After my wife's 20 years of Crohn's, things got much worse 2-3 years ago. Nine ER visits; 7 resulted in multi-day hospitalizations. Prone to small bowel blockage after years of inflammation and scarring.
During the worst years, she was up and down on prednisone and other steroids; tried infliximab (Remicade), which weakened her immune system (resulting in severe upper respiratory infections) and didn't touch the Crohn's; got very close to surgery, but her docs wanted to see the inflammation reduced before surgery so they wouldn't have to resect such a long (20+ cm) section of bowel. She was despondent.
After much research on MAP and AMAT, she drew a blood sample to send to John Aitken's lab in New Zealand. Positive hit on MAP.
She then traveled to Las Cruces, NM to get AMAT prescriptions from Dr. Chamberlin (now, unfortunately retired).
13 months ago, started AMAT. (Her version: clarithromycin, Rifampin, clofazimine.)
6 months ago, her inflammation had nearly vanished (as revealed in CT scan). Her doc at Mayo was amazed.
Now, 13 months after starting AMAT, her Crohn's symptoms are pretty much gone, but she still has to be careful about what she eats. Her doc at Mayo is warming up to the therapy, because it worked for my wife. She (the Mayo doc) has been talking with Borody about it, but reticent to accept it because it's outside the standard of care, and she feels there are still some holes in the MAP case...
After much research and suffering, we finally took the plunge. It's remarkably improved my wife's condition. No more biologics, no more steroids, and she has evaded the surgeon.
I'd suggest to anyone with Crohn's to start educating yourself on the topic, and don't just ask your doctor. Do your own reading and research. Your gastroenterologist, at present, is likely to be either ignorant, dismissive, or outright hostile to the MAP-Crohn's connection. Don't let that stop you from educating yourself.
A couple good resources to start:
https://humanpara.org/
http://www.crohnsmapvaccine.com/ -- especially the Learn More > Core Literature download.
Good luck and health to you.
During the worst years, she was up and down on prednisone and other steroids; tried infliximab (Remicade), which weakened her immune system (resulting in severe upper respiratory infections) and didn't touch the Crohn's; got very close to surgery, but her docs wanted to see the inflammation reduced before surgery so they wouldn't have to resect such a long (20+ cm) section of bowel. She was despondent.
After much research on MAP and AMAT, she drew a blood sample to send to John Aitken's lab in New Zealand. Positive hit on MAP.
She then traveled to Las Cruces, NM to get AMAT prescriptions from Dr. Chamberlin (now, unfortunately retired).
13 months ago, started AMAT. (Her version: clarithromycin, Rifampin, clofazimine.)
6 months ago, her inflammation had nearly vanished (as revealed in CT scan). Her doc at Mayo was amazed.
Now, 13 months after starting AMAT, her Crohn's symptoms are pretty much gone, but she still has to be careful about what she eats. Her doc at Mayo is warming up to the therapy, because it worked for my wife. She (the Mayo doc) has been talking with Borody about it, but reticent to accept it because it's outside the standard of care, and she feels there are still some holes in the MAP case...
After much research and suffering, we finally took the plunge. It's remarkably improved my wife's condition. No more biologics, no more steroids, and she has evaded the surgeon.
I'd suggest to anyone with Crohn's to start educating yourself on the topic, and don't just ask your doctor. Do your own reading and research. Your gastroenterologist, at present, is likely to be either ignorant, dismissive, or outright hostile to the MAP-Crohn's connection. Don't let that stop you from educating yourself.
A couple good resources to start:
https://humanpara.org/
http://www.crohnsmapvaccine.com/ -- especially the Learn More > Core Literature download.
Good luck and health to you.