Firstly--so Gezonde Darmflora (who I will call GD from now on) went through a period earlier this winter of not accepting orders from the US due to customs issues--thankfully neither of my orders had this problem although other orders in the same time frame did. Now they have solved this problem and are shipping to the US again in addition to throughout Europe.
GD does some things VERY well, that show great care and professionalism. They repeat stool tests for pathogens for all their donors monthly, and hold all FMTs until the donors clear their subsequent test, thus "bracketing" the time of donation. If the donors fail, their FMTs are destroyed until the donors test twice negative again. This is not just theoretical--both of the donors I used had actually recently failed a test, and though there was still old stock from several months ago available to fulfill my order, I faced the real possibility that if I were to need a second order they might be out for an indeterminate amount of time. The reason for failure was minor--antibiotic resistance genes rather than an actual pathogen--but they still take this seriously. They also keep ALL FMTs at -80C from donation to shipment, it's never kept in a regular freezer. This means that for some of their donors who live abroad (like both the ones I ordered), GD actually pays for them to buy a laboratory grade freezer for their homes! They are truly dedicated in a way that I haven't seen with other providers.
Also, while they do not publicly post results, the owner of GD passes on all customer feedback on FMTs (which he does encourage recipients to provide) directly to the donors, whom he interacts with personally.
Conditions: Gut pain with trapped gas/bloating, neuropsychiatric issues with ADHD-like brain fog, depression, anxiety, agitation
Donors: DF3 and DF7 (https://gezonde-darmflora.nl/en/shop/). These are from the same family, sister and brother (16 yo and 14 yo) respectively, so actually surprising they were so dramatically different.
Route: Capsules and enema
So, a woman on Facebook reported dramatic, almost instant success with an enema from DF3, and a male patient reported a decent amount of success with trying both donors via both routes (he wasn't forthcoming about which donor or route did what, becoming rather ticked off when I pressed for more details). So I decided to test both of them, ordering a set of 24 capsules divided in half between the two donors (unlike HM, GD is OK with this kind of order. In fact, while at the time you had to specially ask via email, now there's even an official way on the website to request a split order such as this when adding to your shopping cart).
I tried DF7 (the male) first, as I thought it might be more different from the donor I'd already tried (UT-AW-1998 from HM--not counting my OpenBiome donor as his/her demographics is a complete unknown). I immediately noticed a calming, "grounding" effect, somewhat along the lines of what I'd gotten with UT-AW-1998 the second time WITH glycerol (GD ALWAYS freezes with glycerol--they do NOT allow requesting without). Unlike with UT-AW-1998, this effect continued to grow in intensity as I took more capsules, to where I felt a definite inner warmth and peace that I hadn't felt in years.
I DID notice, however, that like with the HM donor, if I took 4 or more capsules in one day, I got rather severe stomach upset with nausea and pain. It seems this is "par for the course" for me with capsules and not specific to any particular donor.
I switched to DF3 approximately one week after starting with DF7, purposely saving some DF7 in case DF3 turned out to be worse and I needed to re-treat (which ended up happening--see below), rather than using it all up.
Despite being still a bit groggy after getting up from bed on the morning I started DF3, within 5-15 minutes of taking the first two DF3 capsules, I was bolt awake and felt belligerent and 'short-fused', like I was ready to snap at almost anything. That night I still felt somewhat overstimulated, although I didn't have nearly the same insomnia as I'd had with UT-AW-1998 the first time without glycerol. Underneath it all there was some sort of feeling of being "more alive" but it was completely ruined by the prominent agitation. With UT-AW-1998, the neurological flaring was gone by the second dose, but when I took just a single additional DF3 capsule several days later, that night I had unusually vivid dreams of a vaguely dark quality. This was the exact opposite sort of effect from what I was looking for and needed, so I abandoned the DF3 capsules.
I did try opening some of them and using them rectally, and in doing so, I noticed that the liquid inside positively reeked, like a mixture of rotten cabbage and barnyard, despite the small amount. My own stool is not nearly this foul unless I have diarrhea or some other disruption to my gut. After noticing this, to be honest I wasn't too surprised that I hadn't done well with them.
I finished the remaining DF7 and ended up better than before trying EITHER donor, but behind where I was directly before starting DF3. I soon thereafter got COVID-19 (unrelated to the FMT--a family member brought it home from a vacation), which may have in part put an early end to the gains. However, a little over a month later, I had a week where I was unusually focused, even-tempered, and productive at work. Seeing as this was the same timeframe as when the improvement from my OpenBiome FMT caught a "second wind", it's possible this was a delayed benefit from the capsules.
Not too long thereafter I put in a second order, this time restricting to DF7 and dividing between capsules and an enema syringe. I used the syringe first, following with saline and tilting myself to ensure that it flowed through the whole colon (instructions here https://www.idsociety.org/globalassets/idsa/topics-of-interest/emerging-clinical-issues/fmt-by-enema-moore1.pdf). Despite using a much larger amount in one dose than with capsules, I had only minor, very bearable stomach sickness a few hours later (the fact that I had ANY upper belly symptoms reassured me that the bacteria didn't just all stay down in the rectum). This stool had quite a strong odor as well but in a very different way--I would label it as "vomit-like"--and not AS strong as DF3, especially considering the much larger volume. The effect was somewhat more pronounced than with the capsules only, and continued to develop as I took the capsules.
