How long on antibiotics should I feel better

Hi Rebecca, what antibiotics do they have you on? And for how many days? Make sure you take a probiotic, Florastor is good. The antibiotics make you feel worse they wipe you out. Do a liquid only diet for 2 days. Give your colon a rest period. I went by the Mayo Clinic diet for Diverticulitis online. Beef/chicken bone broth is great. Cranberry juice, Tylenol and lotsa rest. You may have to do another round of antibiotics, make sure you keep your Dr informed if not better, this forum has been great for me, knowing I’m not alone or losing my mind. Great Ideas and support from people dealing with this disease. Takes time, rest and patience. Best wishes and prayers for you. 🤗🙏

Hi Rebecca

Sorry to welcome you to the club. The same thing happenwd to me with my first attack. I was sent home with no food warnings and continued to eat and ended on a second round of antibiotics. I took me 2 1/2 months before I had a day without pain. Eat low residue small portions and when the pain eases up switch slowly to adding in fibre. I wish doctors had the smarts to advise newly diagnosed on what to eat and not eat. The mayo clinic has some good info. Google low residue diet. Good luck to you. May this be your only attack.

I know how you feel, had it for 2 years, multiple attacks, and literally lived off of the antibiotics. Finally opted for surgery and it's been a blessing. Usually I was on the antibiotics for 10 days (flagyl & cipro), plus norco for pain. Stay on the clear diet for no longer than 3 days, then soft diet. There are many sites you can look up to suit you. Definitely no red meat, corn, nuts, fresh fruits & veggies with thick skins and seeds. Stay away from lettuce of any kind because it's hard to digest. I literally lived off of (baked,broiled,boiled) chicken and fish, some canned veggies such as green beans, carrots, scrambled eggs, white bread (no wheat), stay away from gassy veggies like cauliflower,broccoli, cabbage, brussel sprouts,and tomatoes. I was able to eat spaghetti made with ground Turkey, make sure sauce has no seeds. You can eat oatmeal ,cream of wheat. Everyone is different as to what their bodies will tolerate. Keep a record as to what you can or cannot eat. Try to find a good liquid multi vitamin, if you're constipated milk of magnesium helps, if you're the opposite metamucil (1) dose will help. Bananas actually helped with taking the medication. You also have to be careful in restaurants, don't feel shy to ask questions about the ingredients. I also drink 1 small Gatorade for electrolytes. The pain, nausea and bloating is horrible, just remember what you ate to keep the bloating down. Mainly remember everyone is different. Good luck.

I was on 2 antibiotics for 10 days, followed by another round for another 7 days until I felt better. I was on a strict liquid diet of soups yogurt jello and the like with 10bglasses of water each day.

Helps me to take a probiotic.  Actually I take two when on antibiotics (at least 2 hours apart from each other).  It helps settle your stomach and helps with the side effects from antibiotics.  Ask the pharmacist for a good one with a lot of strains.

You all just don't know how much you rock! Thank you for all the advice! So good to know.

Clarify on that probiotic - take it /them at least 2 hours before or after the antibiotic.  The way I worded it wasn't very clear.

I’m still kind of learning my way through this too.  It’s been 2 months since my CAT scan/diagnosis and I navigate foods carefully.  When I have a day when food just doesn’t seem to agree with me, then the next day I try to keep it to liquids.  A dietitian recommended Ensure Clear and that’s my go-to.  I also have found that dairy and veggies are triggers for me.  So, almond milk and no veggies it is!  I have my very first colonoscopy on Monday so I guess I will learn the extent of my diverticulitis.  Best of luck to you!

My first attacks were not stopped by several 7 day courses with time in between.

The Dr then gave me 14 day courses and that knocked it on the head for a while. Ever since then a 7 day course has been sufficient. It did take nearly 6 weeks to get over the first episode however and at one stage I ate nothing for a week as I felt so awful. You are not alone.