Natural Methods to Heal Fistulas?

My 25 year old daughter has a Crohn's-related fistula that is below her belly button and it just won't seem to heal up. Her gastroenterologist wants her to go on Remicade or one of the other strong medicines but with all the bad things we've heard about them, we have been hoping to find a natural method to heal it. A gal at a health store told us that she has heard good things about wild oregano oil and she said it was a natural antibiotic. Since our daughter's doctor said that if she won't go on the Remicade, she should at least try using flagyl, we are considering it. Has anyone heard about this method or any other one?

I can't say that I have ever heard of the wild oregano oil, but given my experience with fistulas, I wouldn't get my hopes up on finding an easy fix. Of course, you have nothing to loose, so why not give it a try? Just curious, how is it used? Do you ingest it or rub it on the fistula or what?

My experience with fistulas is that they are very persistant and hard to heal. Flagyl is the only thing that works for me to keep the infection away, but has never worked in healing the fistula itself. I have heard that Remicade is good for healing fistulas, but it did not work for me. I had one surgically repaired but it still came back in little over a year. Right now my course of treatment is low dose flagyl (250mg/day), which I ramp up as soon as I get signs of inflammation and drainage. This is working for me, but I still have to deal with the fistula until I decide if I want to have the surgical repair again...my doc said she gives it a 70% chance of success, but it decreases with each surgery. I believe that there are a few people on this forum that have had an ileostomy due to extreme complications with fistulas, but that is sort of a last resort. I would not rule out trying the Remicade though. There is a lot of info on here because most of us have tried it at one time or another and from what I have read, not too many people have had bad experiences and it has done a lot of good for so many.

Good luck with whatever your daughter decides to do. Please let us know if she gets any results with that oregano oil.

Oregano is a antiparasitc product and also kills yeast. Yeast is likely contributer to the symptoms of Crohn's but not the only one.

If she has a yeast over growth then it may help. Yeats is really tough to control by any means.

Dan

Recently, we heard a person on another health site who lives in China say that they have heard of the use of lingzhi mushrooms for the treatment of inflammation and this person said that in many Asian countries, it is used for many, many things, including autoimmune diseases. We also want to try this for our daughter's fistula. Has anyone heard of this method? Thanks.

Sherry said:

My 25 year old daughter has a Crohn's-related fistula that is below her belly button and it just won't seem to heal up. Her gastroenterologist wants her to go on Remicade or one of the other strong medicines but with all the bad things we've heard about them, we have been hoping to find a natural method to heal it. A gal at a health store told us that she has heard good things about wild oregano oil and she said it was a natural antibiotic. Since our daughter's doctor said that if she won't go on the Remicade, she should at least try using flagyl, we are considering it. Has anyone heard about this method or any other one?

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I understand your concerns with Remicade, I also was very hesitant about this treatment. I have fistulas as well, and I have tried the antibiotics too. I just got my first dose of Remicade yesterday. I havent read about any alternative/natural methods to heal fistulas. My brother has Crohns as well and early in his diagnosis he had tried some natural methods with no success, he has been on Imuran for a number of years now and is doing great. I think what works for one person doesnt always work for another. Good Luck and if you have any success please let me know! =)

Hey Sherry,

No I do not know about many of the other treatments, but just speaking to the remicade...i know that I personally look forward to my remicade treatments as it makes me feel good for a little bit....about a week after the treatment you start to feel symptoms again but not too bad and getting closer to the treatments you may start feeling more of the full level of the chron's situation...but once you get that next treatment...the fistulas settle down for a while, things stop aching, and itching...at least for a while...so I am just saying that for me Remicade helps make things more bearable...there are side effects with everything so i have accepted those in this case to improve my health at this moment instead of looking long term at what may be...I hope that you find out all of the information you are looking for and that you discover what works best in your family's situation.

Good luck.

hey sherry
i also have fistulas. first one about 6 years ago and after started remi, was free of them for 3 years.
i have 2 open fistulas in my butt area now that have been there for the past few years, howver part f my complications are due to an abcess in my colon that keeps these things open.
the remi worked well for me, and when it started losing effect, i went on flagyl and cipro. like shadycat, this seemed to keep the infection at bay but i still havent been able to heal up the open tracts and they do still drain a bit.
i now have an ileostomy a month old, not completely due to the fistula problem, my colon is severely inflamed as well. the hope is that healing in the colon will take place and that the fistulas may finally heal as well.
ive never tried those natural treatments that youve mentioned, but i can only hope that they might help!
let us know what you discover ok?
all the best to you and your daughter

do they just leave the fistulas to heal after the ileostomy? do they continue to drain? i thought they would heal and stop draining

I have a fistula since last 3 months have undergone an MRI for diagnosis. It is Grade 2 fistula my GP said. He pushed me to undergo colonoscopy which I did, but my fistula went bad after this. The pain is increased a lot and unbearable.. I am following 4 types of activity.

