Mr. N. suffers from irritable bowel syndrome.
He has been having to go to the bathroom 3-4 times a day for about 2 years.

We asked Mr. N about what happened before and after the intestinal flora transplantation.

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Disease name: Irritable bowel syndrome
Transplant period: July 25 – October 4, 2022
Number of transplants: 6 transplants
Medical institution in charge of transplantation: Life Clinic Tateshina
Post-transplant diagnosis: no improvement in symptoms

Q1. What symptoms did you suffer from before receiving the intestinal flora transplant?

After a previous bowel surgery, I had diarrhea that wouldn’t stop; I had to go to the bathroom three or four times a day for two years. I was also having trouble gaining weight.

Q2. What made you decide to have a transplant?

The deciding factor was the distance from my home. I had been aware of intestinal flora transplantation for over a year before deciding on a transplant. While researching on the Internet, I found organizations and medical institutions that performed transplants, including the Intestinal Flora Transplant Clinical Study Group. I then narrowed down my search to areas within commuting distance from my home and arrived at Life Clinic Tateshina.

He had tried everything he could, from medical to surgical approaches, but none of the treatments improved his symptoms, so he decided to have a transplant. The doctor was surprised to hear that “it is rare for a patient to suddenly request a transplant,” since he had come to the hospital with the intention of receiving a transplant from the beginning. After reviewing the medical certificate issued by another hospital that I had brought with me, he agreed with me, saying, “Since there seems to be no improvement with other methods, let’s try a transplant.

Q3. What changes did you feel in your body after the transplant?

After transplantation, there was no change, either as a subjective symptom or numerically in terms of flora balance.

The initial examination revealed that my intestinal bacteria count was very low and that my flora balance rank was also in poor condition. So first, I set a target value to increase the number of bacteria and started transplantation.

After six transplants, there was no improvement in the number of toilets or hardening of stools, and the expected results regarding flora balance and bacteria count were not achieved. Unfortunately, the good bacteria that were transplanted did not take root because the condition had not changed from before the transplants.

Q4. What did you work on during and after the transplant?

The doctor advised us to avoid sugar and casein, a type of protein found in wheat and milk. To put it bluntly, a traditional Japanese diet is good.

However, when it comes to wheat-free foods, the range is much narrower. I tried to stop with milk, but when it comes to wheat-free and sugar-free, rice also contains carbohydrates, and I couldn’t think of anything I could eat.

As a man living alone and unable to cook for himself, it is difficult for him to prepare “traditional Japanese meals. At the cafeteria where I work, fish is rarely served, and the menu is all meat-based, which is far from an ideal meal. Because of this situation, I have not been able to work on my diet. If I had, I would have died, no joke.

Finally.

At the time of my fifth transplant, I thought that it would probably be difficult to hope for a sixth transplant to be effective. My feeling was that the doctors and nurses thought the same way, and there was such an atmosphere in the procedure room. The last examination after the sixth transplant did not show any change in the numbers.

Thus, since I did not obtain any changes due to the transplant, I can only say, ‘You should consider a transplant knowing that there are cases in which you may not see improvement.I also underwent the transplant with the understanding that there was a possibility that I would not get the results I wanted.Even so, I had expected some improvement, even if it did not reach my expectations, so this result of no effect at all was unexpected.

Again, it is better to consider this with the knowledge that there could be no change at all in the results. I hope that the members of the study group will continue their research to increase the success rate of treatment (bacterial retention rate) and to reduce individual differences.