Hope for those with Colitis and other horrible digestive probs/bacteria

[breadandbutterfly]

Read this article in the Guardian:

www.guardian.co.uk/science/2013/mar/31/bacteria-faecal-transplant-gut-mary-roach-gulp

Has 'yuck' factor and will be opposed by pharmaceutical companies as they can't make any money off it, but a 94% success rate is worth telling the world about.

As someone with colitis that is currently in remission, hope it helps someone else out there. :)

Hi, I had a look at this article as my friend has terrible ulcerative colitis, but I couldn't find any mention of colitis in the article. I'd love to show her something helpful, so maybe I just don't understand the role that bacteria play in colitis? Could u explain it to me? Sorry for sounding so dim!

For example, the patient described in the article is described thus:

"Today's patient has diverticuli that have become abscessed. Multiple severe bouts of colitis have caused diarrhoea so severe that he has, at times, had to be fed intravenously."

The point being that colitis (and other gut problems like IBS) is often thought to be caused by an upset in the balance of gut flora. Thus it is logical that introducing a more balanced mix would restore health.

Good luck to your friend!

The proper link is:

www.guardian.co.uk/science/2013/mar/31/bacteria-faecal-transplant-gut-mary-roach-gulp

Oops, I must have missed that mention, sorry, but your explanation really helped. I'll forward it on to my friend, thanks

This relates to infective colitis caused by C.Diff, I wasn't aware it was anything to do with other types of colitis or IBS. Or have I read it wrong?

@lyndie

What causes any type of colitis or IBS? I think the jury is still out on that generally. Current medications generally attempt to treat the symptoms but without looking for or treating the causes/s. As you will see from the comments,i am not alone in expecting this treatment to have a positive impact on some people suffering from colitis.

Colitis just means 'inflammation of the colon' - in some cases, if not all, this will be down to an upset in the balance of gut flora - introducing a new range has clearly been shown to be helpful in the cases of those suffering from colitis caused by C diff, so one hopes that it could also be helpful for those whose gut flora have been attacked or unbalanced in a different way.