Michael Harrop
Active member
Prior to FMT:
Have done FMTs from 9 different donors https://forum.humanmicrobiome.info/threads/my-detailed-experiences-lessons-from-13-different-fmt-donors-jun-2018.53/
HumanMicrobes.org results tracking: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1E9TFLqh9I2ZZhDSvGljyhukU-71fFMmJ/edit#gid=174339095
Last FMT was Dec 2019. I'm mostly dealing with the same issues as I was after donor 5. Though I have significantly reduced symptoms to where I'm no longer completely bedridden and near death. Though I'm still mostly homeridden, and frequently in bed.
AR (donor #8) was able to fix some of my food intolerances (fat & some FODMAPs primarily), and even allow me to digest nuts (something I didn't do well as far back as I can remember). Though the effect seems easy to lose/fades over time and also seems unstable. I didn't feel like more FMTs from AR would be cost effective since it doesn't seem like AR is able to fully correct my issues. AR also seems to have some sort of weakness-causing pathogen.
I discovered that after some of the AR-stool effect fades and I have to restart Cholestyramine, eating cauliflower once per day allows me to completely remove Cholestyramine from my diet. My guess is that cauliflower is boosting the microbes needed for bile acid metabolism. 65mg iron (ferrous sulfate) also seems to play a similar role.
Symptoms:
CFS (chronic fatigue syndrome), IBS-D. Very low brain function. Still very underweight. Brain frequently feels inflamed and "full". My memory is terrible. I feel like I have mild Alzheimer's/type 3 diabetes https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2769828/. Chronic sinus stuffiness. Wounds heal extremely slowly, poorly, and incompletely, and are caused easily. I've been having problems with swelling of my feet and face. Permanent "bruising" showed up in my feet. Dark bags under eyes. Face frequently pale and swollen. Many food intolerances, including to many FODMAPs. Almost no sex drive.Diet:
Jack cheese, select fruits, white sweet potatoes, olive oil, some limited spices, honey, basmati white rice, some leafy greens, broccoli and cauliflower.Supplements:
Cholestyramine, imodium, creatine, Jarrow's s. boulardii, culturelle, floraphage, 100mg b1, b complex, 5k vit d, 65mg iron (ferrous sulfate), 25mg zinc.Summary:
I did 11 days of daily top-down FMTs (plus one enema) with the plain stool, starting off with a 4.5 day juice fast, then took a week off and did 6 days with the maltodextrin-stool. I haven't noticed anything yet. I ordered 3 normal stools, and 2 with maltodextrin. I tried all 5 and no results.10/26/2021: Realized I had been using iodized salt for the past month or so. Previously it seemed to "kill off" or displace the bile acid metabolizing microbes I got from AR FMTs, so now that I've stopped we'll see if anything changes.
Doing 1 lower + 1 upper FMT per week. Lower before bed, upper in the morning on empty stomach with water, 2 hours before meal.
11/10/2021: Not seeing any significant changes/benefits. Testing double encapsulated, delayed release pills to see if it's any better than the traditional Ugandan method.
11/18/2021: Can't say I noticed anything significant from the double encapsulation. Trying the maltodextrin stools, double encapsulated.
11/20/2021: I think the donor's stool is displacing the donor microbes from the previously-most-helpful donor I used. Still no benefits, but I think my tolerance to fat & protein might be getting a little worse. My BMs have become unstable - Eg: one small and firm one that skipped a day, then two larger ones in one day. Plus I'm getting a ton of very putrid gas - the odor of which is the type that started when my intolerance to fat & protein started - though this may just be due to undigested protein in the donor's stool. I want to try adding back s.boulardii and phages, but will try one fresh stool first.
11/25/2021: Tested fresh stool refrigerated in vacuum sealed bag for 24 hours, then left the rest in the syringe and refrigerated that to use the next day (total 48 hours refrigerated). The bad sewer-smelling gas definitely seems to be from undigested protein in the donor's stool. No benefit from fresh (vs frozen) stool.
09/27/2021: begin juice fasting (vegetable & fruit juice). Juice fasting has been causing me diarrhea in recent years. Not sure why. But it has the unintended, but possibly beneficial, function of clearing out my bowels.
09/28/2021: 1/2 tbls stool orally. No apparent impact throughout the day.
09/29/2021: ~1/2tbls via enema. No apparent impact.
09/30/2021: 1/2 tbls stool orally. No obvious impact throughout the day. But halfway through I started feeling irritated, gas changed from good smell to lighter, and hints of sewer smell.
