My name is Naomi and this is my story of victory with the fistula.
I am telling it here to allow information that is so hard to find on the net and above all to be a hope for everyone who wants and chooses to be cured of this terrible disease.
It is important for me to note that everything I will tell here is information and personal research, I did not study medicine and all the information here is from personal experience only and from private experience, all the medical terms that appear here are from my understanding and correct for my case. I am not a guarantee of their correctness regarding other cases. This is my personal story only and any personal decision made based on this story is not my responsibility
I will start in chronological order:
The abscess – January 2017
It all started on a winter day, during the shower I felt a lump that felt like a ping pong ball in my butt. The area felt swollen and very painful. I made an appointment with the proctologist because I was afraid it was a tumor… during the examination with him I got to know the new name: abscess. The doctor explained to me that it is a microscopic gland that gets clogged (and it is unknown as a result) in the last part of the digestive system, the colon, this is the part from which the feces are secreted. Due to clogging of the gland, a pocket is formed that fills with pus due to the infection – this is the abscess . He sent me to the ER within 24 hours to drain it.
Draining an abscess just sounds like a simple procedure – in fact it is an operation under full anesthesia during which an opening is cut through the skin and thus allows the pus to come out. The operation is very painful and recovery from it is not a trivial matter. But I got through it and recovered from the surgery. In the review that was conducted for me 3 weeks later, I was told that everything was fine. No one warned me that there was a chance that something would develop from here and I was not scheduled for another audit. I returned to my home feeling that the worst is behind me and I continue with my life as usual. Nothing prepared me for what happened next.
The discovery of the fistula – July 2017
About six months later I noticed two tiny spots in the scar area through which there was a slight discharge of pus and the pain in the area lasted for a month. I went to the proctologist who informed me that I had a fistula. “Approximately 50% of the people who underwent drainage of an abscess discover a fistula” he said and made an appointment for surgery in a month. This time I asked questions that I didn’t really get answers to and I decided that I wanted to do more research and understand what it was all about. I made an appointment at a specialist clinic privately. This is one of the best clinics I have found and it is made up of the best experts in the field. The kind professor who accepted me sent me for an MRI scan to see the course of the fistula.
Fistula – this is a channel formed from the abscess pocket outside the skin. Actually the accumulated pus inside the abscess looks for a way out and creates the fistula. In this way, a vicious circle is created that the channel is actually constantly getting polluted and filled with pus and strengthening this channel.
From here began a path accompanied by a lot of uncertainty and lack of clarity regarding the continuation. “Let’s start the process and see how we progress” was a concept I heard a lot and had to accept.”But what are my options? What will be the next step? Is there an end to it?” I asked “You need a lot of patience”…. was the hardest answer I heard and I couldn’t understand anything from it.
The mri revealed a horseshoe shaped fistula and according to the doctors it is called a complex fistula. This means that my fistula had two openings in the skin (like two paths) and the professor’s suggestion was first to insert a drain into the fistula channel “and then we’ll see”…
The drain actually replaces the fistula canal and drains the pus out so that the fistula canal can dry out and then you can continue to operate.
Surgery again, this time less painful but definitely not pleasant…. I woke up from the operation under full anesthesia with a thread about the thickness of a small cuff and learned to live with it… I came frequently for check-ups with the professor and about a month later an abscess developed again. It turns out that the drain was not inserted along the entire length of the fistula, but only in half of it, so the development of another abscess was expected (only that I did not know about it again). Again an emergency room, again the terrible operation to drain the abscess, again the unbearable pain of recovering from a brutal operation only about a month after the previous one.
Beyond the terrible shame that every doctor and specialist is allowed to look at such an intimate part of my body, the pain at this stage is unbearable.
During this time, of course, I lost all ability to work, it was difficult for me to function as a mother to my two young children and not to mention intimate relationships… (I am divorced) day by day the desire to continue living decreased, and the future looked very bleak. I found fewer and fewer reasons to continue living and fewer answers to my medical questions.
The plan was to prepare for another surgery within a month, during which another drain would be inserted “and we’ll see”….
This is the place to tell that there are several types of fistulas , in a rough and significant division it can be said that they are divided into fistulas that involve muscle and fistulas that do not involve muscle. The division is very important! Why?
The only way to treat a fistula is surgery. (As I understand it) that is – the tissue containing the fistula must be removed and new tissue must be allowed to grow in its place. That means there must be surgical intervention.
If the fistula does not involve a muscle, you are lucky and you can perform one operation called – fistulotomy. This is a relatively simple operation where the fistula is removed and the body rebuilds itself. Recurrence rates are low and life gets back on track.
In case the fistula involves a muscle – and no matter which way, there is a problem. Why?
