ButterflyShoeMill42
New member
- Joined
- Jan 1, 2025
- Messages
- 4
Please include all of the following information to make your report as useful as possible. Reports missing this info may be removed.
I am pretty sure I have posted a report before, as I have it in my write up. Copying here:
For this group, here are the answers to the requisite questions:
I developed epilepsy in my teens, which I discovered, at age 62, was correlated with the Bartonella. It started mild (déjà vu), and became progressively worse until I had my first grand mal seizure at 27.
After I was diagnosed with four vector born bacterial infections March 2023 – Lyme, RMSF, Bartonella and Babesia, I started extensive antibiotic treatment. I had been sick with all kinds of issues for eight years and had no clue why – I learned that tick borne diseases need a LOT more than two weeks of Doxycycline – so be warned if you ever get bitten!) I was on up to six different antibiotics at a time, supplemented with some very potent herbs. I was treated for 15 months. I had been diagnosed with Hashimoto’s (Lyme correlated), SIBO (Lyme correlated), skin lesions (RMSF correlated), IBS (Bartonella correlated), epilepsy (my whole life – Bartonella correlated), anxiety/skin burning (Lyme correlated), joint pain (Lyme correlated), hearing issues/tinnitus (Lyme related) and sleep issues.
After I finished my 15 months of treatment, my thyroid returned to normal and my skin finally started healing. My tinnitus has improved in the ear that had it, and my hearing has improved in the other ear. I guess I still have some healing to do in my tinnitus ear!! I am off my seizure medication after 30 years and my anxiety is gone. My thyroid has returned to normal. But, I was left with serious bloating, constipation (used laxatives my whole life, but after the antibiotics it was even worse), sleep issues (very light sleep). I started learning about FMT – and read all the studies and books and articles I could find. There are books on Amazon about FMT, and there are tons of studies that prove that it works. Here are a couple.
I learned that it was FDA approved for CDifficile, but not for anything else. It had a 95% success rate for CDiff. I truly believed that I had had gut dysfunction my whole life ever since being treated with penicillin for weeks when I was a child and the only way to fix that was with FMT.
I came across https://gezonde-darmflora.nl/en/ in the Netherlands. I don’t remember how I found them, but at some point about two years ago, I started asking Marco, the owner, questions, and I really appreciated how he took the time to answer all of them whenever I asked. He did not give me any hard sell. He did boast a 70% success rate, however, and I am very happy to report that I believe myself to be in that 70%.
In the meantime, I approached my step daughter to see if her 11-year-old son would be my donor, but I contemplated how much I would have to pay to test his stool, not knowing if it would all be perfect or not. And if it turned out he had something wrong (he is a skinny little footballer!) I would have lost that money. But, I decided that this was the best way to do it and was planning to move forward with him.
But, then I started emailing Marco again and asking more questions, and then studying his donors and their test results very carefully. He only has about 4 donors, but he has met every single one of them personally (check), tests them every week or month (I forget, but I was able to look at all the test results going back as long as they had been donating - check), publishes the complete biome report (I was able to look up all the bacteria types and see what I thought would be best for me and chose a donor (donor no. 3, I believe), who had a gut biome that dealt more heavily with carbohydrates and as I had constipation which got worse if I ate a lot of carbs, I thought that would be the best bet for me), discards the stool sample if they are sick – like you could clearly see when his donors had covid and the sample was destroyed, and HE sends the shipment, not the donor, so it’s probably prepared and packaged and has been tested. It was $700 including shipping and dry ice for a full large syringe, and I defrosted it per the instructions, divided it into three, and did my enema and put the other two back in dry ice. I then repeated the process one week later, just to be “sure.” It was shipped on a Monday and arrived on the Thursday. The ice was still frozen solid and lasted another week (he uses really good quality dry ice – I tried to buy some more dry ice from a local vendor, and it only lasted a couple of days).
I had a leftover colonoscopy prep (Golightly) and prepared as though I was having a colonoscopy the next day. Stopped eating, used the Golightly, and did the enema the next morning once my colon was completely empty. (I also made a few capsules when I was dividing the enema because I had read in some studies that capsules worked for SIBO, but Marco said not to use capsules for SIBO, so I made them using probiotic (“survives the stomach acid” capsules and putting that capsule inside ANOTHER capsule), but the capsules started to melt as soon as I put them FMT matter inside them, so I am not sure that they made it to my intestines!) Anyway, it did not hurt me. This is a question that continues to confuse me. Marco said no capsules for SIBO, but there are studies that show that capsules helped SIBO. So, not sure what to make of that. He said they were old studies, but I am still confused on that question – so research carefully.
Then, I was only able to keep the enema in about thirty minutes, but that seems to have been enough.
Immediate changes:
I went to bed as usual at 10:00 p.m. that night, and woke up wide awake at midnight and could not go back to sleep. The next night, I woke up at 2:00 a.m. The night after, I woke up at 4:00 a.m. – and it was a real “I’m awake, I cannot go back to sleep, so I need to get up” kind of wake-upping.
