- I'm sure you've heard of kidney
or heart transplants,
but have you heard of poop transplants?
Hey guys it's Dr. Mike, welcome to another episode
of the Wednesday check-up.
Today's topic is gonna be fecal transplantation.
When I say fecal, I want you to think poop
'cause that's exactly what it is.
It means we're taking a donor's poop
and actively transplanting it into our patients.
We take a little tube, we put into their mouth,
we feed it through their digestive system
and implant this poop into their intestines.
Hopefully to make a better change
or cure whatever illness is going on.
Fecal transplants have been used
in specific conditions quite well with great research.
A good example of that is something called
C.Diff infection, now this is a horrible
bacterial infection that is almost life-threatening
in some cases, where you get horrible diarrhea.
A patient can become septic
and even lose their life as a result.
In these cases when antibiotics fail,
we sometimes resort to these fecal transplants.
The reason why I'm even bringing poop transplants up today
just this week there was a study
out of Europe talking about how fecal transplants
can be a potential treatment for IBS.
IBS is Irritable Bowel Syndrome,
don't want you to get confused with IBD,
which is Inflammatory Bowel Disease,
this is a serious disease where you actually
have damage being done to your intestines.
IBS is more symptom based and while it can cause
significant distress because of pain,
bloating, diarrhea, constipation
there's no damage being done,
at least directly to the intestines.
So when we're looking at patients who have IBS,
we think about potential treatments for them.
Right now our treatments are kind of weak.
Why?
Because we don't really understand how IBS comes about.
One of the prevailing theories
is that there was a disruption to the microbiome,
the microbiome is all of the bacteria
that exists in our intestines,
now this bacteria is supposed to be there
we co-exist with this bacteria.
It actually helps us live in some cases
get nutrients out of food,
but when the bacteria shifts and becomes more bad than good
it can cause problems like IBS,
at least that's what the prevailing theory is.
So what researchers are trying to do
is figure out how we can shift the microbiome
to have more good bacteria and one of those ways
is through fecal transplants.
This weeks study isn't the first one
to be done testing if fecal transplants work for IBS.
The past studies have really had mixed reviews,
some saying their is some benefit
other saying that there isn't.
So this study caught my attention
because it found an incredibly significant benefit,
let me break it down for you.
This study took 164 participants
and broke them up randomly into two groups.
One group was gonna get a fecal transplantation,
but of their own poop, so essentially
they were getting a placebo.
The second group was actually broken up
into two sub-groups, the first sub-group
was gonna get 30 grams of a donor's poop
and the second sub-group was gonna get 60 grams,
which is double the dosage.
The reason for setting up the experiment this way
is to figure out not only if getting donor poop transplanted
helps in IBS, but also to see if increasing the dosages
has any affect as well.
This study had an incredible result
for those who had the donor fecal transplant.
In the placebo group after a period of three months
we only saw 5% symptom remission,
essentially 95% of people three months later
were still ill and having symptoms of IBS.
Moving into the first sub-group
who got the lower dose of the donor poop,
they had 35% symptom remission,
The higher dose nearly 50% complete remission,
10 times more likely than those who got the placebo
to get complete, essentially cure of IBS symptoms.
This is quite powerful,
but this is only after three months, right?
Well no, NBC News actually contacted the lead researcher
of this study and they said that
after a year these results basically held true 90 to 95%.
The question becomes why is this donor's poop
so effective at curtailing IBS symptoms
in comparison to other studies, because it's super poop.
The lead researcher of this study explained
that the donor poop sample that they were using
came from an individual who is quite healthy;
maintained a healthy diet, did not smoke,
did not use antibiotics regularly
for their viral conditions that don't need antibiotics.
This presents a very complex challenge to us
in the medical community, but also some promising news.
It tells us that A. there's hope
for fecal transplantation to be used
for conditions like IBS, but the real challenge
becomes who do we use as our super donors
and I think this study should really
reignite the fire of the gastroenterology research community
and get us excited about studying
how IBS can be treated with fecal transplants
by super donors, essentially defining what a super donor is
and how should we in the medical community
search for these individuals.
