Conditions being treated: IBS-M, Numerous Food Sensitivities (dairy, gluten, coconut, FODMAPS), GAD, OCD, Depression, Insomnia

Starting health status, from 1 to 10: 5.5/10

Ending health status, from 1 to 10: 7/10

What adverse events did you experience?: Upon startup: Lots of gas, back pain, aggravation of injury in foot, diarrhea. Most of these went away within 1-1.5 weeks. Long term: moderate increase on muscle/connective tissue inflammation.

What benefits did you experience?: Significant reduction in reactions to trigger foods. I can now consume dairy as long as I take lactase enzyme. Before course of FMT, this was not possible. No more issues with coconut either. Still have problems with apples (pectin) and gluten--although the latter is substantially improved. Sleep quality increased and I was able to reduce the dose of one of my medications. GI inflammation is way down and I appear to be producing more mucus in the GI tract which is a welcome development. After getting over the initial diarrhea, my stools are now consistently uniform 3-4 on bristol scale and clean.

Would you recommend this donor? Yes/no: Yes. This donor appears to be safe and really good for those who do not have much GI mucus production or intestinal permeability issues like myself.

Overall rating of this donor: 8/10

Supplements & medications you are/were taking: Lamotrigine, Mirtazapine, creatine, fish oil, vit d, nacetyl glucosamine, CoQ10, magnesium L-Threonate, pomegranate extract, biovin red wine extract, melatonin

Diet before, during, and after: Berries, bananas, mangoes, cauliflower, broccoli, squash, cucumber, spinach and romaine lettuce, white rice, sweet/white/red potatoes, chicken, beef, pork. Decaf coffee and tea (no sugar or creamer). Olive and avocado oils. Some sweets mixed in (gluten free). Diet is generally meat/protein and fruit/veggies heavy, lower on carbs. Skip 1 meal every other day, generally breakfast

Using other donors at the same time?: No. I never had tried FMT prior to this.

Have used other donors in the past? If so, how would you rank this donor compared to them?: N/A

Additional comments: Generally, I am very pleased with the results from FMT, and now that I am about a week post treatment, The benefits appear to be holding. I can now eat daily (milk, cheese and ice cream) which I have not been able to have in any appreciable quantity in years. I also have reduced sensitivity to FODMAPS, although arabinogalactans and pectin still seem to give me issue. Stools are very consistent, even with variance in what is eaten. The only negative effect I experienced is an increase in musculoskeletal inflammation, primarily in an old injury from last year. I feel the trade off was worth it. FMT did not have an appreciable impact on my mental health conditions, although they were in a pretty good spot to begin with.

Date of first FMT: 2/7/2023

Date of last FMT: 4/17/2023

Date of this report: 4/23/2023

Number of FMTs done from this donor: 60+ fmts using capsules over ~2.5 months.

Routes: upper, lower, both: Capsules (oral route) only. 1-2 capsules a day.

Fresh or Frozen? Antifreeze? Frozen, without antifreeze.

Donor

FL-RS-1997

Gender

Male

Conditions being treated

Fatigue, hypothyroidism, autoimmunity (thyroid, maybe brain and other tissues, i didn't do any testing there), multiple food intolerances/sensitivities (gluten, a1 dairy, nightshades, etc...), histamine intolerance and possible MCAS, chronic brain fog, depression and anxiety, history of IBS-M, severe and chronic dry eye syndrome, dandruff, itchy rashes, possible seb. dermatitis.

Starting health status, from 1 to 10

5/10

Ending health status, from 1 to 10

8/10

What adverse events did you experience?

Lots of gas, itchy rashes (histamine reaction), brain fog, constipation.

What benefits did you experience?

Not sure (see additional comments).

Would you recommed this donor? Yes/no.

Yes.

Overall rating of this donor

8/10

Supplements & medications you were taking

Thyroid hormone (levothyroxine, triiodothyronine) DAO supplements (NaturDAO), betaine HCL supplements, vitamin D3 and K2 drops, sometimes a multivitamin (Thorne Research).

Diet before, during, and after

Before and during: beef, organs and tallow, white rice, goat milk and yogurt, some fruit (mostly bananas and blueberries), sometimes carrots, agave syrup. After: Added much more fruit, honey, some vegetables and goat cheese.

Using other donors at the same time?

No.

Have used other donors in the past? If so, how would you rank this donor compared to them?

UT-AW-1998. I ranked this donor higher than the other, but honestly I'm not sure if he is really better (see additional comments).

Additional comments

During and right after I did the FMTs I did not experience any benefits. Just the usual side effects like a histamine reaction. About a week later I noticed drastic benefits. The problem is, I cannot clearly attribute this to the FMT because I'm currently also doing helminthic therapy. I inoculated myself with Necator Americanus larvae about 3 months ago and did another inoculation between some of my FMTs. One week after my second inoculation the helminthic therapy finally kicked in (it can take a couple of months) and my symptoms drastically improved. Improved skin, better mood and focus, less fatigue, my reactions to food are like 95% better, my stool quality is a lot better, it is quite remarkable. And all of this in a very short time. Since then, I have also been able to lower my thyroid hormone dose significantly and I'll probably be able to come off of it completely in the future. I had been on a low-iodine diet for years because consuming it would worsen the autoimmune attack against the thyroid. With the autoimmunity controlled by the helminths, I was able to reintroduce iodine into my diet again and my endogenous thyroid hormone production sprang back to life. I truly haven't felt this good in years. Even my chronic dry eye syndrome seems to be getting better. I always suspected that was related to my autoimmune disease. I think the FMT helped as well though, it's not just due to helminthic therapy. I did a stool microbiome test (yes I know, not super accurate) and I saw a lot more species that showed up compared to tests in the past with the same laboratory. A lot of keystone species like butyrate-producing species, Akkermansia, or Faecalibacterium, that were just absent from my gut in all previous tests. So it seemed like the FMT was a success in that regard, it's just that the strong immune-modulating effects of the helminths were needed to get my (gut) immune system under control again. Both together seem to be very, very effective in restoring immune health and a healthy gut microbiome. I could not imagine before how effective this combined therapy would be for my chronic health issues.

Date of first FMT

2023-01-22

Date of last FMT

2023-02-19

Date of this report

2023-03-18

Number of FMTs done from this donor

About 8

Routes: upper, lower, both

Both. Two lower, several upper (see additional comments).

Fresh or Frozen? Antifreeze?

Frozen. No antifreeze.

Have done FMTs from 11 different donors prior to this one https://old.reddit.com/r/HumanMicrobiome/comments/8sv31e/my_detailed_experiences_lessons_from_8_different/

Last one was from HumanMicrobes.org, Donor FL-RS-1997. https://old.reddit.com/r/FMTClinics/comments/uase7j/humanmicrobesorg_donor_flrs1997_addressing_ibsd/

HumanMicrobes.org results tracking: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1E9TFLqh9I2ZZhDSvGljyhukU-71fFMmJ/edit#gid=514185988

Prior to FMT:

• IBS relief has not lasted. Things are pretty unstable and I haven't been able to find a balance with diet & supplements. Haven't eaten meat for a long time, but still eating eggs daily.

• Improvements to head inflammation-type symptoms, and brain function have remained, but brain function is still quite poor. FL-RS had a protective effect where I'm not experiencing active inflammation-type symptoms anymore. Unfortunately it didn't trigger a healing effect I've experienced previously.