I had started eating lightly the afternoon after doing the FMT, and had my first bowel movement the next day – small (as I had not eaten a lot), but the transit time was about 24 hours (which is normal, apparently – average transit time is supposed to be about 28 hours – but I had always had constipation so I didn’t know), and a Bristol 3. No laxatives used.
I adjusted my bed time to get my six hours be midnight to 6 a.m. and that is where my sleep stayed for a while. I have now read some info that states that the microbiome knows what time it is – and they seem to have had jet lag (donor is Eastern European)! I have normalized now. For those who are interested, I used Donor DF3 – a 15 year old skier and cellist. Her younger brother is also a donor, so these kids eat very well and are super healthy, and smart and active.
After more research, I learned that my donor, DF3, had a lot of bacteria that are correlated with good sleep. Lachnospiracae. I did not go into this wanting to get better sleep, but it was a very happy side effect. I had sone third left over and my husband took it after HIS colonoscopy, and feels that it helped his sleep, although his gut dysfunction was not as bad as mine was. Neither of us had any ill effects, stomach upset, diarrhea, pain or anything.
I did a couple of probiotic retention enemas (bifidum etc. see below) as well to make sure I have beneficial flora in addition to what I have, and see if that gives me any additional benefit. I didn’t notice any great difference, but guessing it did not hurt. But, in the meantime, after finishing my antibiotic treatment, and now after the FMT, I am a new person.
I have lost about 25 lbs in the eight months since I did the FMT (I did it in early July 2024), and there is no more bloating, no more constipation, no more laxatives needed.
I hope this helps!
Good luck!
I am pretty sure I have posted a report before, as I have it in my write up. Copying here:
For this group, here are the answers to the requisite questions:
- Conditions being treated? SIBO, IBS, CONSTIPATION, FREQUENT AWAKENINGS, EPILEPSY, HASHIMOTOS, SKIN LESIONS, BURNING SKIN, ANXIETY, PANIC ATTACKS, JOINT PAIN, TINNITUS.
- Starting health (1-10)? Before treatment for Lyme and coinfections, health was 3. After treatment for Lyme and coinfections, healthy was a 6. After treatment with FMT, health is a 9.
- Ending health (1-10)? 9
- What detriments did you experience? No detriments or side effects from the FMT
- What benefits did you experience? Instant improvement in sleep, instant improvement in gas and bloating. Weight loss of weight gained during antibiotic treatment. Stomach became flat again, began to feel human.
- Have you used other donors? How does this donor compare? This was my first donor. It worked immediately and brilliantly.
- Number of FMTs over length of time? 1 received a 55 ml enema. I divided it into three samples using Fleet Enemas. I did one and had immediate results. I did a second one a week later and nothing changed. It’s been 9 months now and everything is still good.
- Routes: upper, lower, both? See below – but I did make a few capsules myself to take, but I don’t think they survived the stomach. They started to melt as soon as I started filling them. I had been advised not to take capsules by the FMT seller/bank, but tried it anyway. Don’t think it did anything.
- Fresh or Frozen? Antifreeze? Frozen, no antifreeze. Shipped using dry ice. Dry ice lasted a week.
- Your stool characteristics before and after? Very constipated and needed to use laxatives on a daily basis. The day after – Bristol 3. Now mostly Bristol 2 to 4. If I eat a lot of low quality carbs (white flour), I get a little more constipated.
- Your diet before, during, and after? I eat mostly Pegan diet (a sort of combination of high quality grass fed/organic protein (not much), and lots of vegetables and nuts, seeds etc. No processed food or foods with lots of additives. I did not change my way of eating and still eat like this after the FMT
- Supplements & medications you are/were taking? I was taking Miralax in my coffee every morning, and blood pressure meds. I had stopped all my other meds after my treatment for Lyme and co-infections. I am now not on any medication. I do take turmeric, vitamin D, multi vit, hormone replacement therapy (post menopausal woman), fish oil, and the usual for older women. I have been taking something called Floraphage the last few weeks, and it’s brilliant! I really notice the difference!
I developed epilepsy in my teens, which I discovered, at age 62, was correlated with the Bartonella. It started mild (déjà vu), and became progressively worse until I had my first grand mal seizure at 27.
After I was diagnosed with four vector born bacterial infections March 2023 – Lyme, RMSF, Bartonella and Babesia, I started extensive antibiotic treatment. I had been sick with all kinds of issues for eight years and had no clue why – I learned that tick borne diseases need a LOT more than two weeks of Doxycycline – so be warned if you ever get bitten!) I was on up to six different antibiotics at a time, supplemented with some very potent herbs. I was treated for 15 months. I had been diagnosed with Hashimoto’s (Lyme correlated), SIBO (Lyme correlated), skin lesions (RMSF correlated), IBS (Bartonella correlated), epilepsy (my whole life – Bartonella correlated), anxiety/skin burning (Lyme correlated), joint pain (Lyme correlated), hearing issues/tinnitus (Lyme related) and sleep issues.
