Still exhausted after my 1st Diverticulitis attack :(
Posted , 77 users are following.
Hi all
I had my very first Diverticulitis attack last week, which culminated in me spending 2 days in the hospital on IV antibiotics. Not an unusual story, I know 
I'm now on a 10 day oral antibiotic regime and liquids (smoothies, soups, etc) I can't find any information on is how long will this exhaustion last. I'm so dead tired I can't stand it!!
Is a week normal for still being this tired? Longer?
TIA
0 likes, 63 replies
paul00666 dena38348
Edited
be patient my wife had her first attack in dec. had to take her to emergency and was in the hospital for two days she was on ivs and npo while in there also sepsis. she came home and was on oral medicines for twenty days. never got over the infection totally . second time she had a seizure and was taken by ems. this time it was four days in the hospital. she is home now and quit my job ,it looks like it will take quite a while for things to turn around. my wife is mostly tired all of the time ,i really wonder if modern medicine has an idea on this problem
Guest paul00666
Edited
hi, so sorry that your wife has suffered. agree medical community seems to know very little to help us. (seems ridiculous to say that, but we are proof, that they simply guess, experiment on us with thei drugs, & change their minds freely.) what a system.
divernotfun paul00666
Posted
Fatigue is the problem that I am dealing with and it’s been seven months. I had a colonoscopy and endoscopy and the fatigue kicked in again and my bowels were completely goofed up again. I’m wondering if anyone else has experience after a colonoscopy.? I had diverticulitis attack I didn’t heal so I want up in the hospital for a second time and then I got to see DEFi’m wondering if anyone else has experience after a colonoscopy.? I had diverticulitis attack I didn’t heal so I want up in the hospital for a second time and then I got to see cdiff infection And I will get screamed again this week to make sure it has come back. And then feeling better the last few days this fatigue really wiped me out again.
susan58218 dena38348
Edited
had my first diverticulitis attack beginning 2.5 weeks ago, with perforation. no surgery. 5 days in hospital, another 4 days before it got any better. Still on low fiber, no residue diet. Feeling better. but so so so tired. cant get through a trip to the store. what causes this? how can I improve it? Thank you, and I've been learning so much from you already.!
jacob0373 susan58218
Posted
I started out the same way, then three trips to A&E 1.5 months later. Two weeks after that I was in hospital again. During my second hospital I decided then and there I was having the surgery. That was Nov 29th 2019. My GI physician put me on Augmentin 875 mg 2x a day till my surgery February 12th 2020. I was a chronic case at 47 years young. I ate very healthy, am a runner, play 5 a side pub football on Sundays, etc. Needless to say I was shocked at having diverticulitis. I'm also an AML Leukeamia survivor so I chose to remove my diseased sigmoid as quickly as possible.
My 1st attack was a microperforation and beyond painful, I had 102 temp(for the yank readers). I had a gut feeling I'd need surgery after my first attack. I constantly had pain, for me this surgery was a no brainer. I must warn you though this road is a tough one. Good luck👍🏻
divernotfun jacob0373
Posted
I had the same problem with the second visit to the hospital with determined you to get surgery. I had an abscess and it’s been four months of being bedridden but it took two months to get diagnosed and then to attacks within a month. Thanks for your input
damion86159 jacob0373
Posted
I'm type 1 diabetic your same experience however i also experienced major inflammation. How extensive is the surgery experience... I am pushing for this to happen..how long were you on recovery?
mike66068 jacob0373
Posted
How are you doing now post surgery? Hope you're okay.
divernotfun dena38348
Posted
are you feeling better? I’m still exhausted after a mild diverticulitis attack but then I was dealing with a abscess before that. I keep feeling like I’m just lazy because I don’t want to clean house or too much but I also don’t want to overdo and look too tired like I was last night so also wondering how long does fatigue is going to last because I’m waiting to do a colonoscopy
krystal39963 dena38348
Posted
hi so my boyfriend just got out of hospital this last friday due to a flare up and we really havent been told much of anything by the drs here in saskatchewan, canada. what kind of advice can anyone give him. what foods can he eat, whys he so tired still, he has lots of questions.
