Update - July 30, 2016

Wow, it has been quite a while since I posted last. I am still doing great, which probably is why I almost forgot about this blog.

Eating REAL food has really kept me not only going normally, but feeling great.

Still eating SCD and consuming lots of ferreted foods. I try to discourage the use of antibiotics for other than life or death situations, to anyone who will ask.

Eating Real food makes a huge difference. The food-like products that are marketed in stores in boxes, bags, cans and drive up windows are basically killing people one bite at a time. There is no nutrition, so our body becomes starved of nutrition and they are full of chemicals, which are basically poisons.

This is a good video by Dr. Natasha Campbell McBride about the GAPs diet, which is another approach to eating REAL food to heal the gut and heal the body.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=epkFl5qaYEU

If what I have gone through will help even one person then, it may have been worth it all.

Healed from Ulcerative Colitis

How I used diet and fecal transplants done at home to heal my gut from UC.

Start reading on the November 2012 post of my blog. This gives details on the process I did using a home fecal transplant to heal after 3 1/2 years of ulcerative colitis. Open the List of my posts in the link below to get to the beginning of my experience with fecal transplants.

Fecal Transplant Success Stories (January 27, 2015)
The Excrement Experiment (November 24, 2014)
Two years since the first transplant and doing great (October 31, 2014)
Gut Reaction - Very informative videos (August 16, 2014)
Ulcerative Colitis - healing and moving forward (April 26, 2014)
DIY Fecal Transplants to cure yourself (November 11, 2013)
Almost 1 year since the first FMT (October 16, 2013)
Some helpful links (February 7, 2013)
As I was researching fecal transplants online... (January 24, 2013)
Added fermented veggies (December 20, 2012)
Fecal Transplant - my experience (November 24, 2012)

Fecal Transplant Success Stories

Below are a few more success stories from someone who had suffered with ulcerative colitis who now has their life back after changing their diet and doing home fecal transplants.

Geoff's story:

Published on YouTube on Jan 25, 2015
I tell my story of Fecal Transplants to end a five year flare of ulcerative colitis. Medical Marijuana and diet kept me alive and fecal transplants have me living a full life once again. I have been able to stop using medical marijuana about 8 weeks ago as well.

http://youtu.be/B8-2Fcy-d18

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One more great success story posted at MyFoxDC News:

Many turning to experimental fecal transplant to cure gastrointestinal issues

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Another good testimony of FMT success

http://www.tylerpenn.net/fecal-microbiota-transplantation-part-ii/

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The Truth About C-Sections, Probiotics, and the Bacteria in Your Gut

http://www.healthline.com/health-news/the-truth-about-c-sections-probiotics-and-the-bacteria-in-your-gut-042415#1

Fantastic article!

The Excrement Experiment

Treating disease with fecal transplants.

http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2014/12/01/excrement-experiment

Two years since the first transplant and doing great

It has been two years since that first fecal transplant. I am still doing great with no symptoms and haven't been on any of the drugs to turn off my immune system for about 2 1/2 years now.

The GI told me that I would have to take those drugs for the rest of my life... well, that was before removing sugar, lactose and grains from my diet and doing approximately 6 fecal transplants in a one-year spam.

I am still avoiding sugar, lactose and grains but may have just a small amount only on rare occasions. I ate my first chocolate chip the other day and my gut didn't even notice, which meant I have made great progress!

I have learned SO much about why my gut went crazy and gave me explosive diarrhea shortly after a round of antibiotics (zpack), then undergoing routine surgery to trim up some torn cartilage.

Antibiotics to the gut are like bulldozing a garden and then hoping the good plants (tomato, green beans, peppers, lettuce, etc.) grow back instead of the weeks. Everyone knows that where grass has been dug up in your yard, weeds will grow back with a vengeance if you don't plant grass seed and get what you want to grow, established again. That is what fecal transplants do for our gut.

I am looking forward to the day where others can be given the opportunity to have fecal transplants to heal their gut instead of drugs to turn off their immune system, which may leave them open to cancers and other illnesses. God made our immune system to help our body heal. It goes after bacteria that gets out of line - this is what doctors call 'autoimmune disease - which they are saying is bad, and it is, however, it should be a red-flag that there is some bacteria out of line. Turning off the immune response is not the solution.

