Posted , 105 users are following.
I have read and heard many horror stories regarding anal fistula surgery. I have heard tales of incontinence, reccurence, severe scarring and infection.
Has anyone had sucessful surgery? Or natural medicine healing?
Stories would be appreciated.
Thanks
1 like, 185 replies
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romeo12127 tulip78
Posted
Hi, I got my fistula surgery yesterday i feel no pain until my bowel movement, I took pain reliever but the pain is still there. Is that normal? Thank you!
monika68761 romeo12127
Posted
Hi. You just had a major rectal surgery. the pain will be there for quite a while. what you dont want to see is pus. I am succesfully healed from surgery. My set on removal surgery was Feb 2017. My pain was there during all bowel movements. finally eased up about half a year into recovery but occasional sharp cutting pains. turned out i had stenosis from surgery so had physical therapy and finally 2 years later im mostly pain free. i get muscle scar pain when i stretch too much. you are looking at healing and finding a proctologist to oversee you coning back to full working state.
romeo12127 monika68761
Posted
Thank you for the advice Monica. At the moment I'm still struggling with the pain and stress, I hope pain will subside on the next following days. I also made an appointment to my GP to check my wound on Friday.
monika68761 romeo12127
Posted
Good luck. It's totally normal to be stressed out. I had some pretty low moods during my process of getting the abscess again and then finally getting referal for set on (sometimes called c ton on the forum) and the set on removed and finally healing. If I can recommend anything it's the cyclobenzaprine or flexaril. ot's the only med I take every now and then when scar pain flares up. during recovery I took the muscle relaxant several times a week at bed time. it relaxed the anal muscle as well as made me relaxed and sleepy at night time so I could sleep through the stress instead of stay up and cry. maybe one of your docs will prescribe it. keeping fingers crossed for you. ps i think proctologist would be better than a gp for follow ups. seriously. they know their stuff. gps dont really know much about anal fistulas. did you have a surgery by a proctologist surgeon? my first one was by a general surgeon in an ER and it was failed as i even heard them discussing as i was waking up after my surgery, that they were checking info about my issue since they have no idea yikes.
romeo12127 monika68761
Posted
The doctor who did my operation is a consultant colorectal and general surgeon , I only met him during the surgery and after that we go back and make an appointment to our gps for a follow up check-up. Thank you for mentioning the muscle relaxant i will try to get it as i don't have much sleep for 2 nights now and also the discharge from the wound is terrible makes me always awake.
monika68761 romeo12127
Posted
Looks like you are in good hands. hopefully you will get the prescription. if not, I used the over counter sleeping aid but its not as effective as it doesn't relax the muscle spasm. Prayers. Sooner or later you will heal! To me this all seems like a long ago unreal nightmare and sincere wishes that it will to you soon as well. I suspect healed patients don't often come to the forum to talk about it as they want to put this dreadful stuff behind them but believe me people do heal and go on with their lives. 😁
heather60052 monika68761
Posted
I have not read all the posts but I am a survivor of an anal fistula. I was diagnosed with IBS and was fine for years. I developed an anal abscess, went to ER to have it opened from then I was in and out of the ER for a total of 5 years. I was in my late thirties in great shape but did work in a stressful job and sat at a computer for hours. I was lucky to have a surgeon that never gave up on me. I had surgeries for a plug, a seton to allow drainage and then the lovely flap surgery. The flap surgery wasn't working, nothing was. My surgeon said he had done everything that was known, he then called a DR in USA (I am in Canada) this DR told him to use a silk string seton.
I was to go back to my surgeon every week for him to pull on this flippin string hoping to cause scar tissue for it to heal. It hurt too bad so I had decided to go back in and have a seton to allow it to drain forever. After 6 months ( was waiting to get back into surgery) the silk string came out in the shower on it's own. I have had no problems since. The area is still sensitive and probably always will be but no more fistula. There is hope. Discuss with your surgeon. No one wants to talk about this stuff but I have been to the dark side and survived.
heather60052
Posted
My 82 year old Mother is waiting in the hospital right now to have three setons inserted. She has diverticulitis which causes abscesses and fistulas. This is diagnosed by a colonoscopy. I trust everyone on here has had a few colonoscopys. I also had an MRI or CT scan (can't remember which one) so my surgeon had a good picture of what was happening. Luckily I live in Canada so my procedures were covered through our provincial healthcare. These abscesses and fistulas are a living hell. Good luck to all.
heather60052 romeo12127
Posted
Soak, soak, soak in a sitz bath, use epsom salts. You must keep the area as clean as possible. Then you need to lay around without anything on your bottom, on your side to get air in it.
matrixman tulip78
Posted
One thing to keep in mind is that most people who had a successful surgery don't go visiting message boards to talk about it--they just get on with their lives. Spending too much time hunting for info on the web might give you a darker-than-accurate picture about this procedure.
