I am a 61-year-old woman with a long history of (undiagnosed) bacterial infections. Bartonella/cat scratch fever at age 6 (almost died, and developed epilepsy and irritable bowel syndrome five years later from my teenage years (great correlations)), multiple pneumonias and bronchitis over the years (tedious antibiotics), Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever (rickettsia ) tick bite in 2015 (which was undiagnosed despite fainting, dizziness, skin lesions, anxiety, etc.), and Lyme disease in 2016 (which was not properly treated and resulted in SIBO and Hash.), and Lyme disease in 2016 (which was not properly treated and resulted in SIBO and Hashimoto-thyroiditis). I was eventually treated for a year with antibiotics by an expert tick-borne diseases, infectious diseases doctor, but in the process completely destroyed my gut biome.
I gained 30 pounds from the antibiotics (normal apparently, because that’s why they give antibiotics to cattle – to put on weight, and why the population is getting heavier, but I digress). I couldn’t lose the weight. I was also diagnosed with SIBO (both types) and had severe bloating and constipation. I could not lose weight no matter how much I exercised, restricted calories, etc. I also had skin lesions that would not heal – I think it was due to inflammation in my body after the antibiotics.
I bought my FMT from Gezonde-Darmflora.nl because I liked that they only had a few donors, that they were all met and interviewed in person by Marco (other clinics do NOT meet all donors), that they had repeat testing months back/years so I could see when the donor had covid, was sick, etc., and examine all their different gut biome test results to try to choose the best donor for my needs. The US only approves FMT for C-difficile, even though research shows it can cure a whole range of root causes of many modern ailments. Marco was extremely responsive and answered every question I asked, usually the next morning (I am in the US). The package was shipped quickly and arrived two days later, the dry ice was completely intact. He uses very good quality dry ice – it took about a week. I bought some dry ice in the US to keep things frozen a bit longer, but the quality was not so good and evaporated within a few days!
I prepared using colonoscopy prep (luckily I had one left), stopped eating for 24 hours and followed the instructions carefully. I was nervous because other recipients on other platforms/sites complained about side effects (pain, diarrhea, cramps, fever, etc.) So I didn’t really know what to expect. I tweaked things a bit according to my own personal research (I’m not going to share this here). However, I had NO side effects. Nothing. I started eating normally (and I mean, really healthy food) and started having morning bowel movements without the use of laxatives. It’s been almost three weeks now and it seems to be starting to settle down. Solider turds, Bristol 4. In the beginning, my sleep patterns were completely disturbed (waking up at 4:00 a.m. CLOUDY WAKKER), and it seems I have an aversion to crappy food!!!! I look at fast food or chocolate, and just don’t want it. I also eat less and have lost 5 pounds since the transplant. I hope to lose more weight now. My skin is almost completely healed, no constipation (so far) and no bloating!!! I will now talk to everyone about FMT – I am trying to convince my daughter (overweight) to try it because I KNOW she has destroyed her bioom with fast food.
I think I may have to do this annually or semi-annually – so we’ll see how long good nutrition and good health practices keep this going. But so far I am very happy with the results and can confirm that there is something good in my donor’s poop that has helped me. Thank you Marco!