Does anyone have experience in doing a massive change to their gut and seeing long term results? Specifically, is it possible to "cure" autism through your gut microbiome?
“To test this, we re-analyzed data from a 2-year, open-label fecal matter transplant (FMT) study with 18 children with ASD52. In this study, the children were subjected to a 2-week antibiotic treatment and a bowel cleanse, followed by 2 d of high-dose FMT treatment and 8 weeks of daily maintenance FMT doses. Based on one of the most common evaluation scales for ASD, the Childhood Autism Rating Scale (CARS), significant improvements were achieved after the 10-week course of treatment. Two months later, the initial gains were largely maintained, and a 2-year follow-up showed signs of further improvement in most of the patients. The results are consistent with a potential role of the microbiome in improving autism symptoms, but how the underlying changes in microbiome composition related to those seen in other studies remains unknown.”
It's unlikely that gluten itself has anything to do with ASD, it just exacerbates an existing predisposition to intestinal permeability. And so restricting Gluten is a reasonable intervention. The underlying cause is almost certainly dysbiosis, the microbiome continually modulating permeability in a way that is damaging to the host.
>> related thread from two years ago...
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26038638
>> also searching on hn.algolia yields this...
https://hn.algolia.com/?dateEnd=1690998813&dateRange=all&dat...
Also, I'm guessing that after someone's brain has developed it's going to become much harder to change.
That said, I'd be asking the alternative question, can we use this to give people high-functioning autism?
It’s mainly used with c diff people who have had their gut micro biome wiped out by treatment.
> Technically, a colonoscopy is a type of endoscopy. An endoscopy is a nonsurgical procedure
Also it can be done via nasal/oral tube to the guts.
They don't release in the stomach [1]:
> The oral capsule tested in this study was specifically designed to open and release its content at the end of human small intestine only.
There are many pills that release at different points, and speeds, through the digestion. This is why some pills are labelled "do not cut". See enteric coating [2].
[1] At least the early ones didn't. I doubt there would be a point in putting fecal matter in the stomach. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7918368/
> Fecal transplantation is usually performed by colonoscopy. A gastroenterologist guides the colonoscope through the entire length of the colon, and, as it is withdrawn, the solution containing donor feces is deposited into the colon.
> Less commonly, the transplant is delivered through a tube inserted through the nose that reaches into the duodenum, the area where the stomach connects with the small intestine. This method does not require bowel prep, but is associated with a higher risk of side effects such as aspiration pneumonia.
> Sometimes, FMT can be delivered by a capsule that you swallow or through an enema.
tldr: tube inserted somewhere to deposit, pill, or enema.