away from overuse of antibiotics is a must. Animals eating feces may be natures way of introducing new bacteria. C.Dif is a horrible problem, fecal transplants seem to be the "miracle" cure.
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This procedure basically saved my life. And I actually did it at home many times. I had no other choice as I'd suffered from ulcerative colitis for years and nothing else was working. I had a doctor explain the procedure to me and I did it at home with his encouragement. It really is not a big deal and I wish it was much more common because it's helped people and all over the world with all sorts of autoimmune conditions. In fact this article is pretty thin in terms of talking about who's been using it. Check out the TarryMount clinic in England, doctors in Australia that have been doing this for more than a decade, and a clinic in Buenos Arias that has been able to help people with everything from digestive disorders to MS, to Parkinson's. I wish the FDA would open their eyes and make this a much more common practice and everybody can just get over their issues. Imagine a procedure that actually deals with the underlying causes of a disease instead of just treating the symptoms. Doesn't that make more sense?
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Having attended a daylong seminar on "the gut-brain" several years ago, I've found that information on fecal therapy continues to grow. What is being discovered about the complexity of the biome of (good vs bad) bacteria in the gut, and its intimate connection to the neurology of the brain is astounding.
Ideally, more and more beyond pills and invasive surgery will be discovered that is curative and healing. The public will need to demand this process, as money most always drives such discoveries, and that money is tied to corporate profit. But the health and well-being of each person are matters of dignity and respect -- we're losing on that front, and medical research such as described here has the opportunity to help us all live better lives.
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The intestines are our second brain , still mostly unknown and the depositary of the important microbiota , that is at the basis of our immune system.
There are several studies regarding fecal transplant , one in particular has demonstrated a high rate of success in children suffering from asthma with marked improvement or resolution of this pathological process.
I wish this treatment will find solid basis to be applied in many more fields ( there is undergoing research about skin microbiota to treat cutaneous pathology) , but I am afraid that Big Pharma will try to jeopardize the application of this treatment , using any possible tactics , because there is no much money to be gained for Wall Street .
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My understanding is veterinarians have have been using FMT for 100 years to treat cattle who suffer with dysentery from various gastric illness spread amongst the herd.
I suffered from both ulcerative colitis and c-diff repeatedly. I had vancomycin and flagyl pumped via IV into my body while I nearly died in a hospital at age 41. Thankfully, the addition of steroids and Prednisone saved my life.
After the infection and symptoms reoccurred a couple of times, my GI doc said it’s time for FMT using donor stool. That was four years ago this March and I’ve been healthy and off meds ever since. I don’t know what the future holds but I’m so grateful for my doctor and my FMT.
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from clinical trials . gov:
Valerie Taylor, Women's College Hospital, Toronto, Ontario, Canada:
" There is mounting evidence of an interaction between the intestinal microbiota, the gut, and the central nervous system (CNS) in what is recognized as the microbiome-gut-brain axis. Based on this compelling body of evidence, there is growing enthusiasm for work that is focused on translating this emerging association into novel therapies for psychiatric illness."
"The objective of this study is to assess the effectiveness of this very novel therapy targeting the gut-brain axis, FMT, to treat bipolar depression."
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Just another example how the gut biome of your body is literally the center of your physical being. The more we learn about this amazing group of microbes the more we understand that we are a guest in their world, not the other way around.
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I would do this procedure as an absolute last resort. First I would eliminate bad foods and nitrify my body and ingest lots of probiotics and flora and do this for 6 months or so and if that fails then I would a naturopathic doctor for an opinion.
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@Alexis Crawford and you would waste a lot of time and money. Speaking only of treating C diff, this is the simplest and biologically most elegant means of Tx. I would recommend it BEFORE using antibiotics, if it were approved for such, and if patients readily accepted it. Probiotics do NOT treat C diff, though they may prevent antibiotic associated diarrhea (with out C diff) Nitrifying your body wont help either, and may cause other issues; and while I'm not sure about the "flora" part I suspect it wouldn't be effective either (I'm not aware of ANY studies to support it.) As far as a Naturopath goes, each to his/her own; but be sure they've gotten proper training. Most I've come across are simply into selling you vitamins, etc. at prices WAY above normal.
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@Alexis Crawford Why? This is the paradigmatic naturopathic remedy, in many ways.
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I’m sorry. I know this is a serious condition and there appears to be a cure. A strange cure, but a cure that can save lives. Even so, I bet this hits the late night show monologues. It’s also pretty good material for The Onion.
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I'm interested in trying this for obesity. But how do I know that the donor is skinnier than me?
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@Paul That was very funny.
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@Paul Well, fecal transplant banks don't accept donors who are obese, so probably very easy to know.
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I am very amazed by the information in this article. I have experience with a family member who underwent many studies following some intesinal discomfort. Thankfully, there was nothing wrong. But the fact that something as simple as introducing healthy bacteria into another person's intestine actually works with minimal preliminary side effects is truly amazing. I look forward to the additional scientific discoveries and benefits coming from fecal transplants.
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When I was a student in France in the early seventies, I was given a course of antibiotics for strep throat. At my followup visit, the doctor gave me a small box containing 7 vials of liquid. I was told to open one each day and drink it with some juice or water. I asked what it was for, and he replied, "It is to restore your intestinal flora which were destroyed by the antibiotics". Draw whatever conclusions you wish.
