My Story of Fistula (Loose Seton and LIFT Surgeries)

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ABCXYZ

Joined
Dec 17, 2015
Messages
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I am 35 years , male with no other health issues. Fairly healthy lifestyle.
1 May 2015 - Pain Around Anus
Swelling around anus pain continues (tried some ointments home remedy etc.. nothing worked out)
7 May 2015 – 1st doctor visit (He said Likely external hemorrhoid, if pain doesn’t go advised to visit a colorectal surgeon)
11- may-2015 pain went away. Little hardness and lump around anus. I thought it is going away. Carried along with home remedy etc..
15-Sep-2015 some kind of discharge seen around anus.
1-Aug-2015 Visited Colorectal Surgeon. He gave Antibiotics for a week. It didn’t work out.
14-Aug-2015 Doctor confirmed this is Fistula. He advised for surgery. Also told it could be Fistulotomy, Lose Seton etc... But only can been confirmed in Operation room.
10-Sep-2015 Surgery and Seton Placed (Pain for 2-3 days after that it was easy to manage. Seton kept draining little pus and blood every day. Regular 3 sits and Gauze pad change.). Doctor told me that I had to go for second process (Glue, Plug or LIFT)
(I researched a lot. According to me the best way was VAAFT but it is not available in USA due to FDA has not approved the instrument). Spoke to VAAFT Surgeon in India asked about my best options since I can’t travel to India. He said LIFT is second best option and VAAFT can still be performed if it fails.
10-Dec-2015 – Second Surgery LIFT for Fistula was done.
I had quite a pain for 3-4 days. It was more than first surgery. Painkiller and Antibiotics helped.
16-Dec-2015 – Visited Surgeon He said it is healing well. I don’t have much pain but still a drainage. Seems normal. I am hoping it should heal in few weeks. Not taking any more pain killers. Only 2 days of antibiotics are left.
Next appointment on 23-Dec-2015 – I will keep you posted.
 
I am in the 4th week after LIFT surgery. My outer opening is closed (in fact it healed with in the 2nd week). Inner opening there is still some drainage. But I have not pain or any kind of discomfort. It seems it is getting better. I have a doctor follow up on 01/13. Keeping my fingers crossed. I am still doing the sits bath twice a day.
 
I am in 8th week after LIFT surgery. The internal opening is 99% healed. I do get 1-2 spot on gauze after 10-12 hours but there is no pain or discomfort. I have another follow up with my surgeon next week. I am hoping this drainage to go away by that time.
 
Hello- thank you for the updates on your progress. I am interested in learning more about the LIFT. I have had seton placement, and advanced Flap - I just learned my Flap failed. Very upset as I endured tremendous pain for first few weeks with this and now 6 weeks later still experience pain just not as much. Anyway I am not sure what is best next... My surgeon said LIFT is an option but that he personally has not had much success with it and if that's what I want he will help me find the right CRS... Were you really only in pain for a few days? We're you walking normally and driving week 2? Any info is helpful as I have three kids 5 and under so going through another big recovery is challenging in more ways than one... Thank you!
 
Kel3333 - Sorry to hear about that your flap failed. I would recommend please do a internet search and only go with a colorectal surgeon who has experience doing LIFT, you may use www.healthgrades.com. I was in pain for 3-4 day after my LIFT procedure it started getting better after 4th day and I stopped taking pain killers I was in a bit of discomfort walking for a 7-10 days (nothing significant though). I was able to drive and do normal activities after a week however i joined office after 2 weeks. I followed some of the below activities after reading various sources over internet.
1) Started taking 1 cup of warm milk before bed a week after LIFT (I read a blog Purified Butter, Milk and Turmeric method to treat fistula).
2) I used to take 2-3 overnight soaked figs in the morning.
3) Restricted myself to fried and processed food. No frozen food, Soda etc..
4) Lemonade (Honey, Water, Lemon, mint) to clean up toxic, drink more water.
5) More Vegetables and fruit in my diet.
6) 2-3 times sits bath and gauze change.

Just FYI. I am vegetarian, i don't know if helped me or not. Since yesterday there is no drainage. I think it has healed properly. I am still following most of the above activities.

Good Luck!!
 
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David - I mean No fried and processed food. It was a Typo. I had a doctor's visit yesterday and he confirmed that my fistula has healed properly. He asked to visit after 3 months.
 
ABCXYZ- congratulations!!!!!!! How long was it from date of LIFT surgery until today when you were deemed healed?
Also, in him wanting to see you in 3 months is there is a chance it could still fail that he wants to wait to confirm then or it is 100% healed?
With my FLAP surgery I had to wait 6-8 weeks (in horrendous pain) before learning success bs failure... The wait time is brutal.
What is the name of the blog you followed? Do you suggest me following your food and drink tips now before next surgery?
Thank you so much for your help. It gives me hope that your recovery wasn't awful... BIG congratulations to you, I can't wait for a life without my fistula!
 