• Face is still typically pretty pale and dark under eyes. This seems associated with stool type, including color.

• Fatigue is still mildly improved.

• Weight has increased from 165lbs to 180lbs.

• Still have leftovers of chronic bruising from a wound on my lower leg from many years ago.

• Chronic sinus stuffiness is mostly returned I think.

• Sleep is fairly poor still.

• Sex drive still quite poor. Probably due to overall poor circulation, which is probably playing a role in other symptoms such as low brain function.

• Ears are no longer caustically leaking.

• Chest has been feeling worse recently as the FL-RS FMT wears off.

Diet:

Before: Cheese, eggs, peanuts, brazil nuts, walnuts, fruit, white sweet potatoes, olive oil, spices, honey, basmati white rice, leafy greens, cauliflower.

After: Cheese, eggs, peanuts, brazil nuts, walnuts, fruit, white sweet potatoes, olive oil, spices, honey, basmati white rice, leafy greens, cauliflower.

Supplements & meds:

Before: Imodium 3x/day, creatine, 5k vit d, 65mg iron (ferrous sulfate) 1x/day, 25mg zinc.

After: Imodium 3x/day, creatine, 5k vit d, 65mg iron (ferrous sulfate) 1x/day, 25mg zinc. Cholestyramine (BAS).

Summary:

Throughout nearly all the screening this donor seemed like an ideal candidate. After screening 100k+ applicants this person seemed like the #1 rank. Unfortunately, towards the end/at the end of the screening and during the test phase, there were a number of red flags. Despite the donor's red flags, I had a few bags of poop on hand, so I tried it after freezing them for two weeks like they do with raw fish.

This donor has one of the more consistently good & uniform stools, which is something I hypothesized to be important. FL-RS's for example are much more variable. But it seems that FL-RS has something that this donor doesn't. And FL-RS is able to produce certain stools that are quite helpful for me. Whereas this donor wasn't helpful at all.

This donor had no benefits and reversed protein & fat tolerance to the worst it's been in many years. I had to remove all protein, add back BAS, and I'm still way worse. Cold; extensive fatigue and head worse after meals.

There are still people confidently parroting that you simply need to find someone healthier than you, and you'll improve to their level, or at least improve. I've known this to be false for a long time. And this is yet another example of that.

Quick benefits/cons. Will answer any questions.

​

UT-AW-

-First dose had extreme euphoria and heightened libido (assuming escherichia ). This faded away within 24 hours after dosing and always would turn into brain fog/back pain (assuming Klebsiella)

-Would experience mild to moderate bloating and would increase with milk ingestion.

-Would experience mild to moderate burning stomach and mild nausea

-Noticed Mild hair loss

-Noticed mild but cystic acne

-Noticed Nose burning after 30 minutes of ingestion.

-Noticed burning ear pain randomly after ingestion

-Mild burning gums

-I would notice my right side of face burning 50% of the time when I took one hour after.

-weight loss

Overall: Good donor but I wish I could get the microbes that caused euphoria to stick.

​

FL-RS:

-First dosage helped my stomach irritation and always got wonderful sleeps.

-I ended up taking an antibiotic a few weeks after fmt with FL-RS

-I tried redosing after FMT and got severe yellowing/staining of my teeth. To be clear, whenever I would ingestion a pill, my teeth would start to turn yellow. It was gross.

-nausea

-mild euphoria

-severe burning gums after redose antibiotic (assuming this is h.pylori)

-weight loss

Overall: Good donor before antibiotic, after I took an antibiotic the fmt seemed to become pathogenic.

​

Microbioma:

- Helped stomach irritation

-Mildly helped gum inflammation

- mild hair loss

-Helped sleep a bit

-Felt slightly better on it

-lowered libido moderately

​

Overall: microbioma fmt seemed to be the most stable and reliable how I would feel

​

​

Mginfusions:

-Only took 1 pill

-Severe intestinal inflammation

-Severe weight loss

-Severe fatigue

-Severe anxiety

-destroyed libido

Overall: This guy has a serious pathogen overgrowth and He needs a FMT himself! Horrid bad breath too

​

​

​

letter Ratings:

UT-AW:

C+

​

FL-RS:

A- before antibiotic

D after antibiotic

​

Microbioma:

Solid B-

​

MGinfusions

F - Straight trash

Donor

UT-AW-1998

Sex

Male

Conditions being treated

• Fatigue
• Hypothyroidism
• Autoimmunity (thyroid, maybe brain and other tissues)
• Multiple food intolerances/sensitivities (gluten, A1 dairy, nightshades, iodine, etc...)
• Histamine intolerance and possible MCAS
• Chronic brain fog
• Depression and anxiety
• History of IBS-M (went away after doing a round of herbal antimicrobials some time ago)
• Severe, chronic dry eye syndrome.
• Dandruff, itchy rashes, possible seb. dermatitis.

Starting health status, from 1 to 10

5/10

Ending health status, from 1 to 10

5/10

What adverse events did you experience?

• Lots of gas
• Itchy rashes (histamine reaction)
• Brain fog
• Constipation
• Fatigue

What benefits did you experience?

None.

Would you recommed this donor? Yes/no.

No, not from my experience.

Overall rating of this donor

5/10. Didn't help, but didn't hurt either. None of the negative effects were permanent. Seems to be free of pathogens. Others were helped by this donor.

Supplements & medications you were taking

• Thyroid hormone (levothyroxine, triiodothyronine).
• DAO supplements (NaturDAO).
• Betaine HCL supplements.
• Vitamin D3 and K2 drops, sometimes a multivitamin (Thorne Research)

Diet before, during, and after

• Beef and beef fat (tallow) sometimes beef liver and heart. Sometimes lamb.
• White rice.
• Goat milk and yogurt.
• Some fruit (bananas, mangos, persimmons, tangerines, blueberries, cherries...)
• Sometimes vegetables like carrots, onions or winter squash.
• Sometimes olive oil.
• Unprocessed additive-free salt. Sometimes herbs here and there.
• Sweeteners like agave syrup, sugar beet syrup, sugar or honey. Sometimes rice flour.
• Small amounts of tapioca and arrowroot starch.

Using other donors at the same time?

No.

Have used other donors in the past? If so, how would you rank this donor compared to them?

No.

Additional comments

Donor appears to be safe. All the side effects were transient. I did not get any benefits, not even temporary ones. Very disappointing. I wonder if any of the bacteria survived the journey and the freezing/thawing. All the reactions I got from the FMT can be explained as mere reactions to the fecal matter itself and undigested particles within it (probably some kind of seed or grain/legume). I did upper and lower FMTs. The lower only once because I found it to be very difficult. I tried oral FMT by just swallowing the frozen stool and washing it down with water first thing in the morning, then waiting for an hour before eating. I also tried it by dissolving the stool in warm water, then drinking it. This lead to less reactions to the FMT, probably due to avoiding the undigested food particles in the donor's stool. I also tried thawing the stool and swallowing it in stomach acid-resistant capsules. None of these methods provided any benefit, sadly. Swallowing the frozen stool is not as difficult as it sounds. Hold your nose, put it at the back or your mouth, wash it down with water. Don't take too much or you might choke on it. Drink more water afterwards. Holding your nose avoids tasting most of the gross flavor. The most difficult part is getting over the initial revulsion. This method has the benefit of being less work than making capsules and you also avoid the process of thawing and filling the capsules, which might kill off more bacteria. The downside is little to no protection against stomach acid. Dissolving the stool in water and drinking that caused less reactions against the FMT in me but I can't speak to if it is as effective as the other methods or not. None of them had any effect for me. Making the capsules is kind of a hassle. I think I favor swallowing the frozen stool out of all of these methods.

