How FMT Therapy Promotes Healing: The Benefits of Fecal Microbiota Transplant for Gut Health | The Skinny Confidential

Today we’re talking about something that we’ve never talked about before. FMT, or Fecal Microbiota Transplantation, is an alternative healing therapy for people suffering from Ulcerative Colitis.

Nicole Inwentash, a Holistic Nutritionist, is here to tell us about her experience with FMT and how it literally changed her life.

If you suffer from any type of issue or ailment, this post will drive home the importance of doing your own research and being your own guru.

With that, let’s hear from Nicole on how FMT changed her life.

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Hi TSC!

Wow, what an honor it is to be featured on this blog! As a longtime listener of The HIM & HER Show, I’m thrilled to share my personal journey with all of you. 

A little about me — I’m Nicole Inwentash, a Holistic Nutritionist from Toronto, Canada. I’ve  been practicing nutrition for 11 years, working at a clinic part-time, running my own  private practice, collaborating with brands to create recipe content and creating a product  soon to be shared.

I’m also an avid baker, a passionate cook, and love staying active. But  today, I want to open up about something I’ve never shared publicly in the hopes that my story might help or inspire someone going through a similar struggle. 

My journey into holistic nutrition began in high school when I started experiencing  digestive issues like bloating and constipation. Eventually, I was diagnosed with Ulcerative  Colitis (UC), an Inflammatory Bowel Disease. I sought help from multiple doctors, but  nothing seemed to work, until I turned to an alternative approach. A food sensitivity  practitioner recommended I eliminate gluten, dairy, and corn, and within two weeks, my  digestion drastically improved. This sparked my fascination with healing the body through  food and why I became a Holistic Nutritionist.  

For 15 years, my UC remained mild, and I was fortunate to rarely need medication.  However, in 2019 I had the worst flare of my life. 

Flare-ups can be difficult to pinpoint. They can be triggered by antibiotics, environmental  factors, stress, or sometimes have no clear cause. In my case, I strongly believe stress was  the culprit. 

Something many of my followers don’t know about me is that I was married. I spent 5.5 years in a very toxic relationship, enduring daily stress that deeply affected both my mental and digestive health. I never felt like I was good enough and that emotional toll disrupted my daily life, making it harder to care for myself. The emotional stress was so  overwhelming that I lost my period for 5 years.

After years of struggle, I finally found the  strength and courage to leave my marriage and start a new life. This all happened before the age of 30 years old. It took time to rebuild my confidence, but with the support of my incredible family and friends, I became stronger and more resilient. I hope to inspire women who feel trapped in toxic relationships by showing them that it’s never too late to walk away and start over. 

In 2019, a year after walking away from my marriage, all that built-up stress came crashing  down, and I was hit with the worst UC flare of my life. I managed to control it with diet and prescription enemas, hoping I’d never experience it again. Unfortunately, I was wrong. Each 

year, the flares returned, worsening each time, always around the same season  (summer/fall). My biggest fear was that if the enemas stopped working, my  gastroenterologist (GI) would prescribe steroids. He respected my concerns, knowing how health conscious I was and that I was working with a naturopathic doctor. Despite taking  high doses of curcumin (turmeric), gut-healing supplements, and probiotics, nothing was helping. 

By July 2023, I hit rock bottom with my most severe flare yet. It became so bad that I was  afraid to leave the house, always needing to be near a bathroom. Only my family, close  friends and a few coworkers knew what I was going through. I tried to keep life as normal  as possible to protect my mental health. But when my GI scoped me, he gave me news I had  dreaded: I needed Prednisone. The very drug I had worked so hard to avoid. I broke down  in his office, overwhelmed by fear. My naturopath, whom I deeply trust, reassured me that a low, short-term dose would be okay. 

With no other choice, I started Prednisone. I was terrified but reminded myself daily that it was temporary. I adjusted my diet by avoiding fiber and sticking to pasture raised eggs,  bone broths, gluten-free bread, salmon, avocado, chicken, squash, sweet potatoes, and rice  cakes. Yet after two weeks, the prednisone still wasn’t helping. My GI warned me that if  things didn’t improve soon because this was serious and had gone on for way too long, I  would need biologic infusions-a path I was desperate to avoid. 

I want to emphasize that there’s absolutely nothing wrong with medications like Prednisone, especially in serious cases. However, as a holistic nutritionist who prioritizes clean eating and overall wellness, I was determined to explore every possible alternative to avoid medication and support my healing naturally. 

That’s when I remembered a friend who had battled severe UC and Crohn’s and found remission through FMT (Fecal Microbiota Transplantation or Fecal Matter Transplant). I called him immediately, eager to learn more. He had been symptom-free for 10 years  thanks to FMT, which inspired me to give it a shot. However, in Canada, FMT is only available through clinical trials or for C. Difficile infections in a hospital setting, so I  enrolled in a trial an hour away in Hamilton. 

Now, I know the idea of FMT might sound odd. Transplanting healthy stool from a donor  into a sick patient’s gut, but as a nutritionist, I found it fascinating rather than gross. The  idea that a healthy microbiome could heal someone’s gut made perfect sense to me, and at  that point, I was willing to try anything to avoid steroids or infusions. 

Once accepted into the trial, I underwent an initial scope to assess my UC. Over the next  eight weeks, I visited the clinic weekly for FMT via enema. The process was painless and  straightforward. Just a quick transplant followed by 20 minutes of waiting. After eight  weeks, they rescoped me to see if there was any improvement. If there was no change, I  would be removed from the trial or possibly assigned a new donor. If there was full healing, I would enter a maintenance phase with monthly treatments for three years.

Despite the trial having only a 20% success rate, I went in with hope. And against the odds,  I was that success story. After eight weeks, my follow-up scope revealed zero signs of UC.

My GI was amazed, sharing my case with colleagues and patients. It was surreal. To  whoever my anonymous stool donor is, thank you for changing my life! 

This experience reinforced my belief in the power of food, gut health, and microbiome  science. I even believe that in the future, we’ll see microbiome transplants in capsule form! 

Today, over a year later, I remain healthy, medication-free, and able to eat a full diet again. I  still drive an hour each month for my trial follow-ups, and I’m beyond grateful for how FMT  transformed my health. I share my story not to say that FMT is for everyone, but to offer hope to those struggling with IBD who may feel out of options. 

If anyone has questions, I’m always happy to chat! My Instagram is @nutritiouslynicole. 

In good health always, 

Nicole Inwentash

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Is this the first time you’re hearing about FMT? Us too! It’s really fascinating stuff and we want to thank Nicole for being open and honest about it in the hopes of helping anyone else who has tried everything with no avail. You can watch her Reel for some more details here. Thank you for choosing The Skinny Confidential to tell your story, Nicole.

x, The Skinny Confidential team.

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