Anyone suffer or know much about diverticla disease?

[triplets]

After an agonizing three week wait for my results, I have a pocket of diverticula disease, I understans what it is, and the doc says no treatment for it other than try to eat more fibre, but its soooooooo sore and I have had it since last Oct. Docs kept sending me away telling me it was ibs, caused by stress, my dh is battling bowel and liver cancer and we have 11yr old triplets! In Jan I was really afraid it was going to be the same thing, so asked for tests. They did a ct of my chest/abdomen and pelvis, which was clear, then a barium enema which has showed this pocket of diverticuli, its where I have been telling them is sore! Just wondered if anyone can give me any tips on how to live with it?

Well done for having the tests, they are horrid.
I don't have this but I'm a student radiographer so have delt with patients who have this. It's caused by the bowel stretching and little pockets forming. It can be related to a lack of fibre in the diet or idiopathic (no known cause), the pockets fill up with poo which can not be removed so become painful. The best treatment is a high fibre diet as the bowel can move th poo in a more solid form and it's less likely to stay around in the diverticuli. Plenty of fluids to keep you hydrated, constipation isn't good. You can get fibre in sachets which can help. Bran is good, as is wholemeal bread. Try and have a balanced diet. Bread can clog alot of people up so find out what works for you.

Thank you Fluffy! The thing is I 90% of the time always eat brown bread, eat fruit and love my veg, eat quite alot of nuts but have read they might not be good now as seeds and nuts can irritate? I have also been drinking peppermint tea, doc said that taking painkillers to ease the soreness may cause constipation! It will be trial and error I suppose, at least I have had a good M.O.T and know there is nothing nasty going on, thats worth its weight in gold with everything else thats going on here! Yes the tests werent pleasant, but then after three ivf cycles I wasnt that bothered! Just waiting for the results that has scared me!

I have been told that a couple of soft ripe pears in the morning are good for going to the toilet. There are certain foods like nuts/seeds and tomatoes that will irritate your stomach, your body can't digest seeds so they will get trapped in the pouches as they travel around your intestines. It's this that will make it sore. I'm so pleased that it wasn't anything worse. Diverticuli disease can be really painful though.

Thank you Fluffy, though nuts are my all time fav, couldn`t bear to totally give then up, could I get away with peanut butter? Its such a pain! I googled it and it said that approx 40% of people over the age of 50 will have a small pocket of diverticuli, some will not have any problems so not even know its there, I certainly do!

I was diagnosed with this (mildly) after having treatment for IBS, tried various meds, extra fibre, that fibre stuff you add to water.
nothing helped.
I saw a homeopath, she took notes on everything from childhood diseases to my diet and sleeping habits, then mixed me a bottle of stuff.
I dont really believe in homeopathy as it has no scientific basis, but I've not had so much of a cramp since, it literally was like a miracle cure.
Depending where you live, some doctors will refer you.
Worth a try?

Yes def worth a try, did you have a barium enema?

it was so long ago, I cant remember, think I had barium meal (is that where you drink some vile slop?) and a scan.

Well its something to consider, thanks!

Barium meal is swallowing the slop, whereas an enema is it going in backwards. They use different slop for each.

The horrid bit was getting rid of the stuff afterwards, it took 6 days to really get back to normal!

I thought the horrid bit was the bowel prep/picolax!

Oh yes I forgot about that, it was dose 2 that was the killer!

It's not nice stuff. I do tell the patients that this is worse then the procedure. I had a camera but was knocked out for most of it. The bowel prep was horrid.

Did you have it done then Fluffy because you had a problem, or just for the experience of it for the job?????????

I was ill, pain that was like gallstones/pancreas with weird poo, they did some tests. I got the job after, I'm sure the patients appreciate this though as I can understand better.