Date of first FMT

2022-11-03

Date of last FMT

2022-11-28

Date of this report

2022-12-3

Number of FMTs done from this donor

7

Routes: upper, lower, both.

Both. One lower, several upper (see additional comments).

Fresh or Frozen? Antifreeze?

Frozen with antifreeze.

Conditions / symptoms:

Main problems started a few years ago after experimenting with keto diet.

Edit: worsened a lot from taking medication.

​

• It led to recurring digestive issues and change in bowel habits (diarrhea and constipation, then after a while mainly constipation), along with change of stool type and frequent stomach cramps.
• Skin had lost its glow. Not wanting to sound too much like a commercial spokesperson but it wasn’t really radiating anymore. It also started itching a lot.
• Food sensitivities, histamine intolerance.
• Allergies
• Sleep issues, insomnia.
• An overall hard to describe state of “feeling shit”, basically every day.

Condition kept on deteriorating continuously until it became unbearable in 2022. Lots of doctor visits, hospital. No real diagnosis. Stool tests were clear, bloodwork all in the range. On paper I was perfectly healthy.

Digestion and pain got so bad that I went low FODMAP - which provided some relief at least.

Researched a lot and came across FMT.

​

Supplements / medicine:

Multivitamin, B Vitamins, Quercetin and Bromelain, anti-histamine

​

Diet before / during / after:

Chicken, white rice, eggs, pumpkin, bok choy, broccoli, grapes, blueberries, coconot yoghurt, honey. During/After I added flax seeds and other fruits and veggies. Tried dairy products (cheese, yogurt) but made me feel worse and stopped them

​

Methods and protocol:

Ordered one frozen stool (no anti-freeze), wanted to start slowly and was afraid of side effects.

Did a 5-day course of Oregano Oil (3x daily) and Wormwood to induce some die-off and clearance before starting with the FMTs.

Did both capsules (size 00, not enteric-coated) and enemas over a 4-week period with 2-4 FMTs per week.

​

Day 1:

Started with 3-4 capsules on an empty stomach. 1.5hr later took a cranberry capsule as food for the new bacteria. 3 hrs later first meal.

Experienced some bloating later that day, stomach/gut rumbling, and intense itch (which could be unrelated to the FMT).

Interesting effect: My breath came back. Hadn’t had bad breath in ages, which you think is a good sign, but it felt unnatural to have your breath smell like nothing and it didn’t seem healthy. Anyway, in the evening I noticed that my breath felt more normal - it wasn’t smelling horrible or anything, just had a normal neutral smell back.

Had a tiny BM of type 1 earlier in the day but seemed unrelated to the FMT.

​

Day 2:

3-4 capsules on empty stomach, and followed a similar schedule to day 1.

BM later in the day. Still relatively undigested and type 1. There was mucus and a tiny bit of blood. No other sign of FMT effect but again, my digestive system works slowly.

Felt itchy and sneezed a lot. Still some bloating and mild pain.

​

Day 3-5:

Digestion and symptoms relatively unchanged. Though digestion felt slower than usual, and I think it was caused by the FMTs and the fact that my system was working hard on changing its composition / being confronted with new bacteria.

​

Day 5:

Performed an enema. Guides on the web recommended 200-300ml, so I used a similar amount. Did yoga poses and massage to support distribution in bowels, was able to keep it all in until next day.

​

Day 6:

Change in digestion - BM was type 4 and easier to pass. Look and smell resembled donor’s stool. Looked healthier, formed, better digested and darker in color.

​

Days 7-30:

Followed a similar FMT schedule and experienced similar side effects (bloating, mild-moderate stomach/gut pain, mucus, had gas, sneezing, itch, and felt very tired on some days).

Stool varied. BM became irregular for a while, and after the other enemas it turned into type 4-5, unformed, somewhat green in color.

I got increasing cravings for dairy - yoghurt and cheese. Since I missed these foods I gave in and added organic dairy yoghurt and had 2-3 slices of cheese daily. In retrospect, it was a mistake and probably contributed to me feeling worse. It was too early for a change in diet I believe.

I experimented with taking flax seeds 30-60 minutes after capsule FMTs. I think it helped, but wouldn’t put too much importance on it.

​

Days 13-19:

After 2-3 weeks I had a few days where I finally felt alive again and more like a normal person. Better energy, and as if a weight was lifted off me. It was amazing and came along with better digestion - type 3-4 stools, digested, healthy medium-dark brown color. Unfortunately my sleep was still shit, and even though my skin looked smoother / more radiating, the itch and rashes didn’t improve.

Interestingly I dreamed a lot more than before, and I felt like listening to music again (which I hadn’t in ages).

​

Unfortunately, the effects didn’t last long. Digestion became worse, my energy disappeared, and I felt horrible again overall. Even worse than before to some extent.

​

At first I thought the donor had given me a gut imbalance. Looking back now I’m not so sure about it. While possible, I think it’s hard to pin-point exactly what had happened, and why. There are too many other factors to evaluate the effects (and side effects) of the FMTs precisely - diet, hormones, sleep, unpredictability of bacteria growth and colony-formation…

2 weeks after the last FMT I started another round of Oregano Oil which somewhat helped. But, realistically, I’m now back to Square One as far as my condition goes.

​

I think FMTs hold great value and can improve many conditions. I’d love to give it another go as I’ve tried so many other things and have never gotten impactful, let alone lasting, relief.

​

Things I’d improve next time:

• Increase frequency of FMTs in the beginning.
• Use less liquid for enemas.
• Expand the time-frame of the FMT schedule.
• Stick with my regular diet.

Background: Previously I had done a FMT from the HumanMicrobes UT-AW-1998 donor, which was 100 enteric coated pills. I didn't feel anything immediately when taking them, but later on I noticed my sleep was improved and my histamine intolerance was basically gone (I could eat seafood, wine, etc.). However, during a similar time period I had also been trying two peptides, BPC 157 and Thymosin Alpha -1. It seems most likely that it was the FMT that helped, but I can't be 100% sure.

Anyway, I had high hopes going into this FL donor, as they seemed pretty promising.

Sadly, It didn't work out for me. I opted for stool with antifreeze. I took 20 non-enteric coated pills over the course of two weeks. I experienced adverse effects essentially overnight with the first 10 pills.

Adverse effects: Lower back pain at night, which is something I experienced a year + ago. Sore throats in the morning. Worsened sleep. Mild, intermittent stomach upset.

Beneficial effects: Gut motility used to be aggressive -- i.e. When I had to poop in the morning, it was urgent. Drinking water/fruit/caffeine would really do the trick. This has basically stopped after the FL donor, and my stools are more often a 3/4 rather than a 5.

A couple thoughts of mine:

1. I'm definitely convinced in the potency of FMTs. If it was the Utah FMT that fixed my histamine intolerance, that's a huge effect. And this FMT was not beneficial but the effect was STRONG. It was NOT a lot of stool that I took. This was 20 pills but they didn't even have much stool in them. There's probably like 100x+ of the stool still left untaken.

