If anybody would like to get in touch, feel free to email me:

heretohelpKS@gmail.com

I’m definitely not a doctor, I cannot provide medical advice, all I can do is talk of my firsthand experience and knowledge. I will not guess at anything and I’m not here to push anyone into going to India for treatment. I’m just a source of information that should be shared near and far.

(Please no photos and please be kind!).

There is a way out of the horror and I’m intensely and eternally grateful I found it. If I can help someone else find their way to fistula freedom, then the suffering I experienced would have had a purpose.

Lara

My Story

Having never heard of a fistula, I remember being under the impression that my first procedure (seton placement) would fix the issue.

How very wrong I was.

I was provided with little to no information, and as the months progressed I slowly learnt more and more about the true severity of it. I had to do my own research almost every step of the way and spiraled into a depression as time progressed without successful healing. I felt absolutely helpless and alone and could not believe that that was to be my life moving forward. It was a truly horrible time.

My fistula story (PDF link):

My fistula timeline pre Kshar sutra

**The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse –** Charlie Mackesy

I remember waking up one day and thinking – there has to be a cure somewhere in the world. Surely. This can’t be my fate.

Through my searching I somehow discovered a vlog of someone talking of KS. This then led to more vlogs and blogs, which then led me to the Facebook support group Kshar Sutra for fistulas.

From there I thoroughly researched the technique and treatment as a whole. Once I properly understood the process, I remember thinking – this makes so much sense! It’s such a logical method! I knew without a shadow of doubt that KS was the only solution for me.

I began blogging my story from the day I arrived in Bangalore as I knew it was going to be an interesting journey, but also because I knew that someday, it might help someone take the leap themselves…

I have tried to capture the process both practically and emotionally to show future fistula fighters the kinds of things that can come your way while on this fantastic ride.

You can read it here (scroll to first entry)

https://laraflara.blogspot.com

After 101 visits, 27 thread changes and 3 procedures (yes, I counted!) with the legendary Dr Bhat and his outstanding team, it brings me immense joy to say that on 5th April 2023 I was declared officially fistula free. Below is the certificate doc presents to his patients.

I cherish this piece of paper….it represents so very much. The long traumatic journey of having the fistula followed by the deeply special experience in Bangalore that led me to getting my life back.

Since I started talking freely about my experience, I’ve had many sufferers or friends of sufferers contact me wanting to know more. Of course, most are fearful and mistrusting of the whole thing, perhaps even thinking that it’s a scam or some sort of hocus pocus. But it’s not. Kshar Sutra is a legitimate medical treatment. It’s not a scam, it’s not a money-making scheme, it’s not a hoax. It’s real and its statistics for success, no recurrence and no incontinence are almost perfect (provided an excellent doctor is chosen).

Imagine the different reactions I received when I started telling people I was going to India for treatment. Many looked at me like I was an idiot and others were like YES, Ayurveda is amazing! I admittedly knew little-to-nothing about the oldest system of medicine in the world, but once I started learning I was in awe. Throughout my treatment I would read about the medications I was given including each and every ingredient and it was absolutely amazing. Intricate, sophisticated, logical.

I’ve had many ask me what the pain is like. Honestly, KS is an absolute roller coaster of a ride in terms of the pain. Intense at times, other times not so intense…alternating between feeling like a burn, to feeling like a cut, to itching…There is some level of pain or discomfort present for a lot of the treatment, most of which is tolerable. That was my experience. Everyone’s experience with pain is different because of course we are humans and each vastly different to the other (which is why Ayurveda is so great – it’s based around that awareness). And honestly anyone who has suffered from a fistula can handle a decent level of pain. I do remember noticing the pain being different after surgery at the start of KS. It was like a wound pain rather than abscess or infection pain and that’s how it remained for most of the time.

I had the honour of watching a pair of these beautiful birds nest in the tree outside my balcony. I watched as they made their home, incubated the egg, took care of the little fluffball, then watched the baby grow and take their first flight…all within a couple of meters of my balcony. (This is Pappa a meter away from me, protecting bubba.)

I saw it as a representation of me being freed from the fistula

For me, going to Bangalore for treatment became about so much more than just medical appointments. It was a temporary home in a colourful city, it was friendships formed everywhere I went, it was pain and suffering which turned into joy and laughter, it was places visited and memories made…it was an experience of a lifetime.