Crazy or what? Doctors use 'poop' transplants to treat ailing paitients.

@ladyluna (7004)
United States
October 15, 2007 7:43am CST
Greetings fellow MyLotters, I know this sounds crazy. But truth is often times stranger than fiction. More below ... Would you ever agree to a suggested professional medical treatment plan, which proposes to use someone else’s diluted fecal matter, to then be piped down into your digestive tract? This crazy suggestion is known as: faecal transplant. And, it sounds rather reminiscent of the ‘Dark Ages’ to me. Right up there with bleeding a patient to restore health. I imagine many of you have heard about the very sad and unfortunate passing of 90 hospitalized patients in Kent, England recently? Their deaths were the result of a particular strain of bacteria, Clostridium difficile. “Clostridium difficile is a particular problem among patients who have been prescribed strong antibiotics as they also wipe out the so-called 'friendly' disease-fighting bacteria in the intestine.” Scottish doctors, at Glasgow's Gartnavel Hospital, have conducted a trial of 'faecal transplants' on 12 patients for whom antibiotics had failed to stop repeated bouts of the infection…. The process takes about two weeks, during which donors are screened for suitability and other treatments are tried out. The key requirement is that donors should not have recently been on antibiotics themselves. Doctors then mix the donated faeces with water to allow it to travel through a tube. Despite the positive results, doctors stress that they still regard the faecal transplant as a "last resort" because it is cumbersome and the idea of is unpleasant.” http://scotlandonsunday.scotsman.com/health.cfm?id=1641252007&format=print OK, so if I’ve I’m getting this correctly: Doctors have acknowledged that strong, broad-spectrum antibiotics not only kill the targeted bacterial infection, they also wipe out the body’s natural beneficial gut flora, rendering the body unable to employ its natural immune system to fight off other bacterial disease? And, to remedy this problem doctors are diluting human feces with water, and piping it into a patient’s gut, to reintroduce beneficial bacteria into the gut, and intestinal tract? Hmmm, doesn’t this also introduce e-coli and other destructive bacteria into the gut as well? Haven’t doctors ever heard of pro-biotics? There are literally hundreds of strains of beneficial bacteria that reside in the human digestive tract. The "live cultures" reference on yogurt containers represent just a couple of the many strains of beneficial bacteria. Moreover, any person can go to their local health food store and purchase any one of a number of combinations of beneficial bacteria, which have been propagated in sterile conditions. The digestive flora can be purchased in liquid or capsule form – with no risk of introducing harmful bacteria into the digestive tract. Or, worse case scenario, doctors could employ a yogurt enema, infused with multiple strains of beneficial bacteria, to be later followed with intestinal colonic irrigation. My questions to you are: 1. Would you ever agree to a 'faecal transplant'? 2. Have you ever heard of Probiotics? 3. Doesn’t it make more sense to regularly ingest live culture beneficial bacteria, so as to avoid ‘fecal transplants’? Thanks for taking the time to read, and respond to this nutty discussion. I look forward to your responses.
1 person likes this
3 responses
• United States
15 Oct 07
1) No, I would not agree to a fecal transplant given my current knowledge of the subject. 2) Yes. 3) Yes. Explanation: The medical profession is a "business". All business recomends to its customers the solution which is the most profitable. All business do this when they can get away with it. The thing we must all do as customers of the medical profession business is become educated thru use of the internet to keep our doctors on their toes and educate them concerning low cost low tech solutions where they will replace effectively the high cost high tech solution.
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@ladyluna (7004)
• United States
15 Oct 07
Hello Redyellowblackdog, Thanks for sharing your perspective on this. Yes, medicine is a 'for-profit' business. Good point! I'm in full agreement that we, as consumers, must do our part to apprise ourselves about matters which affect our own individual health. Of course, that can sometimes be difficult, as this month coffee is good for us, when last month it was the very bane of health (exaggerated point). And yet, I cannot believe that Scottish Medical Professionals have never heard of pro-biotic bombardment to quickly infuse beneficial bacteria into the system of an ailing patient. Faecal Transplants??? Now, that's just plain looney tunes!