Because it is actually not possible to remove it. The muscles through which the fistula passes are the ring muscles and you can’t just remove them… I mean you can but that means you will lose control over these muscles because you won’t have them and you will be connected to a bag (stoma) that collects the feces or you will be in diapers for the rest of your life. There is also the option of living with the drains for life and many other options that are not very attractive but can keep you alive.
I am attaching here a number of tips that helped me a lot while dealing with the fistula and abscess:
1. Prevents constipation: eating lots of fiber and drinking lots of water. There is a tea called “lexi tea” that you can get in health food stores, eating ground flax seeds (about two teaspoons before bed, and drinking a lot of water), psyllium powder
(Mixing a teaspoon or two before bed in warm water and drinking at least another glass of water afterwards).
2. Sitting bath – https://www.yasam.co.il/item_h.php?id=590
Mix in the hot water 2 tablespoons of Epsom salt (also called Epsom salt – available in health food stores)
Two drops of tea tree essential oil and five drops of lavender essential oil. Sit until the water cools
3. Oregano oil – look for as pure a type as possible. Apply to the area and massage in, as well as add 2 drops for daily ingestion
4. Sitting on a wheel cushion with a hole in the middle (as there are for hemorrhoids, you can find it at Yad Sarah or in orthopedic stores)
The information about Kashar – Sutra
Then… miraculously, I received a phone call from an Israeli girl who returned from India and was cured of a fistula through a special Ayurvedic treatment called “Kshar Sutra” and in English kshar sutra . This brave woman’s name is Michal Reich and she will tell her wonderful story here on the blog as well. I talked to her at length, and she agreed to tell me everything she knew and provided me with invaluable information about the possibility of a cure.
Some links to Facebook groups that helped me a lot:
1. Closed group for kshar sutra – kshar sutra for fistulas
2. Closed group for fistula support – fistula support group (colorectal)
Since my fistula involved the muscle I realized that this was my opening to real healing… I sat many days and nights on the Internet and applied for a visa to India. I wrote to the doctor who treated her and he replied that he could cure me. The decision to leave two small children here was very difficult, but compared to the rest of life – the path was clear. I’m going to India and will come back safe. I will return to life, I will return to being a mother to my children, a wife, I will return to being who I deserve to be.
Within two weeks I received the visa to India. I agreed with my brother that he would come with me for the first three weeks (the expectation was 4 months of treatment) and from there I would manage on my own.
About kshar-sutra:
Keshar-sutra is a treatment that has existed for thousands of years in India. This is an invasive Ayurvedic treatment during which a special Ayurvedic thread is inserted into the fistula channel. This thread, coated with special herbs, has a dual action: cleaning and reducing the pus and narrowing the fistula channel until it reaches the surface of the skin and dissolves. In this way, an empty space is not created that allows for the re-creation of a fistula and the tissue is regenerated and rebuilt in a healthy and tight way, which explains the low recurrence rates in this treatment. The thread is usually changed once a week, but the treatment varies from patient to patient according to the decision of the attending physician. I currently know of two reliable doctors in India who treat this method:
Dr. Ramesh Bhat (whom I chose as my doctor) treating in Bangalore – http://www.drrameshbhat.com/
Dr. Bapat treating Pune – http://www.omayurvedicclinic.com/
The two doctors differ in their methods of treatment, but both have extensive knowledge and experience, as well as experience working with Westerners (which is no less important…)
Dr. Bhatt’s treatment includes surgery at the beginning of the process and he combines knowledge of Western medicine as well as knowledge of Ayurvedic medicine. He has a degree in Western medicine, surgery and Ayurveda and lectures all over the world about his treatment method. He is a person with a lot of knowledge and experience and I chose him to be my doctor. Accompanied by Ayurvedic medicinal treatment, thus ensuring restoration and balance of the body during the treatment. I know of patients who also went to Dr. Bapat and were cured, and this option also exists. As for myself, I feel a tremendous added value in my choice of this doctor because of his personality and the Ayurvedic medicinal treatment with him. I feel healthier than many times after his treatment (and all this with and without connection to the healing of the fistula).
Link to the video explaining the Kashar-Sutra:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tyDKWw70nnQ
The journey in India – the Khashar-Sutra treatment and a confused teacher to Bangalore – November
For three weeks I drained the abscess myself, after sitting in the bath I would press on the area to drain the pus so it wouldn’t accumulate into an abscess. And once a week or so I would go to the professor who cut a small incision to help the pus to come out just so that I would be able to wait until the surgery.
That’s how I boarded the flight. With the sitting bath, wheel pillow and essential oils in the suitcase. I pray that I last so that I can get treatment.
The doctor saw me the next day in his simple clinic in Bangalore. I met a pleasant and calm man who knows exactly what he is doing. He examined me and sent me for an ultrasound and normal tests in preparation for surgery (chest x-ray, blood tests and EKG).
