# Can I have a spinal tap now, to re-inject later if I become unhealthy? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [February 22, 2012, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-have-a-spinal-tap-now-to-re-inject-later-if-i-become-unhealthy/613669 "2012-02-22T21:41:56Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Zulema](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/db5fbb/32.png) [@Zulema](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zulema)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2012, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-have-a-spinal-tap-now-to-re-inject-later-if-i-become-unhealthy/613669/21 "2012-02-25T18:38:16Z")
> [@Darryl\_Lict](#): > > I’m inspired to keep my poop in jars, just in case I need it later. This is actually a pretty good idea. If you have to take a heavy course of antibiotics it can wipe out all the helpful bacteria in your digestive tract causing all kinds of problems. I read about a case where this happened to a wife and they used her husband’s poop to beef up the good bacteria in her body. Their theory was that being married, they were immune ot each other’s bad bacteria. ---
**Author:** ![Minnie\_Luna](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4bbf92/32.png) [@Minnie\_Luna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Minnie_Luna)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2012, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-have-a-spinal-tap-now-to-re-inject-later-if-i-become-unhealthy/613669/22 "2012-02-25T21:20:10Z")
> [@Zulema](#): > > This is actually a pretty good idea. If you have to take a heavy course of antibiotics it can wipe out all the helpful bacteria in your digestive tract causing all kinds of problems. I read about a case where this happened to a wife and they used her husband’s poop to beef up the good bacteria in her body. Their theory was that being married, they were immune ot each other’s bad bacteria. I’d rather just take a probiotic. ---
**Author:** ![Damfino](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Damfino](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Damfino)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2012, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-have-a-spinal-tap-now-to-re-inject-later-if-i-become-unhealthy/613669/23 "2012-02-25T21:31:25Z")
> [@Zulema](#): > > This is actually a pretty good idea. If you have to take a heavy course of antibiotics it can wipe out all the helpful bacteria in your digestive tract causing all kinds of problems. I read about a case where this happened to a wife and they used her husband’s poop to beef up the good bacteria in her body. Their theory was that being married, they were immune ot each other’s bad bacteria. Was this in a book by William Nolan, “The Making of a Surgeon”? They used a small amount of poop mixed into a milkshake. The hospital administration came down heavily upon the perpetrators of this unorthodox procedure. ---
**Author:** ![DSeid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dseid/32/20194_2.png) [@DSeid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSeid)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2012, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-have-a-spinal-tap-now-to-re-inject-later-if-i-become-unhealthy/613669/24 "2012-02-25T22:34:56Z")
> [@Darryl\_Lict](#): > > I’m inspired to keep my poop in jars … Been reading [Pratchett](http://www.amazon.com/Snuff-Novel-Discworld-Novels/dp/0062011847/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1330208884&sr=1-1) lately? (_Snuff_ features such collections, for both religious and intellectual reasons, goblins and young Sam, respectively.) ---
**Author:** ![KarlGauss](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/karlgauss/32/3713_2.png) [@KarlGauss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KarlGauss)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2012, 11:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-have-a-spinal-tap-now-to-re-inject-later-if-i-become-unhealthy/613669/25 "2012-02-25T23:36:04Z")
> [@Damfino](#): > > Was this in a book by William Nolan, “The Making of a Surgeon”? They used a small amount of poop mixed into a milkshake. The hospital administration came down heavily upon the perpetrators of this unorthodox procedure. I remember exactly the account you mention. It was either in ‘The Making of a Surgeon’ or, possibly, [Intern by Dr. X.](http://www.amazon.com/Intern-Doctor-X/dp/B000JTFLWO/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1330212873&sr=1-2) (I read them both in anticipation of med school. I wanted to be prepared!) ---
**Author:** ![johnpost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f17d59/32.png) [@johnpost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/johnpost)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2012, 11:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-have-a-spinal-tap-now-to-re-inject-later-if-i-become-unhealthy/613669/26 "2012-02-25T23:38:37Z")
> [@Zulema](#): > > This is actually a pretty good idea. If you have to take a heavy course of antibiotics it can wipe out all the helpful bacteria in your digestive tract causing all kinds of problems. I read about a case where this happened to a wife and they used her husband’s poop to beef up the good bacteria in her body. Their theory was that being married, they were immune ot each other’s bad bacteria. > [@Damfino](#): > > Was this in a book by William Nolan, “The Making of a Surgeon”? They used a small amount of poop mixed into a milkshake. The hospital administration came down heavily upon the perpetrators of this unorthodox procedure. for some people with Clostridium difficile infection it is the needed treatment. up the butt or through a tube down the nose. ---
**Author:** ![KarlGauss](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/karlgauss/32/3713_2.png) [@KarlGauss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KarlGauss)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2012, 12:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-have-a-spinal-tap-now-to-re-inject-later-if-i-become-unhealthy/613669/27 "2012-02-26T00:00:18Z")
In case anyone doubts that “fecal transplants” are being used, I offer [this review](http://cid.oxfordjournals.org/content/53/10/994.abstract) (abstract). And, with respect to the treatment of Clostridium difficile colitis (aka pseudomembranous colitis), I’ll note that there is a [clinical trial going on at my centre](http://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT01226992) looking at the use of fecal transplant in combination with the current treatment of choice (oral vancomycin). ---
**Author:** ![VOW](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/vow/32/3043_2.png) [@VOW](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VOW)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2012, 12:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-have-a-spinal-tap-now-to-re-inject-later-if-i-become-unhealthy/613669/28 "2012-02-26T00:14:51Z")
The “poop transplant” in one of those intern biographies was done via a carton of chocolate milk. The professor was told that a solution was created with sterile saline and then centrifuged, with the clear liquid on top of the test tube decanted and then administered in some acceptable manner. In reality, the stool sample was mixed with chocolate milk and fed to the patient. The patient had an uneventful recovery. As for the CSF proposal, you are asking to be stabbed in the spinal column with a needle which is the diameter of a crochet hook–TWICE. It’s painful. The resulting headache, however, is excruciating. THAT can last from 12-48 hours. Penetrating the spinal column to either drain or administer the CSF leaves you wide open for infection–BOTH times. Before you can consider this procedure, you’ll have to obtain a PhD in biochemistry and obtain a Federal grant, so you can research CSF and determine whatever “magic regenerative elixir” it contains. Otherwise, it’s back to the drawing board. ~VOW [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-have-a-spinal-tap-now-to-re-inject-later-if-i-become-unhealthy/613669.md?page=1)