Thanks Kel3333!! Keeping my fingers crossed.

It took around 8 weeks to completely stop the drainage. As of today it seems to be healed. Since LIFT is relatively new approach so there are not much case studies on recurrence. Going thru some of the case studies posted over internet I learnt that success or failure of lift is determined with in 2-3 months. I haven't seen any post/blog/case study where it says failure after a long period however very few data is available. Where as in some case studies of other approaches like Fibrin Glue and Plug there were some reports showing recurrence even after 18 months.
My surgeon asked me to see after 3 months or before in case I notice any problem.

I believe it is VERY IMPROTANT to maintain Colon health. Everyone has different eating habits I would say eat limited, eat healthy and fresh food only. I included Papaya, yogurt, Figs, Lemon, Oranges, more water in my diet. Avoided food that contain Yeast/fermentation, excessive sugar, soda, Pizza, Cakes, no frozen foods etc..
Even though it is healed I am thinking to order some Ayurveda products and use these for a short time/occasionally just to be very sure that it never occurs again. Below is the link that I searched however I have to do a bit of research regarding the side effects of these medicine. I will keep you posted.

http://www.planetayurveda.com/ayurvedic-treatment-for-fistula-in-ano.html

Please see below some of the important links that I followed.

http://hubpages.com/health/Cure-for-anal-fistula

http://hubpages.com/health/Natural-Cure-For-Piles-Using-Dried-Figs

http://www.diethealthclub.com/herbs-and-natural-cures.html

I also installed this product to maintain toilet hygiene. Its is not an alternative to sits bath. Please keep doing sits baths it helps a lot.

http://www.amazon.com/Joy-Bidet-Non-Electric-Attachment-Braided/dp/B0043D3ANE

I know it is very painful. Stay positive. Wish you a good Luck!!
 
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ABCXYZ- from the bottom of my heart I thank you for taking the time to put all of this info onto the forum and sharing with me and so many others. I had heard of the ghee and warm milk before one of my last surgeries and after trying it and really disliking the taste and feeling negative about another failure I stopped doing it and forgot about it. At this point, I am heading for yet another surgery so I figure I have absolutely nothing to lose in trying any and all natural remedies to hopefully healing me and not having to have surgery again.
I started this am and just did another glass now at bedtime, also did yoga today and ate well. I eat really clean regardless of my fistula so I have that going for me however I do have a sweet tooth at night and in reading your blogs it became clear to me that my evening chocolate could be preventing me from getting better. I'm willing to let go of that "sweet" habit in my quest for perfect health. You mentioned that you're vegetarian, were you prior to having your fistula or did you change to vegetarian in order to try and get better?
Thank you again. Your story and advice gives me so much hope and I can't wait to pay it forward once I am healed as well!
All the best!
 
kel3333 - I hope you are doing well. I have always been vegetarian!! I read some blogs where it says that meat could be stopping it to heal so I just thought of sharing any eating habits. Just to keep everyone updated it's been around 4 months after surgery. I am completely fine so far. I have a follow up with my surgeon on 4-May-2016. I will keep you posted.
 
ABCXYZ I am so happy to hear how well you are doing and that the LIFT has healed your fistula! Thank you for ALL of the positivity and the information it is helping enormously. Manuka Honey 400+ has been signicifly reducing my inflammation as well for anyone out there who hasn't tried it yet!
 
Hi Ab,
A question on the lift surgery did you have a seton put in place first then wait awhile then they did the bio lift surgery? She is placing a seton on my fistular next week was wondering if that's what you had first then the bio lift? Thanks for answering Christina
 
Hi christina!
I had the biolift procedure last year, I also had a seton in previous to that. Hope all goes well..
 
Hi Kelly,
Thank you for your response.How are you doing now after the surgery? Did you have any other fistulars or was it just the one?
 
Hi christina!
Your welcome, unfortunately the biolift failed and I have another seton in place. I only have one fistula. How long have you been suffering with this?
 
Hi Kelly,
I am on my fourth fistular the other three were done by plugs.She wants me to have a seton and then the biolift she said she had good results with it.So,what will happen to you now that you have the seton in again?
 
Are they 4 different fistulas in different places? I had the plug but that failed too. Im having the seton changed on thursday then will discuss next procedure! Where abouts are you?
 
Hi Kelly,
I am in the USA in New Hampshire.Did a general surgeon do your seton and bio lift or a colorectal surgeon? How long have you had this fistular? Are you having a lot of problems with it like inflammation drainage etc?
 
