How do you know if you are having a flare.

Hello, I have posted before on this forum. I was diagnosed 18 months ago with multiple diverticulosis from tranverse colon right down to sigmoid colon, after a spell of constipation and blood in stools. The surgeon also found small internal hemeroids and said that he could not tell if the bleeding was from the hemeroids or diverticular. I also had one polyp removed which was found to be benign. I never had the hemeroids banded, which was maybe a mistake. I was just so relieved there was nothing nasty going on. Since then I have continued to have odd pains and bloating but as I also suffer from IBS put it down to that. I was subsequently diagnosed in January of this year with mild erosive gastritis with no bleeding. So I never know what is causing what. More recently I have had to a course of penicillin ,followed a week later by 7 days Ciprofloxacin for other problems. Obviously the antibiotics have upset the system it is now a month and still not right. What I am trying to work out is if it could be a DD flare starting, I have never had divertiulitis. I have had lumpy stools which are easy to pass as I take fibogel. Sometimes they are and sorry about the description they are smooth one side and balls stuck together on the other. I did wonder if this is to do with the pouches. There has also been some blood but not all the time. When I asked the gp about lumpy stools a little while back she said to take another dose of fibogel but I think it didn't make any difference so went back to one. The last couple of days I have also had another bowel movement an hour or so after the first, much softer and smaller and lighter in colour, but no blood. I did react to the cipro and my gp has recorded it on my records as an adverse reaction. So maybe this is part of it. I have thought about doing fluids only for 24 hours and then low fibre diet but am terrified of getting bad constipation again. This has always been a problem for me I usually never get diarrhea unless I have a bug or from bowel prep. How do you ensure this does not happen, can I still take fibogel when on low fibre diet and ground flaxseed on say rice crispies ( I usually have it on porridge. As for how I feel, tired but have not been sleeping well, waking up at 5am everyday. I do suffer from anxiety as well, a killer for digestive problems and sleep. I am 71 and was looking forward to Christmas, last Christmas I was unwell. It seems you never really get better, bad enough arthritis pain but worrying about what you can and cannot eat gets you down. I did try the low fod map diet earlier this year but not strictly (my fault) it did though help a lot with bloating and how I felt, but not really with bowels. I probably have asked a lot of this in the past so I apologise for that. Is there anyone you normally has a problem with constipationand has tried a low fibre diet. The only things I have found out is that white bread bungs me up but I cannot eat too much wholemeal either. I am not sure about scrambled eggs either. My gp just says you need a high fibre diet. Thank you.

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