If you are still considering doing home fecal transplants to heal your gut, I would say go for it!

I am living proof that it works, when combined with diet (no sugar, lactose and grains) while the gut heals.

Here is a funny video that will make you laugh - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jsVgi8hoFFc

Teri

Gut Reaction - Very informative videos

I am still doing great and still eating SCD and in recovery from ulcerative colitis, caused by an antibiotic for a sinus infection several years ago.

I just make my first batch of kombucha and I am excited to see how it turns out. Kombucha a fermented tea that is full of microbes that is good for your gut.

Here is another helpful link on how antibiotics can affect our health down the road:
http://news.sciencemag.org/biology/2014/08/taking-antibiotics-early-life-leaves-mice-prone-obesity

I watched this awesome video, shown in Australia called Gut Reaction, Part 1. You can watch it using this link below:

http://www.abc.net.au/catalyst/stories/4067184.htm

or

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w94D45txSxo

Gut Reaction Part 2 is linked below:

http://www.abc.net.au/catalyst/stories/4070977.htm

or

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vtLDmoDUmgg

I hope I have inspired at least a few of you to change your diet and start eating SCD so you too can recover from these horrible gut issues.

Teri.

Ulcerative Colitis - healing and moving forward

I haven't posted in a while... I had a slight setback in December after eating too many nuts, but a few FMTs and it got me right back to normal.

Since we had met our out-of-pocket maximum for our insurance last year, I had asked my doctor for a prescription for a three-month supply of VSL#3-DS.

VSL#3 high-potency probiotic medical food contains 8 different strains of live lactic acid bacteria that were specially selected to produce an optimal synergistic composition of bacteria. The 8 strains are:

    Bifidobacterium breve
    Bifidobacterium longum
    Bifidobacterium infantis
    Lactobacillus acidophilus
    Lactobacillus plantarum
    Lactobacillus paracasei
    Lactobacillus bulgaricus
    Streptococcus thermophilus

I don't want to keep having setbacks. I want to do all I can to completely heal the lining of my colon so I can go forward in life, leaving these symptoms behind forever.

I used VSL#3-DS every day for about a month, then about twice a week. Now I am down to once a week or so and doing amazingly great. It feels so good to have energy again and casually stroll to the bathroom once or twice a day instead of having to know where every bathroom was, everywhere I went.

I am still drinking homemade kefir, eating homemade yogurt and homemade sauerkraut regularly. In January I started taking an over the counter L-Glutamine, which may help heal the lining of the gut. This is in addition to the other supplements I take every day - fish oil, vitamins B, C and D and a few others.

I have also been drinking a lot of gelatin, with a bit of 100% natural grape juice added for flavor. This is beef gelatin that I buy in powder form with no sugar added - just the powdered gelatin.

I am still eating SCD although I have added greenish-yellow bananas, which contain resistant starch to feed the good bacteria. I started slowly but can now eat 2 green bananas a day with no problems.

I hope anyone who read this will find home for recovering from Ulcerative Colitis, using food and FMT, instead of expensive drugs to repress their immune system or surgery. Doctors are not yet promoting FMT as a way to replace the bacteria that was killed off when they gave you an antibiotic. Maybe someday... until then, you and I have the Internet to help us learn how to do a FMT at home and how to make homemade kefir, sauerkraut and yogurt as well as how to eat healthy and heal from UC,

Teri

DIY Fecal Transplants to cure yourself

It is hard not to get angry at doctors - even specialists - who look right at you and say "It has nothing to do with what you eat." and "No one knows what causes UC."

Really, it has a lot to do with what we eat - or don't eat. What we eat either starves our microbiome or feeds it - the good bacteria or the bad bacterial.

Over the last year and a half I have learned SO much about how we need our microbes in our environment and how antibiotics are killing off our microbes. Sometimes antibiotics are necessary but we should be told to be consuming probiotic and prebiotic foods especially while on antibiotics.