After I finished my 15 months of treatment, my thyroid returned to normal and my skin finally started healing. My tinnitus has improved in the ear that had it, and my hearing has improved in the other ear. I guess I still have some healing to do in my tinnitus ear!! I am off my seizure medication after 30 years and my anxiety is gone. My thyroid has returned to normal. But, I was left with serious bloating, constipation (used laxatives my whole life, but after the antibiotics it was even worse), sleep issues (very light sleep). I started learning about FMT – and read all the studies and books and articles I could find. There are books on Amazon about FMT, and there are tons of studies that prove that it works. Here are a couple.
I learned that it was FDA approved for CDifficile, but not for anything else. It had a 95% success rate for CDiff. I truly believed that I had had gut dysfunction my whole life ever since being treated with penicillin for weeks when I was a child and the only way to fix that was with FMT.
I came across https://gezonde-darmflora.nl/en/ in the Netherlands. I don’t remember how I found them, but at some point about two years ago, I started asking Marco, the owner, questions, and I really appreciated how he took the time to answer all of them whenever I asked. He did not give me any hard sell. He did boast a 70% success rate, however, and I am very happy to report that I believe myself to be in that 70%.
In the meantime, I approached my step daughter to see if her 11-year-old son would be my donor, but I contemplated how much I would have to pay to test his stool, not knowing if it would all be perfect or not. And if it turned out he had something wrong (he is a skinny little footballer!) I would have lost that money. But, I decided that this was the best way to do it and was planning to move forward with him.
But, then I started emailing Marco again and asking more questions, and then studying his donors and their test results very carefully. He only has about 4 donors, but he has met every single one of them personally (check), tests them every week or month (I forget, but I was able to look at all the test results going back as long as they had been donating - check), publishes the complete biome report (I was able to look up all the bacteria types and see what I thought would be best for me and chose a donor (donor no. 3, I believe), who had a gut biome that dealt more heavily with carbohydrates and as I had constipation which got worse if I ate a lot of carbs, I thought that would be the best bet for me), discards the stool sample if they are sick – like you could clearly see when his donors had covid and the sample was destroyed, and HE sends the shipment, not the donor, so it’s probably prepared and packaged and has been tested. It was $700 including shipping and dry ice for a full large syringe, and I defrosted it per the instructions, divided it into three, and did my enema and put the other two back in dry ice. I then repeated the process one week later, just to be “sure.” It was shipped on a Monday and arrived on the Thursday. The ice was still frozen solid and lasted another week (he uses really good quality dry ice – I tried to buy some more dry ice from a local vendor, and it only lasted a couple of days).
I had a leftover colonoscopy prep (Golightly) and prepared as though I was having a colonoscopy the next day. Stopped eating, used the Golightly, and did the enema the next morning once my colon was completely empty. (I also made a few capsules when I was dividing the enema because I had read in some studies that capsules worked for SIBO, but Marco said not to use capsules for SIBO, so I made them using probiotic (“survives the stomach acid” capsules and putting that capsule inside ANOTHER capsule), but the capsules started to melt as soon as I put them FMT matter inside them, so I am not sure that they made it to my intestines!) Anyway, it did not hurt me. This is a question that continues to confuse me. Marco said no capsules for SIBO, but there are studies that show that capsules helped SIBO. So, not sure what to make of that. He said they were old studies, but I am still confused on that question – so research carefully.
Then, I was only able to keep the enema in about thirty minutes, but that seems to have been enough.
Immediate changes:
I went to bed as usual at 10:00 p.m. that night, and woke up wide awake at midnight and could not go back to sleep. The next night, I woke up at 2:00 a.m. The night after, I woke up at 4:00 a.m. – and it was a real “I’m awake, I cannot go back to sleep, so I need to get up” kind of wake-upping.
I had started eating lightly the afternoon after doing the FMT, and had my first bowel movement the next day – small (as I had not eaten a lot), but the transit time was about 24 hours (which is normal, apparently – average transit time is supposed to be about 28 hours – but I had always had constipation so I didn’t know), and a Bristol 3. No laxatives used.
I adjusted my bed time to get my six hours be midnight to 6 a.m. and that is where my sleep stayed for a while. I have now read some info that states that the microbiome knows what time it is – and they seem to have had jet lag (donor is Eastern European)! I have normalized now. For those who are interested, I used Donor DF3 – a 15 year old skier and cellist. Her younger brother is also a donor, so these kids eat very well and are super healthy, and smart and active.
After more research, I learned that my donor, DF3, had a lot of bacteria that are correlated with good sleep. Lachnospiracae. I did not go into this wanting to get better sleep, but it was a very happy side effect. I had sone third left over and my husband took it after HIS colonoscopy, and feels that it helped his sleep, although his gut dysfunction was not as bad as mine was. Neither of us had any ill effects, stomach upset, diarrhea, pain or anything.
I did a couple of probiotic retention enemas (bifidum etc. see below) as well to make sure I have beneficial flora in addition to what I have, and see if that gives me any additional benefit. I didn’t notice any great difference, but guessing it did not hurt. But, in the meantime, after finishing my antibiotic treatment, and now after the FMT, I am a new person.
I have lost about 25 lbs in the eight months since I did the FMT (I did it in early July 2024), and there is no more bloating, no more constipation, no more laxatives needed.
I hope this helps!
Good luck!
- FMT Clinics
- I included all required info