Sigmoid Colon Removed for Diverticulitis

Yes, I have been told by more than one doctor stress can be a contributing factor, I also beleive that a high fiber diet and keeping it all moving out is the best way to deal with the flares, my husband had his sigmoid colon removed after 1-2 years of anti biotics every couple of months, we finally got him a colonoscopy, and he was told sugery was his only option, and thank goodness, surgeon who preformed it didn't know how my husband was functioning, he was absyest & deased , it was only a matter of time before it preferated, I have had Diverticulitis attacks for over 10 years, but am able to control most with diet, but I am going to the same doctor that did my husbands surgery now, and he has ordered a cat scan blood work, and another colonoscopy, I was due for my 5 yr check anyway. I hope I don't need surgery , but will do what is best for my heath. I also think any thing that drys out your system , sinus meds, alcohol , pain meds or just not drinking enough water is a major contributor for flare ups. 

I had a section of my Sigmoid colon removed end of July. I'm only 40 years old which they say is young to have diverticulitis. I had 18 inches removed. I tried to not have surgery for 6 months but I keep getting flare ups. After surgery it's painfully but we'll worth the app out to to stop getting sick all the time

Hi All, Maddi thanks for setting up this discussion.

I am 48, relatively healthy if a little overweight, donated my right kidney about nine years ago and suffered a post op hydrocele, sorted by an op. Since then no real medical issues, until Boxing Day 2015. My unhappy post Christmas present was severe abdo pain, right across the abdo region, and increased bowel movements. I put it down to the seasons rich foods and celebrations. By mid Feb things persisted and at the insistence of nearest and dearest I went to the GP. Bloods and Urines taken, query appendix. No infections, but some blood in Urine. GP looked puzzled but queried bowel disease even though no nausea or vomiting only runs and pain. Waiting times at Local hospital were longish so GP referred me to local Spire hospital for bowel and bladder investigations. GP has been BRILLIANT.

Camera up the urinary tract to the bladder is no fun at all, but was all clear.

The  full colonoscopy (do not be stupid like me, if they offer sedation take it!!), again no fun, but it confirmed diverticulars all over, some large. The Surgeon had hoped the bowel prep solution would flush out the problem. It didn't. Have been back to see the Surgeon today after a further CT scan two weeks ago. It seems my sigmoid colon is a bit of a mess and very inflamed. Scar tissue has formed in many of the diverticulars causing that part of the colon to become rigid. One of the diverticulars is lying on a blood vessel, which may cause an issue in future. I have been offered a bowel resection, losing the sigmoid colong and a temporary stoma. has given me time to think about having the op.

Diverticulitis has been a compainion since december, tramadol taking some of the edge off. Also have found that red onions, nuts, mushrooms, seeds, butternut squash and sweet potatoe all aggravate it for me. So now waying up the options, do not really want surgery but neither do i want the pain, leaning towards the op  ;o(

Hi, have read all the posts and it is nice knowing I am not alone. I am almost 10 weeks post surgery from having my sigmoid colon removed. I unlike most of you didn't even know I had diverticulitis. My family has a history of Crohn disease, colitis, and IBS so when I started having stomach issues I will be the first to admit I was not proactive in finding out what it was and just managed it through diet. I really really don't recommend this approach, did I happen to mention that I am a nurse. Worst patients in the world are nurses. Well to make a long story short, I finally couldn't take it anymore. I was bloated all the time, I couldn't hardly eat anymore except for a clear liquid diet and was generally just run down all the time. So I got a colonoscopy. Diagnosis diverticulitis...infected, inflamed, in general, just bad. Got sent home with antibiotics and a special diet. I thought, we'll this could be worse....stock to the diet and I'll be fine, nope. The day after colonoscopy the pain became unbearable. Went to ER and was admitted to the hospital. No fever, no nausea, just the incredible pain on my right side. Yep right, not left. Went in on December 7th, got released on the 13th with surgery scheduled for the 21st. They didn't want to do the surgery right away because of the infection, so a week of IV antibiotics, another week of oral and they thought I would be good to go, nope. Surgeon was unable to do it laproscopic because it was still completely infected and was beginning to necroposy so he had to cut to remove it. Plus, while I was in the hospital the first time, the GI Dr. Was convinced that the pain on my right was just referred pain. Which means the problem is on the left, but your body is feeling it on the right. The surgeon was not so convinced and thank God for him. While I was in surgery he did a little exploring, as he put it, and found that because of the prolonged infection and inflammation, my small bowel had multiple adhesions...6 to be exact. 2 were on the lining of the abdominal cavity, 2 were minor and were able to be mechanically separated and 2 were pretty well stuck together, as he put it. The last 2 he actually had to cut apart and then suture back together. I know I was a hot mess of my own creation. The first couple weeks post surgery went fine. Out of the hospital in 4 days, back to work 3 1/2 weeks post surgery, felt great, but still didn't have an appetite, which was fine, the pounds were falling off. Very slowly I have been getting some of my appetite back, but I have definitely discovered life is very different.

