Worsening of symptoms from multiple FMTs after biofilm flush at Loha for Life, Vienna, Austria - An actual experience testing mucosal clearing effectiveness prior to FMT Other

[IsthmusSIBO]

Disclaimer: This is not my experience, but a report from someone else on the Internet. Information may be limited.

Related threads:

• Improve FMT effectiveness with mucus and biofilm dissolver? N-acetyl cysteine (NAC)
• Mucosal microbiota transplant, clearing the gut mucosa prior to FMT

I talked to a doctor in Vienna recently thinking of doing biofilm flush and transplant with them (i think they are the only flush providing clinic rn) and he said fmt will soon become unavailable because it will be classified as a drug.

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How is the biofilm flush performed? Have they reported if it increases efficiency of the transplant, or is there anywhere to read about it?

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So, I have found someone on Reddit that went to the previously mentioned Dr. Christoph Gasche, for a combined biofilm flush procedure followed by multiple FMTs performed in Loha for Life, Center for Gastroenterlogy and Iron Deficiency, Vienna, Austria.

Another patient had previously gone to this clinic to perform only a biofilm flush after suffering from GI distress for 5 years and reported gradual improvement of symptoms, to the point that they report permanent improvement almost 1 year later (but not complete symptom resolution). This user had theorized that abdominal adhesions had a major role in the biofilm creation for their specific case, and they updated with confirmation of that in a later post.

When this patient reported their experience in r/SIBO, the aforementioned FMT recipient commented on the OP about their own experience with the combined Biofilm flush + FMT therapy.

Sadly, the recipient reported worsening of symptoms with no benefits afterwards. So far no other updates have been given by this user.

Below, I will share his comments on the experience. As I am not the original user, many details of the experience are not available to me, so their will be certain omissions.

I suggest that the flush was succesful, but that the recipient worsened his condition by being given subpar samples (multiple donors, possibly low quality, all pooled on the same transplant). We don’t know how Dr. Gasche screens his donors, but it is safe to say he is unfamiliar with @Michael Harrop’s criteria.

I had the same procedure, but in combination with inserting new bacteria via stool transplants with the same doctor. Just be careful please for anyone reading this, my symptoms just got worse through the whole procedure. I had my flush in November, then the stool transplants in November, December and January of 2024/25. Since November I have been in almost daily pain and stronger stomach symptoms like diarrhea and so on, while before they would only last for 1-2 months. Dr Gasche can‘t explain why they got worse, so really carefully think about all of this before you do the procedure. Talk to other doctors and get their professional opinion too. All the best for you all.

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(The pain) started after the first FMT. Interestingly they told me they are using fecal samples from different donors and we did stool tests 3-4 weeks after every transplant to see how the microbacteria respond. The doctor told me that my microbiome now looks like that of a healthy person and that I would be inclined now to be gaining weight more easily (which was another problem I had that I was loosing weight quite a lot and almost nothing helped). But funnily enough I started to loose weight because of all that again.

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Conditions being treated? IBS for 8 years (as of 275 days ago as of the publication of this post) according to OP [1].

Donors? Multiple, unknown details.

• Starting health (1-10)? OP reported periods of flares lasting 1-2 months, remission periods unknown.
• Ending health (1-10)? OP reported worsening of symptoms.
• What detriments did you experience? Abdominal pain, GI symptoms, malabsorption leading to unintended weight loss.
• What benefits did you experience? None reported.
• Have you used other donors? How does this donor compare? N/A
• Number of FMTs over length of time? 3, once a month for 3 months.
• Routes: upper, lower, both? Not reported.
• Fresh or Frozen? Antifreeze? Not reported.
• Your stool characteristics before and after? User reports increase of diarrhea, no more details given.
• Your diet before, during, and after? Not reported.
• Supplements & medications you are/were taking? Not reported.

 

[IsthmusSIBO]

This case makes me wonder about the role of abdominal adhesions in the development of dysbiosis. Will make a post about it (and another anecdotal case of someone curing their BAM by inducing abdominal contractions).

 

[SFBayFMT5]

This case makes me wonder about the role of abdominal adhesions in the development of dysbiosis. Will make a post about it (and another anecdotal case of someone curing their BAM by inducing abdominal contractions).

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Where do you see abdominal adhesions mentioned in the above patient account?

 

[IsthmusSIBO]

Where do you see abdominal adhesions mentioned in the above patient account?

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Not this account, but the other patient who only did a biofilm flush and no FMT.

Another patient had previously gone to this clinic to perform only a biofilm flush after suffering from GI distress for 5 years and reported gradual improvement of symptoms, to the point that they report permanent improvement almost 1 year later (but not complete symptom resolution). This user had theorized that abdominal adhesions had a major role in the biofilm creation for their specific case, and they updated with confirmation of that in a later post.

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