1. I am applying a paste of clarified butter [Antibacterial], seasame, Honey, Turmeric, asaphoetida all mixed together and keeping a bandage over the fistula. It seems it is helping..

2. Since we all have logical mind, the logic relies to abandon to pass all unwanted via the anus channel. So eating foods like juice/soup/eggs/no salt which will reduce work of the problematic channel.

3. Also I came across the following mantra which is to be recited 21 times in the morning and wash the fistula/anus with water. Keep sure to store some water nearby your bed before you sleep. I am doing the same.

ॐ काका कता क्रोरी कर्ता ॐ कर्ता से होय यरसना दश हंस प्रगटे खुनी बादी बवासीर न होय मन्त्र जानकर न बतावे तो द्वाद्वश ब्रहम हत्या का पाप होय लाख पढ़े उसके वंश में न होय शब्द सांचा पिण्ड काचा फुरो मन्त्र इश्वरो वाचा

4. Washing the part after going to toilet with water MgS04 Epsom Salt.

5. Keep this part as dry as possible since I did some research on bacteria's needs for growth..they need food [juice will not provide to them ] , moisture[will be absorbed by cotton pad placing there] , heat and time.
We can control heat by sitting on electrical blanket or hot sitz bath. Time is the only factor we dont have control over

Hope this will help us all..

Guys no matter now great this disease is. I also had a severe issue in my stool area for around 5 years !! Discussed with many doctors and they suggested me for medical surgery but I never opted as people told that it is not the permanent solution for this. Later I came in touch to a Homeopath doctor who suggested me to take his medicine for around 1 years continuously and miracle happened I am perfect now. I tell you he has given me medicines which worked like wonder. Thanks

Please tell me more. Can you provide your doctor's contact information, maybe he can recommend a doctor that practices under his same theory. I would love to get away from drugs and use natural alternatives.

maria27 said:

do they just leave the fistulas to heal after the ileostomy? do they continue to drain? i thought they would heal and stop draining

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I have an ileostomy and my fistula is there and draining. If it doesn't respond to diversion and treatment, we may explore other options.

s.a.m. said:

I understand your concerns with Remicade, I also was very hesitant about this treatment. I have fistulas as well, and I have tried the antibiotics too. I just got my first dose of Remicade yesterday. I havent read about any alternative/natural methods to heal fistulas. My brother has Crohns as well and early in his diagnosis he had tried some natural methods with no success, he has been on Imuran for a number of years now and is doing great. I think what works for one person doesnt always work for another. Good Luck and if you have any success please let me know! =)

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I also understand your concerns with Remicade. I have been battling fistulas for approximately 4-5 years and have been on Remicade for 3 years. My body had responded well so far and the fistulas have completely stopped. I never took long term medicine for my Crohns and I've battled it for almost 50 years until now. It's a personal decision but the complications and the pain were unbearable. Surgery was not able to correct the situation. I couldn't work as the fistula kept recurring. My only side effects so far have been hot flashes and I tend to be more tired. For me, Remicade has made life better.

I would be very hesitant to try any "alternative" method which has not been proved to work. Homeopathy is a scam and has no place in medicine. Chinese medicine may well work, but at the same time it may be very dangerous, not only due to whats in the stuff, but also what may happen if the fistula is not healing.
Who knows as most of it has never been research (although I'm sure grinding some poor animals penis is not going to make a wonder drug)

Remicade may have some serious side effects but it has been proven to work, and as it is administered by a reputable health profession, your daughters health will also be checked regularly. As these side effects are known, a close eye will be kept on any symptoms.

