Diverticulitis Support Group
Diverticulitis is a common disease of the bowel, in particular the large intestine. Diverticulitis develops from diverticulosis, which involves the formation of pouches on the outside of the colon. Diverticulitis results if one of these diverticula becomes inflamed. Diverticulitis most often affects middle-aged and elderly persons, though it can strike younger patients as...
Hi I am new here. On March 17th I started with acute diverticulitis, after 3 bouts, 3 CT scans I have opted for surgery. They never could perform the colonoscopy after a rest period because I would always re-attack. This last time I stayed on Cypro/Flagyl for a long time and after stopping the meds last Friday and crossing my fingers, I will undergo the colonoscopy tommorow and be operated on Thursday morning. I was a healthy, 48 year old female who ate a healthy diet and never experienced any GI issues before the attack. I am self-employed and stress is a major factor in my life. Today I will start the colon prep. I am already starving and probably will not eat again for at least 5 days. I am so scared but know that I cannot live with this unpredictable disease. I have no time to be out of work, travel frequently, have four children and two grandchildren. My life has been turned upside down. I am praying this will help me and will report back when I am able. Any support is welcome. I am grateful to have a loving and supportive husband who has taken his summer vacation to see me through this.
I can tell you that my aunt (52 yrs) did have the surgery 5 years ago and she says her quality of life has increased since then so I do not have any doubts that you will be any different. Good luck and god bless.
Your lives will be better. I look better since my surgery. I just had no idea why I would get the cramps. I thought I was gluten intolerant. Ha!
After your surgery, my advice is to steer clear of dairy and gluten for a while since they're hard to digest. I did well with miso soup and clear broths for some time. Then added tiny tiny chopped very well cooked veggies to the bone broths. Then, um, goat cheese to help me gain weight. That was the first dairy I could eat. I couldn't even eat yogurt at first, but now I seem to be able to do dairy again. Also, going on probiotics helped with the gas and cramping.
I was so excited to eat again when I got out of the hospital that I chowed down some sweet potato and greens. Big mistake. I ended up abscessing and was back in the ER for another 4 day stay in the hospital just 24 hours later. So, even though it's exciting to be home -- take it easy when you get out and go REAL easy on food. Keep to a clear diet even if the hospital rushes you. Add foods really slowly.
Good luck to both of you. It WILL get better...I promise. You're going to have to let people help you, though...Let them help. You'll be totally under the weather for a little while.
I'm glad that you're getting the surgery. It's so great that they were able to get the infection under control so that you could do this electively instead of the way I did it.
I really think you're doing the right thing. You say you have "no time to be out of work" but this will give you the time. Try to remember that you are the most important thing.
One thing that my surgery did for me is it stopped everything. It stopped a lot of other pain that was going on in my life and gave me some quiet time to just listen to myself. Of course, sometimes what I heard was scary. But I also saw a lot of people caring for me. Friends made me soups; friends came to visit. I stopped my endless errands for other people and other people started taking care of me.
I hope the bowel prep goes well for you and that you are feeling confident. I'm glad your husband is there for you! I'll be thinking of you!
I expected to be discharge this coming Monday but I am doing well and they let me go home. So good to be home. Flat out on the couch with my remote.
Glad I didn't push the surgery off and took care of it as soon as possible.
Did they tell you how much they took out? Did they take out some of your small intestine, too?
Just so you know, I did well on bone broths at first, followed by fresh juices from a juicer like carrot juice and greens with apple and celery.
I had a hard time with dairy at first.
I took Floradix iron supplement after about a month and that seemed to help. You might be able to take that sooner.
I also eventually made myself a ton of chopped liver (chicken liver) and that helped me get my iron levels back, along with the Floradix.
I now take Culturelle and VSL3.
Wishing you a speedy recovery!! So glad you're feeling good about having had the surgery. You did the right thing!
and some small pasta cooked well. Lots of pain at the incision points. Still feeling a bit scared with the healing and eating. Nice to be back home though. Our son is away all week on vacation with another family so it will be quiet and restfull.