1 person likes this
• United States
15 Oct 07
"I cannot believe that Scottish Medical Professionals have never heard of pro-biotic bombardment to quickly infuse beneficial bacteria into the system of an ailing patient." I agree with you and can not believe it either. Therefore, I conclude these doctors would knowingly use the more expensive, more invasive procedure, to their patients detriment merely to make more money. Sherlock Holmes use to have a saying considering these situations. It was something about eliminating all the other possibilities leaving the improbable as the most likely. It took me a long time to finally believe the medical profession ignores safe, simple, effective treatments in favor of high tech more profitable treatements, but they do.
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@ladyluna (7004)
• United States
16 Oct 07
Hello Redyellowblackdog, Your observations are certainly not without merit! No question, every business person has an inate sense about the bottom line. And, the very business of medical treatment relies on the existence of an unhealthy population. Hmmm, might this be a 'catch-22' for the medical community??? No doubt your observations are absolutely accurate in (at least some) instances, it remains my personal choice to have a little hope that it's not all a huge conspiracy. As I tend to be an optimist, I'll attribute much of the nonsense in the medical community to ego, and ignorance. I think it gets the craw of western trained medical professionals to acknowledge that there are natural balances that medical science tends to upset. And, that all the interfering in the world won't restore health unless the natural balance is restored. Which, brings us full-circle to one of your earlier, and most profound points: We must educate ourselves about health, and be willing to call out archaic nonsense when it is recommended.
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@thefortunes (2367)
• Netherlands
16 Oct 07
Wow LadyLuna, this is incredible, and thank you for pointing to this article. You are so right about the other methods such as PRO-biotics, and I wonder if these "doctors" have studied well enough for their degrees?? LOL ;/ And no, obviously not signing for it if I am in need of a treatment such as these unfortunate elders, as I would be too scared for the risks, and also disgusted. TheFortunes
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@ladyluna (7004)
• United States
16 Oct 07
Good morning Thefortunes, Thanks for stopping by to share your thoughts on this recent medical treatment plan. I also wonder about the wisdom of (in the USA) medical schools only requiring a few classes in nutrition for M.D.s. Of course, Osteopathic Doctors (O.D.s) spend far more time studying the delicate balance known as health. And, boy oh boy, can I relate to you shying away from this treatment on grounds that it is disgusting. Ewwww!!! Actually, you might have a unique perspective on this discussion. As I understand it (and please do let me know if I am mistaken), all of the E.U. adopted CODEX standards. If your country has also restricted the availability, and maximum dosing of natural health supplements, then I would love to know: How available are things like Pro-biotics, Omega 3s and 6s, Amino Acids, Digestive Enzymes, vitamins, and minerals, etc... where you live? And, are they encouraged or discouraged by physicians in your country?
@drannhh (15219)
• United States
16 Oct 07
Ladyluna, I am a really big fan of probiotics, including HSO soil organism probiotics. I'm the one with a crockery pot of sliced cabbage fermenting on the window sill. But to answer your question, NO. I would accept intravenous vitamin C, Hydrogen Peroxide treatment, Hulda Clark's "zapper" and a whole host of treatments ridiculed and despised by the medical establishment before that one. Nopers! Peek into my fridge and you will also find a quart of kefir. I prefer the Lifeway brand because it has really good crawlies: http://www.lifeway.net/ Before Lifeway kefir became available, I bought freeze dried culture mail order and made my own (it was harder to find that stuff in the olden days before the internet had been invented). USED bacteria? No thanks! And these are the people who ridicule me for drinking wheatgrass juice and staying out of their clutches. Bleaghhhh!
@ladyluna (7004)
• United States
16 Oct 07
Hello Drannhh, Don't ever let anyone tell you that you're a nutjob for having that crock of fermenting sliced cabbage, friend. Have you read that sliced cabbaged prepared the 'old fashioned way' (with gobs of bacterial cultures) is the only known cure for Avian Flu? Yup, German and Korean research teams submitted similar tests results on this old style epicurean treat successfully restoring health to affected fowl, and human as well. So, you keep right on drinking your wheatgrass, and fermenting your cabbage, and you'll be the healthiest bird on the block. Light humor aside, I will admit that I'm horrified at the complete lack of common sense that would have devised this latest 'medical miracle'. Geesh, what'll they come up with next?