Diverticulosis/Diverticulitis, Anyone diagnosed?

freeny said:

Diverticulitis, although very different then appendicitis is just as dangerous if not more in some conditions. Having many diverticuli throughout your colon is like having multiple (sometimes hundreds) of apendixes. Each one posing the possibility of getting infected and rupturing. Almost 90% of everyone will get this in their life time but most will never be affected by it.

Plymouthbreezer, Im glad your aunt is recovering now. This goes to show you the many complications that can happen out of nowhere. She made it past the scary part and now just needs time to rest and heal.

And you are correct, not fun at all...

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Yeah, I believe it was mostly infections that caused the longer recovery time, otherwise - if all had gone fine - the actual recovery wouldn't have been half as bad.

Kicker is she just retired this year - she was looking forward to her vacation and looking to buy a condo out there... Obviously not the best way to experience any vacation.

Plymouthbreezer said:

Yeah, I believe it was mostly infections that caused the longer recovery time, otherwise - if all had gone fine - the actual recovery wouldn't have been half as bad.

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Yep, I can attest that the infections after the operation is a real Bummer One of the complications that I'd had. The infection caused me to blow out half the sutures and it left me with a five inch deep gash in my gut. I spent eight weeks hooked up to a VAC (vacuum assisted closure) system. Great for my ego, having a tube in plain sight and a whirring and gurgling black handbag to accompany me where ever I went. But it did mean that I could return home and be somewhat more mobile than I'd have been without it. Just had to remember to keep a fully charged battery on hand and to attend out patients every morning, seven days a week. Hence my recommendation to follow your medical teams instructions to a tee.

Kevin.

freeny said:

Grey Beard, I know you said you were in your twenties when you started having episodes and are now 58. What changes in medical knowhow and technology do you know of that are different today then they were some 40 years ago when you were first treated?

Have their been advancements you are aware of?
My surgeon tells me that a few years back they would operate on the first infection but now wait until 2 hospitalizations...

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Jason, Duh, Hopefully it was just a 30 year hiatus and not 40, but seriously when I was first operated on it was like, oh dear, perhaps the problem is his appendix, let's just open him up and lay everything out in the open and take a look see. This is really what I was told.

I don't know what the situation is like in the States as I come from little ole Green New Zealand. Our public health system has become somewhat overloaded and like, it can take from six months to a couple of years just to get to first base. The basis of the consult is based on severity (I'm still just semi acute) The resection was finally done because of the tumours they'd found, oh and as well as diverticular being one of the worst cases of ulceration that the surgeon had seen. But, he didn't know that until after the op.

Rambling a bit, I guess I don't really know what advances there have been. On a brighter note, I'm feeling a hell of a lot better today than I have in a long time. Codeine Phos twice a day for six months ! who said it may be addictive.

It's great to hear that you may not be for the 'slash and burn' just yet, but when the time does come, believe me it is for the best. Take good care and keep that smile on your dial.

Kevin.

Grey Beard said:

let's just open him up and lay everything out in the open and take a look see

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As the old surgeon joke went - "don't let the skin get between you and a diagnosis". Mercifully things are a little better now.

freeny said:

I have recntly been dignosed with severe Diverticulosis-
http://www.healthatoz.com/healthatoz/Atoz/ency/diverticulosis_and_diverticulitis.jsp

I have had 7-10 episodes of Diverticulitis over the past 2-3 yaers but it was never diagnosed and passed after two or three days of discomfort. Two months ago I had an episode that hospitalized me for 10 days and the Diverticulitis was finally diagnosed.

Yesterday I went through a colonoscopy to see the extent of the damage this has caused my colon and the innitial news is not promising. One thing I know is there will be some surgery in my near future that will consist of the removal of part of my colon I have another test this Friday to find out how much.

Being so young (35) this has caused some alarm to my surgeon and he had requested for me to do the tests. It turns out that I have a twist in my colon which has caused occasional blockage which in result had put strain on a section of my colon causing the Diverticulosis.