Guest dena38348
Edited
hi, I ordered some peppermint tea & it seems very soothing. (I'm 12 days past my first attack). some people prefer supplements, but the tea is easily controlled for strength... & seems safer. I'm chewing my food a lot more these days,...lol. appreciate everyone's input here very much.
divernotfun Guest
Edited
Be careful with peppermint which is also not good for acid reflex
r79750 dena38348
Edited
Yes, I have ongoing diverticulitis attacks with IBS and I'm constantly exhausted. I have found slippery elm (1 teaspoon in warm water every few days) helps. As well as the occasional advil for inflammation. You might experience depression since it really messes with your gut flora. Acidophilis helps with this. Just take it opposite of when you take the antibiotics or it voids out the benefits. Be aware that it can cause a blow to your mental well being since it makes you paranoid of going out and enjoying life because you never know when the next attack will happen and if a bathroom will be available. Oh and avoid Psyllium husk (many fiber drinks have it in it) it can tear up your already tender gut. I hope this helps and best of luck to you.
divernotfun dena38348
Posted
I am wondering the same thing. I just had a colonoscopy and endoscopy I felt fine afterwards but then the fatigue kicked in. I’m wondering if things got touched enough to cause the diverticulitis to be sensitive again again. The G.I. guy said that the bowel cleanser could’ve set the diverticulitis with your did but I am also going on seven months dealing with all this. Now I have Barrett’s esophagus so meeting is really a dilemma.
w42093 dena38348
Edited
Hello,
I am new to the forum and super excited I found it! I am going through my fourth total flare up right now, 3rd where I needed antibiotics (this one is just a mild diverticulitis flare this time, thank goodness) but I am extremely exhausted.
I was in the ER all day on Saturday but at home now, going on 2 days. I believe because the body has to fight off the infection, the liquid diet (not enough caloric intake, so I was running on fumes for 48 hours until today, you know) and the awful Augmentin 875/125mg doesnt help either with fatigue. It all makes you exhausted, amongst other things.I was so dizzy/light headed this morning, my husband got up at 6am and for the first time ever, he was firm with me and literally made me eat Ritz crackers. I had NO energy for that but I did it. It worked, because my lightheaded feeling slowly went away. He then forced me to do the "BRAT" diet all day today, like the doctor's office called and told me to and it has helped alot today.
My first attack (7 years ago), I was only 35 yrs old at the time, my exhaustion did not fully go away until a month after recovery but I was on a grossly high miligram amount of antibiotics, then developed Cdiff! I battled malnutrition bc they kept putting me on a liquid diet....for 3 months! I lost 25 pounds (that I didnt need to lose, by the way. So it was real bad). My family doctor where we lived at the time finally gave me a referral to a GI specialist after battling all this for months and hospitalization (btw, the Cdiff diagnosis came later with the specialist. That couldve gone bad if it was never found and diagnosed, you know) Anyway, we demanding a specialist and got the referral. So, the GI pecialist was the one who actually diagnosed the Cdiff and was soooo mad I was on the liquid diet for so long and told me to go eat immediately after I left (he asked what was the one thing I wanted) and I did it, with him saying it was okay. And I felt so much better after that food, by the way, not cured of course, but my body and hungry belly thanked me (and I thank Chick-fil-a). Lol. My doctor was so awesome when we lived there (Nebraska-we are military fam and moved a lot, until now, Hubby is retired, so I am looking for new GI specialist).
Anyway, a week I would say, is normal for exhaustion, but everyone's normal is, of course, different. I hope you feel better soon!
Side note: I have been told to eat whatever I want and I have also been told watch out for seeds, etc. With my experience, my first flare was from raspberries and almonds. So I no longer eat those bc I am scared to. My minor other 2 flare ups (one I didnt need antibiotics and the other I did), were very very mild, and caught at first cramp you could say... it was caused from stress. This flare up I am going through right now is coming from too many yummy tomatoes from my garden and the seeds just didnt agree with me this time (I will still eat tomatoes, just wash the seeds out. Welp, maybe next year I will try...maybe. I did the washing seeds out for a while in the past and it worked, then I guess got to comfortable with not having a flare up for a couple of years... I guess). Having this disease doesnt mean you cannot hardly eat anything, but to look out for you personal triggers. Triggers are different for everyone, those are mine to share.