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@Brenda J Gannam
Did it work?
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The potential uses for this treatment are many. I recommend An Epidemic of Absence, by Moises Velasquez-Manoff for a fascinating look at the interrelation among parasites, gut bacteria, allergies, asthma, autoimmune diseases, autism, and more.
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As a student nurse in the late 1960’s I saw fecal transplants ( in the form of feces mixed with a small glass of prune juice ! ) used for both children and adults with unremitting diarrhea . It worked .
Just another medical treatment from the archives resurrected for efficacy despite the “ distasteful “ memories .
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I would love to see scientists initiate studies on fecal transplants. Right now there is a lot of fascinating new research on the gut biome. A healthy gut has an effect on so many systems in our body. A fecal transplant enabled my mother to recover from a bad C. Diff infection that put her in the hospital for weeks.
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@Remy I am very glad to hear that your mother is okay thanks to medical practices like fecal transplants. It is truly amazing to hear from you and a lot of the other people in this discussion board and their experiences with fecal transplants. I wonder what side effects your mother experienced after the transplant if any. I am curious to see what possible side effect come from this practice in full effect.
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My mother’s life was saved about 7 years ago when a wonderfully kind doctor entered her hospital room. She had c. Diff and was getting weaker and more desperate with each day. No one at the hospital had heard of this very strange procedure ( except one nurse who remembered seeing it used on Grey’s Anatomy!). We felt we had no other options. The antibiotics were having no effect. Indeed, they had stripped her body of its life saving bacteria.
Dr Ramesh performed the procedure in her room using my stool sample that had been tested the previous day. He mixed the sample in her bathroom and siphoned it into her nose.
The effect was amazing. Her constant diarrhea stopped the next morning. She had absolutely no side effects and went home later that day after spending almost 2 weeks in the hospital. She was the 21st person Dr. Ramesh had used the procedure on. In the next few years he has treated double and triple that number.
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I love this reporting. It’s similar to when everyone thought that stress caused ulcers and the medical community was full of disdain at the thought it could be a bacteria. What else are we missing because of this hubris?
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Well, based on my own experience, I'd say that stress can indeed cause a stomach ulcer. I bought the story that a bacterium (H. pylori) needed to be eradicated --yet the side effects have been life changing for the worse, and I still get stress-related ulcer pain. I want my H. pylori back!
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In our family we don’t wish for h.pylori because it can lead to lymphoma. My maternal grandfather died of stomach lymphoma. My mother was treated for an ulcer all her life until she was found to have h.pylori. She developed MALT lymphoma despite belated treatment for h.pylori. A maternal cousin has been treated for h.pylori and is now undergoing treatment for MALT lymphoma (which is highly curable.) Continued pain after treatment for an ulcer warrants further investigation.
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OK, why aren't there ongoing studies ASAP to see
the effectiveness of this therapy for the conditions described in the article, IBS, Colitis etc?
Could this treatment mean permanent cures thus altering the economic landscape of chronic conditions?
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@Mark Shoenfield--Do you know that there aren't studies going on right now for these conditions?
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@Mark Shoenfield That is a very important question that should have been answered in this article. The answer is there is not enough payoff for big Pharma to do the research since they cannot (or might have difficulty) get a patent on someone's fecal matter. And if they could, a black market could easily spring up and cut into their profits. Once upon a time there were wonderful government funded labs that did fabulous work for the public good. The wholesale transfer to the profit sector ensures that many potential therapies (like DCA for brain cancer?) get zero funding because the drugs are not worth it to Pharma and there is not nearly enough government or non-profit funding to do clinical trials. It's a travesty and another consequence of full on capitalism.
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@Mark Shoenfield
There are. Check clinicaltrials.gov to see trials using fecal transplants.
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A few years ago, this procedure saved my mother-in-law's life. She had contracted C. diff; antibiotics did only so much. My son was the donor, and results were nearly instantaneous.
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@William J Reynolds I had the same experience, it also saved my life.
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In 1962, when I was a 4th year surgical resident in surgery at NYU-Bellevue, we had a patient with intractable diarrhea post-op, who had received antibiotics. The Chief Surgical Resident, Ken Douglas M.D., suggested a fecal transplant/enema which was carried out on the "Q.T." It worked quite well and the life of the patient was probably saved by the treatment which was regarded with some hilarity at the time. I believe that Dr. Douglas was unaware of its use by others; he was using common sense and his high intelligence for that decision.
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I find that story amazing. As a gastroenterologist, that seems so unlikely in this day and age to try anything which has not been studied extensively, tried, evidence based, consented, tested in trials, tested for hepatitis, HIV.. those seemed like innocent brave times. I would have loved to practice medicine in that era.
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@Norman Canter, M.D. That is impressive! In 1962! Very admirable, and Dr. Douglas was way ahed of his time! I had the same experience, about 5-10 years ago! Don't even remember how long ago without looking it up. Saved my life, too. I was fine by the next morning
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@Pb not that I would like physicians to become Dr. Frankenstein, but it is terribly depressing to imagine that Doctors have been trained to proceed on treating a client only with a set of tools controlled by the pharma industry.
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