Diverticulitis

Can SEROVERA® Help with Diverticulitis?

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Watch more video testimonials from diverticulitis sufferers who take SEROVERA®.

On this page:

• Diverticulitis (Overview)
• Diverticulitis Symptoms
• Diverticulitis Complications
• Cause of Diverticulitis
• Diverticulitis Diagnosis
• Diverticulitis Diet
• Diverticulitis Treatment

Related Links: High Fiber Diet | High Fiber Foods | Low Fiber Diet | Low Residue Diet

Diverticulitis (Overview)

Diverticulitis is a condition that occurs when small, bulging pouches formed in your digestive system become inflamed or infected. These pouches can become inflamed in any part of your digestive system, including your stomach, esophagus, and small intestine. However, diverticulitis is most commonly found in the large intestine. Diverticulitis develops from diverticulosis, which involves the formation of these pouches (known as: diverticula) on the outside of the colon. About a tenth of Americans over the age of 40, experience diverticulosis. Diverticulosis becomes more common as people age.  A staggering fifty percent of all people over the age of 60 have diverticulosis.

10 to 25 percent of people with diverticulosis and up with diverticulitis. Collectively, diverticulosis and diverticulitis are called diverticular disease.

Diverticulitis Symptoms

This condition can cause sudden, severe abdominal pain, typically focused on the lower left side of the abdomen. You may also have abdominal tenderness — again particularly on the lower left side. Changes in bowel habits, which include both diarrhea and constipation, are often diverticulitis symptoms.

Some individuals report bloating, nausea, and vomiting. Although not common, you may experience rectal bleeding.

Complexities of Diverticulitis

Infection, bleeding, perforations (tears), and blockages are all complications of diverticulitis. Lack of treatment to prevent them from progressing may cause serious illness.

Cause of Diverticulitis

Although not proven, the dominant theory is that low-fiber intake is the main cause of diverticular disease.  First noticed in the U.S., and at about the same time processed foods were introduced into the American diet.  Process foods lack fiber and fibrous elements and produce inadequate enzyme activity. Processed foods = lifeless foods.

Industrialized countries—particularly the United States, England, and Australia—are rife with low-fiber food consumption. The disease is rare in countries of Asia and Africa, where people eat high-fiber vegetable diets.

Fiber is the part of fruits, vegetables, and grains that the body cannot digest. Some fiber dissolves easily in water (soluble fiber). It takes on a soft, jelly-like texture in the intestines. Some fiber passes almost unchanged through the intestines (insoluble fiber). Both kinds of fiber help make stools soft and easy to pass. Fiber also prevents constipation.

Constipation makes the muscles strain to move stool that is too hard. It is the main cause of increased pressure in the colon. This excess pressure might cause the weak spots in the colon to bulge out and become diverticula.

Diverticulitis occurs when diverticula become infected or inflamed. Doctors are not certain what causes the infection. It may begin when stool or bacteria are caught in the diverticula. An attack of diverticulitis can develop suddenly and without warning.

Diverticulitis Tests & Diagnosis

Because acute abdominal pain can indicate a number of conditions, your doctor will want to perform tests and procedures to rule out other conditions such as appendicitis, stomach ulcers, colon cancer, irritable bowel syndrome, ovarian cancer, ectopic pregnancy, or inflammatory bowel diseases like colitis and Crohn’s disease. To determine the source of your abdominal pain, your doctor will check your abdomen for tenderness and check your white blood cells for infection. Your physician may order a colonoscopy or imaging test like a CT scan in order to view any infected or inflamed pouches that are diverticulitis symptoms.

When taking a medical history, the doctor may ask about bowel habits, symptoms, pain, diet, and medications. The physical exam usually involves a digital rectal exam. To perform this test, the doctor inserts a gloved, lubricated finger into the rectum to detect tenderness, blockage, or blood. The doctor may check stool for signs of bleeding and test blood for signs of infection. The doctor may also order x rays or other tests.

Diverticulosis with symptoms is usually medically treated. This therapy is designed to soften stools and help them pass faster, which removes the conditions that cause diverticula in the first place.

• High-fiber diet: Some health care providers recommend a fiber supplement
• Clear fluids
• Mild pain medications

Treatment for diverticulitis depends on the severity of the condition.

• Simple cases can be treated by your health care provider at his or her office
• Treatment for uncomplicated cases usually consists of antibiotics and bowel rest. This usually involves 2–3 days of bowel rest, taking in only clear fluids (no food at all), so your colon may heal without having to work
• Complicated cases typically involve severe pain, fever, or bleeding. If you have any of these symptoms, you probably will have to stay in the hospital. Treatment consists of IV antibiotics, bowel rest, and possibly surgery

Diverticulitis Diet

Increasing the amount of fiber in your diet may help reduce symptoms of diverticulosis and prevent complications such as diverticulitis or take a daily supplement like FiberGI. Fiber keeps stool soft and lowers pressure inside the colon so that bowel contents can move through easily. The American Dietetic Association recommends 20 to 35 grams of fiber each day. The table below shows the amount of fiber in some foods that you can easily add to your diet.

