ulcerative colitis

anyone heard of fecal biotheripy for treatment of ulcerative colitis? my girlfriend has UC and nothing thats been done as far as a treatment has helped AT ALL ive heard of this bacterial recolonization idea but when she asked her doctor about it he looked at her like she was insane. the concept doesnt sound insane to me at all and id like to knwo more about it and ESPECIALLY hear from anyone who has done this. ive heard people have been completely cured of UC from fecal biotherapy and it makes complete sense to me. id like to know if anyone has any strong evidence AGAINST this procedure or has found lasting remission though any other method. anyone know of any doctors that would do this ? where can i get information....

[rthomas003]

the treatment im talking about is sort of gross to think about but i think its possably the cure. it involves putting poop from a healthy person into the rectum of someone with ulceratuive colitis, the idea behind this is that the bacterial flora is very complex and the only way to get a balence back when its grossley out of wack is to introduce much good bacteria to fight off an overabundance of the bad sort.

[Azzub]

Hi, I heard about that too!It does sound gross but if it works I'd do it.Faecal enemas is briefly written about in a book I'm reading called Coping Successfully with Ulcerative Colitis by Peter Cartwright. It's in chapter 11, Future Developments.It basically says "a gastroenterology team in New South Wales, Australia, has reported 6 cases of people with hard to treat UC who have obtained complete remission though faecal enemas." Firstly all patients took a course of antibiotics.The enemas were made from the faeces of their relatives or friends, whose faeces were checked for infectious microbes beforehand. They had to use an enema every day for 5 days and with each one the liquid had to be held in for at least 6-8 hours.It also says this study hasn't been further replicated by other research centres.It was written in 2004 so hopefully they are researching this further.Let me know if you find out any more info.

[pstuartcrow]

Also read the book by Peter Cartwright - I even brought the book along to my Gastroenterologist this week and put the question to him. He said this has been around for years but could not comment on the trials in Australia.
On another note he is going to find out about the parasitic worm eggs and fly me off to the States - cannot wait!!! cannot be worse than anything else I have been through over the past couple of years.

PS also reading a book today that claims you can heal yourself from Colitus
called Healing Inflammatory Bowel Disease by Paul Nison - too early to comment on but claims to heal the desease by diet.
Strangly enough since I have been seeing my Gastroenterologist privately he has told me to try and cut out dairy and grains - he never mentioned this while seeing him through the NHS. Very strange..

I am convinced that the answer lies in the diet - something triggers the flare up
I will get back to you in 20 years :-) if it works.