Fermented vegetables, homemade yogurt, kefir, etc, all help feed our microbiome.

For those of you who suffering with UC, Crohns, or IBS and want to find a solution to end your suffering, a home fecal transplant may be the answer.

This video by Michael Hurst from www.fecaltransplant.org will show you the steps to doing a home FMT:
http://youtu.be/WEMnRC22oOs

I recommend this site as well as http://thepowerofpoop.com to read how others have been cured by doing a home FMT by restoring the bacteria in their microbiome that antibiotics had killed off, creating dreadful colitis symptoms.

Just think how nice it will be to leave your house again and not have to know where every bathroom is!

Teri

Almost 1 year since the first FMT

It has now been almost 1 year since doing the first FMT. I am still symptom free and drug free.

I am still eating SCD, although I did eat a Subway sandwich about a week ago with no reaction at all. Perhaps I the good bacteria is getting a good colony going and I am healing on the inside.

I can eat grapes now, which I couldn't eat before doing a FMT. That shows me that I am able to digest more of what I am eating, which is a good sign.

I am still eating homemade yogurt,homemade sauerkraut, and homemade kefir, every day. I know that helps feed the good bacteria in my gut.

I don't think I will ever go back to eating all the sugar and bread I used to. I feel SO much better and feel I have regained all my strength back that I had lost over those 3 1/2 years of not digesting food.

I am SO glad I was able to find where others wrote about how they did a FMT and it helped them. I firmly believe that the combination of SCD and FMT is what is healing me from UC.

Sugar, yeast, starch, gluten (grains) and lactose all feed the bacteria. Stop feeding the bad bacteria and start feeding the good bacteria and the symptoms go away.

Not sure how long I will stay exclusively SCD, but I want to be positive I don't have any setbacks.


If you have every wondered of doing a home fecal transplant will put you on the road to recovery, what have you got to lose?

(Read the procedure I did for a home fecal transplant on my November 2012 post.)

Teri

Some helpful links

Read the procedure I did for a home fecal transplant on my November 2012 post. 

That day my colitis turned around and I finally began recovering from the gas, diarrhea, blood, mucus, urgency, etc. I no longer suffer from these symptoms and do not take any medications.

I am also eating fermented foods and still on the Specific Carbohydrate Diet (no sugar, no starch, no yeast, no lactose, no wheat) which may be helping the fecal transplant become established amongst the bad bacteria that had taken over in my colon.

These two other sites will be encouraging to those interested in using a FMT to restore their gut bacteria.

Great story and his site is very informative. http://fecaltransplant.org/story/

The Power of Poo might be helpful too -  www.thepowerofpoo.blogspot.com

Fiber-Famished Gut Microbes Linked to Poor Health
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/fiber-famished-gut-microbes-linked-to-poor-health1/

Hope enema instructions for FMT: http://youtu.be/xLIndT7fuGo

Teri 

As I was researching fecal transplants online...

As I was researching fecal transplants online before doing one at home, I read how adding the fiber from a fiber capsule gives the implanted bacteria something to feast on, while it becomes established.

Some who have tried adding fiber learned that you will want to add it in last, then just shake it up good, moving quickly. They get it transferred into your colon quickly, because it does thicken up pretty fast and can cause trouble with your delivery method, depending on what type of setup you are using. I used a turkey baster, which as a pretty large opening. Some have used enema bags, which the hose can plug and could get real messy.

Things are definitely different after doing a FMT. I could really tell a difference because the smell was different within 24 hours - less potent and smells more normal.

I have eaten a few illegals (SCD) but have not had any reaction afterwards what-so-ever. I have been going good now for 3 months. I only dreamed of this for 3 1/2 long years prior.

Something else I have done to help establish the new colony is I started making and eating fermented veggies made at home with sea salt about a month after doing my home fecal transplant. Five pounds of broccoli, carrots and cauliflower and 3 tablespoons of sea salt and water sitting our days on the counter for 4 days and voila! you have got a week's worth of funny smelling but pretty good tasting veggies that are easy to digest and will help feed that new established bacteria. Just look past the smell as they don't taste like they smell. They really are pretty good.