2. I'm wondering if I should try the lower route eventually, maybe it'll have a different effect. I'm also considering going back and trying the UT-AW donor again, as they may have been fairly successful.

3. My experience with these two FMTs has been that new effects can be noticed even ~2 months after you've ceased taking the FMTs. Maybe that's not normal but I'm going to keep it in mind in the future when reflecting on the procedures.

Summary:
The HumanMicrobes UT-AW-1998 donor may have had beneficial effects for me, while the FL-RS-1997 had mostly negative effects.

I will likely continue to try any promising donors from HumanMicrobes in the future.

Feel free to ask any questions about my experience.

Symptoms:

• Primary symptoms: hypotension (fatigue, chills, occasional dizziness), anxiety (in remission), constipation, restlessness, migraine, globus, underweight, nasal allergy.

• Hypotension developed in 2020 after many months of oral antimicrobials used to eliminate or lessen certain microorganisms which in hindsight didn't appear to be problematic. After developing this I needed to consume salt frequently to prevent fatigue, chills, and dizziness.

• Anxiety put in remission in 2018 with methylfolate supplementation.

• Nasal allergy may have developed around 2004/2005, or earlier.

• The other symptoms have been around as long as I can remember.

Diet/Supplements:

• Diet: ~90% whole plants (diverse array), ~10% refined foods.

• Supplements: Vitamin C/D3/B12, methylfolate, algae oil, zinc, copper, and magnesium glycinate. Occasionally colostrum and inulin around FMTs.

Methods:

• 13 FMTs performed. Both upper and lower. Both individually and on the same day(s). Except for the ones performed on the same day as each other, FMTs were done roughly every ~6 days. See log for details.

• Samples had maltodextrin, stored between ice packs in a freezer which I measured at -17dC. This was as cold as I could get it.

• Thawing was done rapidly by exposure to warm or hot water. In the case of all upper FMTs, I would place the frozen sample in a syringe and either place the syringe in hot water or run hot water over it (the water didn't touch the sample). In the case of most lower FMTs, I would place the frozen sample in a plastic bag, pour in warm saline, and massage the sample from outside the bag.

• Capsules were made while the stool was still somewhat in the process of thawing.

• Lower FMTs used gravity method (HumanMicrobiome.info/FMT#lower-route). It was difficult for me to feel the sample moving through my large intestine, and I often had to perform two roll cycles to keep everything in.

Results:

• Hypotension improved very quickly, I believe within 12 hours of the first day of FMTs, and continued to improve over the weeks. I no longer need to consume salt every few hours to maintain energy and avoid chills and dizziness. It makes sense that this condition improved so quickly considering it only developed a couple years ago after months of antimicrobials. Luckily this benefit has lasted so far.

• Gained ~1 hour of wake time (started sleeping ~1 hour less than before and not needing that hour) after the 3rd FMT. This benefit didn't seem to last ~15 days after the last FMT.

• Stool gradually seemed to become more formed in shape after somewhere around the 5th FMT, and more so after the 9th FMT. This benefit may have lasted to some degree but not entirely.

• Dreams seemed to get more vivid. This benefit didn't last.

• Herx reactions: Irritability for one day, two days after the first day of FMTs. Possibly slightly reduced energy for a couple/few days after the first day of FMTs.

Log:

FMT 1 (upper) and 2 (lower):

• Performed on same day and time (upper right before lower).

• Upper: 30 capsules, double HPMC, 16 hours after and 2.5 hours before food (afternoon).

• Lower: ~30ml of sample, performed after 2 BMs.

FMT 3 (upper):

• Performed 7 days after FMT 1 and 2.

• 66 capsules, double HPMC, 16 hours after and 2.5 hours before food (before bed).

FMT 4 (upper):

• Performed 6 days after FMT 3.

• 25 capsules, single HPMC, 7 hours after and 9 hours before food (before bed). Half the capsules were size 00 as opposed to the usual, so it was more like ~30 capsules worth of sample.

FMT 5 (upper):

• Performed 4 days after FMT 4.

• ~32 capsules, double HPMC, 1.5 tsp baking soda beforehand, 7 hours after and 11 hours before food (before bed).

FMT 6 (upper):

• Performed 6 days after FMT 5.

• 41 capsules, triple HPMC, 1 tsp calcium carbonate beforehand, 7 hours after and 10 hours before food (before bed).

FMT 7 (upper):

• Performed 4 days after FMT 6.

• ~20-25ml frozen sample swallowed with unsweetened macadamia milk, 1 tsp calcium carbonate beforehand, 7 hours after and 11 hours before food (before bed).

FMT 8 (lower):

• Performed 5 days after FMT 7.

• ~15ml of sample, performed after 2 BMs.

FMT 9 (lower):

• Performed 5 days after FMT 8.

• ~25ml of sample, performed after 2 BMs.

FMT 10 (upper) and 11 (lower):

• Performed 6 days after FMT 9.

• Performed on same day and time (upper right before lower).

• Upper: 35 capsules, double HPMC, 1 tsp calcium carbonate beforehand, 16 hours after and 4.5 hours before food (afternoon).

• Lower: ~35ml of sample, performed after 2 BMs.

FMT 12 (upper) and 13 (lower):

• Performed 7 days after FMTs 10 and 11.

• Performed on same day and time (upper right before lower).

• Upper: 32 capsules, double HPMC, 1 tsp calcium carbonate beforehand, 17 hours after and 3 hours before food (afternoon).

• Lower: ~35ml of sample, performed after 1 BM.

• https://imgbox.com/GPHUpHLX
• https://lensdump.com/i/tBnLfT

symptoms I wanted to treat: 3+ years of chronic fatigue, brain fog, histamine intolerance, probably some (unrecognized) allergies/food intolerances, not diarrhea, but consistently very soft stool, several different but hard to describe ways of “feeling very shitty/sick”

procedure: I used up 3 medium-sized stools over a period of about 6 weeks. The stools were all ordered from Human Microbes, from Donor UT-AW-1998.

I sttarted with taking 20 pills per day for 5 days, then continued to take 5-10 pills per day until stools were used up.

At the same time I did enemas with 10-30g of stool 1-3 times per week - more often in the beginning.

At the same time of doing FMT I was on Gut Health Protocol https://www.theguthealthprotocol.com/wp/ with ketonic diet consisting of hemp protein, eggs, chicken meat, some veggies. I did a "kill phase" of 6 weeks of very low fiber and low carbs and various antimicrobial herbs/supplements according to the protocol prior to starting FMT, to kill all bad bacteria in my gut. After starting regular FMT I switched into the "healing phase" of the protocol, which includes a lot of things - one of them being supplementing a lot of different fibers.

Outcome: I feel moderately better now, about 2 months after FMT, but it’s a bit hard to say. I definitely felt a lot better for ~4 weeks during/after FMT, but only some of the benefits lasted. I also had a ~3 week streak of “perfect stool” - something I haven’t even been close to for 5+ years! But by now my stool is about as bad as it had been before FMT, i.e. almost always quite soft but not liquid, regularly once per day.

Especially my “peak performance” on “good days without symptoms” improved a lot. Previously even “good days” weren’t that good. At the same time I continue to have frequent quite bad days with lots of fatigue.

