Dastardly Diverticulitis

Hey Phil, sorry if it wasnt too user friendly, I will try and an add some more fiber to it in future!

Not sure about figs but sounds very good - a few recent take homes from the weighty tome are:

(i) Fruit and veg based fibre meant to be better than cerial based fiber

and

(ii) the incidence of DD in meat eaters is X50 that of vegitarians! 

As a lover of beef it breaks my heart - I cant see myself going vegi but am definitely on a mission to eat more.

The amazing thing is the attack trigger stuff doesnt seem to be well undertood at all. A recent study has refuted the role of nuts,copcorn etc (though I'm super sure peanuts did for me twice so i wont test this idea!)

Other study results apparently suggest:

(iii) Probiotics and exercise a good 

(iv) Smoking, obesity and anti-inflamatories in the asperin/ ibuprofen group (NSAIDs) a bad

No one knows about caffeine apparently

I'm feeling optimistic though - certainly about avoiding attacks (Felinia's experience suggests if you're careful you can do that well) and with luck slowing the progression of the thing even if, as you say, there's no fix.

best 

James  

 

Hi Phil 

While I have the primary suspect for my last attack as a couple of packets of KPs, I washed them down with a pint of larger and some wine on an empty stomach .... I do have a sense that it was an unholy alliance and for now Ive stopped drinking beer and red wine but still drink white wines. Also had a G and T last night and not a twinge.

Good luck - hope you manage to head it off at the pass.

James 

 

Hey Phil - did you manage to get it back in line?

 

Hey Phil - well done - good luck for the trip home!

James

I am insured through my Bank Account (can't name them as the moderator will chop the reply).  I had to notify them of my medical conditions and just pay an excess.  As DD is so common I would hope most Travel Insurance companies will cover it, although charge an excess.  As for precautions, I make sure I have an emergency supply of antibiotics on me for the trip just in case.  Plus in my hand luggage I would take some spare underwear and wet wipes.  That's what I carried with me everywhere after a flare, in case I got caught short.  Hope you have a good trip.

Thank you for your prompt reply.  I will have to ring around the different companies  

Felinia

You are a joy. As are so many of the other sufferers of this "thing" (DD).

?When I have read one/many of your comments about managing DD, I always feel calmer and somehow supported. Yet your comments and advice are so realistic. 

I thank you from the bottom of my heart. Or the other way round in our cases.

Best wishes to all.

xx

Hi

That really made me chuckle!!  I'm stuck indoors for the forseeable future with a fractured knee and the lack of exercise has made my DD niggle.  So I've been on the liquids myself.  And I was going INTO the wine bar when I tripped!! 

I remember going through everything others are feeling, and how I felt it would never end, but of course it did ease.  I feel sorriest for the younger people, and those who have never had to deal with illness before.  For them the waiting to heal seems to be the hardest, and there is the temptation to over medicate and try everything under the sun.  I've tried things in my time and luckily found what works for me.

Now I'm going to put my leg up and watch the Olympics.  Thank goodness they are on or I'd have put the TV through the wall!!

Haha Felinia - good to see you have isolated the correct 'liquid diet'! :-) 

I never got to try it!!!!!!!!!!!!!  And I spent the rest of my holiday in a Lanzarote Hospital, then the disabled room in the Hotel.

Oh Felinia - what a disaster!! Well I hope the waiter service at the hotel got as far as the disabled room! :

I got well looked after!!!

Hey Felinia

Sorry to hear you are incapacitated, life throws you a curve ball then hits you with a googly!! Lets hope it doesnt come in threes!! I have been banned from reading about our enemy(DD) in any literary format and hence lack of involvement in this forum, but just to update on my status I am now permanently on Laxido and while still getting various pains I have been able to control them with the occasional paracetamol. My Consultant was in no doubt that all the talk of various triggers to flares in this disease was 99% codswallop!! and told me to continue with a healthy diet low intensity training (Walking stretching etc) keep a course of antibiotics to hand when travelling etc and try to live a normal active life. I was somewhat staggered by that but he is of the opinion the problem is caused by western diets and resultant constipation so eliminate the constipation (Laxido) and improve the diet. Hey Presto!!  well so far so good and I must say being more positive has really helped. I am a great believer in the state of mind being a powerful tool in the repair of the body. I hope you recover before you get hooked on the liquid!!! Mind you what would life be like as a teetotaller? As The great man said. "my dear right now we both look bad but tomorrow I will be sober!!

Keep taking your medication

Fond regards

PhilJ  

So I wonder what your Consultant would say to all the people who followed healthy diets all their lives, never touched processed and fast food and still ended up with the disease (my aunt who died in 1953 and my cousin in the early 1980's!!).  Or those who were born with diverticula.  Or the latest accepted medical evidence that genetics also plays a part (extra loops in colon (me), slower, less efficient bowel muscles than normal (spastic colon?)).  Of course he is right about the western diet being a major contributor, but not the only one.  And as for trigger foods, I know if I eat gluten, I get the pains and occasional infection, and if I dont, I don't!!  So at the end of the day I say whatever works for you, whoever you are, is the right thing to do.  I think this is a grey disease, not black and white.  So I take Fybogel which also acts like a laxative.  Swimming is also a good low intensity exercise.  And the important thing about this forum is to give people support, let them know they are not alone, and reassure them that 99% of the time they will feel better.  Make them feel positive and as you say, it will help. 

And now I'll put my soapbox away, except I can't!!  Everything has gone to pot since I broke my knee - nothing is put away because I can't bend or climb, the housework is restricted to what I can reach and actually hold with the broken finger!  Roll on the day I can assign the brace to the rubbish, and actually drive my car, so I can get out of the house, where I'm stuck 23/7.