I am searching fo any other people who have been diagnosed with this and their experience in the treatment, preferrably the "extreme" version.

Diverticulosis is apparently very common and by the age of 50 20-50% of all people will have this. by the age of 90 the ratio is almost 100%. Most people will never have a serious issue with this but some do as in my case.

Of course this news has freaked me out. I am not affraid of the surgery but instead afriad of what my life will be like post-op. I am expecting the worst and hoping for the best.

Best case scenario will be an invasive surgery to remove several inches, a month or two of recovery and then continue on my life relitively normally. worst case scenario can be found on the link provided above.

Experienced support will be helpfull.

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I think my Grandad had this, and had to have a aprt of his colon removed, but that was years and years ago, he's like 70 now.
The only thing is that you don't wanna go near the loo once he's been....thats one of the side-effects on all of us!!!

Cheers

My nan had diverticulitis for as long as I can remember (25 years?) and she never had any surgery on it. She lived into her eighties and in the end it was a stroke, not anything GI related, that killed her.

What I remember is that eating fruit was a REALLY bad idea for her....

yellow said:

Same here. Currently struggling mightily with it (and loosing).

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I also have Crohn's, been diagnosed for about 18 months, had a very VERY bad spell (i lost 28 pounds of weight in 10 days) but i've had no flare-ups since.

I was given steroids for a 9 week period, which helped incredibly. Now i'm on 100mg of Aziathioprine a day.

I wish you good health Yellow, Lyle, Freeny, and anyone else here suffering a chronic illness.

Rich.

freeny said:

Any updates on how this went?
Well I hope.....

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Thank you for asking

It went really well. The doctor said everything was normal. I do not have any polyps - that was my biggest fear (a doctor told my brother if he didn't have that colonoscopy when he was 30, he would be dead today.)

I will be getting an upper GI workup done soon. I may have an ulcer. Easily treated and cured.

So how is everyone going with there divert these days? I know some of you had ops and some didn't, just curious to see where you are at as I've been recently diagnosed with diver.

stuart.q said:

So how is everyone going with there divert these days? I know some of you had ops and some didn't, just curious to see where you are at as I've been recently diagnosed with diver.

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Well, 8 years later...

Astroboy907 said:

Well, 8 years later...

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Second resurrected colon thread I've seen in a few minutes.

Roller said:

Second resurrected colon thread I've seen in a few minutes.

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Let the newb worry/research about his colon issues, I think is better he resurrected this than to create a new thread.

Carlanga said:

Let the newb worry/research about his colon issues, I think is better he resurrected this than to create a new thread.

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Yeah sorry for the resurrection, not sure whether it is proper, but I guess it's very relevant.

stuart.q said:

Yeah sorry for the resurrection, not sure whether it is proper, but I guess it's very relevant.

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Nah, it would be pretty cool to see if anyone will respond and let you know how they are getting on

stuart.q said:

Yeah sorry for the resurrection, not sure whether it is proper, but I guess it's very relevant.

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no worries, you did it correctly!

stuart.q said:

Yeah sorry for the resurrection, not sure whether it is proper, but I guess it's very relevant.

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Not a problem. BTW, most people with diverticulitis don't require surgery - it usually resolves with antibiotics. And even if surgery is needed, it's quite straightforward.

I was diagnosed with diverticulosis several years ago which was caught on a colonoscopy. I've had no symptoms. It just pockets in the wall of the large intestine or colon. It's very common and it not an issue unless it becomes diverticulitis when these pockets become inflamed/infected due to food packed into them. My understanding is that the infection can work its way through the walls of the intestion into the blood stream. The primary preventative approach is a good high fiber diet so food does not get hung up in these pockets. Diverticulitis can be very serious. I have an Aunt who died of it although there was incompetence involved in her case.

Just stumbled across this thread. Don't have time to read the whole thing.

