Do we need antibiotics everytime we flare ?
Posted , 7 users are following.
heya i was diagnosed with diverticulitis 5 months ago in hospital and i am 100% certain i am going through another flare atm. started 6 days ago got woken up from my sleep by horrible pain and stomach upset. the pain has eased a little bit but my stomach is still upset. i went on the liquid diet and now slowly eating light solids. anyways my gp ordered a blood test and my results were wbc 11.8 meant to be 11 or under and crp was 5.9 meant to be under 3 so only slightly over. which to me doesn't scream infection. doctor gave me antibiotics but i am not sure if i 100% need them and i am scared to take them because last time they gave me antibiotics for another episode my liver function went through the roof and was bad. do we need antibiotics everytime ? i also dont have a fever.
0 likes, 16 replies
angela55814 matyboyie
Posted
HI
I can only go by my experience but saying that if your DR prescribed antibiotics I think I would take them as he must have been aware of what happened with your liver function the last time you took them.
I am from the UK and was on holiday in the USA when I had my first experience of diverticulitis. After having low stomach pain all day in the evening I passed a blood clot. My husband took me to ER where they did blood tests and said I wasn't anaemic but because the pain had eased after passing the clot they just told me to eat a bland diet and go back to my GP in the UK at no time were antibiotics mentioned. During the 4 days I had left in the USA my bowel movements were not right but the pain had subsided. Once home my Dr sent me for a colonoscopy where they found diverticulitis. The consultant said it had healed by itself without any antibiotics at all. So it seems it is possible not to take antibiotics,or was I just lucky? but I think in your case I would be guided by your DR.
Hope you feel better soon.
Guest angela55814
Posted
Did you pass blood clot from bowels? Did they say the blood work show elevated white blood cell count?
angela55814 Guest
Posted
Yes passed blood clot from bowel when I strained down.Not familiar with ER in the States but they just said I wasnt anaemic and to go to my DR when I got home. The advice sheet they gave me said unspecified stomach pain!
Guest angela55814
Posted
So when you seen your doctor he didn't give you antibiotics either and you had a colonoscopy done how long after you got back home? How long ago was it that you passed the clot? I get the blood and mucous .
angela55814 Guest
Posted
when I got home and went to the DR 6 days later I was back to normal so the DR sent me for the colonoscopy to see what had caused it and thats when they found I had diverticulitis. I have had a few flares with mucus and blood but touch wood nothing now for quite a while. The Dr gave me antibiotics to take on holiday just in case but I didnt need them. They dont expire until 2021 so im hanging on to them. At the first sign of any pain I take a paracetamol and it normally settles. Even if I have blood and mucus I dont always immediately take an antibiotic but would if I felt really ill with fever etc.
Guest matyboyie
Posted
What antibiotics did he give you that made liver count sky high?
vivienne43523 matyboyie
Posted
I would advise that you speak to the doctor again, usually an infection a spikes a temperature and maybe the doctor is giving you them as a precaution so you need to speak with him/her.
brannie42 matyboyie
Posted
I would definitely speak to your doctor again as it does sound as though you do not have an infection just inflammation.
I have had many flares over a 6 year period where I have had severe pain and cramps and blood and mucus. I never had a fever and blood work has been fine and so have not needed antibiotics.
But please be guided by your doctor's advice to see if he still feels the need for you to take the meds.
If pains become worse or you develop a high temp then you must get treated.
Guest brannie42
Posted
Brannie, when you have had those flares have you ever asked the doctor what your white blood cell count was at the time? Mine was 11,800 and I was given antibiotics
what is a white blood cell count thats considered infection does anyone on here know?
brannie42 Guest
Posted
No, I have never had a high WBC during any of the flares and so never had antibiotics. The normal range is 4000-11,000, I think, so anything above that range is considered raised and possible infection.
Guest brannie42
Posted
If you never had a high wbc how can they say you had diverticulitis because diverticulitis is an infection. Maybe you just have and had diverticula instead. Maybe you know longer have diverticula or it has just never gotten infected. Do you still ever get the blood mucous and pain like deep labor pains.
Guest Guest
Posted
I looked up "itis" and the dictionary tells me that any illness or condition ending "itis" means either infection or inflammation. For many years I thought it meant infection only, but I was wrong. So you can have Diverticulitis with inflammation only, as well as with infection.
brannie42 Guest
Posted
Sometimes Wbc will normal in diverticulitis. You can have and infection or an inflammation.
Yes, I have definitely suffered from a number of flare ups of diverticulitis and now have a very narrowed colon as a result. I still get blood and mucus from time to time with or without pain. I have also had biopsies taken which ruled out IBD.
The last flare up I had was 8 months ago but I had also suffered regular bouts of cramps between flares, mostly on a daily basis.
Since changing my diet to one with less insoluble fibre and more soluble fibre I have had very little pain. I hope this continues.
matyboyie
Posted
this GP put me on 3 courses of augmentin and 1 course of flagyl last time i had a flare but my blood test was normal the whole time and had no fever and from being on all those antibiotics thats when my liver function went high. i am hesitant to take his advice again after that happened and i am prob gonna get a second opinion. my pain is getting better from being on the diet all week but stomach is still upset bouncing between constipation and mucus diarrhea. i do not have a fever my temp is 36.6 and still able to go to work atm. its been a week now and i am not getting worse touch wood
matyboyie
Posted
I ended up going to the hospital. They did a ct with oral and iv contrast and they said its not diverticulitis. Ct did show scattered diverticula in my colon but thats it. My wbc and crp was a little raised but they just sent me home and said to get a colonoscopy soon. I am so confused all week i have been suffering from what i swear was an intense flare because of my abdomen pain and diarrhea with mucus and so on but i guess not. I have no idea whats going and what is causing all this atm.
Hanse063 matyboyie
Posted
Did you figure out what it is?