I have now done 15 days of the Fecal Transplants. This is a much longer course than some people recommend, however I believe it might be necessary considering what they root cause might be.

Mycobacterium avium subspecies paratuberculosis (MAP) bacteria has been implicated as a likely cause of Crohn’s disease and it might also be a cause of Ulcerative Colitis as well. If this is the source of my troubles then it could take a long time to knock it out since this kind of bacteria reproduces from impenetrable spores. This bacteria has to be knocked out while it is active before it can produce more spores. However if I have enough good bacteria which can kill off MAP while active then each successive flare or bloom cycle will hopefully have less bacteria and less severe symptoms for a shorter period of time.

Otherwise I am continuing the daily infusions although I have had another flare that I am going to get some Prednisone to take care of.  I have come to believe that for the infusions to be effective something needs to be done to first take care of the inflammation and slow down the number of bowel movements per day.

The way to do this I think is to prophylactically use the anti-diarrhea drug Immodium by taking it every four hours. Take it a half hour to hour before each meal and before the infusions.  Controlling diarrhea will help give the “good” bacteria from the infusions a chance to become established and to start to fight off the MAP bacteria. Low residue, water-soluble fiber from benefiber or oat meal or other foods with water soluble fiber can help.

I have also discovered that the infusions seem to cause significant gas and bloating as well. The gases could be from the new bacteria killing off existing bacteria.  So I have also been using anti-gas pills, generic Gas-X.

However in spite of these other steps I am also going to go back on Prednisone for the time being since it has been the fastest way to get a flare under control in my experience up till now.