Putting More Fiber into Your Diet
Amount of Fiber in Some Foods
Fruits
Apple, raw, with skin	1 medium = 3.3 grams
Peach, raw	1 medium = 1.5 grams
Pear, raw	1 medium = 5.1 grams
Tangerine, raw	1 medium = 1.9 grams
Vegetables
Asparagus, fresh, cooked	4 spears = 1.2 grams
Broccoli, fresh, cooked	1/2 cup = 2.6 grams
Brussels sprouts, fresh, cooked	1/2 cup = 2 grams
Cabbage, fresh, cooked	1/2 cup = 1.5 grams
Carrot, fresh, cooked	1/2 cup = 2.3 grams
Cauliflower, fresh, cooked	1/2 cup = 1.7 grams
Romaine lettuce	1 cup = 1.2 grams
Spinach, fresh, cooked	1/2 cup = 2.2 grams
Summer squash, cooked	1 cup = 2.5 grams
Tomato, raw	1 = 1 gram
Winter squash, cooked	1 cup = 5.7 grams
Starchy Vegetables
Baked beans, canned, plain	1/2 cup = 6.3 grams
Kidney beans, fresh, cooked	1/2 cup = 5.7 grams
Lima beans, fresh, cooked	1/2 cup = 6.6 grams
Potato, fresh, cooked	1 = 2.3 grams
Grains
Bread, whole-wheat	1 slice = 1.9 grams
Brown rice, cooked	1 cup = 3.5 grams
Cereal, bran flake	3/4 cup = 5.3 grams
Oatmeal, plain, cooked	3/4 cup = 3 grams
White rice, cooked	1 cup = 0.6 grams

Meet your recommended daily fiber requirements with FiberGI.

Until recently, many doctors suggested avoiding foods with small seeds such as tomatoes or strawberries because they believed that particles could lodge in the diverticula and cause inflammation. However, it is now generally accepted that only foods that may irritate or get caught in the diverticula cause problems. Foods such as nuts, popcorn hulls, and sunflower, pumpkin, caraway, and sesame seeds should be avoided. The seeds in tomatoes, zucchini, cucumbers, strawberries, and raspberries, as well as poppy seeds, are generally considered harmless. People differ in the amounts and types of foods they can eat. Decisions about diet should be made based on what works best for each person. Keeping a food diary may help identify individual items in one’s diet.

If cramps, bloating, and constipation are problems, the doctor may prescribe a short course of pain medication. However, many medications affect emptying of the colon, an undesirable side effect for people with diverticulosis.

Treatment for Diverticulitis

Mild cases of diverticulitis typically can be relieved with dietary changes, rest, and sometimes antibiotics. A low-fiber diet will be advised while in the midst of an acute attack, although the long-term treatment of diverticulitis includes a high-fiber diet. To control your pain, your doctor may advise you to take acetaminophen or another over-the-counter pain reliever.

Research also suggests that people who have diverticulitis may not have enough of the “good” bacteria thriving in their colons. Thus, ingesting a probiotics supplement or foods with probiotics may be an alternative and effective diverticulitis treatment for some people.

For more moderate or severe episodes of diverticulitis, you may be required to have hospital stay lasting a few days to a week. This is especially the case if you’ve developed an abscess or if your doctor feels you are at risk for peritonitis, which is a bowel instruction. While in the hospital, you’ll likely receive intravenous antibiotics.

Lastly, serious cases of diverticulitis may necessitate surgery, particularly if you have a fistula, perforation, abscess, or recurring diverticulitis. Surgery will be performed to remove the diseased section of your colon.

The surgery will be one of two types. In a primary bowel resection, the surgeon will reconnect the healthy sections of your colon after removing the diseased sections. On the other hand, with a bowel resection with colostomy, the surgeon creates an opening in your abdomen, for which waste will pass through into a bag. Once your inflammation has healed, a second operation may be possible to reconnect your rectum and colon.

For a person suffering from diverticulitis, it is recommended to:

• Watch what you eat. Some foods may make symptoms worse or even lead to diverticulitis.

Watch Diverticulitis Video testimonials from individuals who currently take SEROVERA.

The possibility of surgery

If attacks are severe or frequent, your doctor may advise surgery. The surgeon removes the affected part of the colon and joins the remaining sections. This type of surgery, called colon resection, aims to keep attacks from coming back and to prevent complications. The doctor may also recommend surgery for complications of a fistula or intestinal obstruction.

If antibiotics do not correct an attack, emergency surgery may be required. Other reasons for emergency surgery include a large abscess, perforation, peritonitis, or continued bleeding.

Emergency surgery usually involves two operations. The first surgery will clear the infected abdominal cavity and remove part of the colon. Because of infection and sometimes obstruction, it is not safe to rejoin the colon during the first operation. Instead, the surgeon creates a temporary hole, or stoma, in the abdomen. The end of the colon is connected to the hole, a procedure called a colostomy, to allow normal eating and bowel movements. The stool goes into a bag attached to the opening in the abdomen. In the second operation, the surgeon rejoins the ends of the colon.

Action Items

• FiberGI Fiber Supplement. 
• Most people with diverticulitis never have any discomfort or symptoms.
• The most likely cause of diverticulitis is a low-fiber diet because it increases constipation and pressure inside the colon.
• For most people with diverticulitis, adhere to a high-fiber diet
• Increase your fiber intake by eating high-fiber foods: whole grain breads, cereals; fruits: apples and peaches; vegetables: cabbage, broccoli,  spinach, asparagus, carrots  and squash; and starch-laden vegetables: kidney beans and lima beans.

Crohn’s disease is an ongoing disorder that causes inflammation of the digestive tract, also referred to as the gastrointestinal (GI) tract.