Hi christina,
Im over in the UK! I've always had a colorectal surgeon do mine! I had it since june 2013! Ive had 18 procedures so far and suffer with drainage and infections. How about yourself? X
 
Hi Kelly,
Oh my 18 procedures on one fistular? Did the colorectal surgeon give you any idea of why the seton and the bio lift failed? I wonder if he is going to do another one on you? I have been on antibiotics several times what other kind of procedures did you have to have? And do you have Crohn's disease? And if you do how did they test you for it? Appreciate the replies Christina
 
Hi Kelly,
Another question did he say there were no cure for it? And that you had to live with it and they were not going to go away? That's what my colo said to me very disheartening.
 
Hi christina,
I know its a lot a? I guess im just unlucky and my procedures keep failing. When I see my surgeon tomorrow she will discuss another repair.
I have had endless amout of antibiotics too.
I have had a lift procedure, plug surgery, biolift, and numerous incision and drainages and numerous setons.
she did say that she dont know when it willvend, fistulas are very difficult to treat! What time of surgery have you had? Do you have crohns? What sort of fistula do you have? X
 
Hi Kelly,
I had the plug in 3 of my fistulars and am now having a seton placed in my fourth fistular the other three knock on wood are ok right now and hope they stay ok.I have all anal fistulars.We don't know if I have Crohn's they are trying to find out they did stool tests and a Cat Scan and the only thing that showed up was the forth fistular.There are some people on here that had some fistulars years back one guy name Ron he has like 3 or 4 back in 1989 1990's and have not had any more.How about you do you have Crohn's?
 
Hi abcxyz nice to hear u hv recovered from it... Very happy fr u. But i would like to know that does seton placement hurt? Coz m too scheduled for a seton treatment as my fistula is large but not critical. The doctor has said me to do it in two stage proceedure.. Seton n thn a minor surgery.
 
If the seton works wonder thn no need for the second stage.. As i hv to shift to different place fr higher studies the seton placed will b completely removed after a 3-4 months process... So was wondering that wont it b embarassing to soil ur pants all the tym as it will keep draining out the pus.. My wrry is not the undergarment but beyond that... The trousers in particular... Will it soil the trousers too?
 
Hi Somnath,

Seton is bit of discomfort and painful for initial few day after a while you should be used to it. It hurts sometimes but nothing very serious. I had a loose seton placed and doctor asked me to keep it rotating.
You would need to do 2-3 sitz bath in a day and use gauze pads for drainage. I started going to office after a week and never had any issue. I don't think that Seton alone can fix the problem. You might need to go for a second procedure. Since you are in India I would recommend you to also research about VAAFT procedure that looks more promising to me. However since it is not available in USA I opted for LIFT and it worked fine so far.

I have been reading a lot about this problem and seems like one doctor recently invented one more method "PERFECT" (proximal superficial cauterization, emptying regularly fistula tracts and curettage of tracts) which seems to be having a better success rate. I generally scan doctor's profile very seriously and this doctor's profile seems to be very impressive.
Below is a link..
http://fistulacure.com/About_us/Dr_Pankaj_Garg.htm

Take your time and go only for the approach which is more convincing to you.

Just an update.. I visited my surgeon on 05/18/2016 everything seems to be fine and he asked me to visit after 6 month. I will keep everyone posted.

BEST OF LUCK!!
 
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However i had visited the doc just coz he is specialised in vaaft... But he recomended me to go fr setons n thn a surgery.... However he was clear that he makes his decision on the spot... So finally wen i had been admitted and was sent to OT the doctor simply operated me and did fistulotomy... Its been now 5 days since surgery feeling good pain is minimum doin sitz bath 4 tyms a day and keeping the local area clean and dry... So far no complication the doc said i m healthy so i took the surgery really good nothing to worry about... Drinking lots of water and high fibre food with lots of vegetables and fruits. Have a meeting next tuesday.
 
Oh yes docs hv said that vaaft and perfect treatments are for more complex fistulas however it can b done but vaaft as of now has reoccurances near to 30%. Thts from his personal experience...
 
ABC, my story is very similar to yours. I am a healthy 23 year old guy with no health problems, April discovered I had a lump, turned out to be an abscess. Had it drained late April then late May found out it was a fistula. June 2nd had surgery, doctor thought I would just need a fistulotomy, but he said the fistula crossed over some muscle so put in a seton. Like you said had pain for 3 days and took a good week to be normal again. Doctor said " lift" is an effective surgery and is probably my best option. Having it done thanksgiving, so it's gonna be about 5 in a half months after the seton placement. Any advice you can give me for the second surgery? Any help would be great, when you have a chance just message me here for any advice before heading into this surgery. Doctor said odds are in my favor of it working than it not. Please message me back when u can, thank you.
 

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