References for dangers of chinese medicine http://www.mhra.gov.uk/NewsCentre/Pressreleases/CON307398
http://news.sciencemag.org/asia/2012/04/dangers-chinese-medicine-brought-light-dna-studies

and homeopathy

The scientific community regards homeopathy as nonsense,[11] quackery[12][13][14] or a sham,[15] and homeopathic practice has been criticized as unethical.[16] The axioms of homeopathy are long refuted[17] and lack any biological plausibility.[18] Although some clinical trials produce positive results,[19][20] systematic reviews reveal that this is because of chance, flawed research methods, and reporting bias.[21][22][23][24] The postulated mechanisms of action of homeopathic remedies are not only scientifically implausible[21][25][26][27] but precluded by the laws of physics.[28]

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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homeopathy

I have been trying sooooo many things to heal a fistula naturally. I haven't been able to "heal" it but can control it. The best thing I have found so far is wild oregano oil. I bought a really expensive and high quality brand. After every single bm or if 12 hours have gone by I put the oil around the abscess and inside towards the fistula opening. This melts away the abscess. No more puss, blood, draining and very little pain. Swelling goes down. It isn't perfect though. The fistula opening on the inside doesn't heal. So if I stop using the oil, the abscess painfully swells up again. Even if I miss a coating after a bm even once, it can happen. I won't claim to know how it works, but people say wild oregano oil is a kill everything oil so I think it keeps the area sterile, but given the nature of the area, it can quickly be overcome with a new wave of bacteria or yeast or whatever it is.

I am still experimenting and researching and trying hard to find a way to heal it. I have been to the rectal doctor so many times. The only thing he did for me that helped was give me months of Cipro and Flagyl. That combo did help make the abscess go down, but no better than the oregano oil and with more side affects. After I stopped the antiobiotics, it just came back.

I would be ultra cautious with unproven holistic "healing"methods and wouldn't,t stop a child or adult using prescribed drugs that's the route to disaster!by all means try these ointments there unlikely to do anything other than lighten your wallet.

Jabo said:

I have been trying sooooo many things to heal a fistula naturally. I haven't been able to "heal" it but can control it. The best thing I have found so far is wild oregano oil. I bought a really expensive and high quality brand. After every single bm or if 12 hours have gone by I put the oil around the abscess and inside towards the fistula opening. This melts away the abscess. No more puss, blood, draining and very little pain. Swelling goes down. It isn't perfect though. The fistula opening on the inside doesn't heal. So if I stop using the oil, the abscess painfully swells up again. Even if I miss a coating after a bm even once, it can happen. I won't claim to know how it works, but people say wild oregano oil is a kill everything oil so I think it keeps the area sterile, but given the nature of the area, it can quickly be overcome with a new wave of bacteria or yeast or whatever it is.



I am still experimenting and researching and trying hard to find a way to heal it. I have been to the rectal doctor so many times. The only thing he did for me that helped was give me months of Cipro and Flagyl. That combo did help make the abscess go down, but no better than the oregano oil and with more side affects. After I stopped the antiobiotics, it just came back.

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How long were you on the antibiotics? What other medications do you take, or are you just treating yourself naturally? I was on cipro/flagyl for eight months and also Humira and I have no more drainage. I'm not on antibiotics anymore (haven't been since December) and haven't had anything get reinfected.

theOcean said:

How long were you on the antibiotics? What other medications do you take, or are you just treating yourself naturally? I was on cipro/flagyl for eight months and also Humira and I have no more drainage. I'm not on antibiotics anymore (haven't been since December) and haven't had anything get reinfected.

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The doctor would give me Cipro/Flagyl for 1 month at a time, it would help and but not all the way, then it would come back and I would get another dose. The doctor said after a month it wouldn't help, but I found a journal article on the internet saying long courses would so I continued to beg for more. I was on and off Cipro/Flagyl for 1 year and then after than year I finally talked the doctor into giving me a 6 month supply. It wasn't easy but he did it. At the end of the 6 months It seemed like it was totally healed. The track wasn't even able to be felt anymore and the outside had completely healed up and the scar had even completely become smooth. I thought I had it beat. Then after a few months, maybe a strain or something opened the inside back up and it started again; I can't really be sure how it started. But it came back. Maybe had I given the antiobiotics three more months, I could have completely healed it. But by then end of the 6 month stint I was totally depressed and feeling terrible as a side effect of the antiobiotics, so I felt like I just couldn't take them more and had thought it was healed. I might push for another round though hearing your story in combination to some of the alternative treatments I am doing. My alternative treatments get me far but not all the way. Maybe bringing the antibiotics back will finish it off! What does anybody think?

Axelfl3333 said:

I would be ultra cautious with unproven holistic "healing"methods and wouldn't,t stop a child or adult using prescribed drugs that's the route to disaster!by all means try these ointments there unlikely to do anything other than lighten your wallet.

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I am all for Western medicine man. I think it really helped save my life! I also think that as long as a person's western medicines are working for them and they are happy, they should continue. At the same time it is just one and only one system of medicine. There are traditions out of Africa, India, and China that each developed their own standards and methods and have a history that goes back farther than Western medicine. To ignore all that history developed independently to me would be total stupidity especially considering how desperate we are. Their systems in my opinion are not as scientific as the Western method but that my no means invalidates all their findings.

