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Has anyone here tried a FMT?

littlebird6180

Senior Member
Messages
119
I'm curious if anyone here has tried a FMT (fecal microbiota transfer) at home using donor stool that is fresh, not frozen?

I just read a really intriguing story of a male that had IBS and CFS for several years and did an FMT using his brother's stool. The results were immediate and profound. It's been less than a month but he went from daily chronic pain, diarrhea, brain fog and fatigue to feeling completely normal. I'm following his story to see how he progresses.

Anyway, I'm just curious if anyone has tried this and what the results were?
 

littlebird6180

Senior Member
Messages
119
oh sorry, it's Fecal Microbiota Transfer. So taking stool from a healthy person and with an enema, putting it into your intestines.
 

junkcrap50

Senior Member
Messages
1,330
Yes, I've done it. I've done a DIY using a fresh donation from a parent, putting it in a blender for a bit, straining it, and then using an enema bag. I used the instructions from https://thepowerofpoop.com/.

I noticed effects right away and was sure it was working after day 2. For 1 week I felt like I was cured, but then I tried too hard trying to feed the transplanted FMT bugs by taking too much fiber and prebiotics and screwed everything up losing any progress. I kept doing more FMTs (I think I did a total of 21, 1/day, for 3 weeks), but that didn't help.

I was going to try it again but my donor has since, and unrelated to the FMT, gotten IBS and hasn't produce a good donation for nearly 2 years. My other family members are sick in other ways and not good as possible donors. So, when my original donor's gut is fixed, I'll try it again. I've been eager for it to happen since I noticed a big difference from my FMT.
 

Hugo

Senior Member
Messages
230
oh sorry, it's Fecal Microbiota Transfer. So taking stool from a healthy person and with an enema, putting it into your intestines.

I thought about that before, especially when I had a really bad stomach and candida problems. Now since Im better in that aspect atleast I dont know if I would do it, it is problematic in the sense that we dont really know if another persons bacteria culture would be good for us or not. Since we dont know that much about the complexity of the bacteria culture and the symbios with the rest of our body.

But on the other hand if one had real problems like IBS I think I would go for it. I also heard about good results from people suffering from IBS or ofcourse to much clostridium difficile .
 

littlebird6180

Senior Member
Messages
119
Did you see this one on Reddit? I read that too and thought it was interesting. Has to be some way of finding good donors.

Yes, I did. I wrote the poster but haven't gotten a reply yet. It's fantastic for him though that it's provided so much relief.
 

Jesse2233

Senior Member
Messages
1,942
Location
Southern California
Saw this on Reddit too

Hopefully his progress continues

Anyone have experience doing this under the guidance of a doctor? There's one in my area who does it, not sure if it's worth contacting him
 
Messages
35
It's a damn shame that FMT isn't getting the funding it needs to have more research done. It has the potential to be a miracle cure for nearly anything related to gut and/or psychosomatic issues. I await patiently...
 

littlebird6180

Senior Member
Messages
119
It's a damn shame that FMT isn't getting the funding it needs to have more research done. It has the potential to be a miracle cure for nearly anything related to gut and/or psychosomatic issues. I await patiently...

I agree and especially because it seems to be so low risk and so full of potential.
 

ruben

Senior Member
Messages
286
Hello there, I had FMT in the summer of 2015 at the Taymount clinic in Hertfordshire UK. Cost was £3500. The donors they would use back then were people that lived an ultra healthy life style. In other words non smokers, fit individuals that basically lived on organic food. I had an implant Monday to Friday for 2 consecutive weeks, so 10 in all. Sadly for me it didn't do the trick, but I can't help wondering if an appropriate family member as a donor is worth investigating.
 

littlebird6180

Senior Member
Messages
119
Hello there, I had FMT in the summer of 2015 at the Taymount clinic in Hertfordshire UK. Cost was £3500. The donors they would use back then were people that lived an ultra healthy life style. In other words non smokers, fit individuals that basically lived on organic food. I had an implant Monday to Friday for 2 consecutive weeks, so 10 in all. Sadly for me it didn't do the trick, but I can't help wondering if an appropriate family member as a donor is worth investigating.

