13 replies to this topic

[lau1]

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Does anyone have any experience with this? I have an anterior placed fistula and a female so it's known to be slightly complex. My cr surgeon wants to now put a cutting seton in after a failed lift surgery... It's been over 6months post lift, and cutting seton seems scary. I'm getting absexond opinion but does anyone have any experience w this situation? Thanks!

[vmal mehra]

hi,

Before you go for any procedure pl read my earlier post and however bizarre it may sound you may have a very pleasant surprise.

 

                                                                                                                                                  vimal

[bartholin]

hi lau1, what did your second opinion say? I've been told by 2 top CRS in Boston area that cutting seton works for women with anterior fistulas. they're both women themselves which somehow is even more reassuring. they say incontinence has not been an issue for their patients because they cut so slowly, which improves the muscle healing and makes the process  all less uncomfortable. Today i went in for an EAU and possible seton placement after my failed lift. came out with draining seton and partial fistulotomy. apparenetly the lift soemwhat worked in that the fistula track is now just thru my external muscle. i can't quite visualize how that works but anyway she said i am not a candidate for a 2nd lift afterall because its so low now so i'll see her in Jan and will prob sched a cutting seton to fix this finally. i posted my whole story on another thread here if you want more background. good luck and kepp us posted on your situation

[nchauhan24]

Cutting seton may be the modern version of an Ayurvedic Khsara sutra treatment which is performed by Ayurveda surgeons like me in India. It really gives excellent results in all kinds of anal fistulae.
If you want more, you may follow the following links; www.ayurvedapilescure.com
www.ksharasutraindia.blogspot.com
thanks
Dr. Naveen Chauhan
Consultant Ayurveda Physician and Kshara sutra surgeon,
Ghaziabad, India

[Chele]

Just wanted to give you some hope. I haven't been back on this site since I healed over one year ago. Some background info...I am a female who had an anterior transphinteric fistula as a result of childbirth. I had it for three years, had 10 surgeries (including numerous seton placements, and two terrible, horrible advanced flaps that failed miserably. I do not have crohns or ibd. After a second failed flap, my doctor placed a silk seton, loose. I had, in the past, rubber setons, but he placed the silk in hopes of making me more comfortable. It was kind of like a thread. I honestly thought that this would be in forever. I started to use Calmoseptine to help with the tissue irritation and I would tug on the thread just a bit each day. Sometimes I would rotate the seton as much as I could. Low and behold, after about 8 weeks, I felt a tug when I sat down and the seton had cut through. I immediately panicked, thinking I would end up with another abscess or infection. My doctor took me back into surgery to "clean things up" and I healed. I have some minor problems with gas incontinence but that's it! Let me tell you...I was the worst case scenario in the beginning...every doctor ( even at Cleveland Clinic) was fearful of touching me because of my muscle involvement.My CRS thinks the Calmoseptine may have softened the tissue enough and helped the seton cut through. Keep the faith. Things will work out, even if it takes years. I am happy, healthy, and fistula free!!!!

[lau1]

Hi Richele!

 

Thanks for responding- this forum is the best. Thanks for your re- assurance. It's been a little longer than a year since my first diagnosis, and i'm looking forward to another surgery w second opinion colorectal surgeon. I think we are at the point of hopefully just a simple fistulotomy this time around bc my new surgeon looked me in the eye and answered me that there will be no incontinence risk with a 7 or 8 mm cut through my internal sphincter muscle.

 

We will see- I hope so! This has been such a struggle to deal with. I feel like no one really gets the high maintenance lifestyle associated with it. I would love to hear your story ... You mentioned you healed?? That's amazing. Also, I am assuming this was a vaginal/ rectal fistula correct? Mine was/is a transsphincteric fistula in ano ( which hopefully
Just goes through my internal sphincter muscle now, not both) which does not have anything to do w the vagina.

 

Hopefully hear from you soon. Lets hope 2015 is a much better year!!

 

Sent from my iPhone

 

lau1,

 

Chele has sent you a new personal conversation entitled "Answer to your question".

 

Chele said:
Hi there! First of all, just want to say that I am sorry that you are going through this. It helps, though, to know you are not alone. I was fortunate enough to meet another female in my area that was going through the same thing (we both had the same incompetent doctor deliver our babies who did this to us) and we were able to cry together...and there was a lot of crying. My fistula went through about 50 percent of my internal sphincter. The whole tract was less than 1 cm, but the tricky part was the fact that it was anterior and I am a female. My doc said if it had been anywhere else, he would have been more aggressive. It was really amazing how I got rid of it. I was told that I may have to live with the seton forever or have a diverting colostomy while I had more surgery to try and let it heal. Thankfully, neither were true. Feel free to ask me anything. If I can help anyone in this situation, I would be thrilled. It was the one of the hardest times of my life.

 

Richele

[Sheridyn]

Hi,
I just wanted to say to chele I was reading your story and it felt like i was reading my own. I have an anterior transphinteric fistula also caused from child birth and have been through 9 surgeries to date in the last 2 years. Have lost count of how many setons I've had. In feb I will start the cutting seton process but have been told if it doesnt fully work I will need a temporary ileostomy bag for around 4 mths while the muscle repair heals. I can't believe this has happen all for having a baby. I am hoping my new crs can get this sorted in the next 6 months, he's a lovely man who can't believe what I've gone through as surgeries have been done on me that should never have been attempted. I've gotten to the point that I have been through so much pain I don't care what he has to do I just what it fixed. Thank you for sharing your experience it has given me hope that I too will be back to normal hopefully very soon.

[AFS]

Hi Sheridyn,

 

Please make double and triple sure that ileostomy is required for you. According to my CRS, ileostomy is a radical procedure for the condition from which we suffer. Get a second and third opinion. My 2c.