That being said, you are right that in the "holistic healing" community in that there is literally a snake oil salesman on every corner trying to get your money by selling false hope for your desperation.

Please understand that isn't me. I am the exact opposite. I am spending my time and energy and resources to share with you what has worked for me because I sympathize with everybody on this board. I am in no way trying to get your money. I am here to share my test case of one, and hopefully learn from all of you. I really don't care if the cure was published in a journal or was passed down from herbalist to herbalist for the last 1000 years as long as it gets me healthy.

I,m not against anything that helps people as there are naturally occurring herbs,spices and fruits that have medicinal properties that need serious investigation I just feel it's wrong to take advantage and give false hope to people with chronic health conditions,crohns being one of many.
I just hope to be proven wrong and that's the day I,ll enjoy my extra large portion of humble pie.
I also hope that you don,t think I was taking a personal shot,believe me I wasn't,t it's just occasionally there are businesses and guru,s pop up on here plugging the latest cure in there new book,DVD,they get weeded out quickly.its dangerous for anyone to stop treatment even though there are doctors out there who are arrogant twats!good luck all the best

With IBD unless you treat the underlying cause then fistula won’t heal.

Antibiotics will only take you so far. They will treat any infection present and in the case of Flagyl it also has anti-inflammatory properties but not enough on its own to eliminate it all together and keep it that way.

What are you taking to treat the underlying inflammation and disease?

Dusty. xxx

Hi DustyKat, I have tried taking lots of different things to reduce inflammation and have more on the way. Still haven't found anything that will make a fissure heal up on the inside though. Do you have any suggestions?

Have you tried any of the biologics yet such as remicade or humira?

Yes, I have been on prednisone (was great for my Crohn's), was on Azathioprine (didn't seem to do much), Flagyl/Cipro (helped reduce abscess), and Humira (was great for my Crohn's and multiple severe fissures). Unfortunately, the day after I started Humira the abscess that led to my fissure started. To be fair, I had had in hindsight some very small abscess/fistula in that same location before a couple of years before but didn't know what it was and it healed by itself. I just thought it was a pimple gone crazy that healed itself. I had two years with no symptoms and the day after taking Humira a big welp appeared on my backside :-( I have read a lot of mixed information about Humira and abscesses/fistulas on the different forums, some saying they helped, some saying they made it worse. Eventually Humira didn't work for my Crohn's so I stopped it. By that time I was handling my Crohn's and healed quite well with an extremely strict diet and a ton of supplements. This is still what I am doing now. I agree that I need to get the inflammation response to change, I am looking into either trying to make the inflammation weaker so that it can heal, or even the opposite make inflammation more so that it kickstarts a new wave of healing in a way that wasn't activated before. I would really like to get this thing taken care of and am willing to go to extreme lengths, even having the surgery, I just want to exhaust some other reasonable options first. I find it really hard to believe with all the known drugs Western science has come up with and the traditions of medicine formed elsewhere under different cultures in the world that somewhere somebody has something that will make this go right away.

I have had two examples of this in my life. I had toe nail fungus for years and slowly watched as it spread from one toe to another toe and so on until my feet were so ugly. I went to doctor after doctor in America and bought lots of stuff (snake oil) on the internet. The only option the doctors gave me were nasty pills that had to be taken for a long time and often wouldn't work. Then once while traveling to South Korea, I stumbled my way into a pharmacy and thought I would ask them about it. Should what I had through a translator, without blinking an eye the pharmasist (looks just like a pharmacy in America) went to the back and got a little bottle of medical grade nail polish along with some nail filing sand paper things. I sanded the nails and put the nail polish on and did this regularly until the bottle was gone. The fungus went right away, it has been 6 years since and it didn't ever come back.

Another time I had really bad anal fissures for over 10 years. I don't need to tell you how excruciatingly painful this was to anybody who has these. I had three of them. Doctor after doctor would give my things that didn't do anything or helped only very little with bad side effects. One day during a winter day my lips around my mouth cracked and bled because they were so dry. I noticed the pain on the lips was a little bit similar but not nearly as intense as the fissures down below. I put the same chapstick (burt's bees original) down there out of desperation. (actually I had put many things down there out of desperation previously, so this wasn't a one off) and to my surprise they started to go away. After a couple of weeks they were gone. I remember sitting in my bathroom crying the first time I had a bm without blood in 10 years.