Hi there. Thanks for sharing. Was the implant from frozen stool or was it transferred "fresh" (immediately after donor's bowel movement)? From what I've read, the shorter the time from BM to transfer, the better and that frozen is not ideal.
 

ruben

Senior Member
Messages
286
Hi there. Thanks for sharing. Was the implant from frozen stool or was it transferred "fresh" (immediately after donor's bowel movement)? From what I've read, the shorter the time from BM to transfer, the better and that frozen is not ideal.
Hi there, Well it must have been from frozen. Have you read up on this recently then? Any idea where these kind of studies have actually been done? Look forward to hearing from you.
 

Jesse2233

Senior Member
Messages
1,942
Location
Southern California
Which FMT option would be best:
  1. An older 50% genetic relative on many Rx meds, same gender, with several physical health issues, but good gut health, good psychological health and no ME?

  2. An older 50% genetic relative on few Rx meds, different gender, with few physical health issues, good gut health, decent psychological health and no ME?

  3. A middle aged 25% genetic relative on few Rx meds, same gender, with no physical health issues, good gut health, some psychological issues and no ME?

  4. An unrelated, young, physically and psychologically healthy donor
 

littlebird6180

Senior Member
Messages
119
Hi there, Well it must have been from frozen. Have you read up on this recently then? Any idea where these kind of studies have actually been done? Look forward to hearing from you.

Honestly, I'm not referring to medical studies (although more and more research is being focused on this area) but patient stories who are doing the DIY approach. And I read through the entire website the power of poop. Both patients who have done it and the power of poop emphasize that fresh stool is best. I've just been reading as much as I can get my fingers on about it lately. It seems low enough risk that with the right donor, I'm going to give it a try.
 

littlebird6180

Senior Member
Messages
119
Which FMT option would be best:
  1. An older 50% genetic relative on many Rx meds, same gender, with several physical health issues, but good gut health, good psychological health and no ME?

  2. An older 50% genetic relative on few Rx meds, different gender, with few physical health issues, good gut health, decent psychological health and no ME?

  3. A middle aged 25% genetic relative on few Rx meds, same gender, with no physical health issues, good gut health, some psychological issues and no ME?

  4. An unrelated, young, physically and psychologically healthy donor

Definitely not #1 and #2. Again, I'm not a doctor and have only recently started to really delve into this subject...but, from what I've read you want someone with no health issues and EVEN to get that person's stool screened prior to using it because some health issues can by asymptomatic and dormant in one person and then wreak havoc once transferred. Whatever health issue they might have, you'd be putting into your body. This goes for obesity too--there have been cases of thin people receiving stool from obese people and undergoing rapid weight gain.

As for medication, again, I think it's ideal to have little to none. But it depends what they are. You ideally want someone with no history of antibiotic use. This is nearly impossible. My sister, for example, is very healthy, excellent diet, thin but this year got pneumonia and had to take a z-pak. So I'm waiting 4 months to use her stool to try and give adequate time for her microbiota to recover.

Also, I'm not sure that genetic relative matters that much. I think that good health, diet and medication history are far more important (by leaps and bounds) AND using fresh stool. So, my answer would be #4 from your list but with some caveats that the person still be screened and you also check for antibiotic history.

The power of poop is a great resource.
 

MaximilianKohler

Senior Member
Messages
125
I've done 5 of them. Donor quality is the most important thing. The difference between high quality donors vs low quality donors is profound. I'm 100% sure if I can find a quality donor that sticks around long enough to do daily FMTs for a few weeks I'll be cured.

I've been following the microbiome research closely for the past 3 years and put a bunch of info here: https://www.reddit.com/r/HumanMicrobiome/wiki/index but I have even more saved to text files.