Fecal Microbiota Transplant and Its Evolving Medical Uses

It's been a while since I posted about my son "Jake".  For those who haven't read his story, here is the link   http://www.fecalmicrobiotatransplant.com/2013/07/crohns-disease-fmt.html  . He has been off medication (Imuran) for nine months now and looks and feels well.  Unfortunately his cousin who was his donor became unsuitable to donate in mid August due to picking up a parasite, so Jake has gone since then without any FMT . Today he had a colonoscopy and endoscopy and we were thrilled with the news.  There is no sign of Crohn's Disease anywhere - not in his intestines, not in his terminal ileum and not in his duodenum!!! In fact, Professor Borody said there was no scarring or ulceration or any indication that the disease had ever existed.  It was all perfect, healthy and inflammation-free.  When he was first diagnosed with Crohn's three years ago it was very widespread.  I am sure that anyone ...

I have hesitated in sharing my son's story with Crohn's Disease and the success we have had with FMT (fecal microbiota transplantation) until now because I didn't want to do so prematurely. My son is 15 years old.  To protect his privacy, I will call him Jake, although that is not his real name :-). Jake was diagnosed with Crohn's Disease a few days before his 13th birthday.  It was widespread ulceration, inflammation and infection throughout his duodenum, terminal ileum, ascending colon, descending colon and rectum.  It was a "gut-wrenching" time for me as a mother to an only child, especially after being told how very serious this disease is, how extensively he had it, that he would have it for the rest of his life, and probably do poorly in the long-term because he was so young at diagnosis.  I was worried sick with the long term consequences of my son taking immune-suppressive drugs (in his case, Imuran) - on the other hand I was terrified of the c...

I love the simplicity of this video in it's explanation of fecal microbiota transplant! Very worth watching!

I have received information from a Canadian man who's two young children have both been diagnosed with Crohn's Disease - they are currently being treated with an antibiotic regime that is working very well and will hopefully kill MAP (mycobacterium avium paratuberculosis) which is the bacterium implicated for causing Crohn's Disease.  There has been much debate in the medical profession about the causation of Crohn's Disease (ie:  autoimmune disease vs bacterial origin (MAP being the main player).  I believe it's time to put the "autoimmune disease" theory to bed once and for all and so do many others.  Please click here  to read a brilliant article by Dr Judith Lipton who has been cured of Crohn's for 8 years as at the time of writing.  Then, if you are convinced, as I am that MAP causes Crohn's Disease in the majority of cases, come back here and click the link at the end of this post and d...

Is this the reason that people who consume a diet high in fibre from fruit and vegetables and a lower in animal fat and protein (both animal fat and protein diets attract bacteriodes ) have a lower incidence of colon cancer?  It would seem that it is every bit as important to provide the food for our microbiota to thrive on as it is to feed ourselves.  We and our microbiota would appear to benefit mutually from the same types of food - it's not just about nutrition, it's about feeding our "helpful friends" as well! The Differences in Colonic Mucosal Microbiota Between Normal Individual and Colon Cancer Patients by Polymerase Chain Reaction-denaturing Gradient Gel Electrophoresis Authors: Huipeng, Wang MD; Lifeng, Gong MD; Chuang, Ge MD; Jiaying, Zhao MD; Yuankun, Cai MD Abstract Objective: The aim of this study was to analyze the differences in the intestinal composition between normal individuals and colon cancer patients. ...

With World MS Day being 29th May, it seems appropriate to post a link to a previous entry about Multiple Sclerosis and Fecal Transplant. The link is to three case studies from Centre of Digestive Diseases, Sydney Australia (Professor Borody).   Three of his patients who had multiple sclerosis were treated for constipation (one of the many complications of this terrible disease) and to their's and Professor Borody's surprise, their MS symptoms unexpectedly also disappeared, so much so that as at the time of writing the study all patients remained in remission, one of them for 15 years!  Professor Borody speculates that a gut pathogen may be responsible for causing the neurological disease and encourages a new direction in medical research of MS. http://www.fecalmicrobiotatransplant.com/2012/08/could-multiple-sclerosis-be-caused-by.html

      This is a video which aired on TV - great news for pediatric (child) patients with c-diff