Everyone has done these transplants a bit different. Perhaps someday there will be one plan that will work for everyone.

Added fermented veggies

It is now December 20 and I am still doing well, since doing a home fecal transplant.

I have added fermented veggies that I did at home using sea salt and water. I have fermented broccoli, carrots, cauliflower and cucumbers.

I am not all that thrilled with the taste, but I can tell a huge difference as far as smell of passed gas since starting the fermented veggies.

Still eating all SCD foods. Nothing really seems to give me a reaction, unlike before the FMT.

I am still staying away from non-SCD foods so my body has time to heal and get fully restored. Not sure I will ever go back to eating like I used to.  I love sweets, candy, etc. sigh... but fresh pineapple tastes just as good in some homemade 24-hour yogurt with a bit of honey.

I hope others are able to find healing and be free from the suffering of UC, a I feel I am.

Teri

Fecal Transplant - my experience

After 3 1/2 years of ulcerative colitis, then doing a home fecal transplant that has began healing my digestive system, I was encouraged to post this on the Internet, so others suffering from this horrible condition may also find healing.

About 6 months ago, I found some information online about the Specific Carbohydrate Diet. I read the book "Breaking the Vicious Cycle" and then, the day after Mother's Day 2012, I gave up sugar, starch, yeast, lactose, and gluten hoping that would heal my UC. It gave me a great head start, but I don't believe I really began healing until I did a home fecal transplant.

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I know my UC was brought on from antibiotics for a sinus infection in Feb 2009, as I started having more gurgling and gas for the months after that antibiotic (some sort of Z pack antibiotic). Then in April 2009 I had knee surgery for torn cartridge and the very next day I had explosive gas and diarrhea. I had never experienced that type of gas and diarrhea before.

I ended up at a GI who said I had UC. He said that no one knows the cause or the cure and that I would have to be on medication for the rest of my life. It has been an up and down roller coaster for 3 years, then I started the SCD (Specific Carbohydrate Diet) diet in May of 2012. Things got better for the first 3 months however, in August and September were absolutely horrible months with the 3-month flare. It is when a large number of bad bacteria begins to die off, which can make symptom worse. I felt as I had the flu for 8 days. During that time I almost lost my will to live - blood, mucus, gas, cramps,  couldn't hardly leave home - it was awful. I was down to 95 lbs, from 116.

After that flare I started getting better little by little but still had good days and bad days. I was desperate to try anything that might help me. I was only eating eggs, squash, cooked green beans, bananas and meat.

By October, I became desperate. There was an article in our local paper about how someone was healed from c-diff by doing a stool transplant (fecal transplant), which gave her an infusion of stool from a donor with good bacteria to restore what had been killed off by the c-diff. She fully recovered.

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I read this article below in early October and it made me very interested in trying it, as I was becoming desperate. If antibiotic created this issue causing colitis, by killing off the good bacteria, maybe transplanting bacteria back into my colon would work to start the healing process.

http://tinyurl.com/bl2vsnp

This article linked above is about a nurse who does her own home fecal transplant and has recovered from chronic diarrhea.

About two weeks ago (mid-October), I did the same fecal transplant that the nurse in this article did, with my husband being the donor and I feel I am suddenly healing faster. I am gaining weight again, no blood, no mucus. My energy is back. My ability to concentrate is beginning to come back. No cramps, no diarrhea. And solid, normal stools - the best part!

I am still following the SCD diet but I am able to eat more variety of those SCD foods that would have double me over a month ago.

I still have a bit of gas, but that may be because I am eating more fruits and vegetables that contain more fiber and my body is still adjusting.

For the last week or so I have been eating about 2 cups of 24-hour yogurt a day and there are no cramps, no blood.... it is amazing. I know how I felt before my 'experiment' - horrible.

My husband and I went on a bicycle ride today, which I couldn't do last month as I was too weak.

