theOcean
Moderator
- Location
- Toronto, ON, Canada
Hello there! I'm Ocean, and if you've dealt with a fistula on the forum chances are I've probably commented to you at some point. Tomorrow morning I'm finally getting my seton removed, and I wanted to create a thread to document my experience. I hope that way, someone else who is scared after surgery can feel better about their prospects, too. I also wanted to document this because when I was searching for people's experiences after getting their seton out, I didn't hear too many.
When I first had a fistulotomy, I was really scared and was convinced that my life would be changed forever, until I was on this forum and saw a member -- MikeinBklyn -- mention his good experience on Humira and how quickly his fistula closed. It gave me hope and made me feel like I could do the same.
Summary:
At the end of May 2013, I had my diagnosis change from Ulcerative Pancolitis to Severe Crohn's Disease because I had developed a perianal fistula. It apparently reached all the way up to my stomach and I was totally immobilized by the pain from it. I spent eleven days in the hospital before finally being allowed to go home. I was taken off Pentasa (totally ineffective) and finally got an antibodies test for Remicade which I had been on for a little while and found out I was extremely allergic to it.
My new GI switched me to Imuran and Humira, and Humira was absolutely incredible for healing my fistula. Remicade would work for maybe five days for me, and then the drainage levels and pain would be back to normal. With Humira, it was so helpful that since December/January it has completely stopped draining.
Tomorrow, I get my seton removed. I'll report back after, and continually from there about how everything is going.
When I first had a fistulotomy, I was really scared and was convinced that my life would be changed forever, until I was on this forum and saw a member -- MikeinBklyn -- mention his good experience on Humira and how quickly his fistula closed. It gave me hope and made me feel like I could do the same.
Summary:
At the end of May 2013, I had my diagnosis change from Ulcerative Pancolitis to Severe Crohn's Disease because I had developed a perianal fistula. It apparently reached all the way up to my stomach and I was totally immobilized by the pain from it. I spent eleven days in the hospital before finally being allowed to go home. I was taken off Pentasa (totally ineffective) and finally got an antibodies test for Remicade which I had been on for a little while and found out I was extremely allergic to it.
My new GI switched me to Imuran and Humira, and Humira was absolutely incredible for healing my fistula. Remicade would work for maybe five days for me, and then the drainage levels and pain would be back to normal. With Humira, it was so helpful that since December/January it has completely stopped draining.
Tomorrow, I get my seton removed. I'll report back after, and continually from there about how everything is going.