Fecal Transparent Cure For Celiac Disease?

[mikeypick1]

Hi!

WARNING! EXTREMELY HIGH ICK-FACTOR!

I'm new to Celiac Disease, and thus this site as well. Though I'm still waiting on blood work to come back, I'm nearly a week into a gluten-free diet and can already tell a major difference. My doctor told me to do some research on a gluten free diet and I must admit that I have been experiencing an amalgamation of excitement for a conclusion to a 15 year search, a fear of the implications of having celiac disease, and an intense dread of having a lifetime of a gluten-free diet.

All that said, in researching cure research progress, I came across several inferences and references to a cure. Unfortunately, however, that cure is a fecal transplant from a perfectly healthy donor. Here is a starter link to one article, if anyone is curious:

Open Original Shared Link

It seems to take a good bit of research to piece together tidbits from here and there to get an idea of where this procedure is headed.

There is also a video on YouTube of a woman showing how to do this from home.

The only drawback I am aware of, so far and beyond the obvious ICK-factor, is that antibiotics could necessitate another transplant.

I am wondering if anyone has any experience or insight into this. If a fecal transplant really can cure celiac disease, what an equally gross and amazing thing! What could this mean for those with celiac, and what can we do to further this along?

[kareng]

I haven't read the specifics but I don't see how it could " cure" Celiac. Celiac is an autoimmune disease and good germs in your intestines won't change that. It may be that it helps get everything back to a normal & happy flora so you feel better and heal the intestines.

Went back and looked at the article again. Looks like some docs are making claims of it helping celiac in some way but there isn't a lot of research on it. Doesn't sound like it has been declared a cure. Sorry.

[mikeypick1]

I haven't read the specifics but I don't see how it could " cure" Celiac. Celiac is an autoimmune disease and good germs in your intestines won't change that. It may be that it helps get everything back to a normal & happy flora so you feel better and heal the intestines.

Went back and looked at the article again. Looks like some docs are making claims of it helping celiac in some way but there isn't a lot of research on it. Doesn't sound like it has been declared a cure. Sorry.

Interesting... I was under the impression that celiac was as a result of the digestive tract failing to properly digest Gluten properly, and the improper digestion prompted the immune system to attack the byproduct (or something like that). So theoretically if you were able to correct the digestive process, the body would no longer need to reject the improperly digested gluten.

[mikeypick1]

Ideally we would need to find the people whom have had the procedure or know someone who has. Of course that's probably much easier said than done.

[LauraTX]

This article is about fecal transplants curing C. Diff infection which is a completely different thing than celiac disease.   

 

It does mention that some doctors claim that this cures many other things with celiac thrown in the list but it says these are highly anecdotal and there is no real evidence.  

 

"Its use in C. difficile has been well established, but much of the rest is mainly anecdotal,"

 

Anecdotal means there is no actual scientific evidence to support these claims.

 

There is no current cure for celiac disease.  The only treatment is a gluten-free diet.  There are some drug trials underway for medicines you can take that will lessen symptoms upon accidentally ingesting gluten.  I understand the urge to seek out a miracle cure, but do understand the internet is full of pseudoscience and false promises.  A fecal transplant will not change the fact that your body produces antibodies against itself in response to exposure to certain things.

 

For a good quick breakdown on how they do a fecal transplant (FYI The article is from 2008 so it does not contain references to the more current C. Diff. research) and from this information you can infer that doing it properly/safely at home is out of the question unless you have a lot of scientific/medical equipment in your house, here is a good link:  Open Original Shared Link

 

...I really can't believe there are people out there that rudimentarily do this on their own at home.  That is ridiculously risky.

 

Mikey, if you want to seek out more information on this, no one can stop you.  But I urge you to not act on it, especially at home, unless it is done by an actual reputable medical professional in a controlled research setting.  Even then, just because someone has MD after their name does not mean they are doing everything according to good science.

[U Gluten Free]

Totally agree with LauraTX.