I feel this FT has really helped me, however it was really an unpleasant processes - I didn't use a blender like the nurse in the article, just a bottle and shook it up really good with a bit of filtered water,  also adding some fiber emptied from fiber pills, then used a turkey baster for the transplant. But once the fiber has been added it got thick pretty quickly so I know I needed to move fast to get the transplant done.

If you look up Dr Borody Fecal Transplants online, there is a lot of information out there on the Internet about how this doctor in Australia uses a similar process with a very high success rate.

Some recommend taking antibiotics to kill off everything, then do a bowel prep first, but I didn't go that route. I am not sure I would want to kill off what I have worked so hard to gain back over the last few months. (I think I will be staying far away from any antibiotics unless it is life and death.)  I felt I was desperate and need to do something to try to feel better.

I would be willing to do this again, if I had to, as I feel it has made a huge difference in how I feel and what I can eat. I am not saying I am totally healed at this point, as I am not sure yet, but I physically feel I am getting better and stronger each day - again still on the diet and really afraid to veer from the diet.

I would be interested to know if anyone else has tried this approach and if it worked for them.

Teri

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Steps I took in doing a home fecal transplant:

I have to say it was really NOT fun, but I feel SO good now that I would do it again in a heartbeat if I had to. My husband might not feel the same way.

He collected about 2 tablespoons by going in a clean ice cream bucket and using a plastic spoon, put some stool into one of my old prescription bottles (from a 3 month supply). He was wishing the opening was larger.  :  )

Then he handed it off to me and I added about 1/4 to 1/2 cup of warm filtered water and I had already emptied about 4 or 5 psyllium fiber pills into a container and added that in and shook it up really good. Move quickly once the fiber has been added as it turns to gel pretty quickly.

For future FMTs I used a large zip lock bag and added water right into the bag and massaged the mix until it was about the consistency of a milk shake. Cutting a hole in the corner made it much easier to strain any chunks out.

Then the rest is to use a turkey baster, enema bag, enema bottle or oral syringe and get all the mix or as much of it as you can, into your colon. One site said 50 ml is about all someone can take of liquid and stool. I squirted in as much as I could. (After the first FMT, I used a larger size oral syringe and kept refilling it, which was not near as messy as the turkey baster.)

It is quite a smelly process. Someone said they put some Vicks under their nose and that really helped disguise the smell a bit. (For future FMTs I used a respirator like a painter uses and it was pretty much smell free.)

I was using gloves and then washed really good afterwards then went and laid down on the couch for about an hour, turning from one side to the other, to hopefully, distribute the transplanted stool. There was some gurgling initially but I was really amazed that I was able to retain it for almost 2 days before I felt the need to go. That was a miracle in itself, not having to go 5 or 6 times in a day as I had been over the last 3 1/2 years.

I then cleaned everything good with bleach, including my turkey baster, in case I needed it again (no longer for kitchen use). I put the lid on what was left of the 'stuff' in the bottle and tossed it out. I wasn't about to clean that out and then recycle it.

I then took a couple of Immodium AD pills to help slow down my digestive system to give the transplant more time to become established.

I was so desperate that I knew I had get past the grossness of what I was doing (and the smell) and just keep my sites set on hoping it would be worth it.

I think it has been 2 or 3 weeks now and I feel better every day, but again, I am not ready to stop the diet as I want to give myself more time to heal first. I know I will never go back to eating like I did in the past. I know that complete healing can take time.

I made my husband promise not to tell anyone as I am not sure how it would be be received.

I wrestled with posting it but I want others to feel better and feel it might help someone else out there. Reading that article about the nurse doing it at home, really encouraged me to try this. I felt I had nothing to lose.

My husband had gone through some stool tests a few years ago as he had colitis brought on from taking ibuprofen for shoulder pain. He never changed his diet but is good as long as he stays away from ibuprofen. I felt he was still in pretty good shape and worth the risk for me to use him as the donor.

So far, I am so glad I did it and thankful my husband went along with it.

If you Google home fecal transplant there are others out there who have tried it and other sites with instructions. Video I found on YouTube showing preparation for a home fecal transplant - http://youtu.be/xLIndT7fuGo

I felt I had nothing to lose. So far, I feel great.

Teri.