Diverticulitis

[schnauzerfest]

I’m waiting for a colonoscopy.. dr mentioned diverticulitis as a possibility. Anyone got experience of this?

It's good they're onto it - my mother nearly died of undiagnosed diverticulitis over a quarter century ago, they ended up taking out a good chunk of her intestines, and she's had IBD ever since. I imagine it's much more manageable now.

Sorry to hear that.. hope your mum is ok

Are you in pain? Typically lower left side, that’s where my pain was. Turned out I had a small perforation in the bowel caused by diverticulitis, which I didn’t know I had. Treatment was intravenous IV and a 3 night stay in hospital. Follow up is a colonoscopy in 6 weeks time.

It’s a mild pain.. more discomfort and feels swollen on left side .. like a stitch

If they operate it would be good to clarify that they will not place a stoma close to the navel and they will draw out sufficient intestine to allow the stoma bag to fit! Otherwise you'll get stuck with painful and embarrassing leaks.

Know someone has this and it perforated, he was very sick and now has a stoma. Regular checks and blood tests are important.

Suffered badly with it for a while. Was travelling a lot and diet was not great. The pain is debilitating, I could not get out of bed for a day or two at a time.
Once diagnosed I changed my diet, lots of raw vegetables and it has not reoccurred for about 5 years now.

My MIL had it and apparently DH has a mild case. She couldnt eat seeds or things like cucumber skin

Mum had it and a close friend too. Both were well once they learned to control their diet to avoid flare ups. It involved trial and error to find the triggers. Mum had to have cabbage every day. She would take a portion of, or a whole cabbage, with her when visiting people! My friend found that green veg triggered her diverticulitis and couldn't eat them at all!

I believe the hospital advised avoiding strawberries and anything with small seeds, eg linseed, as they can easily lodge in a wrinkle in the gut, and start a problem that way.

Hth. Best of luck

I have diverticula pouches the length of my large bowel..which flare up every do often. It's miserable tbh... food hurts most of the time. The healthier the food (and I'm a veggie loving vegetarian!) the worse the pain.
Luckily I've only needed antibiotics for flares not hospital admission, but it really affects my life, along with alternate constipation and diarrhoea!
It really sucks.