Diverticulitis

You must be based in the USA where your doctor is a surgeon and money is king!  One attack at 40 and already talking chop chop!  That should be the last resort, not the first.  Once your bowel is gone, it's gone.  You might get a partial removal then joined up, but it's not always possible, and do you want a stoma and bag at your age?

If you read some of the posts here you will see it is not always the solution, as the disease can, and does, come back in other parts of the bowel, and there can be other complications like constipation and/or the runs.  Of course for some people having life threatening complications, or constant severe pain and frequent debilitating flares it is necessary and does improve their quality of life.  My sympathy for those people and if it has helped, then I am pleased for them.

In the UK surgery is only performed for one of the complications like a blockage, perforation or fistula leading to peritonitis.  So if you are actually UK based and surgery is being talked about then it is serious, so you need to ask a lot more questions and find out how severe your DD is.  At the end of the day, the decision is yours.

The usual UK treatment we are just given pills and left to deal with it ourselves at home.  This is done by diet and lifestyle changes as per my previous post.  I've managed without surgery quite well for almost 17 years although my DD is severe.  In that time I went 6 years without a flare, then 4 years, then 4 years again.  I then had 3 flares in quick succession in August 2016 (probably needed more antibiotics as the infection persisted).  It took 10 months to get over but my Consultant disregarded any thought of an operation.  I have been virtually pain and symptom free since July but I stick to my diet plan.  I'm no saint, and when I do eat the wrong thing I get reminded. 

You will find this forum very helpful and you will read experiences of all sorts, good and bad.  Hopefully that will give you a reasonably balanced picture.  I always bear in mind that those without problems do not post so much, and I am lucky as I do not seem to have suffered the extremes that others do.  Also you should take into account any other medical problems you might have, like IBS, coeliac, colitis.  Best wishes

I'm in US also,(East Tennessee) and I have heard most Gastro docs are kinda cut-happy here.  My reg internist is the one that said not to worry, and he also gave me a prescription of flagyl to keep on hand in case I had another attack and needed it. If you have a family doc, you might ask about that. Best thing, though, is at the first hint of another attack, go to a liquid diet for a couple-three days and see if that takes care of it.  

Hi Bruce

Well if your Dad's got DD as well and has avoided the chop, then you have a good example to follow.  I read a recent article about the causes of DD - it's not just diet but other factors including genetic makeup, medical conditions and stress. 

If you can get a set of your medications to keep on hand from your doctor that would be helpful (ours are different ones).  BUT - you need know your own body well enough to tell the difference between a genuine infection, needing antibiotics, and the niggles you get from inflamed diverticula without infection.  The 2/3 days liquid only regime is the best way.  Here in the UK I can't get medication, just in case.  Our NHS is so strapped for cash they are actually cutting back on antibiotic courses and the amount per course.  Where you get 14 days, we get 5 and 7 days. 

But prevention is better than treatment, so I keep taking the Fybogel and avoiding my trigger foods (mostly!!!).  Happy New Year.

That's a tricky one - when I was in the USA I found your idea of salad and mine were very different.  You probably need a USA based person to answer that one.  Here in the UK our salads have lots of different vegetables and mixed leaves, whereas I found the USA salads were mainly leaves.  Many of the items I think are fairly indigestible.  Some people have to remove skins and seeds from peppers and tomatoes, some can't eat onions, radishes, corn.  Others can't eat any raw vegetables.  I would probably try a small amount of the items you have and see if you have a bad reaction.  As for dressings I found the USA ones were fat laden and I simply couldn't eat them.  I go for loads of veggies plus a small drizzle of a fat free dressing, but I think most sufferers couldn't eat that.  Can anyone else help please?

I stay away from salads - I also have IBS and acid reflux, and although sometimes it doesn't bother me - other times it does.  I did recently have a small salad made mainly of fresh spinach with a little shredded carrots - olive oil dressing, and that was fine.  Definitely no tomatoes cucumbers b/c of seeds.  I'm hesitant of many raw veggies - I ate a lot of salads this past summer - I'd almost forgotten about a special diet as it had been 4 years since I had a flare - even to the point of strawberries, etc.  Don't know what initially caused flare in Nov. (may have been popcorn) but scared to try again - ever!  I'm with Felinia - try a little bit and see, although I've found you can eat some things over and over and they don't bother you, and then bingo - something gets you!  I'd say be sure you are well over this latest attack before doing much with salads.