All these questions are yet to be answered
and we will answer them in the future,
but right now what I'd like to do
is open up a few packages 'cause it's mail time.
Okay, we got one from I don't know,
but it says "Do Not Vent" and there's like 400 stamps on it,
so I'm excited to see it.
What!?
Can I get a drum roll, Dan?
Fake drum roll in the edit.
Roxy, hand drawn.
Look at that detail.
Holy Mol...oh my god I'm getting these framed.
Second drum roll.
BOOM!
Bear this is you.
Okay Bear, get out.
Wow this is amazing.
Indiano, you will see these in my videos
because this is absolutely amazing art work.
Thank you so much for this.
All right this one is from Nuts
and it says, "Nuts for Nuts" and I'm kind of nuts for nuts,
so I'm excited for this.
"Dr. Mike, you said in your recent video
"that you love to receive nuts.
"I immediately thought of this company,
"which has always made me laugh
"with their cute and funny boxes."
Look at the little nuts.
I love it.
Thank you so much.
I'm super excited to try this.
Look who's here to get some nuts?
No nuts for you.
Well I guess I could store these nuts
with the rest of my nuts in my dishwasher.
All right next package.
This one is from Canada, our neighbors just North.
They got some strong tape in Canada.
"Greetings from Toronto.
"Enjoy some Canadian maple syrup
"and some other treats from your neighbor up North.
"We have bernese mountain dogs in our family
"and we thought Bear might like
"a toy Canadian moose like ours do."
Bear!
I love maple syrup, it's so yummy.
I'm excited to try it.
Bear, we got yours.
You ready?
Up.
What a savage.
I got you a treat man.
Well I didn't get you a treat our wonderful neighbors
from up North got you a moose.
Let's take this off so you don't eat it.
Eat the moose.
It's the same color as Bear, look.
Do you not like the moose?
Here you can play with it.
Take it.
He's unsure of what to do with the moose.
Go get the moose.
Oh wait there's more.
Coffee Crisps!
You guys know that I'm unhealthy.
Next, this is from Jamaica.
I've been to Jamaica.
Montego Bay.
It's a doll of me.
I was concerned for a second.
I hope it wasn't voodoo.
"Hey Dr. Mike, you can choose whether
"or not to open on camera.
"I've been getting and making crochet dolls
"and when I say I have been, I mean I made two.
"Yours is the second doll I made."
Okay, well let's check it out.
The fact that you packaged him
in saran wrap kind of is a little sketch
'cause you're trying to choke him out or something.
It obviously looks like me
'cause look at those thunder thighs
and the little head.
That's definitely me.
Lower body way bigger than upper body,
but still got these guns though.
Thank you so much.
Shout out to all my Jamaican homies.
Oh wow!
This is from Canada also,
but this was screened by US Customs and Border Patrol.
I wonder what they thought this was.
They were like, oh look it has a doctor's name on it
it must be shady.
This looks like some kind of torture device.
Oh wait is this the glove that you can like
de-shed dogs with?
Bear, come here.
Just checking it for hazardous materials.
Nope, it's just a cute little teddy bear.
Bear's sniffing it for potential threats.
Everything feels like it's safe.
"I love you to the moon and back."
How sweet.
Wish we met.
A ring?
Are you proposing?
I love that there's two rings in here
is this for us?
This is starting to get weird.
A cross with Jesus on it.
'Kay not religious, but I can roll with it
and appreciate it.
Oh, that's if I want to get real gangster and really flash.
That's really sweet, seriously thank you.
It says, "Sending you stuffs on video"
and it's fragile.
"With the help of my friends and the store registry
"I was able to register a star in your name."
Boom!
Extra Bright Star Name Deed, Dr. Mikhail Varshavski D.O.
with my birthday and the star's
astronomically verified position
is right ascension five hours 51 minutes.
Yo, I'm officially official.
Dr. Mikhail Varshavski's a star.
Thank you so much.
Since we just talked about the microbiome
click here for my probiotics video
to see what supplements you should
or shouldn't take and if you want a good laugh
click on this bad boy.
I'll see you in one of these videos,
which one is it gonna be?
Pick, pick and be happy and healthy when you do.
(upbeat music)