Anyone have any experience with Diverticulitis? - Bowel Disorders Message Board

DissolveGurl · 01-14-2008, 08:18 PM

I'm having pain in my lower left abdomen, and Diverticulitis is the only thing that keeps coming up. The pain isn't constant, and not unbearable, but it is uncomfortable (throbbing) and has been on and off all afternoon and this evening.

I read that for an acute and first attack most people are put on antibiotics, but just wondering if this is absolutely neccesary, or if it will go away with proper diet (more fiber?) as I really can't afford a trip to the doc and the medication, etc. I know the obvious advice would be "see a doctor" but just wondering if antibiotics is the standard form of treatment for this. If anyone have any advice to offer, please let me know, thanx!

Redneon82 · 01-14-2008, 10:17 PM

I am recovering from a bowel resection after several bouts with diverticulitis. It will not go away with any kind of diet. The only permanent cure is surgery for multiple attacks. Many people experience only 1 attack and never get sick again. You may be one of those lucky people. But if you don't treat the infection with antibiotics it will not go away by itself. Trust me, I tried eating more fiber and drinking gallons of water, mega doses of Advil and trying to just ignore or work through the pain. The result of my self treatment was an open bowel resection. After multiple infections my colon became so full of scar tissue that it was almost too narrow to function in the section that was removed. I'm not trying to scare you, but please do get medical treatment for your infection so it does not become something worse. And do continue to eat plenty of healthy fiber, drink plenty of water and fruit juice, and go easy on spicy foods and red meat.

greg1x · 01-15-2008, 11:38 AM

I had recurrent diverticulitis about 3 years ago and had abowel resection 2 years ago. Has anyone had a recurrence of diverticulits after having there sigmoid colon removed? The past couple of days I am developing eerily similar ssymptoms that I had prior to the surgery. Greg

MaryAnn · 01-15-2008, 09:23 PM

My husband had a diverticulitis attack in August. One thing you can try being the left side pain is your only symptom is to go on a clear diet. Lots of water and jello or broths, something to let the colon rest. My husband waited too long and eventually he became really sick with a fever. He was hospitalized and given antibiotics by IV. If he ever starts feeling the pain again, he will try the clear diet. They say many times that will take care of the problem. If you start having fever and chills, get to a doctor. It needs to be treated so your colon doesn't perforate!

lady287 · 01-16-2008, 08:18 AM

I didn't even know I had diverticulitis until I had a bowel perforation (in Sept). I thought everybody periodically experienced gassiness, bloat and pain. When I was on my third day of pain, I finally went to the hospital just to rule out appendicitis. A cat scan showed a bowel perforation due to diverticulitis. Fortunately it had closed itself off. I left the hospital four days later with the nasty antibiotics. The recommendation by my Dr. was to heal enough to have a resection. After reading the posts, I decided that I definitely did not want to play around with another possible perforation. I had the resection six weeks ago and am healing nicely. Even though I was on the antibiotics only the one time, I can't imagine having to go through them every couple months....!