I’ve always had a few different clusters of fatigue-like symptoms. There were hangover-like days (as if I had drunk a lot of alcohol). This has become less often and less bad after FMT. I also often had fluey feverish feelings. These have actually completely disappeared for now. However, they had been gone for periods of a few weeks before, but had always returned so far. Still, this is one of the longest “not feeling fluey” phase so far. I also know days of “feeling just utterly exhausted, as if I had run a marathon”. These have actually become a little bit more often I feel.

All in all I would say that most “ways of feeling shitty” have become less shitty since FMT, but some aspects have worsed a bit and a few new ways of feeling shitty have appeared. In general my symptoms have changed pretty dramatically. Overall it was a moderate improvement - enough to motivate me to give FMT another try in the future.

Things that got better:

• less “feeling shitty/sick/fatigued”, or rather: many aspects of “feeling shitty and brain fogged” disappeared completely, while others persisted and a few new “ways of feeling shitty” were added.

• I now need about 1 hour less sleep per day without feeling more tired. Awesome!! Sometimes I only sleep ~6 hours per day for a few days in a row now without feeling tired at all! This had not even been the case years before I became sick!

• my “best days post FMT” are much better than “best days prior FMT”

• much better stool consistency for ~3 weeks after FMT, but that didn’t last.

• I had much more vivid dreams during and a bit after FMT - very interesting!!

• I’ve already been a pretty happy person, but I feel like after FMT my mood is even better. On many days I now feel a persistent strong feeling of happy energy (almost like very low dose MDMA). Sometimes I can’t stop smiling even when my body feels pretty shitty. Very nice!!

Things that got worse:

• occasional very mild skin conditions in the face for about 6 weeks, that didn’t last

• For a few weeks I had some pimples throughout my body, that eventually all went away.

• smelly “rotten eggs farts” happen more often now

• some allergy-like symptoms (e.g. clotted nose, low blood pressure, very dry skin, a new type of brain fog) actually seem to happen more often now.

• I also sometimes feel a new way of “feeling sick” that is hard to describe that I think I did not have before FMT.

Hopefully these are just temporary thing while everything adjusts to the microbiome changes.

When I started FMT I felt extremely sick for about 3 days and had very strong diarrhea. It was extremely unpleasant, but did completely disappear in the end! I strongly recommend people to start with a very low dose of feces and slowly work your way up. That way you should be fine. (I was “stupid” and immediately started with 20 pills all taken at once…)

Prior to FMT:

• This was my first FMT
• long history (3-5 years) of severe gut health issues and chronic fatigue
• had tried countless different treatments throughout the last 3 years (FODMAP Diet, many different probiotics, fasting, many different diets, went to countless doctors and did hundreds of tests, but nothing had worked, I was extremely desperate and willing to try anything)
• had tried “The Gut Health Protocol” by John Heron a few months prior and that had helped a lot. I went through that protocol again for a second time while simultaneously doing FMT

Supplements:

• “Phage Complete”, a probiotic that also contains Phages
• fish oil
• Vitamins: B’s, C, D
• Zink, copper, magnesium

• https://imgbox.com/XOgWWVkp
• https://lensdump.com/i/t943jA

Have done FMTs from 10 different donors prior to this one https://old.reddit.com/r/HumanMicrobiome/comments/8sv31e/my_detailed_experiences_lessons_from_8_different/

Last one was from HumanMicrobes.org, Donor UT-AW-1998. https://old.reddit.com/r/FMTClinics/comments/r4fj3d/humanmicrobesorg_donor_utaw1998_no_improvement/

HumanMicrobes.org results tracking: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1E9TFLqh9I2ZZhDSvGljyhukU-71fFMmJ/edit#gid=174339095

Prior to FMT:

Everything pretty much the same as prior to UT-AW-1998. Except worse tolerance for fat/cheese since AW's microbes seemed to crowd out AR's.

Symptoms:

CFS (chronic fatigue syndrome), IBS-D. Very low brain function. Still very underweight. Brain frequently feels inflamed and "full", poor circulation, and other things that are hard to describe such as a pressure/circulatory pain, a bludgeoning feeling, etc.. My memory is terrible. I feel like I have mild Alzheimer's/type 3 diabetes https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2769828/. Chronic sinus stuffiness. Wounds heal extremely slowly, poorly, and incompletely, and are caused easily. I've been having problems with swelling of my feet and face. Permanent "bruising" showed up in my feet. Dark bags under eyes. Face frequently pale and swollen. Many food intolerances, including to many FODMAPs. Almost no sex drive.

Ears have been leaking (mostly at night) for past few weeks. It's caustic and burns my skin. Not too sure what the trigger is/was, but I'm pretty sure it has to do with multiple things:

1. Chronic infection. My body seems incapable of mounting an immune response. I haven't really been sick in over a decade, but I've been feeling unwell all the time. Cause could be an ear infection, head cold, etc. that my body can't fight off.
2. Related to the Alzheimer's mechanism of drainage of waste and toxic proteins https://archive.ph/19Ibb#selection-2475.11-2479.0. I have mild Alzheimer's symptoms so clearly my waste-clearing system isn't working well. My circulation seems poor too. There may be blockages.

Diet:

Jack cheese, select fruits, white sweet potatoes, olive oil, some limited spices, honey, basmati white rice, some leafy greens, broccoli and cauliflower.

Supplements:

Cholestyramine (BAS), imodium, creatine, b complex, 5k vit d, 65mg iron (ferrous sulfate), 25mg zinc.

Summary:

Similar but different from RDS-AR. Better at some things, worse at others. Should be safer, but a little weaker overall for my bile acid metabolism & fatigue issues. But possibly a little stronger in regards to protein & other various food tolerance. Mild overall improvements; moderate improvements for IBS. Allowed me to stop BAS, add peanuts, walnuts, brazil nuts, avocados, increase amount of cheese, improved some IBS aspects such as making fart & stool odor very mild, and improved stool consistency, and decreased size of stools. No noticeable problems or differences from frozen vs refrigerated for up to 9 days. Did a 3 day juice fast afterwards; didn't notice any significant benefits from that. Tried black eyed peas and oatmeal - tolerance definitely improved, but one of them still seemed too problematic.

​

02/09/2022: First stool I received was small, dark, type 2, dry, uniform. The odor and taste are very mild, like healthy stool. It was refrigerated in a zip lock bag for ~24 hours, with the air removed. I took 0.5-1tbls orally, first thing in the morning on an empty stomach, with water, ~2 hours before breakfast. Refrigerated another same dose for the next day, and straight-froze the rest.

Maybe caused a slight increase in energy that day, but the change could have been due to other normal variation as well.

I've consistently noticed that when I have certain types of major changes to my gut microbiome I dream of an apocalyptic scenario where the world is being destroyed by volcanoes, monsters, massive waves, etc.. I think it's clear that the gut microbiome impacts dreams. I wonder if it would even be too much to say that gut microbes are communicating through dreams to some extent. Technically "communication" would qualify as signals of "good/happy" "sad/bad", so it's not too much of a leap.

Continued taking one small dose each morning. Did a deep retention enema after ~5 days, then another enema a week after that.

About 5 days in I was able to stop taking Cholestyramine. Then a few days later stopped taking iron, but had to add back a smaller dose.