The problem with the chapstick was that if I ever stopped using it, they would just come back. Eventually once my Crohn's was under control I got rid of them entirely. This only happened after taking Humira, diet, and supplements. It has been over a year since I had to use chapstick. I know that sounds crazy, and I am not saying that it will work for anybody else, but the point is with me and my test case of one, it worked really well.

I refuse to accept that there isn't something I can just put down there and it facilitates the healing, every doctor I have been too told me it can only be healed with surgery, but I heard the same thing about my toenail fungus and fissures too. On top of that, my doctors told me that diet doesn't play a role in Crohn's when in fact for me it is the #1 factor. If I stay on my diet, I don't have any apparent and painful problems, but I got off the bite even a crumb and I feel it for sure. So the point is, I believe there are ways to get better and I will invest lots of money, time, and effort to find them.

Please continue sharing your personal experience and ways that you have tried to find relief from this nasty disease.

One month later and I continue to apply very strong oregano oil. The abscess had a small flare and busted open again, but after draining has gotten really small as well as the track is noticeably thinner. Inside it still hasn't healed up, but is possibly a smaller hole too. I am not sure if this is my imagination wanting it to be smaller, or if it really is. I have been mixing other oils and experimenting.

I am not disappointed that the abscess busted open again. It use to stay open and drain daily so bad that I had to have tissues in place to prevent bleed through. Now it is usually not draining. I will report back if I have more good news.

Do you still have traces of infection at all? Is the drainage more than just mucous? I'm glad to hear it's draining less for you but worry about how you've had it rupture...

Very good questions. I in the past there was always a white paste on the outside, basically puss draining from the abscess. This happened every day. At least once a week, there would also be a pretty major rupture that had a lot of blood.

These days the abscess is all but gone and the opening completely healed over. I think it is possible that the inside has also either healed over or is in part healing over. The inside is harder to know for sure for obvious reasons. Despite these two things the track has been very swollen and tender, not quite as large as a pencil in diameter. To be clear, this is the "best" kind of abscess/fistula. It is the kind called in fistula-in-ano. (if there is such a thing as a "best" kind). At its biggest the abscess was golf ball sized; that was when I had it lanced. That was two years ago. In the last two years its average inflamed size would be of a large marble or larger up to a quarter size in diameter.

About a week ago the swollen track busted open the previously healed opening of the abscess and a lot of blood drained out. This very well was likely as a result of the day before overly examining and even squizing the infected areas. There might have also been puss, but blood trumps puss many of the times for visual inspections. Since then, the outer opening has healed back over and the track is swollen about half as much as it was prior to draining. I am monitoring it to see if it continues to reduce or swells again.

My personal guess is that there is still an infection and I will continue to treat it accordingly so. I think the swelling and continued inflamation of the track is a good indication that there is still an infection.

It sounds to me like there's definitely infection there. Mine hasn't hurt me or drained at all since December. Even if it heals over, if infection is still present it can branch elsewhere, which is part of the danger.

Good luck to you for trying this naturally, but I think you may have to look into doing more for it to heal properly.

I agree with everything you said. After/If this doesn't work, I will probably have surgery. It has been two years.

Unfortunately, surgeries to treat fistulas aren't particularly helpful, either. LIFT has a 13% chance of success and I wouldn't trust plugs since that's just going to make it branch elsewhere again. Since yours is actually closing over, I think you have very good chances of it healing with the use of biologics if you're open to them. Within a month of being on Humira all drainage stopped for me. If the same happened to you I think yours would safely close and heal.

Mine abscess came the day after I started Humira :-(

I really doubt it was a coincidence. On top of that, it would always burst open without fail the day after every shot. It might have seemed crazy then that I continued, but I also had three really terrible fissures, a problem I had for ten years. Bloody and painful stools everyday. It was terrible. But within a week of taking Humira, they were getting better. They are now all gone and haven't come back. The Humira also really helped out with my Crohn's a lot. So I knew I was going to get a fistula from this abscess, but I decided that getting rid of the Crohn's flare and fissures were worth a fistula. Tough choice, but I would do it again.

I am fully aware that both Humira and Remicade help a lot of people out and actually do heal fistulas, but there are a lot of anecdotal stories like mine. Our bodies are soooo complicated and bioligics are such a crazy thing, it is no surprise that two people can have opposite results.

Mine developed right after I started Remicade. I had really high antibodies to Remicade, and after my fistulotomy switched to Humira which helped tremendously with my fistula. So biologics still might help! And I can understand the apprehension firsthand since I experienced that too.

What ended up happening Jabo? Did the Abscess heal?