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Pain, suffering, and survival - My anal fistula story

Dear fellow fistula sufferers,

I have been active in this forum for the past few months. I had been suffering from a very complex rectal abscess and fistula since Nov 2013. I can relate to the suffering of many of you here. I underwent 6 surgeries in the USA but saw no improvements. Since the onset of abscess, the pain level had been staying above 7. I tried the milk and ghee routine. I tried the turmeric flush. I tried Oregano oil. Nothing worked. It was obvious that my very deep anal fistula will respond only to a surgical treatment. And I was not ready to accept anything but a complete and permanent cure. And that is what I found - a surgical and permanent cure from an amazing surgeon in India, who has successfully treated over 1500 fistula patients.

Looking back, my story sounds simply magical. But the surgeon who treated me does not think so, because for him my fistula was run of the mill type. He treats far more complex cases. At his young age, he has treated more fistula patients than some experienced CRS in the USA. And yet, it took me more than 1 year to discover him. Still there are so many patients in the western world who do not know about the promise of his treatment. I am trying to change that. When I searched for a cure for my condition, I found scant information on the web from patients who have sought and obtained cure from this surgeon. So I have documented my story, starting from the beginning to the end, with pictures to show. It is one of my life missions to provide information about my treatment to fistula patients.

I created a simple online page - https://fistulapatient2patient.wordpress.com/. It is long and detailed. Please contact me in this forum, or through my simple website. It is my pleasure to be of help to you.
 
Some have asked me why I didn't share my story directly here in the forum and why I had to create wordpress website. Three reasons.

1) My story with multiple images of my wound and medical reports, is quite big in size that it is not possible to post such a long and detailed report - which I had been writing since I started treatment in December 2014 - in this forum.

2) Wordpress is free service!

3) I hope that my blog has a long online-life. For e.g. There is a person from Arkansas who underwent KsharSutra treatment in India (under a different doctor) and posted his experience in a very short summary in ibdsupport.org, which I uncovered only *after* I ran into his website, http://www.viholistichealth.com/ksharsutra. This person, IMO, was a pioneer patient, as he was among the first american patients that I know of who went to India to seek a treatment for anal fistula. I spoke to this patient and he guided me with his experience. I also communicated with 2 patients from Australia, whom I found through their online feedback on KsharSutra in some murky corners of internet. I wanted to change all that - i.e. I wanted my experience to be found easily by patients.
 
I read your blog. I've never had a fistula, so I wasn't reading to find treatment for myself, just out of interest. I was so impressed by the way your doctor took responsibility for your fistula and said you had no need to worry anymore. I'm also impressed by the lengths you went to to find treatment, and it is good to know your efforts paid off.
 
This disease had cost me everything. Wife deserted me. Only my mom stood by me. Imagine a pain level of 7 or 8 *everyday* in spite of undergoing a surgery every 2 months. My CRS in USA started suggesting ghee+milk, Oregano oil .. etc, as the abscess just would not let up. I saw my CRS starting to give up. When I saw my surgeon in India on Dec 8, 2014, I was at the verge of a mental break down. He comforted me with his kind words and delivered on that promise.

While I have no regrets of not having found Dr. Bhat sooner, I do feel that it is my duty to shine light on my treatment, so others can benefit.
 
This disease had cost me everything. Wife deserted me. Only my mom stood by me. Imagine a pain level of 7 or 8 *everyday* in spite of undergoing a surgery every 2 months. My CRS in USA started suggesting ghee+milk, Oregano oil .. etc, as the abscess just would not let up. I saw my CRS starting to give up. When I saw my surgeon in India on Dec 8, 2014, I was at the verge of a mental break down. He comforted me with his kind words and delivered on that promise.

While I have no regrets of not having found Dr. Bhat sooner, I do feel that it is my duty to shine light on my treatment, so others can benefit.
Thanks for sharing your story. I did not log into your website yet.

I had an anal fistulectomy in 1992, I have not had any issues since then with fistulas, but I have had two rectal abscess surgeries since then.

I believe I have seen some fistula/abscess videos on YouTube from India ?
 
Emailed my CRS in USA last week about my cure. CRS replied back saying he had known about the availability of this treatment from his patients who had gone to India and got cured! Part of me wishes that he could have mentioned it to me, sparing me all those I&D surgeries. No regrets.
 
In my blog I had inserted an incorrect link to the publication of a rare case report by Dr. Bhat. I have now fixed it. This is a case of anal fistula in an Indian patient, left untreated for years, managed to form a tract all the way to the foot! Dr. Bhat successfully treated this patient, published it in a western medical journal, and had come to Las Vegas to present it in a meeting. You can read it here.
 
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Someone contacted me in my blog asking about the cost of treatment, but didn't leave an Email ID or phone number. If you are that person, please get in touch with me again through my blog with your contact information.
 
In my blog I had inserted an incorrect link to the publication of a rare case report by Dr. Bhat. I have now fixed it. This is a case of anal fistula in an Indian patient, left untreated for years, managed to form a tract all the way to the foot! Dr. Bhat successfully treated this patient, published it in a western medical journal, and had come to Las Vegas to present it in a meeting. You can read it here.
Folks, I just saw this YouTube video of Dr. Bhat presenting this particular rare anal fistula case in a meeting.
 
Dear community,

I thought I will chime in here as 2015 is drawing to an end. Last year - 2014 - I was in India at this time. Dr. Ramesh Bhat, my talented surgeon in India, had finished a big Kshaara-Sutra surgery on Dec 9, 2014 and I was recovering from that surgery with hopes and prayers. I tear up sometimes thinking about the struggle I went through starting from Nov-2013 till June-2015. Throughout 2014, it seemed like this disease had consumed me and I was doomed to live with it for rest of my life. But I persevered - God, whoever that may be, had shone light on a path and guided me down that path. I ended up in India, under the awesome care of Dr. Ramesh Bhat. I still remember how Dr. Ramesh Bhat smiled and said that, "Your Anal Fistula is now my problem".

So folks, do not give up. There is cure for the taking. You just have to leave your lives behind in your home-country and make the journey to Bangalore, India. I do not disagree that leaving it all behind and going to a foreign country that you may have never visited, is hard. It was hard for me too. I had to completely uproot my life in USA to go to India and stay for up to 6 months. I am now reaping the rewards. If I ever get this disease again, which I hope I don't, I know that I am going to be OK.

God bless us. I pray that 2016 brings relief to you all from this condition.
 

theOcean

Moderator
This is an old thread, and I'm aware of it. I wanted to respond to this so that other IBD patients suffering with fistulas can educate themselves, in case they find this. I also wanted to point out the fact that you don't have IBD. I made an in-depth post linking every study I could find on kshar sutra.

IBD patients and immunosuppressed/immunocompromised individuals were excluded from every single study. There is no evidence that this helps people with Crohn's.
 
Resurrecting one of my old threads:

After going through my blog, a patient from Berkeley, CA, made his journey to India to undergo KsharSutra treatment under Dr. Bhat in March and he just got back, completely cured. His fistula was MUCH simpler than mine, however, he had had it for many years and incidentally we both, unbeknownst to each other at that time, underwent Fistula treatment unsuccessfully in UCSF before finding KsharSutra.

I remain hopeful that western medical system will recognize KsharSutra one day and bring it to developed nations.
 
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