02/23/2022: Historically, I used to feel best with light brown stools. After 5-7 donors that changed, and all symptoms would drastically worsen unless my stool was dark. I was using iron + Cholestyramine to make my stools dark. After two weeks of FMTs from this donor I stopped taking them, and my stools are now light brown with none of the severe symptoms (somewhat like sepsis) I would normally experience. Though I did start to have more mild versions of the same issues, so I added back some iron to darken stool again, and that helped.

02/26/2022: Second stool I received was softer than the first (type 4 vs type 2-3), but otherwise similar. Kept it refrigerated and took two doses orally (1st mid-day I received it, 2nd early morning next day) before using the softer half for enema the day after I received it. 1.5 hours after the enema I experienced heavy fatigue in bed. Cool/light burning sensation at cecum that spread to whole right side colon.

I haven't had a reaction like this from a stool donor in a very long time. The previous enemas from this donor were with frozen stool, and I experienced a more mild reaction from them. In general, enemas from this donor seem significantly more powerful than all other donors I've used in recent years (at least the last two thirds of the 11 donors I've used). Enemas from this donor seem to have a larger impact than upper route too. This type of heavy sleepy fatigue is not something I've experienced in a long time. Donor 6 once triggered a similar thing.

Factors that may have contributed: stool softer than last time. Fresh, not frozen.

It seems to be the softness, since this softer 2nd stool seemed to reverse some of the benefits I got from the 1st one, and I had to add back BAS. Then I did a fresh enema with the 3rd stool and noticed no reaction.

I kept the stool in the refrigerator while using it for a week. Didn't notice any issues/problems.

03/15/2022: Third stool's firmness was in between 1 & 2. The impacts were closer to stool #1, and did allow me to stop BAS and add peanuts again. This donor has also had a fairly strong mucus-related effect. Mucus production has increased. My farts smell like mucus, overall odor of BMs is drastically reduced. I'm thinking that if I fast now the benefits/results may be significantly different from what I've experienced in the past. I'm hoping/thinking this donor may be able to fix/improve my mucosa barrier.

04/23/2022: Fast didn’t seem to do much, but I didn’t get diarrhea from it (which is new). IBS is significantly improved still.

Longer logs:

https://old.reddit.com/r/HumanMicrobiome/comments/8sv31e/my_detailed_experiences_lessons_from_8_different/

​

​

Updates:

2022-05-09: Holy shit. Apparently I can eat meat now. I haven't been able to tolerate protein for like a decade, after I took Rifaximin. Will update with more details soon.

2022-05-14: Yep, not only can I tolerate, meat, eggs, protein, but I'm craving them and they're beneficial for me.

2022-05-24: Have gotten further improvements to head/brain. I've been starting to be able to lie my head flat at night. Ever since I used donor 5 and started getting bad head trouble, I've had to incline my bed plus use a folded pillow to prop my head up during sleep, or instead of some mild recovery during sleep my head gets much worse - inflammation, swelling, feeling full, etc.. Seems to be related to these drainage issues: https://archive.ph/19Ibb#selection-2475.11-2479.0.

2022-06-16:

Continued benefits & new benefits months after stopping:

2022-05-09: Holy shit. Apparently I can eat meat now. I haven't been able to tolerate protein for like a decade, after I took Rifaximin. Will update with more details soon.

2022-05-14: Yep, not only can I tolerate, meat, eggs, protein, but I'm craving them and they're beneficial for me.

2022-05-24: Have gotten further improvements to head/brain. I've been starting to be able to lie my head flat at night. Ever since I used donor 5 and started getting bad head trouble, I've had to incline my bed plus use a folded pillow to prop my head up during sleep, or instead of some mild recovery during sleep my head gets much worse - inflammation, swelling, feeling full, etc.. Seems to be related to these drainage issues: https://archive.ph/19Ibb#selection-2475.11-2479.0

Temporarily lost most of the benefits from stopping iron & eating mushrooms (disruptive prebiotic effect):

Lost around 05/25/2022. Back by 06/16/2022.

My stools got lighter in color, and larger, and then loose & undigested (from the mushrooms). I started getting bad gas. The detriments were nowhere near what they would have been prior to this donor. In fact, I didn’t experience any severe head problems at all. Thus, the brain protection that this donor gave was quite durable.

My tolerance for fat and protein dropped extremely low. Hasn’t been this low for many years.

I’ve experienced two sets of phenomenon since donor 8:

1. FMT benefits are very easily perturbed/lost. It seemed the microbes only occupied a top layer and didn’t penetrate to lower ones. Possibly due to not enough FMTs.
2. There’s an ability to switch back and forth between states. One state is more tolerant of fat & protein and can be boosted & switched to by taking iron & BAS, and cauliflower (and possibly bok choy) seemed to boost it as well.

I was worried I upset things to the point of completely losing the benefits. But it seems that this donor is powerful enough, and/or my FMT procedure was good & long enough that the benefits were durable and long-lasting, and I was able to regain all benefits.

I would continue with a 1x/week dose but there are some other donors I’m interested in testing. (fell through)

Benefits started wearing off? Or a "new normal"? Tested a 1x/week dose:

2022/08/09: It seemed like the benefits were starting to wear off, so I started a 1x/week dose.

2022/09/17: It looks like my new "ideal" is zero iron. I don't actually know if the 1x/week dose caused this, or if it just seemed like benefits were wearing off because my new "ideal" changed. Either way, FMT from this donor is reversing the damage from Prescript-Assist and Donor 5. And my status is changing back to what it was prior to those two things. And it's even reversing some of the damage done from Rifaximin in regards to protein & fat intolerance.

Sleep & IBS are also improved again after finding this new normal. I'm still fatigued a lot though.

The "new normal" faded, and I went back to 1-2 iron per day.

I'm not really sold on the 1x/week dose. It's probably decent as a maintenance dose but nothing more than that.

For many years (discovered after donor 5) I was dependent on bok choy to keep my stools firm. This donor seemed to fix that.

11/01/2022: Doing fairly well on 1-2 iron per day. Gas is often an issue again though due to the instability. I'm often going for walks after meals instead of fatigued in bed; but not all the time.

Hey Guys,

I have a 10+ year history of health issues, I've been sick since I was 17 in 2009 ( I do have a multi page document of everything if anyone would like to read it, but through experience, it can be tiring to read that much stuff in one sitting).

My first FMT experience was for resistant C Diff I had gained during treatment for what doctors suspected was lyme disease.

Some pretext, is I did feel significantly better during month 3 of that protocol, not because of lyme i assume, but because it was killing everything in my intestinal track

protocol consisted of IV merepenem IV cipro IV Clindamycin Oral Septra Oral Flagyl Oral Fluconazole and a few others I can't remember right now

I had non stop diarrhea, but gained 15 pounds in a month, and could do pretty reasonable exercise (had a port in my chest so was limited by that), and my facial and body color improved a lot, I looked mostly healthy (in fact my dating profile picture is a picture from this time, and no one would ever know I had an IV port in my chest)

Anyways we did that protocol for 3 months, switched for 4 months (went back to how I was, bedridden, and in pain, useless)

We retried the protocol that was helping again, and nothing it changed nothing this time did nothing

My assumption now is other bacteria took place of what was killed off the first time, and these bacteria weren't affected

(Should also say my diet was only chicken and cucumbers at this time)

I finished the 10 month IV treatment still being where I started I had contracted C Diff at some point, but surprisingly my symptoms weren't any different with it I was still constipated, no bloody stool etc

We did 3 rounds of flagyl and 3 rounds of vanco with no help.