In reading the posts I can see that many of you arw having the same issues as I am with your bowels and not being able to go.....in fact I am home from work today because i am so uncomfortable and the gas at times is very very painful. But my reason for writing all this is to see if some of you are experiencing some of my other issues. The worst one, well other than not being able to go, is dehydration. Unless I consistently drink no less than 64oz of water, not just fluids, but water a day I become very dehydrated. I get shakey, nauseous, I have a hard time regulating body temp...either freezing or sweating, and my body just feels like I have been hit by a truck. Have any of you experienced an increase in the need for water? Probably the next change would be the time it actually takes to go to the bathroom. Even when things are moving, I have to relax and focus on just letting go. And by this I mean, before surgery you gave a little push and bam you were done. There is no more push, I simple can't anymore. So now if I don't intentionally relax, I can't go. Which has led to quite a few bouts of constipation....so again I ask, has anyone else experienced this and are either one of these temporary? Not that drinking water and relaxing are bad, but sometimes they are both rather inconvenient.

One more thing I would like to add. Some of you have written about elective surgery and partial removal of sigmoid. I highly recommend that if you are going to have surgery, have the entire sigmoid removed. As someone posted, without the entire section removed, new pouches can form and you will be right back where you started. When I asked my surgeon about this, he said he would never only remove part of it, and any surgeon who would is only looking for repeat business. I think he was kidding about the repeat business, but I don't think he was kidding when he said, if you ever know someone who is only getting a partial removal tell them they need to find a another surgeon because theirs don't know what they are doing.....ouch!

Okay, I just wanted to share my experience of diverticulitis and sigmoid colon removal. At the age of 60 I had experienced only mild loin pain from time to time over the years, plus regular urinary tract infections for which I was prescribed antibiotics. Being male, I was thought at one time to have prostate problems but that turned out to be a wrong diagnosis. Then suddenly I developed the symptoms of a fistula. A colovesical fistula is a well known complication of diverticulitis - it means that a hole develops between the bladder and the bowel, and both gas and particles of stool therefore pass into the urethra causing the UTIs. A very alarming symptom, and initially my general practitioner didn't take it seriously and didn't believe that I could have such a symptom because, of course, it isn't the sort of symptom that you can easily demonstrate to your doctor. Unfortunately a fistula can be a symptom of bowel cancer as well as diverticulitis and I didn't know which of them I had until I was given a CT scan and then a virtual colonoscopy.

It turned out that I didn't have any tumours, fortunately, but I had very severe diverticulitis. Even though it was extremely inflamed, my colon wasn't giving me any serious symptoms other than the UTIs.  I was told that there is no known cause for diverticulitis. I've read that aspirin and ibuprofen and chronic constipation can cause diverticulitis but that's all unproved.

My sigmoid colon was removed using keyhold (laparoscopic) surgery. It took about two and a half hours and I was in hospital for 4 nights. They warned that I might need a stoma and I was given stoma counselling, but it turned out not to be necessary. If I'd had a stoma it would have remained in place for, I think, about 3 months. The pain from the operation to remove my sigmoid colon was much less than I was expecting.  I was told that I should not notice any difference in bowel function without my sigmoid colon and that's true for me - everything feels exactly the same as before and I can eat any foods that I used to eat before the operation.

I can't see any disadvantage resulting from sigmoid colon removal and I suppose it will spare me lots of future suffering from diverticulitis that had so far been relatively symptomless.

Sounds like I may have the type of stress you are referring about.

Maddi, tell me - how did they know it was the Sigmoid Colon where the bleeding was actually coming from.  My GI Doc said that is where 50% of the bleeding occurs, but what if they remove it and that doesn't work, where the try next, and for how long before you run out of colon and get a s**t bag on the side of your torso!

Also after this removal you had, did it change anything in your bowel movements?

What is everyone eating during an outbreak. I was told the Brat diet but it's ver limited, toast, banana, apple sauce and rice. I find I am quite weak when not eating correctly.

I had my sigmoid colon removed 5 weeks ago. I have a great deal of discomfort in the area of the resection, internally, near my lower left  pelvic bone. My incisions are all healed.

I was wondering how long most of you hurt inside where the re-attached the "2 pieces" -sorry to be so graphic-rectum? (I may be using the wrong terms, please forgive) Is it normal to still have significant internal pain after 5 weeks? If so, how many months did you still have pain? I really appreciate any responses.