In the process of using said capsules, I noticed something--namely that I got better results if they were moved to a regular freezer 24-48 hours before taking. I had been keeping all capsules (and the syringe) on dry ice after receiving them, like GD recommends. But it does seem like gradual warming to room temperature is better than sudden. Interestingly, AFTER noticing this I happened to come across an old instruction sheet that OpenBiome used to include for doctors with their FMT shipments, which asked for slow thawing of the FMT on ice for 4 hours (GD's instructions ask for rapid thawing of enemas in 37C water for 20 min, and taking capsules directly off dry ice without thawing at all). I had the idea for this test when I noticed that the remaining DF3 capsules from the earlier order became less intensely foul smelling after sitting in the regular freezer for a few days, after I gave up on using them. I was NOT able to test this with the syringe as I'd already used it all.
The benefits have continued to develop ever since--I'm more than 2 months in and it feels like there are still gradual gains being made. I certainly did NOT have the immediate, drastic gains that I had the day of my OpenBiome FMT, and even after two months since this new FMT, I'm at best close to where I was immediately after that treatment. So, only time will tell if I eventually get as far, but it's very clear that if I do it will take much longer.
So in summary, GD DF3 gets a major "flag" for me for being WAY too "activating" in a neuropsychiatric sense--I'd urge great caution for anyone with bipolar, ADHD, ASD, or any sort of psychotic tendencies if trying this donor. Be on the lookout and be ready with a "rescue" donor if necessary. However, GD has told me I'm the only one to report trouble from DF3 so far. By contrast, DF7 has none of these risks--the only caution I'd advise is to try enema if capsules upset your stomach--which as I said seems to be a universal issue with capsules and can't be blamed on this particular donor.
All in all, the order from best to worst is OpenBiome endoscopy >> GD DF7 syringe > GD DF7 capsules > UT-AW-1998 (w/glycerol) capsules >> UT-AW-1998 (w/o glycerol) capsules (> or >>) GD DF3 capsules. The ">>" is an especially pronounced change--OpenBiome is in a class of its own, the UT-AW-1998 had no mood- and gut-stabilizing effect at all without glycerol, and DF3 is the only one so far that made me WORSE, although DF7 w/o glycerol caused a temporary flare at the beginning, and who knows, maybe DF3 would still have helped me slightly had I tried it as my first FMT, when there was no progress to "undo".
GD does some things VERY well, that show great care and professionalism. They repeat stool tests for pathogens for all their donors monthly, and hold all FMTs until the donors clear their subsequent test, thus "bracketing" the time of donation. If the donors fail, their FMTs are destroyed until the donors test twice negative again. This is not just theoretical--both of the donors I used had actually recently failed a test, and though there was still old stock from several months ago available to fulfill my order, I faced the real possibility that if I were to need a second order they might be out for an indeterminate amount of time. The reason for failure was minor--antibiotic resistance genes rather than an actual pathogen--but they still take this seriously. They also keep ALL FMTs at -80C from donation to shipment, it's never kept in a regular freezer. This means that for some of their donors who live abroad (like both the ones I ordered), GD actually pays for them to buy a laboratory grade freezer for their homes! They are truly dedicated in a way that I haven't seen with other providers.
Also, while they do not publicly post results, the owner of GD passes on all customer feedback on FMTs (which he does encourage recipients to provide) directly to the donors, whom he interacts with personally.
Conditions: Gut pain with trapped gas/bloating, neuropsychiatric issues with ADHD-like brain fog, depression, anxiety, agitation
Donors: DF3 and DF7 (https://gezonde-darmflora.nl/en/shop/). These are from the same family, sister and brother (16 yo and 14 yo) respectively, so actually surprising they were so dramatically different.
Route: Capsules and enema
So, a woman on Facebook reported dramatic, almost instant success with an enema from DF3, and a male patient reported a decent amount of success with trying both donors via both routes (he wasn't forthcoming about which donor or route did what, becoming rather ticked off when I pressed for more details). So I decided to test both of them, ordering a set of 24 capsules divided in half between the two donors (unlike HM, GD is OK with this kind of order. In fact, while at the time you had to specially ask via email, now there's even an official way on the website to request a split order such as this when adding to your shopping cart).
I tried DF7 (the male) first, as I thought it might be more different from the donor I'd already tried (UT-AW-1998 from HM--not counting my OpenBiome donor as his/her demographics is a complete unknown). I immediately noticed a calming, "grounding" effect, somewhat along the lines of what I'd gotten with UT-AW-1998 the second time WITH glycerol (GD ALWAYS freezes with glycerol--they do NOT allow requesting without). Unlike with UT-AW-1998, this effect continued to grow in intensity as I took more capsules, to where I felt a definite inner warmth and peace that I hadn't felt in years.