I will set the stage for the profound effects of what's next because I've seen some not so great things said about Open Biome and my experience was different (both times)

I met my ex fiancé the end of May 2016 I couldn't drive a car she had to drive for our first date I got winded walking across the house I was pretty useless for some reason at the time she was interested in a fairly broken guy that was determined to get better at any cost

We started dating June 14th and less than 2 weeks later I got my fmt June 25th she drove me and waited for me to get it (because that's exactly what you want to put your new girlfriend through right lol)

Anyways, this sample was open biome all they told me was it was from a student at harvard I got it via colonoscopy and not much changed at first other than terrible cystic acne that thankfully went away

But literally 2 weeks in and it was a game changer I could drive no problem I could go to the park and walk how ever long my girlfriend waned sex, not a problem (in fact my drive was ridiculous now) I could get a job and go to school (so I started doing in school classes)

I had my mind set on getting my degree on molecular cellular biology, I just wanted to do whatever I could to help those like me.

This lasted for about a year until I had a respiratory infection, and then of course needed antibiotics.

So guess what, I fell back to where I was it stressed me out it stressed my GF out since we now lived together I had school, I had a job now I couldn't be bed ridden...again.

I panic searched for any fmt clinic i could find that didnt require a c diff infection to get I also didnt have another year to wait to get another open biome sample even if i had c diff

My options at the time in 2017 were really limited I had taymount, and newberry

I can't fly on planes because of my constant sinus inflammation and of course, only being able to eat 2 foods is hard enough to find at times when foods accessible here.

Taymount wouldnt ship, and required the patient be infused there newberry wouldnt ship either, but would allow me to have someone pick them up

So I took out an $8000 loan (so awesome when I'm only making $10 an hour right?) to pay the $5000 for 40 samples and $3000 to send a friend to Argentina (my determination right? lol) She gets there, enjoys the time at the airbnb, gets the samples, and then when trying to get on the plane, the airline seizes the samples (fuck me right...), just spent $8000 for the airline to be a dick.

Anyways, Newberry worked with another client to help me out (the people at newberry were awesome) The guy lived in Wisconsin, and agreed to split his samples with me, and then newberry was going to fly someone up and give me 40 more samples, and then I'd just ship him 20 to recoup.

So literally next day after talking to this guy I never met that was agreeing to give me samples I got another friend to drive me 28 hours to Wisconsin (non stop) and 28 hours back (we maybe slept for 4 hours), for these 20 samples

Any let me say, they were worth it...ish Like open biome, they allowed me to function again, work, go to school. I was able to think clearly etc, I could even eat kale and broccoli for a short time But 3 weeks after those 20 ran out I started to regress again school got hard again, brain fog took over, the stool didnt graft. I tried many things to help me get through the semester the only thing that helped was potassium sorbate (because drinking mold inhibitor seemed smart i guess, but I tried everything else, and others had success with it)

Anyways, it got me through the semester, and I took off the next until I could stabilize again.

It took a little while to get the second batch of samples they would only fly into new york so we had to drive, and stay up there a week which was fine, but inconvenient

I started the samples up there after picking them up and these did nothing they didn't have negative effects they just didn't do anything at all I was bummed, and kind of pissed but whatever this donor was his stool did nothing at all

So out of luck i scrambled to find new things I did eventually find probiotics I could tolerate, and found help in this combo

Lactobaccilus Plantarum Bifidobacteria Longum Megasporebiotic

As well as houttuynia supreme and some other supplements This got me back to functional for a short time but i also had my biggest relapse right after this

my intestines were now very sensitive to anything acidic i severely reacted to houttuynia now i no longer tolerated any of the probiotics that helped and I was losing weigh fast (I'm 6'1", and went from 155 to 128 in a month) I got to where I could barely walk again and everything I tried just caused a reaction

I went from constipation to severe diarrhea and even had bloody stool the blood was only stopped by oral budesonide (which I still take)

I didnt have C Diff again yet but I knew fmt would help

I looked for any source of fmt, and ran into MG Infusions apparently he had been a donor for a clinic before and had been tested etc, so I trusted it

I spent well over $5000 on his samples hoping they would help I almost lost faith in fmt because of his samples I just assumed I was that reactive now

but they did nothing didnt even firm up my stool at all still non stop diarrhea even with getting a fresh in person sample nothing changed

I did eventually get C Diff again later so I tried his samples (because of covid, Open Biome was closed) and his samples didnt even get rid of the C Diff waste of money do not recommend even for C Diff

Very nice guy, but he just does not have good stool sadly.

I went through many rounds of vanco and dificid with no relief because whatever strain i get is resistant

I finally was able to get scheduled for another open biome sample july 2021 (they started again may 2021)

and like the first time it was a game changer I could do mild push ups and pull ups ride my one wheel work on my car it was a big change and again sex was a thing again felt like the same donor all over again (now i will say i still have a lot of healing to do, i was much better the first time, and my body is way more damaged now, but it made a huge difference for the current condition of my health)

This sample sadly only lasted til December when my rheum prescribed injectable methotrexate and then sulfasalazine I was then back to diarrhea and being stuck in bed.

I tried other meds until I started looking for fmt again and stumbled upon microbioma.org some people had said they had good luck they seemed legit and i was yet again desperate

I got the microbioma samples in march and started doing them right away I did 1 a day for 3 days in a row the first week and 1 more a week later

at this time i didn't notice much, my stool was formed again not much as far as activity goes etc I did the 5th one another week later and then the symptoms hit

i felt burning on my insides my lower back burns it feels like ive been eating non stop kimchi and lactic acid producing bacteria, or just normal store bought bacteria that I do awful with.

The only positive is the normal ish looking stool but otheriwise I feel worse than I did

I also despite not having physical activity have started getting weird bruising (never been a symptom before) A big one on my right bicep

I also did get the flu week 4, but unsure if caused by the sample the 5th sample seemed to either be the breaking point, or just have terrible bacteria

I will say the owner is very nice very helpful any maybe others do well with it but this is the first one I've actually done bad with the rest just kind of did nothing if they weren't going to help.

Right now my intestinal burning and irritation is so bad that it feels like its affecting the nerves in my abdomen as now i can't even get a boner if I tried (similar area) where as before it wasn't a problem, even while feeling awful and pooping 20+ times a day

I'm hoping to try another donor soon to flush this one out we do need easy access to quality fmt I've seen how amazing it can be and it's sad that we don't have more options yet with how long fmt has been around

Btw the illnesses I'm treating are MCAS and Sjogrens

• https://i2.lensdump.com/i/rO0W6e.png
• https://imgbox.com/MBAOprue

https://www.facebook.com/groups/FecalTransplant/posts/6991646007572951/

• https://images2.imgbox.com/11/64/rzzqS2Y6_o.png
• https://i3.lensdump.com/i/rVbOOT.png

###Prior to FMT:

I have suffered from eczema since I was in 5th grade, beginning in the nooks of my elbows. Also had anxiety, but it was mild. When I was 15 I had cystic acne, and was recommended to see a dermatologist as opposed to treating it myself. The dermatologist prescribed me two courses of Doryx, a broad spectrum antibiotic. While it did eliminate the cystic acne, my eczema exploded all over my body. In addition, I developed moderate reoccurring acne. As the years passed by, my condition deteriorated. My anxiety gradually became worse, disturbed sleep became insomnia, low energy became chronic fatigue, and my eczema would quickly become immune to whatever medications I used, mandating stronger steroids and so on.