I had an anal fistulotomy three days ago. I went to a general surgeon for it--he said he would bail on the procedure if the tract was complex and send me to a specialist, but that they're usually not. In my case, it was easy. I was asleep for less than twenty minutes, in the operating room for less than ten (or so I'm told).
I had never had surgery, and was very nervous. Today, I'm convinced that the worst part about the procedure was the anxiety beforehand. There was a bit of blood the first time I defecated, and every few hours I swap out a piece of gauze that I've been keeping between my cheeks for a fresh one (I was told to expect some drainage as it heals).
They gave me some pain meds, but I stopped taking them this morning because I wanted to focus on a project and I find that the pain level is about on par with the discomfort that I would occasionally have from the untreated fistula.
I can't say for certain that it has fixed the issue, time will tell, but I can say that I wish I would have been less worried beforehand.
mazzz85 matrixman
Posted
Hi - how are you recovering? I am having a fistulotomy on 5/21 and overwhelmingly nervous for the after/recovery. Dr thinks the fistula is shallow so hopefully it's uncomplicated vs having a seton put in.
Your post has been really helpful so would love to just hear how you're doing now and any pre-op tips!
Thank you and hope you're feeling much improved
M
monika68761 matrixman
Posted
Just because someone said the surgery was a success it doesn't mean it was a success. My first surgery by general surgeon was called a success by him and it was a waste of time and money. My abscess came back. You cant judge by two days post op whether you are healed or not. Sorry but it's just that you haven't even begun the healing journey. please post your updates within a mo th, few months, half a year and then we will track your progress and success or lack of it. thank you.
g84240 tulip78
Posted
Hello everyone,
My name is Gabe. I am 25 years old and was previously in good health. I have had an anal abscess in the same area 4 times beginning in November 2018. I had it drained at a colorectal surgeon's office but it recurred in December, then March 2019, and each time I had it drained. Then it occured again in May earlier this month. I had a fistulotomy (no seton) under anesthesia at the hospital by the colorectal surgeon. I felt better for a few days but now am feeling sick, tired/fatigued, complete loss of appetite, unhealthy stool bordering on diarrhea, and a dull throbbing sensation in the rectal area every few minutes. I am quite scared as these symptoms of what I think is infection have been signs that the abscess was coming back in the past. I was really hoping the fistulotomy would solve this but am worried I am not healing right. I have already gone from 190 lbs when this started down to 160 lbs currently. I saw the APRN in my colorectal surgeon's office yesterday and they perscribed cipro/flagyl and I am going for a cat scan today. She said the area looked like it was healing well. I am in a very dark place and I am scared I will spend the rest of my life dealing with this. I dont think I can deal with the pain of this again and again let alone the emotional and financial burden on my parents. I have tried to follow every instruction to a T, I take sitz baths after every bowel movement and clean area well, I take metamucil and colace, and try to eat a healthy high fiber diet. Please, if anyone can offer some advice or support, I am desperate to find the cause of this and feeling very alone and scared.
mazzz85 g84240
Posted
Gabe, unfortunately I don't have much to offer as my procedure is set for next Tues. I'll keep you posted of progress if that helps. Not sure where you are located but obviously try to find the best of the best colorectal team if at all possible... Separately, there is a Facebook group called "Fistula Survival Guide" that maybe you can post and get some additional feedback there? A few groups exist so poke around...
Hang in there and don't lose hope - one day at a time. Push your doctors as much as you need to get the answers you deserve.
x
M
monika68761 g84240
Posted
Cheer up. there are so many of us here. you are doing awesome. If the check up revealed that you are healing nice maybe you are. I had terrible pain throbbing and narrow stool after my last surgery and went down to 180 pounds which for me is a big deal, I was never under 199 before. Anyways, I went for a second opinion and i was diagnosed with anal stenosis. after physical therapy and some electric currant therapy the pains have gone away and my bum works like it should again. surgeries are major trauma and it can cause the bum to forget how to work. ok now if it turns out that you have a reocurrence do not despair, my abscess reocurrence only disappeared after a seton. i am left with a lot of on and off scar pain I am on muscle relaxants but I have been abscess free over two years, ever since the last seton removing surgery. this is doable. it is! lots of us are cured! chin up, we are here to help you. ps the scar fills up as time goes by. it took about a year for me. went from indented to slightly sticking out.