[lau1]

Hi everyone! Just a quick update - I just had my 3rd surgery with my second opinion colorectal surgeon - Dr. Sang Lee associated with NY Presybterian Well Cornell in NYC. He is amazing. He performed a fistulotomy and I am currently day 5 post op and feeling just fine. I luckily had a superficial fistula just going through about 5 percent of my internal sphincter muscle. This is after 2 previous surgeries with another surgeon (loose seton placement and then a LIFT procedure which made my tract shorter ) and these staged surgeries made it possible to finally do a fistulotomy. If anyone has any questions, please don't hesitate to ask me. I really really trust Dr. Sang Lee in Ny, Ny. I would advise anyone to go and see him if you have a complex fistula. 

 

Of course I won't know until a couple of weeks if this is fully successful, but I have high hopes. This forum has been so beneficial to me and I am sure to others. Again, I wish we discussed the surgeons we see a little bit more because I have found the one!

[AFS]

@lau1, Happy for you. I agree that it all comes down to finding the right CRS. The profession of CRS places so much emphasis on complex colon diseases - the ones that require many hours of surgery - that this "simple" problem that we suffer from is not getting lot of attention.

 

Good luck to you. I hope that you get better and free of this disease.

[Kayra07243]

Hi.. I am new member. I am diagnosed with complex fistual. I got vaginal birth 4th degree tear before 18 months.. The fistula is result of it. I have fistula opening near vagina side at periniam. Doctor has put rubber hanging draining seton. It keeps draining pus. I cant sit propely. It has been 1 week of seton placement. I visited another colon surgeon for his recommendation. He said that he need to examine me under sedation. Because he does not know the actual path of fistula. I am planning to visit more university doctors before i decide final procedure. My current doctor said to try for cutting seton. But the another doctor said cutting muscle is not good option. So its kind of dilemma. Is any one in NJ area knows good colon surgon. Please suggest me. I dont want to go to operating room. It makes me nervous. I am loosing hope. I am just 32 years old and long life ahead. Please help me.

[bartholin]

hi, i just had a cutting seton placed. Pretty sore but not terrible, hoping the swelling goes down in a couple days. Anyone have any advice for managing cutting setons? Thanks...

[bartholin]

I'm 1.5 weeks post surgery for cutting seton placement. Pretty comfortable actually. Have not had it tightened yet, possibly will be at the 3 week mark though. Did one week pretty much in bed, then back to work (desk job). Sitting all day makes things sore by the end of the day, but not bad. Feel some twinges and stinging toward the end of the day. Keeping clean is key - showers after movements or things get very sore. No continence issues so far.  

[pig423]

[color=rgb(40,40,40);font-family:helvetica, arial, sans-serif;]Dear all fistula friend, please pray for me, I hope it works this time for me. [/color]

This is my report: I has been dealing with horseshoe fistula for almost 5 years, and been through many surgeries, and has tried all the techniques that have mentioned for anal fistula (fistolectomy, seton, fibrin glue, flap advance, LIFT procedure...you name it). Every time i came out from surgeries, i pray that it would be the last time. Unfortunately, there was no last time, it seems like it is so hard if not impossible to cure this sickness. My doctor was so great, she had tried so hard and very patient to help me, but this disease did not seem like something that Western medicine can easily deal with. And even if they did, the chance are small and conservative.

Like all of you, i search and continues searching on google trying to find a solution. Some suggest to go to India to try sharka sutra, seem like a solution, but since it too far and the mean to get there kind of difficult for me. I keep delay it and delay it until now. What bother me the most is that, what is the guaranty that I have since I have to travel that far to do it? I am sure you all probably question the same. and for that reason, I decide not to go to India yet. 

I tried Ghee and Milk, it did not work. Maybe, the sickness that he had is not what I had. 

Last surgery was on January 2015. Pus still coming out, little but still come out. I have been waiting for 2 months to see if it helps with last surgery. No, so disappointed, pus still coming out every day on my soft tissue. So Sad so sad. So i went to google again and try to look for miracle again. Luckily, I bump into this little site in Viet Nam, there is a guy who post on the web saying that he had anal fistula and after many surgeries he still not able to cure. So he tried this new herb from a herb doctor somewhere in Viet nam. she operated under small shop in the little village of Viet Nam. He assured that it works. So for a sake of luck, I got friend who lived in Viet nam, I call and ask him to buy this herb for me and mail it to me. I received the package on March 5, 2015 and start taking it. Each bag come with 30-40 little pills, make out of herb. Instruction say, take it 3 times a day and within 15 days, pus will stop. But need to complete the course for 3-5 months to rebuild all the tissues and prevent recurrence. I took the herb but not 3 times a day, I only do it twice a day since I am skeptical about this herb, and also I am working man so I took one in morning and one at night before go sleep. Man, After 13 days, pus really stop, no more pus coming out. It gives me a little courage to continues. At first, I told my wife about this herb during dinner time, she laugh so did I. But we all know, only people who in this sickness understand that we will try anything that give us hope even though there is a small chance that It would work. So I am still taking this herb. In the morning I do sit bath, touching the area, start to realize that the hard tissue around my rectum been subside. it gets softer and softer (I feel there is a little tube of hard tissue, running from my 5 o'clock straight up to my 1 o'clock on my right hand side, it is about 1 inches.) I feel it getting softer and smaller. Please help me God, please make it works this time. I am really tired of this sickness.

I don't want to bring any hope to any one, but just want to share my personal experience and still testing this new herb, give it a month or two to see if it is really work. If it is I will post it up here for all of you to know. Hope that it can help all of us. For a small amount of money ($25 US dollar for 30 days supplies), if it works, God help us all. 

i will pray for you all.

Tom