10/01/2021: End juice fast. Begin food.
10/02/2021: Stopped s.boulardii and phages, just because I feel like I have probably not been dependent on them anymore for quite some months, after I figured out that a certain type of iron supplement seems to the job. [Comment: I noticed no changes from stopping these two supplements]
10/06/2021: I've continued to take 0.5-1 tbls orally each day, first thing in the morning on an empty stomach with water, ~2 hours before meal. Yesterday I increased my dose of 65mg iron (ferrous sulfate) from 1x/day to 3x/day. Today I started taking the iron together with the stool as well. I have noticed with my prior donor that iron seems to boost the donor microbes involved in bile acid metabolism. And thus adding/increasing iron supplementation has allowed me to not need Cholestyramine in the past. But the juice fast + diarrhea seems to decrease/ruin my bile acid metabolism, at least temporarily. So I'm adding more iron to try to boost the donor's microbes. I have been taking Cholestyramine with meals since I ended my juice fast.
10/07/2021: Started taking the stool with/right before first meal.
10/08/2021: Only now is my stool starting to smell like the donor's. (was only temporary)
10/09/2021: Went back to taking the stool with water on empty stomach ~2hrs before meal. But still taking it with iron, and I added MOS (Mannan Oligosaccharides). I typically get a bad reaction from prebiotics (fatigue, head feeling inflamed), including MOS, and it seemed that I still got a bad reaction even when taking it with the donor stool (same as when I tried this with previous donors). I'm going to stop the daily FMTs, and possibly switch to a 1-2x per week. I'm also stopping Cholestyramine today, since the color (dark) and consistency of my stool seems to indicate that I've recovered from the juice fast + diarrhea, and no longer need Cholestyramine.
Still no obvious impacts from this donor.
10/11/2021: Seems like I have to get back on Cholestyramine. The previous donor I used that temporarily fixed my bile acid metabolism seems stronger than this donor. Just a few tbls of diluted stool from the other donor would have gotten me off Cholestyramine by now. Yet this donor seems to have done nothing - not even helped me recover from the juice fast back to baseline of not needing Cholestyramine if I'm eating cauliflower.
10/12/2021: First possible change I've noticed is that the donor has small stools, and I just had a small BM.
I'll try the maltodextrin-stool next.
10/15/2021: ~1tbls straight w/maltodextrin. Took with 65mg iron (ferrous sulfate). Maybe noticed a very slight reaction within 15-30 minutes. Felt sick later in the day.
Continued daily maltodextrin-FMTs with iron. Not really noticing anything. Maybe just some mild action/sensations in the gut.
10/20/2021: Last day of maltodextrin-FMTs. Still haven't noticed anything.
10/21/2021: [almost] Back to pre-juice-fast baseline. Able to remove Cholestyramine.
10/26/2021: Realized I had been using iodized salt for the past month or so. Previously it seemed to "kill off" or displace the bile acid metabolizing microbes I got from AR FMTs, so now that I've stopped we'll see if anything changes.
10/26/2021: ~1tbls via enema before bed.
10/27/2021: ~1tbls straight w/maltodextrin.
11/03/2021: ~1tbls via enema before bed.
11/04/2021: ~1tbls straight w/maltodextrin.
11/05/2021: Finally seeing some changes. Stool was firm and small, and skipped a day.
11/06/2021: Meh. I don't think there are any significant improvements.
11/09/2021: ~1tbls via enema before bed.
11/10/2021: Trying double encapsulated pills to see if it's any better than the traditional Ugandan method. [20 double encapsulated pills. 00 delayed release inner, 000 gelatin outer].
11/12/2021: [16 double encapsulated pills. 00 delayed release inner, 000 gelatin outer] that had been in the fridge since 11/09.
11/18/2021: [13 double encapsulated pills with maltodextrin. 00 delayed release inner, 000 gelatin outer]
11/23/2021: [25-30 double encapsulated pills using fresh stool refrigerated in vacuum sealed bag for 24 hours. 00 delayed release inner, 000 gelatin outer]
11/24/2021: [30 double encapsulated pills using fresh stool refrigerated in the syringe for another 24 hours. 00 delayed release inner, 000 gelatin outer]. Energy is increased a couple hours later, but nothing too unusual.
11/28/2021: Bad SS gas stopped after I stopped the FMTs. I'm quite sure it was due to undigested protein in the donor's stool. And that undigested protein also helps explain why this donor didn't work for me.
Original 28 Nov 2021 (30 comments).
- FMT Clinics
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