I DID notice, however, that like with the HM donor, if I took 4 or more capsules in one day, I got rather severe stomach upset with nausea and pain. It seems this is "par for the course" for me with capsules and not specific to any particular donor.
I switched to DF3 approximately one week after starting with DF7, purposely saving some DF7 in case DF3 turned out to be worse and I needed to re-treat (which ended up happening--see below), rather than using it all up.
Despite being still a bit groggy after getting up from bed on the morning I started DF3, within 5-15 minutes of taking the first two DF3 capsules, I was bolt awake and felt belligerent and 'short-fused', like I was ready to snap at almost anything. That night I still felt somewhat overstimulated, although I didn't have nearly the same insomnia as I'd had with UT-AW-1998 the first time without glycerol. Underneath it all there was some sort of feeling of being "more alive" but it was completely ruined by the prominent agitation. With UT-AW-1998, the neurological flaring was gone by the second dose, but when I took just a single additional DF3 capsule several days later, that night I had unusually vivid dreams of a vaguely dark quality. This was the exact opposite sort of effect from what I was looking for and needed, so I abandoned the DF3 capsules.
I did try opening some of them and using them rectally, and in doing so, I noticed that the liquid inside positively reeked, like a mixture of rotten cabbage and barnyard, despite the small amount. My own stool is not nearly this foul unless I have diarrhea or some other disruption to my gut. After noticing this, to be honest I wasn't too surprised that I hadn't done well with them.
I finished the remaining DF7 and ended up better than before trying EITHER donor, but behind where I was directly before starting DF3. I soon thereafter got COVID-19 (unrelated to the FMT--a family member brought it home from a vacation), which may have in part put an early end to the gains. However, a little over a month later, I had a week where I was unusually focused, even-tempered, and productive at work. Seeing as this was the same timeframe as when the improvement from my OpenBiome FMT caught a "second wind", it's possible this was a delayed benefit from the capsules.
Not too long thereafter I put in a second order, this time restricting to DF7 and dividing between capsules and an enema syringe. I used the syringe first, following with saline and tilting myself to ensure that it flowed through the whole colon (instructions here https://www.idsociety.org/globalassets/idsa/topics-of-interest/emerging-clinical-issues/fmt-by-enema-moore1.pdf). Despite using a much larger amount in one dose than with capsules, I had only minor, very bearable stomach sickness a few hours later (the fact that I had ANY upper belly symptoms reassured me that the bacteria didn't just all stay down in the rectum). This stool had quite a strong odor as well but in a very different way--I would label it as "vomit-like"--and not AS strong as DF3, especially considering the much larger volume. The effect was somewhat more pronounced than with the capsules only, and continued to develop as I took the capsules.
In the process of using said capsules, I noticed something--namely that I got better results if they were moved to a regular freezer 24-48 hours before taking. I had been keeping all capsules (and the syringe) on dry ice after receiving them, like GD recommends. But it does seem like gradual warming to room temperature is better than sudden. Interestingly, AFTER noticing this I happened to come across an old instruction sheet that OpenBiome used to include for doctors with their FMT shipments, which asked for slow thawing of the FMT on ice for 4 hours (GD's instructions ask for rapid thawing of enemas in 37C water for 20 min, and taking capsules directly off dry ice without thawing at all). I had the idea for this test when I noticed that the remaining DF3 capsules from the earlier order became less intensely foul smelling after sitting in the regular freezer for a few days, after I gave up on using them. I was NOT able to test this with the syringe as I'd already used it all.
The benefits have continued to develop ever since--I'm more than 2 months in and it feels like there are still gradual gains being made. I certainly did NOT have the immediate, drastic gains that I had the day of my OpenBiome FMT, and even after two months since this new FMT, I'm at best close to where I was immediately after that treatment. So, only time will tell if I eventually get as far, but it's very clear that if I do it will take much longer.
So in summary, GD DF3 gets a major "flag" for me for being WAY too "activating" in a neuropsychiatric sense--I'd urge great caution for anyone with bipolar, ADHD, ASD, or any sort of psychotic tendencies if trying this donor. Be on the lookout and be ready with a "rescue" donor if necessary. However, GD has told me I'm the only one to report trouble from DF3 so far. By contrast, DF7 has none of these risks--the only caution I'd advise is to try enema if capsules upset your stomach--which as I said seems to be a universal issue with capsules and can't be blamed on this particular donor.
All in all, the order from best to worst is OpenBiome endoscopy >> GD DF7 syringe > GD DF7 capsules > UT-AW-1998 (w/glycerol) capsules >> UT-AW-1998 (w/o glycerol) capsules (> or >>) GD DF3 capsules. The ">>" is an especially pronounced change--OpenBiome is in a class of its own, the UT-AW-1998 had no mood- and gut-stabilizing effect at all without glycerol, and DF3 is the only one so far that made me WORSE, although DF7 w/o glycerol caused a temporary flare at the beginning, and who knows, maybe DF3 would still have helped me slightly had I tried it as my first FMT, when there was no progress to "undo".
- FMT Clinics
- I included all required info
