TRUST YOUR GUT
SHARP PAINS SHOT THROUGH THE PATIENT’S STOMACH, AND HE HAD CONSTANT DIARRHEA. SEVEN ROUNDS OF ANTIBIOTICS OVER 18 MONTHS HAD ONLY MADE HIM FEEL WORSE.
A PREVIOUSLY HEALTHY MAN IN HIS 20S WHO WISHES TO REMAIN ANONYMOUS, HE HAD CONTRACTED A RECURRING CASE OF CLOSTRIDIUM DIFFICILE, OR C. DIFF, AFTER HAVING HIS GALLBLADDER REMOVED IN 2012. HOSPITAL PATIENTS ARE PRONE TO C. DIFF SINCE ANTIBIOTIC TREATMENT FOR OTHER MALADIES DECIMATES THE INFECTION FIGHTING CAPACITY OF WHAT SCIENTISTS CALL THE GUT MICROBIOME, THE TRILLIONS OF CELLS THAT MOVE THROUGH THE HUMAN DIGESTIVE SYSTEM. “IT DIDN’T JUST AFFECT MY GUT,” HE SAYS. “I WAS EXHAUSTED ALL THE TIME. I HAD REALLY BAD BRAIN FOG. I COULDN’T CONCENTRATE.”
Desperate, he researched possible therapies and discovered articles about fecal transplants wiping out the infection. But his gastroenterologist refused to perform the procedure. So he took matters into his own hands. He asked his roommate to supply a stool sample, bought an enema kit from CVS, pulsed the mixture in a blender, strained it through a coffee filter and pumped it into his gut. As though a wizard had cast a spell, he made a full recovery within days.
Welcome to the most promising new frontier in medicine: poop. By focusing on what’s coming out of patients’ rear ends, a growing body of scientific research over the last 15 years has highlighted the crucial role the microbiome plays in human health. That new understanding could lead to breakthrough
