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Fistula repair

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Posted 6/5/2011 12:56 PM (GMT 0)
Can I have some feed back on what to expect after fistula repair? Soo tired of pain and very scared. Has anyone had plugs or glue for fistula repairs? cry cry cry
Posted 6/5/2011 2:37 PM (GMT 0)
Hi Pennylane and welcome to Healingwell. I do not have experience with fistula's, so hopefully someone else will be along soon. Just fyi the weekends tend to be slower, so please be patient for reponses. Hugs~
Posted 6/5/2011 2:49 PM (GMT 0)
I had an abdominal fistula repaired through surgery in April. I'm not sure that my experience will be of much use to you. Most people tend to have perianal fistulas and all of mine have been abdominal.

I went through 18 months of wound care while taking Flagyl, including over a year of Humira, and nothing seemed to work.

My surgery involved removing 2 feet of small bowel. They found it was totally twisted with the fistula going through it, and also fixed a stricture I had been dealing with (which was down to .5 cm in one spot). The surgeon said she couldn't understand how anything was going thru that mess. She also got rid of a mess of adhesions, which will come back, of course. I am hoping these fixes will take care of my ongoing chronic pain for a little while...

Since my fistula was abdominal, we never tried a seton or any other kind of gluing or plugging method. Sorry - I don't think I am much help!

Best of luck with yours, I hope you find a solution soon.

Sudsmom
Posted 6/6/2011 1:17 AM (GMT 0)
Thanks For the info. Looking for information on perianal fistula repair.
Posted 6/6/2011 12:13 PM (GMT 0)
Sorry I am not much use either as my perianal fistula repair was via seton placement.  Just wanted you to know I understand your difficulty.  I know there are others on here who had surgery and plugs.  It just might take some time to hear from them.

Posted 6/20/2011 7:28 PM (GMT 0)
Coming in late on this one, but I tried the glue for mine (rectovaginal, but now branching into the perianal area as well). It didn't work, probably because my bathroom visits couldn't get under control long enough. It was really simple, no pain, no drugs, took about 20 minutes. Basically, they heat the glue up to body temp, and run it into the tract with a small catheter. It's about the consistency of rubber cement.

I looked into the plugs, but my surgeon suggested I try something called a LIFT procedure, so I'm scheduled for surgery in just under a month.

Good Luck, fistulas can be awful to deal with!
Posted 6/21/2011 1:25 AM (GMT 0)
I have had 12 surgeries on different fistulas in my 30 years with crohn's. My lucky number 13, I am dealing with now has to close with Humria because it is to big of a risk to open me up. They did a bladder scope on me two weeks and the hole is as big as a quarter. If yu use the fistula glue, the hole has to be no bigger than a small peanut. Good luck, Mr D.
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