Treatment For Diverticular Disease

Treatment for Diverticular Disease

Diverticulitis is a condition in which diverticuli in the colon rupture. The rupture results in infection in the tissues which surround the colon. The colon is the large intestine and is a long tube like striation that stores and then eliminates waste material. As a person gets older, pressure within the colon causes bulging pockets of tissue, or sacs, that push out from the colon walls. A small bulging sac pushing outward from the colon wall is called a diverticulum. More than one bulging sac is referred to as diverticula. Diverticula can occur throughout the colon, but most are common near the end of the left colon. This is referred to as the sigmoid colon. The condition of having these diverticula in the colon is called diverticulosis.

An initial episode of acute diverticulitis is usually treated with conservative medical management, including bowel rest, IV fluid resuscitation, and broad-spectrum antibiotics. Recurring acute attacks or complications, such as an abscess, peritonitis, or fistula may require surgery, whether it is an emergency surgery or performed on an elective basis. Upon discharge, patients may be placed on a low fiber diet which gives the colon adequate time to heal without needing to be overworked. Later, patients are placed on a high fiber diet. This has been shown to lower the recurrence rate.

Occasionally, surgery may be required to remove the area of the colon with the diverticuli. Patients suffering their first attack of diverticulitis are not encouraged to undergo the surgery, unless the case is severe. Patients suffering repeated episodes may benefit from the surgery. In such cases, the risks of complications from the diverticulitis outweigh the risks of complications from the surgery.

Diet plays an enormous role in avoiding problems with diverticulitis. Avoidance of nuts, popcorn, and sunflower, pumpkin, caraway, and sesame seeds has been recommended by physicians as these foods could enter, block, or irritate the diverticula. There is no scientific data that supports this treatment measure. Eating a high fiber diet is the only requirement which is highly emphasized and eliminating specific foods is not necessary. The seeds in cucumbers, strawberries, raspberries, and tomatoes, as well as poppy seeds, are generally considered harmless. Everyone differs in the amounts and types of foods they are able to eat. Decisions about diet should be made based upon what works best for each individual person. A food diary would be beneficial to help identify individual items in the diet.

A patient with diverticulosis may have few, if any, symptoms. When a diverticulum becomes infected and ruptures, the condition is called diverticulitis. A patient suffering from diverticulitis experiences abdominal pain and tenderness, often accompanied by fever. Bleeding which originates from a diverticulum is called diverticulitis bleeding. Diverticular disease is common in the Western areas of the world, but is extremely rare in areas such as Asia and Africa. Diverticular disease increases with age and is uncommon before the age of forty. Most patients with diverticulitis develop bleeding, infection, constipation, abdominal cramps, and occasionally, colon obstruction.

News About Diverticulitis Can heart disease be reversed? (WIVB Buffalo) 18 Mar 2010 at 3:42pm Can we reverse heart disease just by changing our diet? We can if we're willing to make some very significant changes. VNA offers cancer screening kits (The Reporter) 18 Mar 2010 at 8:47am HATFIELD TWP. ? In conjunction with National Colorectal Cancer Awareness Month, the North Penn Visiting Nurse Association offers free stool blood test kits Thursday at its office at 51 Medical Campus Drive from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. North Penn VNA offering colorectal cancer screening kits (North Penn Life) 18 Mar 2010 at 7:59am In conjunction with National Colorectal Cancer Awareness Month, the North Penn Visiting Nurse Association offers free stool blood test kits Thursday at its office at 51 Medical Campus Drive, Hatfield, from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Community notes: Free blood test (The Reporter) 16 Mar 2010 at 5:45am HATFIELD - Free test kits on Thursday St. Luke's Miners welcomes fellowship trained colon, rectal surgeons (Times N... 15 Mar 2010 at 2:19pm W. Terence Reilly, MD, FASCRS, Camille Eyvazzadeh, MD, FASCRS and Daniel J. Bowers, MD are treating patients at St. Luke's Miners Memorial Hospital. Sidelined no more (Honolulu Star-Bulletin) 10 Mar 2010 at 3:39am Colin Nishida, chef-owner at the popular Side Street Inn, survived a life-threatening medical battle last year that left him unconscious in the hospital for two months. Now he has five bellybuttons. Rochester writers (Rochester Democrat and Chronicle) 7 Mar 2010 at 2:12am Bruce Bennett writes a novel that joins people from many cultures; RIT graduate David S. Kidder contributes to a book on health. Data evaluating safety, efficacy of STELARA and REMICADE in patients with pla... 4 Mar 2010 at 10:26pm Data evaluating the efficacy and safety of STELARA? (ustekinumab) and REMICADE® (infliximab) in patients with plaque psoriasis who had an inadequate response to Enbrel® (etanercept) will be presented at the 68th Annual Meeting of the American Academy of Dermatology (AAD) in Miami, Fla., from March 5-9, 2010. Have Your Steak and Eat It, Too (The Cornell Daily Sun) 4 Mar 2010 at 9:17pm Sometimes I try to be a public servant. And no ? that was not a typo ? there was meant to be an ?l? in ?public.? Therefore as my duty to my gender and all that is hol(e)y, I must inform, promote and encourage others to observe the most under-appreciated, under-celebrated (and hopefully not undercooked), holiday of the year. Expert gives talk to seniors on healthy eating (Wilton Bulletin) 3 Mar 2010 at 9:08pm March is National Nutrition Month and on Wednesday, March 10, at Ogden House, Elaine Abrams will remind us that good diet habits are particularly important for older adults. Why? Because diet plays a vital role in disease prevention and management as we age. Diverticulitis Books & Resources The New Eating Right for a Bad Gut : The Complete Nutritional Guide to Ileiti... The New Eating Right for a Bad Gut : The Complete Nutritional Guide to Ileitis, Colitis, Crohn's Disease, and Inflammatory Bowel Disease (Paperback) By James Scala Buy new: $10.20 100 used and new from $3.09 Customer Rating: First tagged "diverticulitis" by Irish Lady "Stargazer" Diverticulitis: Safe Alternatives Without Drugs Thorsons Natural Health Diverticulitis: Safe Alternatives Without Drugs Thorsons Natural Health (The Self Help Series) (Paperback) By Arthur White 17 used and new from $3.49 Customer Rating: First tagged "diverticulitis" by Any Mouse Coping with Diverticulitis Coping with Diverticulitis (Overcoming Common Problems) (Paperback) By Peter Cartwright Buy new: $12.04 16 used and new from $9.79 Customer Rating: First tagged "diverticulitis" by Sandra Bracken