I was diagnosed with diverticulitis in April. Had a flare-up then that was so painful I thought my appendix was rupturing. I was quite relieved to learn the cause. It has forced me to make some changes to my diet which are welcome changes independent of diverticulitis. I had my second flare-up a week and a half ago. It followed several days of eating poorly, and eating corn in particular the prior two nights. This time I knew what was happening and wasn't alarmed. I took an Alleve generic for the pain (which lasted thankfully only about 24 hours) and I had a leftover antibiotic from the Spring, so I took that. (Yes, I know that's not good to not take all your medicine as well as to self-diagnose, but I don't have insurance nor the money to pay privately at the moment.) Anyway, I was fine about 48 hours later.

The way I look at it is I'm lucky this is the worst illness I've had to date. I genuinely feel lucky.

Just some thoughts. Good luck.

Populism said:

Just stumbled across this thread. Don't have time to read the whole thing.

I was diagnosed with diverticulitis in April. Had a flare-up then that was so painful I thought my appendix was rupturing. I was quite relieved to learn the cause. It has forced me to make some changes to my diet which are welcome changes independent of diverticulitis. I had my second flare-up a week and a half ago. It followed several days of eating poorly, and eating corn in particular the prior two nights. This time I knew what was happening and wasn't alarmed. I took an Alleve generic for the pain (which lasted thankfully only about 24 hours) and I had a leftover antibiotic from the Spring, so I took that. (Yes, I know that's not good to not take all your medicine as well as to self-diagnose, but I don't have insurance nor the money to pay privately at the moment.) Anyway, I was fine about 48 hours later.

The way I look at it is I'm lucky this is the worst illness I've had to date. I genuinely feel lucky.

Just some thoughts. Good luck.

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Thanks Populism. May I ask how old you are? There are so many scary stories around on the internet, so it's nice to hear measured accounts.

stuart.q said:

Thanks Populism. May I ask how old you are? There are so many scary stories around on the internet, so it's nice to hear measured accounts.

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Sure. Ask me anything you want.

I'm 41. My first flare up (or whatever they are called) occurred right after I turned 41. It was diffuse pain in my gut so intense I drove myself to the hospital around 2:00 a.m. I live alone and was panicked that my appendix was rupturing and I'd pass out and not have help. I was relieved when I learned what it was.

They proscribed two antibiotics and a mild prescription pain med. I took the pain med for about 12 hours and needed no more. I took the two antibiotics for about 4 days, at which point I'd finished one and was halfway through the other. As I mentioned, I know it is terrible not to finish a course of antibiotic but that's exactly what I did.

From the moment the pain first set in for first three days I wasn't able to go to the bathroom, even though the cramping felt IDENTICAL to intestinal cramping I've had before - that I think we've all had before - that ends with going to the bathroom.

But once I was off the second antibiotic, and the flare up was under control, I was able to go to the bathroom again.

I ate much healthier for the months after.

Two weeks ago, I ate a bunch of terrible food for several days in a row - fast food, and other junk. I completely forgot that corn can mess with it, and two or three nights in a row I had corn.

Then boom, it happened again - exact same progression. The pain started in the middle of the night. The good news was that I knew exactly what was happening and what I needed to do. So, I immediately resumed the antibiotic, ate light foods (really ate almost nothing for about ten hours or so), and took generic Alleve. The pain was unpleasant, and I didn't have a prescription level pain med, but it was manageable, and after 24 hours it was largely gone.

I know that "diverticulitis" doesn't make for good dinner conversation, but I made the decision quickly to be honest with anyone in the family or any friend what was going on. I didn't just start announcing it, but if/when it's relevant, I'm not shy talking about it. We all have our issues, and some of them are more yucky, but if this is my worst I'll take it all day long.

Best of luck.

Hi I had diverticulosis for over 10 years now . I'm 51years old I just want to ask do you have some discomfort sometimes its not bad no fever the last time I went to the er they kept me the next day they sent me home the surgeon
said I had no infection he still gave me an antibiotic if I had no infection why did he give me the antibiotic please help me.