After exhausting steroid options (I refused to go on stronger forms at one point), exhausting protopic, and beginning to become resistant to Eucrisa, I began to panic as the only options left were either absurdly expensive (dupixent - injections taken weekly for the rest of your life and cost ~40k a year with insurance) or potentially dangerous (systemic JAK inhibitors which would shred my immune system).

I was no longer able to function academically nor was I able to hold down jobs. I had managed to graduate high school at the top of my class, but became so sluggish that I put off university because I knew I couldn't do it. Could barely stand to work even 20 hours a week due to fatigue and anxiety, so I was always in between jobs.

Originally, I looked into supplements, like Vitamin D (which I still take), magnesium (also still take), fish oil, NAC, and a variety of other substances that for one reason or another I believed could have helped. I probably spent several thousand USD experimenting with them. The one that worked best was NAC, but only as a mild reduction in anxiety, while further deteriorating sleep.

Next, I considered there could have been genetic causes, such as a mutation in MTHR codons or any genes that relate to methylation. I joined the All Of Us research program and sent in my saliva, which they promised to return me with a whole genome results file free of charge. Still haven't heard back.

Then I looked into food. I tried various diets - keto, paleo, vegan, and finally carnivore. Keto did not work, paleo seemed to mildly improve my symptoms, and vegan made all my symptoms across the board substantially worse. However, when I began eating only ground beef, salt, eggs, whole milk, and cottage cheese, I saw mild to moderate relief in every single symptom after 4 days of compliance. This is when I made the connection between the antibiotics and a dysbiotic gut.

Carnivore did not cure me, and I worried about it being untenable for one reason or another in the future. So I pursued FMT.

###Symptoms:

Eczema (60% of body)
Insomnia
Chronic Fatigue
Severe anxiety
Moderate acne
Poor skin quality
Poor hair quality
Brain fog

###Diet:

Ground beef, eggs, whole milk, cottage cheese, cheddar cheese, beef liver, ham. Never ate out or ate processed foods.

Within the last few months I tried incorporating a bowl of oatmeal with milk and peanut butter once a week. After months of carnivore, I was able to eat it with only minuscule negative effects. I could not eat more than that in a week however.

I also used a VERY GENEROUS amount of salt, between 1-3 teaspoons a day. The reason I did this is because when I first started carnivore, it was very difficult to maintain compliance beyond a week because I craved plant foods, junk foods, and other processed foods. When I realized that what they all had in common was the perception that they were salty, I started generously seasoning all my food with salt. The cravings went away and carnivore compliance became significantly easier.

###Supplements:

Vitamin D3+K2+C combined
Magnesium Oxide "micromag"

Both from Nootropics Depot.

###Summary:

Regretfully I didn't keep a daily or weekly log, so this is off the top of my head. I also did not keep pictures, nor do I have before and after. Due to poor self esteem and body image issues, the only pictures I have of myself are from 6-7 years ago when I was still in high school and my eczema was nowhere near as severe. I honestly didn't think to take pictures during the FMT process either. Genuinely very sorry.

I started in November. I had spread out my doses which were ~20 capsules on a weekly basis, for 4 consecutive weeks.

First noticed positive effects 24 hours after first dose. Mild reduction in eczema and more energy. Over the course of the first week my anxiety nearly disappeared, however by the second week it quickly came back.

I was seeing improvements in other symptoms after every dose within 24 hours, which tapered off somewhat over the week.

By the end of the 4th week my eczema had completely disappeared. By Christmas my insomnia had completely disappeared, and my anxiety improved somewhat. As well as gradual improvements in subjective skin/hair quality (Family members say I look younger), acne (only have one or two minor pimples on my face every now and then), chronic fatigue (I now lift weights, have gotten a full time job as a technician at my local high school, am looking into finally enrolling into university for engineering), and subjective well being / confidence / self esteem.

I experienced no adverse effects.

All of it happened so fast. This was miraculous for me. I was bitter and angry at myself, I felt like I could so much more but was limited by my body. My family and friends chastised that maybe my life wasn't going anywhere because I was simply too lazy and unable to "get over it". I wondered if it was normal to be this tired, to be unable to look people in the eye anymore, and if others in my position would just muster the will power to get over it. I wondered if I was just a weak person.

The changes from the FMT were so dramatic and I immediately took advantage of the newfound energy I had. I had gone from strong ambitions of going to a top tier university as a high school student, to accepting that I will live and die as an impoverished NEET, to finally going to university back in my prime. The future looks bright.

I am now convinced that "laziness", anxiety, irritability, and fatigue have physiological causes - they are not defects of character, but symptoms of underlying disease that can be treated or cured outright.

I still have some anxiety, but it is very controllable. I think I still have some mild fatigue, but I am able to accomplish everything I need to right now.

I hope FMT begins to be taken seriously for its medicinal potential. I honestly saw myself as the last type of person to do FMT, because I have strong reflexive disgust and was reluctant to try anything so fringe and looked down upon. I only was willing to take a leap of faith because I had no other options left.

I will pursue a follow up FMT to reinforce the changes in my gut, see if there could be further improvements in anxiety and fatigue although I am fine with how I am now, and move on. Everyone involved in Human Microbes and the donor has my sincere gratitude.

I acquired mixed IBS and chronic fatigue syndrome in 2017 after experimenting with carb-blockers for weight loss. I've experimented with many types of diets and probiotics since then.

On 11/22/2021, I performed a single FMT from UT-AW-1998 and saw immediate, major improvements. I water-fasted for 3 days to minimize my existing microbiome, then performed a bottom-up + top-down FMT on day 4, along with reintroduction of food (just boiled vegetables + broth for the first day or so).

My stool went from 50% type-4 and 50% type-5 to 90% type-3 and 10% type-4. Food went from something that usually made me tired to something that consistently gave me energy, except for on Thanksgiving day when I ate too much. My stool went from being highly variable, depending on what food I ate to being highly consistent, regardless of diet. I went from having/remembering dreams 1/50 nights to 1/2 nights. My sugar cravings went down dramatically and I was able to limit sugar intake to only during social encounters that demanded it. I've had ADHD my entire life and also hoped FMT could help with that, but I didn't see any improvements there.

Unfortunately, all of this only lasted ~3 weeks after the FMT. My erratic travel schedule didn't make it easy for me to do another one and I'm back to where I started. I plan on doing more in the next month or two and reporting back.

The FMT changed my body odor and my stool odor. The odors are mild and unoffensive, but I still have not gotten used to them. The stool odor mostly reverted to normal but the new body odor has remained. As mild as the new body odor is, I don’t really like it — I would loosely describe it as “rubbery”.

I've previously had a single FMT with MG Infusions and a few from Microbioma. MG's FMT gave me brain fog, so I didn't follow up with additional FMTs. Microbioma's FMT improved my CFS considerably (more so than UT-AW) but only moderately improved my IBS. With Microbioma's FMTs, I had decently consistent type-4 stools with type-5 only when eating problematic foods. I did 5 FMTs from Microbioma about 6 months before trying UT-AW and by then, 80% of the benefits from Microbioma FMTs had faded.