Faecal bacteriotherapy
From DoctorMyhill
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The idea of faecal bacteriotherapy is to replenish the gut with friendly bacteria. This treatment is of established benefit in inflammatory bowel disease and clostridium difficile infections. It is also used in the veterinary world to treat animals with a range of gut symptoms. The difficult bug to replace is bacteroides because this does not survive for more than a few minutes outside the human gut. So the only way to replenish this is to use fresh material.
Indications for use
I would suggest trying this for people who lack bacteroides in the gut since this is the only way they can be replenished. Since the main problem is with bacteroides, I would want some evidence this bacteria was lacking. One can look for this by doing an Microbial Ecology Profile as done by the American laboratory Metametrix. Bacteroides does not show up in the Genova lab test CDSA.
If numbers of bacteroides were low, then they could be improved by attention to upper gut fermentation, combined with consuming desirable foods, i.e. those rich in fibre.
A suggested protocol
I am a great fan of low tech treatments which can be implemented fairly easily and inexpensively with very little potential to cause harm! The idea here is to take a small sample of fresh faeces from someone with normal gut flora, most importantly with good numbers of bacteroides and freedom from pathological strains, and instill this by enema into the prepared gut of the recipient.
Before the procedure
- Donor - he/she should be normally fit and healthy with no gut symptoms, ideally eating a stoneage diet and taking no medication. The donor must be screened for nasty bugs and friendly ones with Microbial Ecology Profile to make sure there are bacteroides present! The normal bacteria in the gut are passed down from mother to child during birth and immediately after. So you are likely to have a similar gut flora as your mother, siblings or, if female, your children. However, faecal bacteriotherapy has been done with success with non-relatives.
- Recipient – empty the large bowel. This would be the same regime as for any gut preparation before endoscopy or surgery. I use Epsom salts (magnesium sulphate) instead of picolax (magnesium chloride) but either would do. OR one could simply use colonic irrigation to empty the colon prior to instilling donor faeces.
The procedure
- Donor supplies 30 grams (about a rounded teaspoonful) of fresh faeces.
- Immediately mix this with 200ml of normal saline at body temperature. Normal saline is made up of 9 grams of salt in a litre of water.
- Immediately draw up the mix into an enema syringe and instill through anus into rectum.
I recommend enlisting the help of a colonic therapist so that this can be done as cleanly and efficiently as possible.
After the procedure
- Stay lying down and hold on to the enema for as long as reasonably possible.
- Resume normal diet
It is clear from Dr Borody's review of the literature[1] that the amounts are not critical. Given the right substrate, bacteria can double their numbers every 20 minutes! Normal saline should be used - too much or too little salt will kill the bugs! It may be that more than one treatment will be needed to get the desired effect.
For the science and clinical trials behind the above suggestions also see the reference.
References
- ↑ "Bacteriotherapy using Fecal Fauna", Thomas J Brody et al. J Clinical Gastronterology. Vol 36, Number 6, July 2004
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