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Comment by f430 | Hacker News Reader

What exactly is a fecal transplant?? This isnt the first time I heard of this technique and it seems to have wide reaching effectiveness.

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Exactly what it sounds like. Fecal matter from a healthy person, transplanted into the GI system of an unhealthy person. Benefits come from all the "good bacteria" living in there that are missing.

YouTube has some deliciously informative videos if you'd like to watch a real surgery!

" deliciously informative videos"

I don't think that's the correct phrasing for this particular subject...

Uh...there's no surgery involved.

I'm not incredibly familiar, but I watched some of those tasty videos I referenced. It certainly looked like there was somebody in there unconscious, with a Dr gowned up. Tubes and cameras and robot arms inserting various things.

Depends where you draw the line at surgery VS procedure, does something have to be cut? Who knows! Either way, I recommend not DIY'ing this one.

See full procedure details in 20 seconds here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mKX2afmgcEM

I don't want to watch that video.

I knew exactly which video this was before clicking.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_feces#Fecal_transplants

It's exactly what it sounds like... when you put someone else's poop up your butt

Go on....

It is generally an oral supplement rather than a reveal suppository.

It's exactly what it sounds like... when you eat someone else's poop under the supervision of a team of physicians

It's what it sounds like.

They take feces from one person, and then place it into the gut of the recipient, either via enema or a tube down the nose and through the stomach.

whoa thats what I suspected but hoped it was just a small transfer via probe...omg but I guess its quite effective in multiple medical papers I've read

As transplants go, it's not even in the same state, never mind ballpark, as any other.

No slicing you open, no lifetime of immunosuppressing anti-rejection drugs...

They actually halted a random control trial at one point since the treatment arm was so successful it was unethical to continue and not provide treatment to all.

I can't read the paper now. How many persons were in the control group and how many in the intervention group?

I don't think the paper is paywalled.

https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa1205037

>>> They actually halted a random control trial [...]

Thanks, but I misunderstood and though that you were commenting about the current treatment against cancer.

I wonder why there isn't an easy way to do it with a time-release coating/capsule.

Edit: Apparently there is...they are called "FMT Capsules".

I'm really not sure whether I'd rather have a poop enema or willingly swallow poop even if contained in a capsule.

I would guess it's "possible" but also there is probably a lot of logistics involved in "take my poop and put it into your guts".

Back fifteen or so years ago I saw a video somewhere talking about some people doing this to help with an immune condition. What I remember was basically, "We put my poop in a blender with some water to thin it out, and then they stick a tube up their butt and pour that in"

Sounded like it wasn't just a one time deal, more something that needed to happen on a regular basis.

I replied to the same comment, but to your point about willingly swallow poop pills, I've been there when many patients are tasked with taking this. I'd say patients have no issue with the pills since it typically means they've had debilitating diarrhea for 6 months or longer if they are at the FMT stage. When I was involved, the treatment was around 20-30 pills in one go. The hardest part for most was the amount of water they drank trying to swallow that many pills at once. One guy we treated had IBS and had been taking pills all his life. He downed the 30 pills in like 5 minutes and was done. He came back the next day and said he had never felt better in 20 years. For some, it's like a miracle drug.

> I'm really not sure whether I'd rather have a poop enema or willingly swallow poop even if contained in a capsule.

Whats really disgusting is that your insides are already full of poop cause thats where its made.

> already full of poop cause thats where its made.

Your intestines are full of poop. Your stomach isn't full of poop. Your throat and mouth aren't full of poop.

Vomiting is very unpleasant. Vomit isn't poop. The thought of poop in your mouth is very unpleasant.

I really don't understand how a comment stating, "I really think it would be a toss-up for me which method I would prefer" is down-voted through the floor.

Don’t take the votes too seriously.

They are working on it https://designershitdocumentary.com/fmt-capsules-pills/

There is! And I was part of that work! The tough part is getting the pill through the stomach where the pills are designed to disolve. Typically we double encapsulate the pill to get it to the intestine. Dr. Louie actually tested this by filling the pills with radio opaque liquid (barium I think) and swallowing the pill and taking serial xrays to see when the pill dissolved.

My involvement with this was as a donor.

https://ucalgary.ca/news/poop-pill-capsule-research-paves-wa...

A donor of what exactly - of your poop? What a weird thing...

"Looking for a donor of fecal matter to participate in a study on transfer of poop from donor to host"

Is that the ad you responded to?

Yes, I would poop into a container and deliver it to the lab. I work in Infection Control in the hospital where the lab is. I worked with Dr Louie all the time so I was an "insider", I didn't respond to any ads. For the longest time he always used family donors (husband would provide for wife or something) and I was one of the first non-related donors. I was a good candidate since I worked on site, was willing to undergo ongoing blood work and stool cultures, was young, healthy etc.

My go to story is there once was a patient come up from California for treatment. Around this time there was a big news article about a patient who gained a ton of weight after receiving a transplant from her overweight mom. The patient, due to her condition, was on a strict diet and therefore it was assumed the weight gain was due to the transplant from an overweight person. That began the speculation that transplants could be used for weight control etc. Anyways, I went down to the lab to drop off my sample and the lab tech said to the patient "Hey, your donor is here, want to meet him?" and she came running around the corner, looked me up and down and just said "he's good". I felt like a real life page from a sperm donor book! This patient had heard the news and was happy I was not overweight.

Idk why this was downvoted, samstave just asked some follow-up questions that elicited an interesting response. Upvoted to attempt some counterbalance.

yeah definitely noticing an uptick of downvotes after the wallstreetbet crowd arrived a week ago.

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